Curly Hair-DO CARE!

Stephanie Houshultz, Apprentice. 

 Most of you know me like this…

But what does my hair look like in its natural state?

Here are some throwback pictures to show you:

 

….yes I took a lot of selfies, and I wasn’t even using professional products yet. 

 When I lived in Florida I would KILL for “winter.” Mostly because that would mean low humidity and I could straighten my hair and it might stay straight! I hated my natural curls and felt they were unruly and never perfect. Don’t get me wrong, these pictures are all pretty good hair days (no one takes a selfie on a bad hair day).

So fast forward to now. I have lived in NEPA for 3.5 years, and I was loving the fact that most of the year there is not much humidity. I began straightening my hair after every wash.

 My hair has thinned so much over these past few years.

A LOT of that could be age; I feel like most of the women in my family had their hair thin out a bit in their mid-twenties. But the years of straightening (most of which I was also not using a heat protectant…I know…. Shame on me) have just thinned the ends and damaged my hair so much.

 There are so many people on this Earth with curly hair that do not know how to properly care for it. So, here are some tips:

 Hair strands in general are made up of a cortex, which is the inside of the hair strand that contains your hairs color, elastin, collagen, etc.

The cuticle, or outside layer of the hair which consists of flattened keratin that forms a scale like sheath to protect your cortex. Your cuticle is opened when you add heat, change the pH, color, lighten, basically do anything to your hair, even shampooing. When you bring your hair back to its most natural state, the cuticle can lay back down slightly, but it will never fully flatten again.

The more your cuticle is open, the less it can hang on to moisture and hair color.

The Cuticle of curly hair is naturally slightly open, always, this means that it struggles to hold moisture! So, people with curly hair tend to have very dry hair, which leads to the dreaded Fword….FRIZZ. Without the knowledge on how to properly treat curls people tend to over wash (me) , using heat tools on a regular basis (me), and not using the right products (also me). 

 While my knowledge on how to take care of my curls has improved vastly since joining the Apple Day Spa team and working towards my cosmetology license, I am still working on finding the correct products to use specifically for my fine, dry, curly hair, as well as how often I should wash my hair, and the methods to achieve my optimum curls! 

 I made a New Year’s Resolution and am now on a journey to treat my hair like its curly hair, to not fight what I was intended to have, and to embrace looks that I may not have originally liked! That means using professional curly hair products, minimal heat, and different hair styles.

This will be a long journey, and some of my hair may be too damaged for help, but I am excited!

I will blog about the products and methods I use with pictures and videos to share what works and what does not.

 Join me as I try new products and ways of styling my hair to get it to its curly, healthy natural state again!