Welcome to Week 5!
Step #28: Go Backward to Move Forward
One thing you don’t get to do is tell a woman about her hair. To belittle her story, her experience, with jokes. Even if you do it with kindness.
I’m not laughing.
To be in the deep end, working through the dark times, going through the struggle, the feeling of being ugly or not enough is real.
It’s personal.
And it’s not at all funny.
I get it. I’ve been there. And I’m pretty sure every single woman in the Curly Connections has been, too.
We’ve all felt ugly. Like everyone in the room is staring at us.
We’ve been told our hair isn’t curly enough to be in a curly group.
Or that our hair is too curly or coily or frizzy or bulky, or heavy to matter. To fit in here.
That is a bold faced lie.
We all deserve to discover what our hair can be without all the dyeing and frying and oils and plastics.
You deserve that. I don’t care if your hair is straighter than a pin.
You are worthy.
In the same way you don’t ask someone you don’t know if they’re pregnant, you don’t ask (or tell) someone they’re hair isn’t the right type or shape of texture to be here.
You don’t make a hair loss joke to someone you KNOW is struggling with alopecia.
That’s not your business. That’s not your lane.
I will defend you harder than Will defended Jada if I see it.
Everyone deserves to break free from convention here. This is a safe space and it will stay that way. Perrrriod.
P.s. here are my curls this weekend. Straight pieces and all.
You can’t tell me what type my curls are or how straight or curly they are or aren’t. That’s my business, and they clearly do what they want and I love them for that.
Step #29: Semi-Dry Strategies
There are 
two steps to starting to dry your curls.
Let’s call them Semi-Dry, and Dry, for simplicity sake!
The Semi-Dry step would be when you take soaking wet curls to damp. 
I guess conventionally it would be called towel dry.
The Dry step is when you take your hair from damp to fully dry. Think diffusing or air drying
Today, I want to take you you about the three different strategies to 
Semi-Dry:
Plop: collecting your wet curls on the crown your head and tying them in a soft, smooth fabric (usually a cotton t-shirt) Towel Twist: wrapping your hair in a twisted towel made from a smooth fabric (like microfiber or a cotton T-shirt) and securing on top of your head. Micro-plop: using a smooth piece of fabric to press water out of your curls with your hand, using a scrunching motion.
I demonstrate all three of these styling strategies in 
the video below.
I use The Perfect Haircare towel in all three demos, which I have been using pretty much exclusively since my friend Jen sent it to me in January.
I love this towel because it’s the smoothest, softest material that I have ever felt, but it still absorbs water easily.
It’s the most light weight towel I have ever used by far, plus it has a beautiful clasp that means it won’t fall off…literally ever!
It removes doesn’t remove too much water (even if you forget and leave it on all day), and leaves my curls hydrated and frizz free PLUS the towel itself dries quickly so it’s ready to be used again the next day.
All I know is that when all of my plopping towels are folded in my linen closet and I reach for a towel to plop with, I grab The Perfect Haircare towel *every* single time.
Did I mention that you can get two of these small scrunching towels PLUS one of the large plopping towels for less than $23 dollars && you can use the code “CURLYTOWEL15” at checkout and receive 15% off!
If you’re feeling called to check them out you can do so using THIS link.
I love you!
Xoxo – Lo
P.s. Thee 30 Days to the Hair of Your Dreams Challenge is almost over! I am over here in a literal state of shock at how quickly March flew by!
We have a few more posts yet to go, but be sure to let me know if there is anything thing specific you want to dive deep into over the next few days!
– PLUS! –
You can earn *one last entry* into the 30 Days to the Hair of Your Dreams Giveaway! Deets HERE!
Step # 29: Casting
When most people think of a cast they think of crunchy, encapsulated with LA Looks curls of the 1990s.
I would like to formally give you permission to let go of that imagery.
The main purpose of a cast is to lock hydration and style into the hair shaft and help with the longevity of your style, but many also like it because it gives the hair a smooth and shiny finish.
In my mind, a cast is nothing like it used to be. A cast is delicate. Its a thin film a product that leave more of a sheen than a hand feel. Its not crunchy, its strong but flexible, like the binding of a brand new book just waiting to be broken into.
CAST: The effect of a gel drying over each curl clump, creating a protective layer, holding in moisture and frizz
SOTC: “Scrunch out the crunch” this is a common term used to describe the process of releasing your curls from the gel cast. When you squeeze, shake or scrunch the hardened, cast of curls. This will dissolve the hard gel layer and reveal the soft, beautiful curls beneath!!
You can leave the cast in as long as you’d like!!
I know a lot of you love a cast with a little more crunch so here are some tips for creating a stronger cast with more natural products:
- Make sure the hair is fully saturated before styling
- If your hair is more coarse, apply a filler like a cream or a foam before a sealer to give the cuticle something to stick to.
- Smooth a sealer, I like gels and serums, onto soaking wet hair with glazing, scrunching or prayer hands- add a second layer of gel after plopping or micro-plopping
- Don’t touch or move your hair while its drying
- Diffusing can help the hair dry faster which can help the cast form if you tend to move around a lot air drying
What tricks do you have up your sleeve to crate a great cast?? Let’s chat about them in the comments of today’s post using THIS link.