Get the Look of Curly 3B Natural Hair with No Gel, Just Moisturizer and a Little Heat

This is a new technique I've been trying out on my VERY fried bleached blonde 'natural' hair (not so natural since it's bleached...). 

Instead of twisting, I just run my straightener over my natural curl pattern to calm frizzies and smooth my texture a little bit. It's really weird because you would think that straightening damaged hair would make it more damaged...but I find that when I straighten my bleach damaged hair it actually becomes much smoother, stronger, less brittle and softer. 

How I style my hair from this:

(Frizzy, brittle, dull)

To this:

(Smoother, softer, shiny)

As you can see, this method of styling resulted in much softer, tamer, and smoother curls and waves--and I didn't use ANY gel! As you may know...my new natural hair tool kit favorite is Yes To Carrot's leave in conditioner. It is super creamy and moisturizing and leaves my hair feeling very soft. To get this look I do use heat--though if you are opposed to heat styling, you can stretch your hair using the wrapping or pony tail method. You could also twist or braid and then pull until taught, bobby pinning the ends.

As you can see, my natural hair is totally fried and breaking off little by little. It's a nightmare! But I am coping as best as I can...not to be overly dramatic...and Yes to Carrots has been a big help. I love the conditioner and shampoo as well...but that will be another post!

The Process:

First I washed my hair using a purple shampoo and Trader Joe's Nourish Spa Conditioner.

Then I separated my hair into about 4-6 sections.

I re-spritzed each section with water.

Then detangled.

Then used a dime size amount of Say Yes to Carrots Leave In and distributed the product throughout each section. 

To further distribute product and help clump my curls, I brushed through using my Denman brush.

After that process, each section looks something like this.

Repeat this process throughout your whole head.

After the Say Yes to Carrots Leave In was evenly distrubited throughout all of my hair...I sat under my bonnet dryer for about 45 minutes until my hair was about 85-95% dry.

For extra moisture and shine, I rubbed a quarter size amount of Trader Joe's Organic Virgin coconut oil into my ends.

Then, I covered my hair in a scarf and slept on it overnight letting it dry completely and allowing the coconut oil to absorb.

The next morning, I sectioned my hair again into workable sections. 

You don't need to set your straightener to the highest heat level--but the hotter the straighter, the less time you'll need to run the straightener over your curls. You want to be careful not to STRAIGHTEN your hair -- just stretch your hair. 

This is how short my hair is with shrinkage! It shrinks to about a third the length. Sometimes even less! 

As you can see...my hair is actually much longer. You want to stretch out the small section of hair with your fingers...

And then quickly run your straightener over the section. The longer you let the straighter stay on your hair, the smoother and less curly it will be. I focus the straightener more at the roots and less on the ends. 

Then repeat this throughout your whole head -- focusing a little more on the roots and then running the straightener on high heat more quickly along the rest of the hair and your ends.

This is the result! I didn't use ANY gel or styling product -- only Yes to Carrots Leave in Conditioner. If you do use a gel on top of this, the curls will likely be a bit tighter and will probably last a day or two longer. So that is up to you -- but this just shows that even if you do have very tight curls, you can get away with ditching sticky and/or crunchy styling gels. 

This style lasts me 1-3 days until it starts to frizz. I usually touch up again with a straightener or twist it throughout the week. I find that using a straightener to stretch my curls, rather than a blow dryer, leaves my hair less frizzy and helps reduce shrinkage. Though I still like using my blow dryer on days when I want more volume. I guess it just depends on your style and what you like! But if you have very tight curls (like I do) and want to get the 3B curl/wave look--this is a good method!

Let me know how it works for you!

Tutorial: Beach Waves on Natural Hair (While the Summer Lasts!)

These beachy loose waves have been my go-to style for my blonde hair so far. I find that when I wear it totally natural in what used to my go-to wash, diffuse, and tension blow dry (that sounds more confusing than it is! Click here for the how to), that it feels so rediculously DRY. And for some reason when I wear it in straighter styles it's much softer and at least feels more pliable and moisturized. I don't understand how this makes any sense!

I like this style because you can do it on wet hair, straightened hair, or a blow out -- or an old wash and go. And if you do straighten your hair, this is a good style to do in between washes so you don't have to keep straightening it repeatedly throughout the week. It looks cute out, in a messy side ponytail, bun, of half up do.

The Process:

First, seperate your hair into 4-5 workable sections. Section by section, split each big section into 3-5 (depending on how thick, long, curly...your hair is) smaller sections. Twists the small secions into one strand twists as tightly as you can, and then wrap around itself into a bantu knot. Secure with a bobby pin if needed. 

Do this around your whole head. In total, I had about 16-18 bantu knots. I do not use much product at all, a small bit of moisturizer, curl cream, and/or coconut oil will do! Leave the bantu knots in 6-8 hours overnight or until 100% dry (if applied on wet hair).

The next morning, gently unravel the bantu knots. If you want to loosen the curl/wave even more, you can run your straightener over the one strand twist -- while it's still twisted -- befores separating. 

Gently separate the waves. To reduce frizz, rub some coconut oil on your palms and fingers.

Do this to your entire head!

The Result:

And there you have it! Even if your hair is damaged, it should now feel soft to the touch, pliable and moisturized. Be sure to add extra moisturizer or coconut oil to those ends...

Let me know how it goes!