Confessions of a curly haired girl pt. 3 : New Faves & Must Haves

So every now and then I do a blog post about hair… as a curly haired girl I have spent my whole life trying to learn what works best with my curls. And I feel that when something works, I have to share it with the world, because who knows how many curly haired people out there are needing advice.
My current 3 hair products that are in high rotation at the moment.

And I don’t use the word rotation lightly, I find that I have to switch my hair products every so often (every couple of months roughly) because it seems that my hair gets used to the product & the product stops giving me good curls. Now I don’t know if this is because of buildup or what, not being a scientist, I don’t really care about the reason, I just note it so that I take the right actions.

The first step to my routine is a curly hair milk or lotion – I like the first step to be very rich in moisture. This first layer is closest to the follicle (obviously) so I want it to be moisturizing to give my hair lots of softness. At the moment I’ve been loving Shea Moisture’s Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Style Milk (their curl lotion is good too, and it’s a bit thinner so it won’t weigh fine hair down). It’s got a great scent and I find it makes my hair really soft! (I’ve been using the Coconut & Hibiscus foaming bath & shower wash as well so my whole body smells very tropical when I get out of the shower!).

Second step is usual a curl product that acts more like a gel, usually clear (so it doesn’t look like conditioner) and as it dries it gives my hair a wet curled look. You could you use an actual gel for this step, but I find that curl products can give you the same effect without all the drying alcohol. I’ve been loving my new purchase of Catwalk Curls Rock Curl Amplifier. But I have to say that I’ve tried this product before & did not like it then. Just proving that my hair is a fickle mistress and can change her mind regarding a product at any time! After this step the key is to NOT TOUCH your hair. I like this product to air dry – the curls will stay tight together as opposed to frizzy. I usually wait til it’s bone dry before I fluff my hair. This is usually late morning. But if I’m going out in the evening, I’ll leave my hair this way all day & just fluff it before I go out. I used to use argan oil to fluff my hair, but I’ve been recently been using a beach spray to give my hair a bit more texture which is helping to give me extra volume.

Last but not least, my arsenal would not be complete without a conditioning spray. I use this when fluffing has gone to far & crossed over into frizziness. Or if I notice a curl is frizzing up as it dries. I simply re-wet the offending curl with the conditioning spray and let it air dry again. At the moment I’ve been using Uncle Funky’s Daughter Thirsty Curl Leave In Conditioner Spray. It has a very pleasant smell and the sprayer gives a good misting to hair that needs extra moisture.

Now my curls are not like everyone else’s curls, so my advice is not gospel, you will have to go through trial & error. But hopefully my advice gives you a starting point. Somewhere to begin, or maybe gives you a thought about how to make your current routine better!

Beauty item I currently can’t live without:

The Original Beauty Blender, purchased at Sephora (the mecca of beauty – the place I can’t help but be addicted to!!!!)
It’s shape makes it fantastic for blending my makeup around my eyes. I have dark circles around my eyes (made more prominent by lack of sleep… which happens often, &/or sickness) and I have to use under eye make up daily to look well rested. The conical end allows you to blend right at the corner of the eye, and it’s egg shape lets you almost roll out the make up to blend. This item works great with the new under eye concealer team that I bought (at Sephora as well… same day actually).

I use Sephora’s Lasting & Perfecting Corrector (double ended cream pen – big end for under eye, small end for covering spots) on the inner corner of the eye, where I find the circles darkest and hardest to conceal (top right box of pic) then blend that out with the blender. Then I use Sephora’s Smoothing & Brightening Concealer on the rest of under eye area (bottom right box of pic) which I blend out to corner of eye and a bit on to the lid itself. & Voila! 8 hours of sleep… who needs you?!

What are your beauty must haves? I’m always on the hunt for that next best thing so don’t be too shy to share!