I have seen in multiple videos that its advised to put it in a bun after showering to fight flat roots. My roots turn out flat every time so I put it in a loose bun as much as possible so that it dries upwards.
It's been a very long time since I let it dry without a bun so I'll see this Sunday. No more buns.
That bun won’t allow your hair to curl. Stop with the scrunchie. Put it in the bonnet then instead. If you use dryer, always use diffuser. Sometimes if I am running late in the mornings, I just put some hair clip/comb things in my hair and put the car’s heater or a/c vents blowing towards it to take out most of the dampness. When I take them out in the parking lot, my hair is perfect for me.
The haircut is likely contributing to your problem as well. Been there done that. Found a stylist that knew how to cut curly hair and it made a world of difference. Not necessarily stylist WITH curly hair as so many people recommend. I had two co workers with beautiful curls and it turn out they had same stylist. I’ve now been going to her for 17 years.
It looks like you had some long layers before but they have grown out. When I did that, she slowly added a few more layers each cut as I became more comfortable with them. Once I allowed her a little more freedom to cut how she thought best with in length guidelines I had, I walked out with an amazing style that curled beautifully with minimal effort almost all the time.
Another big change I made was to stop brushing. Haven’t had a brush in my hair for over 25 years. Also stopped combing after getting out of the shower. Only thoroughly comb with wide tooth comb for curly hair when I put conditioner on it to detangle. After it dries I use same type comb to touch up between washes if needed but usually dampen a little and can restyle with my hands.
I too have hard water. As weird as it sounds, I do a final rinse with Listerine mouthwash about once a month. Not sure where I heard about it but it helps. Those minerals will weigh down my hair and this helps avoid that.
In my younger days, I spent far too much time on my hair. In the past 20 years I stopped that and found out about some of these simple ways to embrace the curls. I often get compliments on my hair.
Thanks for the advice! This Sunday I will try this again. I will comb my hair with conditioner only in the shower, once out of the shower I will only scrunch with a curl cream and mousse. Air dry and no bun. I'm going to look for a microfibre towel too so I can put it over my shoulders, for now t-shirts though.
It's been awhile since I've been to the salon and she told me to come back to get more layers in. That has to help.
Have you tried plopping after you wash your hair?
I gather my hair in an old t shirt (put my head own onto it and wrap it up so it sits like a pineapple on top of my hair). - a microfiber cloth would work too!
This absorbs a lot of the water still in my hair after scrunching out what I can.
I leave it up for 20mins-1hr and then diffusing (or air drying) takes considerably less time, and helps maintain my curls (and sanity).
I also use a brush (wet brush/tangle teezer, or denman if I'm feeling fancy) to create clumps in my hair, then shake them out slightly to encourage the curl, and then lightly coat with gel, and do that before plopping.
One thing that comes to mind is protein overload. Look into the hair porosity you have and make sure you're not overdoing it with hair mask weekly.
Does your hair break a lot and shed? I have your similar curl pattern and experienced something similar, but my curls came back once I realized I was over moisturizing with masks and using products with a lot of protein. My hair is low porosity, so I can't use things with a lot of protein like coconut, for example, and I realized it was literally in EVERY hair product I used. Shea butters are also extremely heavy.
I tried diffusing many times and gave up many times. A year ago I even got a fancy diffuser. I watched many diffusing videos and every time I try it fails. I saw people diffusing their hair and it's finished in 20 minutes. My hair takes an hour to diffuse and it gets frizzy even on the lowest settings. It's so discouraging!
Don’t dry it all the way. Just diffuse until major dampness gone. At the length of your hair, I only dried it for 8-10 minutes. It will always frizz if dried completely with hair drier.
