How to Tame Your Textured Hair With Easy Tips and Tricks from Professionals

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Curly haired women no longer have to envy their straight-tressed sisters. Today, curly hair – in all its beautiful textures – is getting the attention and products it deserves to look its magnificent best.

New research is helping manufacturers develop products that address curly hair’s unique characteristics. For example, French researchers discovered that African hair is drier, slower growing, and more likely to fray at the tips and split lengthwise. Hair care scientists have also determined that the twists and turns of curly hair bend the shaft’s scalelike covering, making strands rough and difficult to control.

For hair that’s curl-luscious, follow this advice from the pros:

Beginner Guide To Your Curls

“Think of texture in terms of how your hair is shaped – kinky, curly or wavy,” says Anthony Dickey, who operates a New York salon devoted to textured hair and is the author of Hair Rules!: The Ultimate Hair-Care Guide for Women with Kinky, Curly, or Wavy Hair. Check this book for Kindle or Paperback HERE.

Kinky hair has the tightest curl pattern and is often frizzy. Curly hair has looser twists and turns, while wavy hair exhibits a softer, more open curl.

Treat Your Dominant Hair Type

You may have curly hair – but only in a patch at the back of your head. Or maybe your kinky hair calms to a gentler curl along the sides. It’s wise to cater to your dominant type, says Domingo Serquinia, co-owner of Paint Shop, a Los Angeles hair and nail salon.

If portions of your hair are curly on an otherwise tame head of hair, Serquinia recommends using a temporary straightener, such as the new keratin treatments that many salons offer. Stylists can moderate the amount of temporary straightener to add manageability to curls, not flatten them.

If your hair is kinky rather than curly, skip the keratin and opt for paste-formula relaxers that can be applied precisely to new growth.

As we age, the amount of sebum generated by the glands can decrease. The hair can become thinner.

Find out what to pay your attention to and what anti-aging hair care products to use.

Textured Hair Products Tips

Curly, kinky and wavy hair need extra hydration because their winding structure impedes the flow of scalp oils along the strand. Product lines formulated for curly hair, including those designed specifically for women of color, contain additional moisturizing ingredients that your thirsty tresses will drink right up.

But today you can find natural hair care products that can be effective and non-toxic at the same time.

Managing Textured Hair With Regular Cuts

Curly hair may grow slowly, but it still needs trimming every three months to keep the ends fresh, says Serquinia. But he advises, “You don’t want your stylist to use a razor or cut into the ends, because that can fray ends and add to the frizz.”

Look for Curly Hair Care Salons in your area like this one to take good care of your locks.

Keep Your Curls Cool Year-Round

If your hair has been processed with chemical straighteners or permanent-wave solutions, steer clear of high-heat styling tools like flatirons, suggests Miami, FL, dermatologist Heather Woolery-Lloyd. That’s because your hair may already have blisterlike bubbles from the processing, and heat can cause those bubbles to break or split, leading to damaged, distressed locks.

In addition, do protect your hair from blistering sun rays and the cold weather in the winter. The spasms that hair follicles can experience from low temperatures can easily contribute to the frizzy and dull hair.

Check out my detailed post with some awesomely effective summer UV hair protection solutions.

Tips to Care for And Style Curly Hair

Because of their lower tensile strength, some types of kinky hair have decreased resistance to repeated brushing, says Woolery-Lloyd. Avoid vigorous brushing and work carefully through knots and tangles to avoid breakage. After shampooing and conditioning your hair, remove wetness with a gentle squeeze. Apply a styling product to still-wet hair to protect the cuticle and retain the hair’s natural curl.

How to Dry Naturally Curly Hair

To get salon results at home, without having to master the tricky two-handed round brush technique, look for a blow-dryer with a wide-tooth comb attachment and use it on a medium setting. Or, suggests Dickey, use an old-school portable hood dryer that lets hair dry in place with minimal tangling.

Remember that the gentler airflow of the portable dryers is less disruptive to the curl pattern than the typical blow-dryer.