how i style my curly hair {beauty on a budget}

This post is from the {bh} archives... I thought I would repost it since I get lots of questions on how I style my hair. I know it's so hard to find products that work, so I hope this helps some of you ladies that were wondering which ones I use! :D

It took me a while to figure out what would work best for my curly red (stubborn) hair. After much trial and error and many dollars spent on hair products that didn't work, I finally figured out a combination that works well for me and my wallet too!

Here's what I do to "fix" my long, curly hair:
{that's how we say it in Texas- I wonder what everyone else says? :P}

1. Shampoo and condition.
Finding just the right brand/combination of products took forever, and in the process I found several brands that won't work for me. I can't use Suave, Pantene, Tresemme, or V-05 products for shampoo or conditioner. They make my hair greasy and flat. Herbal Essences has been my number one brand for many years. I prefer the older formula {with flowers on the bottle, remember those?}, but their new brightly colored shampoos and conditioners work fairly well with my hair too. Aussie shampoos and conditioners work for me as well. I apply conditioner by the handful, or about twice the amount of shampoo I use.

2. Keep it in a towel.
I keep my hair in a towel until it is ready to do. I don't rub it or shake it in the towel, I just let it dry a little inside the towel while I put my makeup on.

3. Comb it using a very wide-toothed comb/pick.
I have one comb I have used every day since 2000. Seriously, life stops when I lose my comb. It looks close to the one in the picture. I comb my long hair from the bottom up.

4. Apply mousse first.
I use Suave Max Hold Mousse (in a mauve can) and rub it through my hair. It acts like a primer for the gel. Rub it in from root to tip, until your hair feels sort of wet again. This is usually a couple of handfuls of mousse for me.

5. Apply thick gel.
After applying the mousse, I apply gel from root to tip with my fingers, with my hair upside down. I use Garnier Fructis hair gel in Super Stiff and use quite a bit of this as well. If your gel feels watery in your hand/ fingers, it won't hold a curl well. If it kind of stretches between your fingers it's good stuff. Separate the hair by combing your fingers through it (no combs or brushes after gel).


6. Flip your head over to dry your hair.
Dry with a hairdryer, keeping the dryer closer to the hair and scrunching it to add the curl. Your fingers act as the diffuser. Rotate the hair dryer all over the head while scrunching the hair in your fingers. By keeping the hair upside down, it dries with more volume and more evenly without frizzing out at the top.

7. Don't touch it again.
After it dries, don't comb it, not with your fingers or a comb or brush. To hold a tight curl, it must stay in that catatonic-gelled state. If you tend to put it up and take it down a lot, it will get frizzy, so try to stay with whatever style you pick for the day. I often leave mine down during the day and put it up at night.

Here's what my hair looks like when I use this method:

 

What works for your curly hair? I am always interested to hear about new curl-friendly products!