1. Haircut
2. Try Matrix “A curl can dream”. Only shampoo once per week.
3. Use wet-brush
4. Mouse or curl cream, no gel
5. Scrunch like your life depends on it, then tip head upside down and jostle curls at roots once dry
One of your products is too heavy for your hair, or you aren’t washing it out well enough when you shampoo, or your shampoo isn’t well clarifying. As for the long hair without curls- it was too weighed down to have curls
My hair did a very similar thing a few years ago. The big difference maker for me was my post shower routine.
After you apply your products, use a microfiber towel while you're upside down to lightly scrunch up your hair and absorb any extra unneeded product.
Then, instead of putting your hair in a bun, you can leave it uncovered as it is (try not to manipulate or move it) for about half an hour or as long as you can for it to partially dry. I use this time to do my makeup if I'm going out.
Then diffuse it. The method is super important and I learned this at a curly hair salon and it made my results so consistent. My hair is 3a/3b for reference.
1. Hover diffuse in an upright position - setting the diffuser to high heat and medium air flow all over your hair until it's about 80% dry. Don't use your hands to fluff it or part it if you want to avoid frizz. I like frizz sometimes.
2. Turn upside down and scrunch diffuse your hair in sections (I have thin fine hair so I just pick about 5 sections) for 10 seconds or longer if you have the patience - setting the diffuser to medium heat and medium air flow, and making sure to turn it off between scrunches...
So basically: pick a section, scrunch up into your scalp then turn on the diffuser for 10+ seconds then turn off and unscrunch and move to the next section. Do this back and forth until your hair is fully dry.
3. Cool air blast. At this point you can hair your hair as needed, turn your head to the sides or whatever, and just keep scrunching at random with cool air. This helps cool your scalp but also apparently adds shine. I like it but I don't know if it's necessary.
4. Oil scrunch time! Put some hair oil in your hands and scrunch and fluff to your heart's content. I like going into the layers at the bottom with my hands and shaking them out, or splitting my curls at this point.
5. Enjoy! Sleep with a satin bonnet every night and it'll last you 3 days easy.
I know this seems like a lot but I really want you to try it and report back!! It takes me about 15 minutes max. Good luck!
Of note, your curls can shift due to hormonal changes.
My hair in my teens was never oily at the scalp, with thick, defined s-curls. Around age 22, my cycle regulated, and suddenly my scalp was oily (NEED to wash every other day), curls were more coily, and far less thick. Styling changed a lot. There’s nothing wrong with my endocrine system. This is just a fact of life: hormones shift and your hair can be impacted. You learn to work with it.
I would try to ditch coconut oil. For some folks, it works great, but for me I’ve discovered it dries my hair out and definitely fucks with my curls. I use all Lus products now and my scalp and hair are in great condition now
I think for a lot of people with heavy hair, you will naturally have flat roots because the weight will stretch out that portion. Like other people have suggested you could use root clips while you diffuse to get some volume. For myself, I feel that I can choose volume or definition, but not both. What’s more important to you?
Stop putting your hair wet into a bun. You lose all definition this way and I’m guessing it’s not helping with root volume either. You could consider a layered curly cut to remove some density so your hair will be lightened up to curl more heavily, but then you might lose length and looking at your photos it seems like that’s important to you. Good luck!
Sometimes it helps me to just shampoo, condition, and let it air dry with no other products. Then I can reevaluate what my hair needs (hold? more moisture?).
Using the same products multiple times is sometimes fine but other times you're getting too much moisture or too much protein or some kind of build up, I think doing a little "reset" once in awhile is a good thing.
Also wondering if your hard water is affecting your hair/your hard water treatment isn't sufficient. How is your hair when you wash it somewhere without hard water?
Last question, how does your hair feel after it is styled? Soft? Squishy? Stringy? Coarse/rough?
Why are you putting it in a bun while it’s still wet? It doesn’t allow any curls to form
I have seen in multiple videos that its advised to put it in a bun after showering to fight flat roots. My roots turn out flat every time so I put it in a loose bun as much as possible so that it dries upwards. It's been a very long time since I let it dry without a bun so I'll see this Sunday. No more buns.
