My Hair Routine Part 3: Styling

My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools


Remember when I told you guys that I've managed to calm my "product junkie" ways? Well, as you can tell from my Part 2: Conditioning approach, I clearly haven't stopped looking for that one stand alone conditioner. Maybe I will find it, maybe I won't.

But styling products! I've hit my stride here in the last year or so. I haven't bought a new styling product in months, just repurchased what I had used up. I've been wanting to try one new styler, but I'll get to that later.


The Leave In: Kinky Curly Knot Today or Curl Junkie Beauticurls Leave In

Kinky Curly is a curly girl stand by. This leave in melts away any tangles and provides what for me feels like a clean slate for my products. I don't like to skip a leave in, as I think it helps me with getting product evenly distributed. I do not use this leave in for moisture. I think that the majority of my tender love and care for my hair comes in the shower or in overnight deep treatments. The leave in is my base. That's where this leave in excels.  It doesn't weigh my fine hair down, and it doesn't have a cloying scent that will clash with other products and perfume. This product is completely Curly Girl method approved and is an old standby. The best part about it is that it's now super easy to find. Years ago, you could only get it online, but now it's hit Targets, Walgreeens, Walmarts, Ultas, and everywhere in between. I do not find their store locator service on their website to be reliable, however, as I have found it in many places that aren't listed there. So just be aware that if you use that feature, don't give up hope if you don't get any nearby results.

Another great option comes from Curl Junkie, another Curly Girl friendly line. This one has to be purchased online.  This is the leave in I use when I want extra moisture.  I definitely lean more heavily on this during the winter when I find that my hair is drier overall. This has a thicker consistency and feels more nourishing than the Kinky Curly. It still doesn't weigh my hair down though and gives me that clean slate that I'm looking for. I find that Curl Junkie scents are definitely "there" so to speak, but they aren't the sort that will hang around all day and give you a headache.


You Need This: Suave Captivating Curls Whipped Cream Mousse

If I had better photoshop skills, I would make draw fireworks, sparkles, and hearts around this bottle. This is my holy grail hair product. 

This is such a weird product! First of all, it's a mousse. But it's not a mousse.  It doesn't puff up into a baseball sized ball of air when you dispense it, but you do still dispense it upside down into your hands like you would with any other mousse.  

You apply this differently than a traditional mousse. This, according to the bottle and conventional curly girl wisdom, goes into soaking wet hair. What I do is I take about a strawberry sized glob, rub my hands together, and rake that through my hair.  I then use the "super soaker" method, which amounts to parting my hair, then scrunching in water to get my hair soaking wet again, which clumps together the curls.  Then, with the hair still dripping, I scrunch in about half of a strawberry worth of mousse throughout. This upward scrunching motion makes those clumps into coils.

After that, if it's not super dry outside, I scrunch using my Curls Like Us towel or an old cotton t-shirt to get some of the water out of my hair.  If it's super dry outside (which I determine by looking at the dew point), then I scrunch in a dab of gel before the towel scrunching. I find that I only need the gel when it's super dry to help hold my curl. When there's moisture in the air, my hair will do it's own curling.

Why do I love this so much? This defines my curls like no other. It's not heavy, but it tames frizz. It takes my hair and makes it effortless. I will buy this in mass quantity as long as Suave keeps making it.

Here's my one little spot where I have to admit I'm curious about a new styler though. Tressemme has a relatively new product out called Flawless Curls Mousse, which is getting rave reviews. With my drawer full of my Suave mousse, I will likely give the Tressemme candidate a try when I see it in my grocery store. But I have very high expectations! I'll keep you guys posted.

So here is my hair, styled using the products and techniques mentioned above.  It's not perfect. I think that's a big part of getting over the product junkie hurdle. I've accepted that my hair will never be absolutely perfect. But this is what it looks like every day. And I'm very happy with that, and feel that it's the way I was supposed to look.

My next post is going to be a Part 3a if you will. I'm going to go through an "honorable mention" list of styling products. These will products that aren't in my everyday must have routine, but they are useful and I do think they deserve mention.

Have you tried any of these products? What do you think of them?

My Hair Routine Series

Part 1: Cleansing

Part 2: Conditioning

Part 3: Styling

Part 4: Honorable Mention Products

Part 5: Styling Tools