Di Dumbs It Down

Praying hands is a good way to apply product to your hair. You know what it looks like when you pray and your palms touch each other? Now, put your hair between those hands! Apply your conditioner (and afterwards, styler) into one palm, rub your hands together and hang your hair over your head, or to each side. Now, place your hands together with your hair between them, and rub the product on, from the root to the tip. Then you can finger come to detangle, STC, etc. Why praying hands? It helps apply product more evenly across your entire hair, it smooths your hair and reduces frizz. VIDEO HERE.

Did you know that curly hair is drier than straight hair? Regular conditioner coats and sits on the hair, so every now and then, us curlies need something more intense to penetrate the hair shaft. Regular deep conditioning is a necessity for curly hair. It nourishes, strengthens and moisturizes curly hair. It also improves the texture, reduces breakage and improves the hair's health. It also helps improve the hair's elasticity, which means it is more flexible and can stretch more before it breaks. Deep conditioners can be specially formulated, a boosted regular conditioner or a DIY concoction. How long? How often? If your hair is extremely dry or damaged, you should condition twice a week. To maintain good hair health, once a week or every two weeks may suffice. Leave the deep conditioner in anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour (20-30 minutes seems to be the consensus as some curly bloggers are saying that it won't work anymore after 20 minutes) before rinsing. ...

A pineapple isn't just a fruit. It's a way to keep your hair tied up on top of your head, so that your curls don't break, frizz, tangle, mat, etc. while you sleep. Your hair will be more manageable the next morning if you pineapple at night. You also put it in clips, use a buff or satin bonnet to keep your hair out of your face while you pineapple. I also sleep on a satin pillowcase to keep my hair from breaking and frizzing while I sleep. How to Pineapple Tilt your head over your face. Secure it at the top of your head with a scrunchie, invisibobble, tele-band or other safe hair elastic. Sleep! If you follow me on Instagram (I'm @curly.girl.di), I posted a video a few months back of me putting my hair into a pineapple. I think I deleted it from my phone, though, so bear with me while re-record another pineapple video for this blog. Here's a direct link to my IG post.  

Oh, the elusive Curl Type... so complicated, as there are so many ways of explaining. It's truly confusing, but we do our best. And in the end, it does not matter which curl type you have. Just keep them healthy, no matter the texture. Warning This can be very confusing to learn about, as there seem to be discrepancies between the curly experts and the websites. Basically Curls are divided into three families: Wavy - Type 2 Curly - Type 3 Kinky-Curly - Type 4 Straight hair (with no hope for a curl) is Type 1. Still looking for the original source Each curl family is divided into three categories: A, B and C. A is always on the looser end, and C is on the curlier end.  So, we have: Wavy: 2A, 2B,2C Curly: 3A, 3B, 3C Kinky-Curly: 4A, 4B, 4C Credit: Adunni Organics This doesn't mean that Wavy isn't curly! "Wavy" just distinguishes one type of curl from another on the curl spectrum. Wavy curls resemble an S rather than a coi...

I wish I could tell teenage Di back in the '90s that she didn't need to walk around with rock hard hait. I wish I could tell her that some simple scrunching after her hair dried would create beautiful, bouncy curls. SOTC = Scrunch Out The Crunch After washing and styling, you may notice your hair harden as it dries. This is known as the "cast," or the "crunch." DO NOT TOUCH YOUR HAIR UNTIL IT IS 100% DRY Benefits Your curls are actually setting under the cast. The cast protects your hair from frizz, and helps your curls last longer. How to SOTC To break the cast, you can use your hands (dry, with lube - yep, that's a thing! Or with an approved oil. I recently discovered Righteous Roots Oil and it's amazing for SOTC), or a cotton t-shirt. Flip your hair, hold your curls and squeeze them in your hands. Squeeze and scrunch from the tips up to the roots, or smooth with praying hands from the roots to the tips - or combine! The goal is to bre...

One powerful technique to optimize your curls is the Bowl Method. Discovered by @powerdomi on Instagram (follow her NOW if you aren't already), it takes Squish to Condish/STC to the next level. The Bowl Method is Squish to Condish's Sister After you wash and condition, add your leave-in conditioner (either one that is marketed as a leave-in, or a dollop of your favourite regular conditioner) to soaking wet hair. But this time, keep a large bowl handy. Apply the conditioner with praying hands, then squish it in. Catch all of the water and conditioner into the bowl.  Dip your clumps into the water and squish the water back into your hair. Add your styling products with praying hands and squish the excess water, conditioner and product back into the bowl.  Redip and resquish.  Benefits A fantastic way to create hydrated, juicy clumps No product is wasted, as you're reusing your products Saves water Adds product evenly Who to follow for more informati...

You may have seen the acronym "STC" floating around the curly community, and not have any idea what it means. It stands for Squish to Condish . It is a MUST for helping your curls retain water - thus, moisture and hydration. So what does it mean? Squish your hair as you rinse out your conditioner, so the conditioner seeps into, soaks and saturates your hair. Why should I STC? We tend to rely on our conditioner to hydrate our hair and our curls. But, you can use an entire bottle and get poor results if you don't use water effectively. You want to get as much conditioner as you want / your hair needs into your hair, so that it stays hydrated and you get luscious clumps. Water is what hydrates our hair! Conditioner is the tool to lock it in. When do you STC? After you wash and condition your hair. Steps 1. Wash your hair. Rinse. 2. Condition and detangle. Rinse. 3. Keep your head down so that your soaking wet hair hangs upside down. 4. Apply more conditi...