Everything You Need To Know If You Have Curly Hair

by Christine Scott Hair Artist

A big question that we commonly get at our hair salon in Singapore has to do with the idea of managing curly hair. As many of our clients after regularly deal with curly hair due to high humid weather in Singapore and more, we offer a number of tips on how to manage and style curly hair for your day to day needs. Here are some of the best style tips with curly hair:

Combing from the bottom up: de-tangling knots in your hair can be very difficult but when you start at the bottom of hair follicles you can prevent the chances that you'll be yanking away a variety of knots at the end of your hair.

Get a regular trim: going to the hair salon to receive regular trims can be a great way that you can manage curly hair. The look of split ends can be a very difficult one to manage but getting a haircut Singapore every 6 to 8 weeks can really help you to improve your styling efforts.

Try serum: we can recommend a variety of serums for your home hair treatment that you could try out for actually straightening your hair. Using some of the serums can be an excellent leave in solution for improving your hair and keeping it straight every day.

Mixing products: you can sometimes produce some surprising results just by mixing together products with natural additives. Mixing coconut oil for example with a smoothing mousse can produce some amazing results for strengthening and improving the health of your hair.

Try curly hairstyles: there is some of the top curly hairstyles that you can use for keeping your hair under control. With styles that range from top knots to elegant braids, we can help you look your best with curly hairstyles.

Keep some of these top tips in mind for managing your curly hair.

Nourish with shampoo

Curly hair often tends to be dry because the oils produced by your scalp struggle to reach the ends of your strands, due to the kinks and curls. Use a nourishing shampoo for curly hair which is well formulated to deeply nourish hair and control frizz leaving it more manageable from the first use

Go easy on the drying

After you wash your hair, don’t towel-dry it, as that will only cause your hair to frizz. Instead tilt your head forward and squeeze upwards gently to get rid of the excess water.

Use your diffuser

A big part of curly hair care is learning to dry it gently and minimally. When you blow dry your hair, use a diffuser (which reduces frizz by distributing the heat evenly) – but don’t over-dry: just dry out the majority of the water and then leave the rest to dry naturally.

Minimise brushing

It might go against everything your mum taught you, but don’t brush your hair. Brushing is too aggressive for curly hair – it will pull out the natural curl and you’ll lose definition and provoke frizz. If you must unpick a tangle, do it when your hair is wet (avoid combing your hair when its dry) using a wide-toothed comb, start at the ends of the hair and work your way up to avoid breakage.

Use oils on wet hair

Apply curly hair products while your hair is still wet. This will help lock in the moisture and keep your curls thick and lustrous. Perfect for a mid-week treat for your curls.

Because curly hair has a more abraded cuticle, that is a raised or ruff cuticle, than normal hair. As the hair bends the cuticle stands out more thus causing the cuticle to rise more as it is on a bend. Curly hair is often overlooked by stylists as they rarely see this type of clients on a frequent basis.

This said, there are some marvellous products out there for curly hair. You first have to decide if you want the curl or not. If you do than a mild mousse will be in order. But beware; most mousse is very drying to your hair.

There are a lot of tools and techniques available to straighten your hair. You will find a number of products in your cosmetic store to straighten your hair and that too for curly type. But again the big question is, how to get them straight and in shape.

One of the simplest methods is to go to salon and get hair straightener put on it. But hair straighteners dry out your hair, so it is not the best possible resolution. The next thing you can do is get shaven your head and let the new hair come out. But there is no guarantee that you will get new hair as straight as you want. So the other best method is using curl relaxer.

What is a curl relaxer?

The curl relaxers are gels and you can use these to get straight looking hair. All you need to do is purchase a bottle of curl relaxer from nearby cosmetic store and apply this on your wet hair. Take a small quantity of hair straightener and apply it. Try to dispense hair straightener evenly on your hair and then start drying. Do not use hair straightener / curl relaxer in excess quantity.

For drying of hair, take a large and round brush. Large and round brush will cover the larger section of your head at a time, so you will be able to clutch and dry hair easily. Start drying from underside of your hairs, if you dry from upper side, it will result in waves. Dry your hair properly for the best result. Although, doing hair straightening at home is a bit tough, but as soon as you start doing your own, you will start seeing the expected results that you want from your hair.

Most people with curly hair have a hair-cutting horror story (or two, or three). Finding a salon that can both cut and style coils is like apartment-hunting in Singapore: Expensive, long, arduous, and with limited options. You see, cutting naturally spiraling locks is 40% art, 40% science, and 20% talent. It's not like taking scissors to a head of straight strands, when you can simply line up the edges and make sure everything's even — each curl has its own independent personality.

Not all stylists have mastered this skill (ditto on taking care of curly hair in general). But those who have attained it are developing their own unique methods. These are techniques learned through years of studying and working with countless natural and curly-adorned ladies and gents. The approaches vary: There's the group that cuts it wet, some who prefer dry-cutting, and others who swear by first blowing curly hair straight in order to get the desired results.

Which technique reigns supreme? There's no cut-and-dried answer. It depends on your personal preference — so you have to be the judge on that one. To help you weigh the options, we asked three stylists from one of the best hair salon Singapore to make the case for their preferred method.

Dry-cutting technique

Stylists undergo special training to learn this dry-cutting technique allowing them to sculpt each client’s hair according to their unique curl. The stylist assesses your face shape, curl pattern and texture before making cuts, curl by curl, to give your hair an attractive shape — it’s a one-of- kind cut.

Wet-cut technique I

The philosophy behind this wet-cut technique is that curls are not consistent from day to day, so when you get them cut wet, your curls are being shaped into a pattern that will create movement and consistency. This wet-cut technique method is known as the Carve and Slice technique. Hair is either carved, removing more hair typically on tighter, thicker curls or sliced, removing less hair to create volume and shape on finer, looser curls. This technique enables skillfully carving and slicing curly hair, the stylist can create a hair shape that causes the curls to cascade and fit together like pieces of a puzzle to ensure a consistent and flawless style every time you go in for a cut.

Wet-cut technique II

This Wet-cut technique II is based on hair weight and density rather than curl pattern. Known as the RI CI cut, this method is performed on wet hair and works on all textures, thicknesses and lengths. The cut begins by determining what the problem area is, hair is then worked on in individual sections and cuts are made only when necessary. After each cut the hair is shaken out to ensure that the hair lies properly before tackling the next section. If you have wavy hair this cut will enhance your curl, curly girls get more control and coils will get less bulk to make room for curls to form and move and every head of curls is unique.

We get it, every curly-girl has had their fair share of bad haircuts, so what are you waiting for? Go out and find a salon that’s skilled in a technique that works for you — your curls deserve it.