8 Tips to enhance your natural curls
Curls are amazing, however everyone with curls knows that they can require a lot of work especially if you want to maintain the shape of your curls and keep them healthy and beautiful. Most curly haired people can probably agree that there is a fine line between having wild, frizzy, curly hair and having ‘good’ hair days where your curls do exactly what you want. We think that curly hair is beautiful and ZENZ’s professionals are here to help you with enhancing your natural curls with 8 simple tips.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR CURL PATTERN?
The reason why one gets curly hair is due to the shape of their hair follicles. People with curly hair have U or C- shaped follicles. This determines whether the hair that grows out is straight, curly, wavy, or kinky and if you have U or C-shaped follicles it means that your hair is very curly.
Curls are characterised on a scale that ranges from 2 to 4. 2 Being wavy and 4 being very kinky. These types of hair can also be divided by texture - from thin and fine to thick and full and this is rated by the letters A-C. For example, 2B can be defined as wavy hair and 4C as tight kinky curls. Some people with curls might also have multiple curl patterns in their hair, depending on the section of the hair in question. This can have an impact on how you should take care of your hair.
Nourish your curls
Curly hair is naturally more dry than other hair types because it takes a longer time for moisture to make it through the different twists and turns of a curly hair strand. Therefore, haircare with plenty of nourishing ingredients is essential when you are trying to achieve healthy curly hair.
1. START WITH THE RIGHT SHAMPOO
The first step towards nourishing your curls is choosing a natural and organic shampoo that will add plenty of moisture to your hair. This also goes for other haircare products that you use, make sure that they add enough moisture to your hair and avoid products that either dry out your hair, or make your hair feel heavy.
Ideally ZENZ experts advise you to choose a mild shampoo without sulfates. You can read more about why sulfates are bad for hair here. Among other things, shampoos that contain sulphates can cause overproduction of sebum in the scalp. Aside from this you should ideally avoid washing your hair with shampoo too often – since you can risk washing out some of the essential natural oils in your hair and scalp.
2. WASH YOUR CURLY HAIR IN COLD WATER
Hot water can dry out the hair, and your curls do not need that. That's why our experts recommend avoiding hot showers. Cooler water helps the hair strands to close, which make them retain moisture and shine better. Before washing your curly hair, it can be a good idea to loosen the tangled curls with your hands. We don’t recommend you comb the hair when it is dry - so it can be an idea to comb your hair in the shower when it’s wet. You can add your conditioner or hair treatment and comb the product through the hair, in this way you can make sure that you are breaking as few hairs as possible.
Hydrate your curls
As mentioned earlier, curly hair can have a difficult time staying moisturized because it takes more time for the hair strands to be coated in moisture. This is why it's important to go for products with ingredients that don't strip the natural oils from the hair or block moisture-absorbing effects. Therefore, you should beware of products with the following ingredients: parabens, phthalates, sulfates, and some types of alcohol. The types of alcohol that dry out are alcohol denat, ethanol, and methanol.
3. MOISTURE IS THE ANSWER
When it comes to curls, your hair can never be too moisturised. Adding moisture can be done by using oils or a good conditioner. It's important that you go for an oil with natural ingredients, minerals, and vitamins. The oil can help preserve the moisture in the hair - and control the frizz, which means that your curls will be much easier to handle and style. Choose a good, hair oil like our Oil Treatment Deep Wood no. 99 or our moisturising Conditioner Deep Wood no. 08, which you can leave in your hair as a leave-in conditioner. See here how the right products enhanced the curls of our testperson Line.
Conditioners to lock in moisture
4. USE A WEEKLY TREATMENT & DETOX
A protein treatment penetrates deep into the hair shaft, where the nourishing ingredients create long-lasting results. A weekly hair treatment with natural proteins will also work wonders for your hair. Use Treatment Pure no. 03 mixed with the Deep Wood Oil Treatment for an extra moisture boost. If you massage the oil into the scalp, you will also be able to boost the blood circulation, which will promote hair growth. It can be a good idea to invest in the HairSpa Treatment Booster cap to optimize the effect of your treatment and reduce the treatment time. Next to a treatment you can use a natural detox once a week to take care of both your hair and scalp. A detox helps to remove all dirt from the hair and scalp. Use Hair & Scalp Rinse no. 87 to remove dirt, lime and product build up that weighs down the hair and clogs the hair strands and scalp. Regular treatments will help you get the full benefit of your haircare products and keep your curls healthy.
The holy grail of treatments
DRYING YOUR CURLS
The best thing for curly hair is to air dry it. Avoid rubbing your hair with a towel, use a T-shirt instead. A T-shirt is gentle on the hair strands since the cotton fibres are flatter than the one on a cotton towel, apart from this a T-shirt also helps with reducing frizz. According to the Curly Girl method, it is recommended to put wet hair up in an old t-shirt - preferably one made of 100% cotton.
5. BLOW-DRY YOUR HAIR WITH CARE
If you dry your hair with a blow dryer, make sure to use a diffuser. It helps to distribute the heat and makes blow drying milder on the hair. Turn your head upside down and blow dry from the tips up. Avoid blow-drying close to the scalp, and always use a heat protecting product. Try the ZENZ Styling Gel no. 12, which protects the hair from heat and adds moisture at the same time. You can mix your styling gel with Oil Treatment Deep Wood no. 99 for some extra love and care.
6. Style your curls
When looking for haircare products for curls, it's important to choose products without silicone and other drying ingredients. You achieve the most beautiful curls when your hair is healthy and well-taken care of. We recommend our Styling Gel no. 12 and Hair Styling Mousse no. 91 when styling your curls. Apply the gel or mousse to wet hair, scrunch the product in your curls, start from the bottom and working your way up towards the roots. Once the hair is almost dry, you can add a few drops of Oil Treatment Deep Wood no. 99 to the tips or add a little extra Styling Gel. If you have curly hair, you should ideally avoid using hair spray that has a high amount of alcohol - as this will make your curls stiff and look less natural.
PROTECT YOUR CURLS
Curls are amazing but require extra work to stay healthy and beautiful. If you are blessed with natural curls, you probably know what we are talking about, as curly hair is naturally more dry than other hair types. Protect your curls by dying your hair with a natural hair dye, use the so-called pineapple method when you go to bed and avoid split ends.
7. Two ways to protect your curls
1. If you dye your hair, you should try a mild, natural hair colour that is not permanent or made from chemicals, since that wil damage the hair shaft. Hair dye forms a layer of protection around the outside of the hair shaft and the colour also adds extra shine. See here how our testperson protects her curls with our Henna Hair Dye.
2. Next to colouring your hair to protect your curls you could also try the so-called Pineapple method, a method where you put your hair in a high, loose ponytail and gathering it on top of your head - preferably with a silk or satin hair tie, such as a scrunchy.
8. AVOID SPLIT ENDS
It is almost inevitable that you will get split ends. But split ends can make your curly hair appear frizzier and drier, so it's important that you treat your hair in a healthy way. This can be by always using heat protecting products, oils, and hair treatments. Next to this our professionals also recommended to get your ends cut by a professional hairdresser - preferably every 2 or 3 months.
Now you have hopefully learned much more about how to take care of and enhance your natural curls. Implementing these tips will get you one step closer to achieving and maintaining your beautiful, curly hair.
WRITTEN BY TAMARA THOMPSON
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