Styling your hair at home doesn’t have to be overwhelming—especially when it comes to curls! This guide will walk you through simple, effective techniques to bring out the best in your curls, waves, or coils. In this blog post, Eden of Aura Curls will give us some tips on styling your curls at home.
It might seem like a daunting task, but many of us begin the journey to natural hair care with high intentions. Not everyone sticks with it, though. A lot can happen along the way, from damage to hormonal changes and gray hairs!
Most people start by watching videos online and buying a bunch of products that may or may not work for them. The product closet grows and grows until you’re hoarding a bunch of stuff that “doesn’t work.” Unfortunately, marketing tactics are great at convincing you that labels are the correct way to determine whether a product works, or maybe an influencer influenced you into purchasing.
Starting Your Natural Hair Care Journey
When starting your natural hair care journey, the best place to begin is by understanding what you need for your lifestyle and the basics of hair care. The most important factor that stylists find in common is the proper cleansing and detangling. This is where you should choose quality tools that help you maintain the health of your hair daily. Making sure your scalp health is good and your wash day is consistent can change the trajectory of your journey.
Understanding How Your Hair Reacts
Once you get the hang of this, you should understand how your hair reacts to water, how good it looks on day one versus two versus three, or if it can even go that long. You should be attuned to your hair to know what to give it. This can be through trial and error but partnering with a hairstylist can speed up the process. Someone who understands a wide range of hair types, or at least your hair type, will be able to guide you on the right path in just one hair appointment.
Researching and Choosing Products
I recommend that you research products before purchasing them. Knowing the quality of ingredients and looking at product reviews is valuable information when choosing a product. By understanding your hair type and the purpose of your product, you’ll be able to achieve the results you desire.
When I say hair types, don’t get caught up in your curl pattern. Curl patterns are surface-level identifiers. In skin care, we choose products based on skin type (for example: oily, dry, or combination), so we should do the same with hair. As a hair stylist, I pick hair products in my salon based on surface texture or porosity. Depending on your goal (volume, definition, or long-lasting style), my work starts by determining how easily your hair defines. Based on that, I will decide whether your hair needs a strong-hold product or if it can get away with a light-hold product. There are many other factors that can affect the style result, but this is essentially the basis.
If you’d like to know more, I have an online course – Wash Day Essentials to help you learn these components of styling at home. Please use code “CURLEEME25” for 25% off when you purchase the class.
Applying Products Correctly
Once you understand your hair type and what it needs to achieve your goal, you will need to apply this knowledge to your routine. It’s easy to try the many methods of styling out there, but ultimately, there is only one right way to apply products – Saturation.
We apply the product so that it covers every square inch of the hair. This doesn’t mean you need to apply lots of product, but making sure it’s evenly distributed is what you need. Using water to help spread the product throughout and using the right tool of choice will solve half of your problems!
You can practice different tools, styling methods and the choice of your favorite results to use when it’s time for wash day. The key here is not to be lazy. In order to have your hair look good, you have to put in the effort.
Drying Your Hair
The next step to wash day is drying your hair. This is the process of allowing all your previous steps to set into place. It’s best not to touch the hair at this point, or else you will disrupt the setting of the product and compromise the style you worked so hard on.
Diffusing or scrunching in place are both great ways to speed up drying. Air drying or sitting under a hooded dryer are also valid ways of setting the hair.
Final Thoughts
This is a lot of information to take in, but these tips can change your wash day routine, and it will only get better the more you try. That’s why I made my online course to help people at home get the same looks they can get in the salon. I think it’s important to understand your hair as it is and have realistic goals for what it can do. It will take time, but with patience, you’ll reach your goal before you know it!
Eden Gessesse
Aura Curls by Eden
