Learn How to Tame Curly Hair - Use the right hair brush!
As a child one of the most frequent gifts I received was a hair brush. Having discovered that combs fail to create order out of the mad curly mess, my mum kept buying me a variety of hair brushes – from plastic ones with a flexible bottom holding numerous bristles together to wooden ones with sturdy bristles. It took us a while before we were able to find a way on how to tame curly hair with a hair brush. Most brushes ended up falling apart after a few weeks’ use, some after merely a few days! But there was one that outperformed the rest, although it took a few modifications.
My favourite hair brush had many short bristles attached to a soft bottom and a short handle. It became the favourite, ironically, after it lost some of its bristles and after the handle broke. Fewer bristles made it less painful to comb through the tangles and the lack of a handle allowed me to hold the brush much closer to the hair and thus to have more control. I have since tended to buy hair brushes that have short but not too dense bristles and a very short sturdy handle. This simple rule seems to work.
If you are wondering how to tame curly hair with a wooden or a plastic brush, my preference is for plastic over wood. Wood does not create as much static electricity upon contact with the hair, but it is too hard and not suitable for combing through thick locks that tend to tangle more easily. Using a plastic brush, however, should never be done on completely dry hair. Here is why.
Brush before washing, but not after
Most curly people will know that brushing dry hair is the worst thing you can do – it will create frizz and destroy the natural oils that hold the curls together. I find that brushing the hair before washing, but not after it is washed, works best. That way you ensure that all the tangles are gone and the hair is evenly washed allowing the curls to coil up naturally upon drying without the interference of a brush. In my experience, this is the simplest answer of how to tame curly hair, which never fails. The one down-side is that it does take a long while.
My preferred way is to let the hair dry naturally after shampooing and . However, if you have long hair, its natural weight when wet will not allow it to curl up much. If you prefer your curls to spiral up naturally, it may help to part dry the hair with a blow dryer diffuser on low heat with your head turned over and the hair lightly supported by the diffuser. Again, I cannot overemphasize the importance of letting your hair dry naturally, so any use of a hair dryer or artificial heat should be very limited. Otherwise you risk destroying those precious hair oils and creating a frizzy mess. applying a leave-in conditioner
There is a lot to be said about using the right shampoo and hair conditioner, but this topic merits a separate article. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing any suggestions on how to tame curly hair that anyone may be able to share.
My hair is medium length, very curly and very thick. Any tips in this article are from my personal experience and may not apply to African-American hair, which is very different from Caucasian curly hair.
As a child one of the most frequent gifts I received was a hair brush. Having discovered that combs fail to create order out of the mad curly mess, my mum kept buying me a variety of hair brushes – from plastic ones with a flexible bottom holding numerous bristles together to wooden ones with sturdy bristles. It took us a while before we were able to find a way on how to tame curly hair with a hair brush. Most brushes ended up falling apart after a few weeks’ use, some after merely a few days! But there was one that outperformed the rest, although it took a few modifications.
My favourite hair brush had many short bristles attached to a soft bottom and a short handle. It became the favourite, ironically, after it lost some of its bristles and after the handle broke. Fewer bristles made it less painful to comb through the tangles and the lack of a handle allowed me to hold the brush much closer to the hair and thus to have more control. I have since tended to buy hair brushes that have short but not too dense bristles and a very short sturdy handle. This simple rule seems to work.
If you are wondering how to tame curly hair with a wooden or a plastic brush, my preference is for plastic over wood. Wood does not create as much static electricity upon contact with the hair, but it is too hard and not suitable for combing through thick locks that tend to tangle more easily. Using a plastic brush, however, should never be done on completely dry hair. Here is why.
Brush before washing, but not after
Most curly people will know that brushing dry hair is the worst thing you can do – it will create frizz and destroy the natural oils that hold the curls together. I find that brushing the hair before washing, but not after it is washed, works best. That way you ensure that all the tangles are gone and the hair is evenly washed allowing the curls to coil up naturally upon drying without the interference of a brush. In my experience, this is the simplest answer of how to tame curly hair, which never fails. The one down-side is that it does take a long while.
My preferred way is to let the hair dry naturally after shampooing and . However, if you have long hair, its natural weight when wet will not allow it to curl up much. If you prefer your curls to spiral up naturally, it may help to part dry the hair with a blow dryer diffuser on low heat with your head turned over and the hair lightly supported by the diffuser. Again, I cannot overemphasize the importance of letting your hair dry naturally, so any use of a hair dryer or artificial heat should be very limited. Otherwise you risk destroying those precious hair oils and creating a frizzy mess. applying a leave-in conditioner
There is a lot to be said about using the right shampoo and hair conditioner, but this topic merits a separate article. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing any suggestions on how to tame curly hair that anyone may be able to share.
My hair is medium length, very curly and very thick. Any tips in this article are from my personal experience and may not apply to African-American hair, which is very different from Caucasian curly hair.