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9 Things That Will Always Disrupt Your Wavy Curl Pattern

Women with wavy hair have to treat their hair differently than those with tighter curls. If you have wavy hair, you probably want better curl definition. If this is you, you need to avoid the following nine things that will always disrupt your wavy curl pattern.

1. Touching your hair while it’s still drying

This is especially challenging if you like to air dry your hair. But touching your hair while it is drying will break up your curls and cause more frizz. I know it’s hard, but try keeping your hands off your hair until it is completely dry. When it is dry, scrunch your hair lightly to soften the product in your hair. If you want more volume, flip your head over and loosen the roots with your fingers. Then flip your head upright, spray with a little flexible hold hairspray if you want to, and then try not to touch your hair anymore. The more you touch it, the more you will disrupt the curl pattern.

2. Using products that are too heavy

Some finer-haired wavies, may find that heavier products weigh their hair down. Using these products can cause your hair to be less bouncy and defined, and leave your hair looking stringy and limp. If you think this may happen to you, lightweight products may be more ideal. I like using DevaCurl Wave Maker on girls with fine wavy hair, and I only apply a nickel-sized amount.

3. Using too much product and being heavy-handed

Even if a product is lightweight and marketed to your hair type, more is not necessarily better. It takes some experimentation to find the perfect amount, but using too much of any product can make hair look weighed down and undefined.

4. Brushing your hair

Obviously, brushing your curls will disrupt the curl pattern. I instruct my clients to use their fingers or a wide tooth comb to detangle, preferably while they have conditioner in their hair.

5. Certain ingredients

Hair reacts differently to different ingredients in hair care products. Many wavy girls find that their hair reacts negatively to products that contain sulfates and non-water soluble silicones. Sulfates strip away all the good oils in your hair and tend to cause dehydration that leads to frizz. Silicones can build up on your hair and weigh it down, as well as act as a barrier against water entering and leaving the hair strand.

6. Terrycloth towels

Using a microfiber towel or a cotton t-shirt to dry your hair is significantly better than using a terrycloth towel. Terrycloth towels have rougher fibers which can affect your hair’s cuticle, leading to frizz, disrupted curls, and even breakage.

7. The weather

The time of year and weather make a huge difference in those with wavy-curly patterns. During winter when the air is colder and very dry, curls often droop and do not look as bouncy and defined as they do in warmer months with higher humidity. In dryer months, using a steamer can help add fullness and bounce to wavy hair.

8. Thinning or texturizing your hair

If your stylist insists on thinning or texturizing your wavy hair, then your stylist probably intends for you to blow it out straight. If you want to wear your hair in its naturally wavy state (and you should because it probably looks better that way) then thinning your hair is a bad idea. Thinning and texturizing wavy hair breaks up the waves and causes frizz.

9. Improper blowdrying technique

Even if you are using a diffuser to dry your wavy hair, you should always set the blow dryer to low heat and low air speed settings. There are actually 4 ways to blowdry your naturally curly hair. High heat will dry out your hair and cause frizz. High airspeed will disrupt the waves and break them up also causing frizz.

I hope these tips help wavy girls enjoy their hair because wavy hair is awesome hair. If you have wavy hair, show it off, it’s beautiful!

Do you have wavy hair? How do you style and maintain it?

Balayage vs. Pintura Highlighting For Curly Hair

Two of my favorite methods for highlighting naturally curly hair are balayage and pintura. In this post, I will explain the difference between these two hair coloring methods and offer my opinion on which technique works best for different curl types.

Balayage Highlighting

The history of Balayage

Balayage was created by the French in the 1970’s and has been slowly gaining popularity in the U.S. It is a hair highlighting method that creates the beautiful natural sun-kissed looks preferred by Hollywood starlets and Victoria Secret models. With both the Balayage and Pintura highlighting techniques, the hair appears darker near the roots and lighter on the ends as if the hair has been exposed to the sun for a few months.

How the Balayage Highlighting Method works

I took a class in Balayage offered by the L’Oreal Soho Professional Academy. The teacher was Min Kim, who has been one of Nancy Braun’s assistant. Min Kim and Nancy Braun are widely recognized as experts in the Balayage technique. As taught by Min Kim, when performing Balayage, a stylist applies lightener by first sweeping it onto the mid-shaft of the hair, then blending it lightly toward the roots and heavily onto the ends. This causes a slight lightening of the roots and more intense lighting of the ends. This is particularly important along the front hairline and along both sides of the part. It takes practice to do it well, but when it is done by an experienced colorist, the effect is gorgeous.

