Straight hair turning curly
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skin Care and Makeup Forum

Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:02 am

I use to have straight hair, but since turning 50 it's changing and it's getting wavy especially under the top layer. I would like to scrunch it up to make it curly, since it seems to want to do that now. Does anyone know of a product that will help it curl and keep the frizzys down.

Thank you Smile

free skin care · Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:02 pm

Hi Di,

I had the same thing happen to me but in my case it came after having kids (I'm figuring it must be something hormonal). Same thing happened to my twin sister too, but maybe even more so, as she has one more kid than I do.

It was really frustrating at the start, because my straight hair was one of my "good" features, something I could count on, you know? And suddenly it just wasn't cooperating and I was getting lumps, bumps, and the dreaded "mushroom" effect (or lambs ears or whatever you call it Confused

) out of the sides of my head! My stylish Louise Brooks/Anna Wintour-style bob days were well and truly over cos it was just too much work to maintain. So I struggled with haircut after haircut that just was not working for me.

Anyway, this year I finally talked in detail about it to my sister, who seemed to be looking great with her curly locks lately. It turns out, it has a lot to do with getting the right cut. Yes, you can use the right products and scrunch away madly, but if your hair is curly under a long straight layer on top (and the top seems to stay maddeningly straight for me anyway), then that is when you are going to get the lumps, etc.

So I found a hairdresser who understood my dilemma, got the right cut, and started looking into the right products. He recommended Kevin Murphy Motion Lotion, which you can find at Amazon (and other places I'm sure, but you can read reviews there which I always like to do). I like the way my hair turns out when he uses it on me, but haven't sprung for it cos it's kind of expensive here in NZ. My sister uses Scwarzkopf Osis Loopy and likes that a lot. I did buy some of that on sale and use it, but I actually prefer the look my hairdresser gets for me with the KMLM. I think my sister's hair curls better than mine anyway, due to the aforementioned extra kid. Smile

Another good source of info for me was the book Curly Girl by Lorraine Massey. If you google her, there is quite a good wiki site explaining her ideas and techniques for styling. She also has a website for her line, devachansalon.com, which has a lot of good info too and lots of curly hair products too. I had actually seen the devachan name in a recent Allure magazine piece about the woman making peace with her super curly hair.

Lorraine Massey is a big advocate of the no-poo philosophy, which looks interesting, but I haven't been committed enough to embrace that yet. And don't be put off by the really "curly" aspect of it, cos while there are pictures of women with glorious ringlets and cascades of tight curls, in the book at least, she has a whole section on people like us, with the sort of semi-curly thing going on, which can be coaxed into bigger and better curls with a bit of effort. A big part of how you do it is the way you treat it after you wash it. For instance, my hairdresser told me to barely dry it after I come out of the shower (I was used to wrapping it in a towel till it was almost dry and then styling). He showed me how to put the product on it while my hair was still pretty much dripping wet, and only then start drying it. He also said to be careful combing it after the shower, so as not to disturb the forming curl, etc. I am pretty sure Lorraine Massey gets into the same sort of thing in her book, too.

The book is a few years old now, but I found it at my local library. One other good thing I found out from it, by the way, was to use these sort of pincurl clips to work on those pesky top layers that aren't as curly. Just leaving them in for a few minutes while I dry using a diffuser (another tip from my hairdresser) makes a huge difference to how my hair turns out. They have some Devachan ones on Amazon (and probably other places, but I am out of US and do most of my searches there). I ended up just finding some bigger ones at our equivalent of the 99c store.

Hope this doesn't sound like a big plug for any particular product or system, but these are the things that helped me feel better about my hair once I found them. It was actually a real revelation cos I was getting pretty down about the whole thing. Bad enough the wrinkles, sagging, weight gain etc of middle age, but when a girl's hair starts changin', it can really get her down, right?

Sorry this reply is so long, didn't mean it to turn into an epic novel. Guess I am just enthused about this particular subject!

Good luck as you embark on your "curly" journey ...

Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:26 pm

WOW! That's some great information. Thank you so much.

My hair is just like that, it's straight on top and the very front sides. All the lumps and bumps underneath. I'll look for the pincurl clips, I hope I can find them, thats just what I need for my straight top layer.

I use to get perms when I was younger. Don't need them now Laughing

Thank you very much. Smile

Di

free skin care · Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:15 pm

You're welcome!

I did the perm thing too, back when my hair was straighter. (Oh, those 80s spiral perms! We looked like poodles Laughing

) Funny how you always want what you can't have ... By the time GHD straightened hair came in, mine had already started getting wavy, wouldn't you know it ...

But actually I am kind of enjoying the curly thing now, and I think it's a bit softer on my aging face than the stick straight look. Maybe it's Mother Nature's subtle way of giving us a hand, this getting wavier as you get older thing ...

I think you will find the pincurl clips really helpful. When I read the reviews of the devacurl ones on Amazon, I noticed that even some really curly-haired people said that they gave them the lift they need at the roots, where the curl can get weighed down. If you do some Google searches, you can probably find some tips on the best way to put them in, etc. I am continually amazed at how helpful women, especially, are in handing out their hard-earned, trial and error, tips on any and everything via blogs, youtubes clips, forums etc. It's one of my favorite things about the internet.

