'Kay here's the thing. I LOVE braiding my hair wet, letting it dry and taking out the braids and having lovely luxurious waves. Tonight I plan to do this and I was wondering if there was anything I could do to keep the curl in for a while. I wash my hair every other night, so I don't have to worry about washing the curl out right away. The problem is, I have naturally straight hair that doesn't like to hold a curl very well. I was wondering if there was something I could put in it or something I could do to it that would make it a little more open to suggestion, so to speak. I was hoping for something a little more natural than hair spray or gel as they tend to make my hair impossible to manage (also I have some mild damage from dying it towards the ends and I don't want to make it worse). Any ideas?
you want to keep braid waves? I'm always unbraiding while still a bit damp to avoid them! maybe some aloe vera gel?
before you braid your hair, while your hair is still wet, put an ever so slight amount of mousse in your hair. It's not permanent, bit it will help keep the crimp in longer.
Haha, yeah, I love the waves. I always wish I was born with naturally wavy hair instead of straight like a stick all the time.... I've got a friend who swears by mousse so she suggested that one to me as well. I was wondering about those curl sprays. I just don't want my hair to feel like a potato chip when I'm done. I like soft waves. That's why I always brush my hair after I take the braids down. It makes it unbearably frizzy for about an hour, but it calms down after a while :tongue: Aloe... that's an interesting one. I'll have to try that sometime.
i just bought two products by the same brand name, one is a frizz reducer and the other is a curl definer, but i'm sure it would hold as well. Neither harden, but they both keep very pretty curls/waves, very shiney. Salon La Coupe, Perfect Curls: Pumped Up and Salon La Coupe, Perfect Curls: Define i always found mousse made my curls really crunchy. Very defined, but very crunchy, and it dragged my hair down so it had no bounce! :]
Good to know. I just braided it as usual a few days ago around 5pm. I separated it into two layers and put 4 braids on top and 5 braids on the bottom. I braided them as close to my head as possible and didn't take them out until 6am the next morning. The waves stayed in for 2 days until I washed them out. They did flatten out a little bit (the curl was still in, but the volume was nill), so that was a little annoying. I haven't had the time to try anything since then (3 labs due and 3 major exams in a week will do that to you), but I have a million ideas now. Maybe I'll try again over the weekend during the big blizzard we're supposed to get...
I use to put a bit of mousse in my hair before braiding to help it keep a bit longer. hope that helps.