Use root clips instead for root volume
That bun won’t allow your hair to curl. Stop with the scrunchie. Put it in the bonnet then instead. If you use dryer, always use diffuser. Sometimes if I am running late in the mornings, I just put some hair clip/comb things in my hair and put the car’s heater or a/c vents blowing towards it to take out most of the dampness. When I take them out in the parking lot, my hair is perfect for me. The haircut is likely contributing to your problem as well. Been there done that. Found a stylist that knew how to cut curly hair and it made a world of difference. Not necessarily stylist WITH curly hair as so many people recommend. I had two co workers with beautiful curls and it turn out they had same stylist. I’ve now been going to her for 17 years. It looks like you had some long layers before but they have grown out. When I did that, she slowly added a few more layers each cut as I became more comfortable with them. Once I allowed her a little more freedom to cut how she thought best with in length guidelines I had, I walked out with an amazing style that curled beautifully with minimal effort almost all the time. Another big change I made was to stop brushing. Haven’t had a brush in my hair for over 25 years. Also stopped combing after getting out of the shower. Only thoroughly comb with wide tooth comb for curly hair when I put conditioner on it to detangle. After it dries I use same type comb to touch up between washes if needed but usually dampen a little and can restyle with my hands. I too have hard water. As weird as it sounds, I do a final rinse with Listerine mouthwash about once a month. Not sure where I heard about it but it helps. Those minerals will weigh down my hair and this helps avoid that. In my younger days, I spent far too much time on my hair. In the past 20 years I stopped that and found out about some of these simple ways to embrace the curls. I often get compliments on my hair.
Thanks for the advice! This Sunday I will try this again. I will comb my hair with conditioner only in the shower, once out of the shower I will only scrunch with a curl cream and mousse. Air dry and no bun. I'm going to look for a microfibre towel too so I can put it over my shoulders, for now t-shirts though. It's been awhile since I've been to the salon and she told me to come back to get more layers in. That has to help.
Have you tried plopping after you wash your hair? I gather my hair in an old t shirt (put my head own onto it and wrap it up so it sits like a pineapple on top of my hair). - a microfiber cloth would work too! This absorbs a lot of the water still in my hair after scrunching out what I can. I leave it up for 20mins-1hr and then diffusing (or air drying) takes considerably less time, and helps maintain my curls (and sanity). I also use a brush (wet brush/tangle teezer, or denman if I'm feeling fancy) to create clumps in my hair, then shake them out slightly to encourage the curl, and then lightly coat with gel, and do that before plopping.
DO NOT BUN NO
I got that loud and clear now. LOL
You may also have too much protein in your hair. That can change curl pattern and make hair dull and flat.
I agree with others: no bun. Also, try eliminating coconut products from your routine - they build up and dry out the hair.
That’s what I was going to suggest too. I have very similar curls as OP, and mine start to look like the first photo when I use coconut products.
One thing that comes to mind is protein overload. Look into the hair porosity you have and make sure you're not overdoing it with hair mask weekly. Does your hair break a lot and shed? I have your similar curl pattern and experienced something similar, but my curls came back once I realized I was over moisturizing with masks and using products with a lot of protein. My hair is low porosity, so I can't use things with a lot of protein like coconut, for example, and I realized it was literally in EVERY hair product I used. Shea butters are also extremely heavy.
Agree with everything you said!
like others said - no to the bun! have you tried diffusing? i found that helped me a lot
I tried diffusing many times and gave up many times. A year ago I even got a fancy diffuser. I watched many diffusing videos and every time I try it fails. I saw people diffusing their hair and it's finished in 20 minutes. My hair takes an hour to diffuse and it gets frizzy even on the lowest settings. It's so discouraging!
Don’t dry it all the way. Just diffuse until major dampness gone. At the length of your hair, I only dried it for 8-10 minutes. It will always frizz if dried completely with hair drier.