Hopefully someone else on EDS will also chime in with some other products you can get over there, too.

All the best and Happy New Year to you.

free skin care · Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:25 am

Thanks so much for that brilliant information, Nzgrrl! Your hair sounds very much like mine. I don't think I'll ever get it under control completely, but time, experience and trying things out help immensely with discovering how best to learn to live with it and love it.

Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:58 am

Hi Nzgrrl,
Your hair must have prettier curls than mine. I don't know if I look better with straight hair or curly frizzy Laughing

on my face. How is your hair cut, is it long with long layers. Mine is about 3 inches past my collar bone with long layers and I do have bangs.

Happy New Year to you too.

free skin care · Fri Jan 01, 2010 1:17 pm

Marjorb, you are right. It does take time and trying things out. And it definitely is more labour intensive, and takes more product usage, than when I was younger and straighter. But it was when I decided to quit fighting the wave/curly tendency and try and work with it, that I found myself a lot happier with it. It was like I had to give up the idea of myself as a straight-haired person and get real. Bit traumatic, really!

Di, my hair is shorter than yours , probably just past my shoulders, but I do have bangs, or as we call it, a fringe. And that can be problematic, cos of course the fringe is still stick straight. But I look weird without a fringe, so I just have to deal with it. And if you look on the web for wavy/curly hairstyles, you will notice that practically everyone with that sort of hair has a cut with no bangs. So I understand what you are saying.

I do think cut is key. As I said previously, I had started to notice that my sister (my twin actually) was starting to look great with all these curls, and it turned out that she was getting her hair cut by this lady who actually has curls herself, so she knew how to cut her hair to maximize the curl and make it easier to deal with. I ended up going somewhere else, but the guy who cuts mine had been taught how to deal with curly hair by another woman at his salon, so he has a pretty good handle on it. Having said that, the last cut he gave me was a little shorter, and I think he might have changed the layers a bit, cos I notice it wants to go a bit straighter lately. Have to talk to him about it next time.

Anyway, good luck to you both, and I hope other wavy/curly gals might pop in her and give us some recommendations of products, etc.

free skin care · Wed Jan 06, 2010 12:21 am

What I would give to have my straight hair go curly. Great thread and I am interested in trying some of the Kevin Murphy products. There are a few different shampoos so does anyone have a favorite?

free skin care · Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:38 am

bushy wrote:

What I would give to have my straight hair go curly. Great thread and I am interested in trying some of the Kevin Murphy products. There are a few different shampoos so does anyone have a favorite?

Believe me, you'd change your mind if it happened, bushy! Curly hair can be impossible to manage and takes loads of extra time and care. My step-mum has lovely, straight hair and is always saying the same as you! Laughing

Here's a thread I started on KM products. There are some shampoo and conditioner recs on there. The Angel range (supposed to be particularly good for and gentle on coloured hair, I believe) seems popular. http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=36460

I'm also about to do a review now on a couple of Louise Galvin conditioners if you're interested in some lovely, rich, excellent products.

free skin care · Wed Jan 06, 2010 2:34 pm

I always have to straighten my hair every half year otherwise it will turn into curled.

free skin care · Wed Jan 06, 2010 3:33 pm

I straighten my hair every three months just to keep the frizzies away - I would LOVE to have straight hair ....mmmm most be nice to not deal with the uncertainty of what the curl is going to look like from one day to the next.

free skin care · Wed Jan 06, 2010 4:03 pm

When u get older your hair gets grey and wavy sometimes

free skin care · Wed Jan 06, 2010 6:54 pm

Thanks Majorb for the info. I will wait until I see your reviews on Louise Galvin before I purchase anything.

free skin care · Fri Jan 08, 2010 4:59 am

This same thing happened to me around 28 years old. I had stick straight hair all my life and it turned curly what seemed like over night at 28! Laughing

I find it so interesting that this happens to some people....But I do like my hair now, it's much like a spiral perm, it's extremely thick so I of course cannot go without anything on it or it would certainly poof out all over the place....
I am really non-traditional when it comes to styling products....I just slap some hair gel in it while wet, spray it with hair spray right after and then don't touch it til it's dry...I never ever ever use a hairdryer!!! It's stiff for sure, but working it with my hands it reduces the stiffness in it and I am left with nice soft spiral curls...I finish off with a glossing cream....

free skin care · Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:31 pm

bren21 wrote:

This same thing happened to me around 28 years old. I had stick straight hair all my life and it turned curly what seemed like over night at 28! Laughing

I find it so interesting that this happens to some people....

It happened to me in my mid 20's too! My hairdresser always says it's getting curlier every time I see her. It's still stick straight in the front so I cut it in a layered asymmetrical bob and the back flicks out perfectly. Everyone thinks I curl it that way. I've tried to curl the front but my hair is too fine to hold the curl

free skin care · Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:38 am

Hair can loose its curl when the salt bonds are reduced or damaged by chemicals, such as colours and perms.