Pintura Highlighting

A little background on Pintura

I studied Pintura highlighting at the DevaCurl Academy in NYC, where I took a class with Dennis Da Silva, the cofounder of DevaCurl. As far as I know, Dennis created the Pintura technique. Dennis is Brazilian and “pintura” means “painting” in Brazilian.

How the Pintura Highlighting Method works

In Pintura highlighting, the lightener is painted onto the hair, however, it is applied first at the roots rather than at the mid-shaft. Also, more lightener is deposited at the roots than is done in Balayage. This creates lighter roots. In order to mimic the natural lightening of the sun, even more lightener is applied to the mid-shaft and ends of the hair than is applied to the roots. This is the same in both Balayage and Pintura.

How to Choose

The question remains, when is Pintura better than Balayage and vice versa?

The answer lies in the size of the curl.

Tightly curly hair such as fractal, corkscrew, botticelli, and corkicelli diffuses more light than loosely wavy hair. This is because the tighter curl creates a surface that reflects light in different directions and thereby diffuses the light and makes the hair appear darker.

For this reason, it is best to use the Pintura technique on tighter curls because the highlights need to be brighter in order to be seen. In the case of looser curls, such as wavy and swavy hair, the hair has greater light reflection, and therefore the Balayage technique looks better.

What questions do you have on Balayage and Pintura? Have you tried a special coloring method on your naturally curly hair?

The Difference Between The Deva Cut and Ouidad Haircut

Many of my curly haired clients ask me what the difference is between the Deva Cut and the Ouidad Haircut. Having been trained and certified in both techniques, I am qualified to answer this question. In this article, I don’t intend to give my opinion of which method that I prefer, I will simply explain the differences.

Before the Cut

Both techniques claim to be the best method of cutting naturally curly hair, yet they are extremely different. Before cutting the hair, both the Deva and the Ouidad technique requires the hairstylist to perform a thorough examination of the hair. The Stylist looks for differing curl patterns throughout the head, noting density, shape and hairline patterns. Face shape and body shape are always taken into consideration when determining the most attractive hair cut. Once the unique attributes of the client are assessed, then a hair design plan is created that will accentuate attractive features and detract from unappealing ones.

Deva Cut Method

The Deva Philosophy

A hairstylist who employs the Deva cutting method will always cut the hair dry, cutting each curl ringlet by ringlet. The hairstylist cuts the ends of the hair, never texturizing or thinning the hair. The philosophy behind this is that slicing into the interior of a curly haircut has the potential to create frizz.

The Deva Technique

In the Deva technique, a perimeter is established first, usually starting around the face and then going the sides and toward the back. Curl pattern and density are analyzed to determine where on the head to begin elevating and creating layers. Thinner hair will require a greater percentage of the hair to fall to the perimeter to create a fuller look. If the hair is thin, then a smaller percentage of the hair will be available to create elevation and interior movement. Thick hair necessitates the opposite and elevation can begin farther down the nape. When done well, the final result will be hair that lays in an attractive shape and accentuates the unique curl pattern of the individual.

Ouidad Cut Method

Carve and Slice Technique

The Ouidad haircutting technique involves cutting the hair wet. After the basic shape is created, then the stylist decides where to incorporate the Ouidad Carve and Slice technique. This is performed by taking vertical sections of hair below the parietal ridge, pulling the hair out, and gently shaking it to reveal thicker sections within the curls. These thicker areas are then delicately “carved” or “sliced” depending on what the desired result is. Carving removes more hair and is generally used on tighter and thicker curls. Slicing removes less hair and is intended to create volume and shape on thinner looser curls.

The Ouidad Philosophy

The philosophy behind this haircut is that by carving and slicing curly hair in a skillful way, the hairstylist can create a hair shape that causes the curls to fit together like pieces of a puzzle. The intention of this method is to create an attractive haircut and eliminate the “triangle” look, which nobody since the ancient Egyptians seems to find attractive.

Both the Ouidad and the Deva cutting techniques have benefits, and both require practice to execute well. Ouidad and Deva each have their own styling techniques as well.

Which cutting style – Deva or Ouidad – have you tried out? Which do you prefer?