I was reluctant to face the truth, but summer is the last season I used to dread the most. This is not due to sunburns or any form of heat. My soft spirals suffered, and suffered greatly. For some reason, the temperature would rise, and my hair would go from moisturized and bouncy to a halo of frizzed out chaos.
If you have curly hair like mine, you are all too familiar with this phrase: a combination of sweat, UV heat, and ponytails ruin your curls making them rhythm-less. They become heavy, dry, difficult to tame, and too light to manage.
I found new solutions and decided to take action altogether. I changed what I did with my curls to a more rational and effective approach in dealing with curls. This article will provide you with my you what has worked as well as what hasn’t, my actionable advice, and hopefully, help during the summer make your hair feel a lot brighter, and easier to manage.
What Summer Does To Curly Hair
This is the part I surely never expected. Summer does not only dry out your curls, it messes with almost every single layer of their identity.
Heat speeds up the rate of water evaporation from the hair shaft. Perspiration adds salts that violate the Scalp’s delicate balance. Humidity provokes the cuticle to lift, encouraging frizz. As for UV light, it damages the proteins responsible for the elasticity of curls.
What this implies is that, in summer, there is inadequate hydration as well as a lack of protection and resilience for the hair. The curls are not damaged, instead they are overwhelmed.
So what changed for me?
I no longer tried to ‘tame’ my curls. Instead, I started listening to them. My methods became more effective when they became less complicated. I enhanced my curls’ resilience by protecting them, replacing a complicated, multi-step styling routine with a few mindful habits. To my delight, my curls welcomed the change.
3 Steps That Saved My Curls This Summer
Allow me to walk you through it.
1. Hydrate Before and After Washing
About 30 minutes before showering, I started using pre-wash creams with aloe and coconut water. This one may sound weird, but it sealed in moisture long before my shampoo touched my hair.
Post-wash, I applied a light conditioner and followed it with a leave-in conditioner and a single styling gel. No more layering five products. No “praying hands” for two decades worth of time. Just moisture and then a spritz of hold.