A good pep up to tighten naturally curly or permed hair is:

Wash your hair, rinse

Apply a mixture - 1tbs to 0.5 litre of warm water and rinse through the hair and leave for 3 mins, rinse and style.

The epsom salts contain magnesium sulphates which boost the salts bonds in the hair.

The other ingredients are citric acid and bicarbonate of soda which from a ph point of view cancel each other out.

The only other thing is sugar which doesn't do anything to the hair.

I used this in the salon for years as a post perm treatment as perm lotion breaks salt bonds, you then curl the hair on a roller and then fix it in the new curly form with neutraliser, which is basically a product that forces oxygen through the hair, but some of the salt bonds don't reform and the magenisium treatment helps to harden the permed hair.

HTH

PQ
Smile

free skin care · Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:39 am

That's really interesting, PQ. Doesn't it dry the hair out at all?

If not, then it sounds well worth a try!

free skin care · Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:06 am

majorb wrote:

That's really interesting, PQ. Doesn't it dry the hair out at all?

If not, then it sounds well worth a try!

No, because they are no agents that dry the hair, it is a fairly neutral base with the epsom salts - if it does, mix it with your fav' conditioner and apply at the same time.

PQ

free skin care · Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:11 pm

Oooohh, thanks, PQ!

Now I just have to find someone to do the rollering for me as I'm hopeless at it! I think one of my neighbours might be nice enough to help me out, with any luck.

I do like the adding conditioner idea.

free skin care · Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:31 pm

majorb wrote:

Oooohh, thanks, PQ!

Now I just have to find someone to do the rollering for me as I'm hopeless at it! I think one of my neighbours might be nice enough to help me out, with any luck.

I do like the adding conditioner idea.

Marjorb - sorry I think I have misled you - you only need the rollers if you are perming your hair or setting it.

To use this treatment you just apply, rinse and dry, you might want to scrunch dry to get the maximum curl.

Sorry again.

PQ

free skin care · Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:26 pm

Well All,

I am definitely "odd man out" (just an expression) I am female Smile

as I have gotten older had 4 kids ect. My hair went from naturally curly to straighter and straighter!?! Now I am wondering if I am alone in this! Yes I have tons of grey, actually stark white. But it is soft and not wiry like I hear some have! hmm

DM

free skin care · Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:33 am

That makes it a whole lot easier for me to try, PQ. Thanks! Very Happy

free skin care · Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:06 am

photoqueen wrote:

Hair can loose its curl when the salt bonds are reduced or damaged by chemicals, such as colours and perms.

A good pep up to tighten naturally curly or permed hair is:

Wash your hair, rinse

Apply a mixture - 1tbs to 0.5 litre of warm water and rinse through the hair and leave for 3 mins, rinse and style.

The epsom salts contain magnesium sulphates which boost the salts bonds in the hair.

The other ingredients are citric acid and bicarbonate of soda which from a ph point of view cancel each other out.

The only other thing is sugar which doesn't do anything to the hair.

I used this in the salon for years as a post perm treatment as perm lotion breaks salt bonds, you then curl the hair on a roller and then fix it in the new curly form with neutraliser, which is basically a product that forces oxygen through the hair, but some of the salt bonds don't reform and the magenisium treatment helps to harden the permed hair.

HTH

PQ
Smile

Hi PQ,

I was wondering whether you could use the epsom salts to make a more dilute solution to just refresh curly/ wavy hair? Thanks for your help!

free skin care · Sat Jan 23, 2010 6:07 am

JLM wrote:

photoqueen wrote:

Hair can loose its curl when the salt bonds are reduced or damaged by chemicals, such as colours and perms.

A good pep up to tighten naturally curly or permed hair is:

Wash your hair, rinse

Apply a mixture - 1tbs to 0.5 litre of warm water and rinse through the hair and leave for 3 mins, rinse and style.

The epsom salts contain magnesium sulphates which boost the salts bonds in the hair.

The other ingredients are citric acid and bicarbonate of soda which from a ph point of view cancel each other out.

The only other thing is sugar which doesn't do anything to the hair.

I used this in the salon for years as a post perm treatment as perm lotion breaks salt bonds, you then curl the hair on a roller and then fix it in the new curly form with neutraliser, which is basically a product that forces oxygen through the hair, but some of the salt bonds don't reform and the magenisium treatment helps to harden the permed hair.

HTH

PQ
Smile

Hi PQ,

I was wondering whether you could use the epsom salts to make a more dilute solution to just refresh curly/ wavy hair? Thanks for your help!

Yes that would work.
PQ

free skin care · Sat Jan 23, 2010 4:24 pm

My hair has a slight curl, and can get quite frizzy. It can go super straight if I spend ages blowdrying it, but I prefer the slightly tousled look. Does anyone know how people like Kate Moss or Charlotte Gainsbourg get the ends of their hair to clump together and slightly curl, and also avoid frizz? It's as though they've been at the beach or haven't washed it, but soo not.

Automatic Message

If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.

Click Here to join our community.

If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site.