How I Look After:

MY HAIR!

My hair is naturally curly, if you've got curly hair you'll know that with it comes frizz, and I'm not just talking a couple of fly aways on the top of your head frizz, oh no. I'm talking full on ginormous tangled BIRDS NEST frizz on the top of your head! Trust me, this problem used to get the better of me, many school picture days were ruined because the weather decided to turn humid when I had my hair loose. There's SO many products out there that claim to help your frizz or tame it, but different things work with different people. Let me start off talking about my hair;

Alright so my hair is fine and very soft. When it's dry my curls are very defined but after I've brushed it it's turned into the 'ginormous tangled birds nest' I mentioned above.

My first tip on avoiding frizz? Don't brush your hair. 'Whoa!' you're probably thinking, 'Don't brush my hair, that's pretty unhygienic.' I don't literally mean never brush your hair, I just mean brush it only before you're about to wash it. Why? Because brushing any sort of hair (especially fine hair) tends to make it 'fan' out and go poofy, and with curly hair once it's gone poofy there's no going back. In order to keep it tangle free, plait it before you go to bed every night, and don't wear it loose in the rain.

Before you read the second tip, think about what your hair does right after you've washed it. Do you begin to notice it frizzing after about 5 minutes? If so, this tip is definitely for you! So after I wash my hair I can go maybe 5 minutes before it begins to dry and frizz. To avoid this I towel dry it completely (don't rub, just pat), then plait it right on the very top of my head (this gives beautiful volume in the morning). I usually take a bath after washing my hair so I'll then put it in a shower cap whilst I bathe. I usually leave it plaited through the whole night and take out the plaits in the morning. However before you do check to make sure your whole plait is dry, otherwise the wet parts will frizz and you'll end up with silky and frizzy hair, not a good look. If you can't wash your hair at night you could always put it into the style you want whilst it's wet and it will still dry without frizzing whilst you go about your day.

I also regularly trim the ends of my hair as I find that the sections with split ends are the bits frizzing up. The 3 products I use on my hair are listed below;

L'Oréal Paris Elvive Anti-Frizz Conditioner Smooth-Intense - £3.79 

(Btw I recommend you only use this on your ends because if you use it on your whole head it can make your hair quite flat and almost too shiny if that makes sense.)

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor - £4.69

(I only use this all over my head maybe once a fortnight, but all the other times I use it I put it on halfway up my hair.)

Herbal Essences Its A Curl Thing Shampoo - £3.49

(Leaves my hair smelling amazing!)

For straightening I use;

L'Oreal Paris Studio Line Silk & Gloss Hot Straight Cream - £3.56

Everything looks expensive but I always buy the biggest bottle I can so that it will last me longer, and when I say longer I mean longer, I brought my L'Oréal Paris Elvive Anti-Frizz Conditioner Smooth-Intense last year and I'm only 1/3 of the way through it!

When trying to find a solution to your hair problems remember that everyone's hair texture is different and what might work for someone else may not work for you. Don't give up, just experiment and see what works best for you! I used to think the only way to deal with my hair was to straighten it but I started to embrace it. And sometimes I'll wash it and just leave it out to dry and frizz up, it's like giving my hair a breather from all the products!

-EG

P.s. I have a brand new email! elegantlygraceful@rocketmail.com, I picked rocketmail so anything you send me gets to me at the speed of a rocket!