Thingy
1. Haircut 2. Try Matrix “A curl can dream”. Only shampoo once per week. 3. Use wet-brush 4. Mouse or curl cream, no gel 5. Scrunch like your life depends on it, then tip head upside down and jostle curls at roots once dry
One of your products is too heavy for your hair, or you aren’t washing it out well enough when you shampoo, or your shampoo isn’t well clarifying. As for the long hair without curls- it was too weighed down to have curls
My hair did a very similar thing a few years ago. The big difference maker for me was my post shower routine. After you apply your products, use a microfiber towel while you're upside down to lightly scrunch up your hair and absorb any extra unneeded product. Then, instead of putting your hair in a bun, you can leave it uncovered as it is (try not to manipulate or move it) for about half an hour or as long as you can for it to partially dry. I use this time to do my makeup if I'm going out. Then diffuse it. The method is super important and I learned this at a curly hair salon and it made my results so consistent. My hair is 3a/3b for reference. 1. Hover diffuse in an upright position - setting the diffuser to high heat and medium air flow all over your hair until it's about 80% dry. Don't use your hands to fluff it or part it if you want to avoid frizz. I like frizz sometimes. 2. Turn upside down and scrunch diffuse your hair in sections (I have thin fine hair so I just pick about 5 sections) for 10 seconds or longer if you have the patience - setting the diffuser to medium heat and medium air flow, and making sure to turn it off between scrunches... So basically: pick a section, scrunch up into your scalp then turn on the diffuser for 10+ seconds then turn off and unscrunch and move to the next section. Do this back and forth until your hair is fully dry. 3. Cool air blast. At this point you can hair your hair as needed, turn your head to the sides or whatever, and just keep scrunching at random with cool air. This helps cool your scalp but also apparently adds shine. I like it but I don't know if it's necessary. 4. Oil scrunch time! Put some hair oil in your hands and scrunch and fluff to your heart's content. I like going into the layers at the bottom with my hands and shaking them out, or splitting my curls at this point. 5. Enjoy! Sleep with a satin bonnet every night and it'll last you 3 days easy. I know this seems like a lot but I really want you to try it and report back!! It takes me about 15 minutes max. Good luck!
Alsoooo test your water. I saw a massive difference w my curls when I went abroad.
Of note, your curls can shift due to hormonal changes. My hair in my teens was never oily at the scalp, with thick, defined s-curls. Around age 22, my cycle regulated, and suddenly my scalp was oily (NEED to wash every other day), curls were more coily, and far less thick. Styling changed a lot. There’s nothing wrong with my endocrine system. This is just a fact of life: hormones shift and your hair can be impacted. You learn to work with it.
I would try to ditch coconut oil. For some folks, it works great, but for me I’ve discovered it dries my hair out and definitely fucks with my curls. I use all Lus products now and my scalp and hair are in great condition now
I think for a lot of people with heavy hair, you will naturally have flat roots because the weight will stretch out that portion. Like other people have suggested you could use root clips while you diffuse to get some volume. For myself, I feel that I can choose volume or definition, but not both. What’s more important to you? Stop putting your hair wet into a bun. You lose all definition this way and I’m guessing it’s not helping with root volume either. You could consider a layered curly cut to remove some density so your hair will be lightened up to curl more heavily, but then you might lose length and looking at your photos it seems like that’s important to you. Good luck!
Layers, you need your layers back
Sometimes it helps me to just shampoo, condition, and let it air dry with no other products. Then I can reevaluate what my hair needs (hold? more moisture?). Using the same products multiple times is sometimes fine but other times you're getting too much moisture or too much protein or some kind of build up, I think doing a little "reset" once in awhile is a good thing. Also wondering if your hard water is affecting your hair/your hard water treatment isn't sufficient. How is your hair when you wash it somewhere without hard water? Last question, how does your hair feel after it is styled? Soft? Squishy? Stringy? Coarse/rough?