A Quarantine Hair Story

I’ve been #teamnatural my whole life but I am far from perfect when it comes to knowing and doing what’s best for my hair.  I have type 3 hair (though I’m 100% not sure if I’m A or B if I’m totally honest) and it has suffered through some major heat damage in the last 10 years due to straightening with heat. Since my sophomore year in college it has become a sort of traditional to straighten my hair every fall/winter, be it via a roller-set or blow out. It started out as something I did for internship/job interviews but later it I realized that having straight hair also made things much easier for me during the colder seasons as my curls are not fans of winter outerwear, hats or scarves.  (For context, my hair tends to get a bit matted and seriously frizzy under any kind of duress from wool and other winter knits.)

How it started (March 2020) vs. How it’s going.

Quarantine began around the time I would normally begin transitioning back to my natural curls, however once it became obvious that I wouldn’t be working at the office anytime soon, I started to change up my weekly hair care routine in order to give my hair the care it desperately needed after so much neglect. By the time my birthday came around in May, I started to see an improvement so I fully committed to staying curly for the rest of the year. No heat styling at all.  I even went so far as to packing my heat styling tools deep in storage so I wouldn’t be tempted to keep up with my old ways.

While it did take some trial and error with products, as well as patience, my hair now is the healthiest it’s been since probably high school. I know that all curls are not the same, but I wanted to share the products I’ve used  (in the order that I received and tried them) that helped get me to this point. I hope you find it helpful whether you have curly hair or not, as some of these work on all types of hair.

Disclaimer: Some of the products listed here were sent to me as samples for review. All opinions are my own. 

Briogeo Scalp Revival Charcoal + Coconut Oil Micro-exfoliating Scalp Scrub Shampoo

Ok, first let me just say that this is probably the priciest product I will ever share on this blog, but I had to. I got a sample of this product last May as my Sephora birthday gift and from the first time I used it I was in awe. In an attempt to limit frizz, I tend to be pretty heavy handed when it comes to applying styling product to my hair which often times leads to my scalp flaking so having a product like this is a God-send. I immediately went to see about getting myself a full size bottle only to see the $42 price tag.  It would be months before I could convince myself to spend that kind of money on my head, but I don’t regret it for a second.

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Curl Definition and Color – Review of CURLSMITH Hair Makeup

It didn’t take very long for me to start playing around with my hair once Quarantine started. For one thing I cut my hair a grand total of 7 times, though to be clear these weren’t big chops but rather small cuts to give my hair a different shape. I managed to give myself some sort of layers which was a nice change of pace as I’ve had the same asymmetrical hair cut since 2016 –  being shorter in the back and longer in the front.

I’ve since decided to grow out my hair, if only to try something new. I also got my first ever dry hair cut at the Miss Rizos Salon in Manhattan the weekend before last, (and I will be sharing that experience on the blog soon as well),  however, that (final, for now) hair cut provided me with more traditional layers and greater volume, so I basically have a new canvas to play with and that also got me to trying CURLSMITH’s  Hair Make up for the second time. Yup, second time, but we’ll get to that.

If you haven’t already heard about CURLSMITH’s  Hair Make up it is a temporary color and styling gel all in one, created specifically for curls. It does NOT dye your hair, but provides a layer of color pigment around hair strands that will wash off with water and shampoo. As someone who loves hair color but doesn’t like the commitment and is scared of bleach ruining my curl pattern, this sounded like an amazing product that would allow me to play a bit with color without much consequence. How did it go? Well, let’s just say it had its highs and lows so I’m sharing them with you today just in case you’re looking to trying something new with your own hair while we are still in this Quarantine/Lockdown period. 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. 

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