How to Style Curls that Fall Flat, Don’t Last, or Are Overly Soft
If your curls fall limp, frizz, struggle to hold a curl, or feel too soft and flat, then you need a to make these teaks
Do you notice a ton of wet frizz, that almost looks like a web when you’re shampooing or styling your curls? This is very common and there are some things you can do to reduce it. In this video, I walk you through some of the possible causes of webbing, including both wet and dry frizz, and how to fix it.
The #1 cause of webbing when you are washing your hair is tangles. When you go to wash your hair, it’s likely tangled from the past few days and all the hair you shed throughout the week is trapped in there. When the hair gets wet, it swells which pushes the cuticle layer out making it more rigid and the tangles get worse.
Detangle before you start shampooing. You can use oil and do it dry, or use a pre-shampoo treatment/primer, conditioner, or deep conditioner to detangle wet.
The oil will also help protect the hair from breakage, dryness, and protein loss during shampooing. Ideally, you want to let this sit for a bit or overnight, but at least 5 minutes. Don’t use too much either.
Buildup can make the hair feel sticky, gummy, and prevent products from absorbing properly. Even if you use silicone-free products, curly hair products contain a lot of conditioning ingredients and oils that can buildup over time if you’re not washing properly. This is why I recommend using shampoos that lather instead of co-washes because they don’t cleanse as well. You may also have hard water in your home which leads to a buildup of minerals like calcium on your hair.
Clarify at least once per month, and use a lathering gentle shampoo on all other wash days. Opt for a chelating shampoo for your clarifier if you have hard water. Most regular shampoos or clarifying shampoos cannot remove hard water minerals. They need to include special chelating ingredients such as Disodium EDTA.
I also wanted to share an option that you can use on non-clarifying days that really has helped me with tangles and webbed frizz. The Ouidad Unbreakable Bonds Shampoo and Conditioner are gentle and formulated to smooth the cuticle and soften the hair. They help to rebalance the pH of your hair, which can help with frizz and webbing.
It’s common to see webbed frizz after shampooing because it raises the pH to effectively cleanse the hair. A good shampoo shouldn’t be too stripping but it will leave your hair feeling dry, especially if you have not deep conditioned for a while.
Deep condition at least once per month, and always after clarifying. Do not skip conditioner or deep conditioner, especially after you clarify. Conditioner lowers the pH and coats the cuticle so your hair is more manageable and soft. I used the Eva NYC mask which is very moisturizing and contains strengthening ingredients to help with damage.
Even though our hair needs conditioning, you can overdo it. If your hair feels gummy when it’s wet, mushy, and has lost its bounce, then it could be over-moisturized. This happens when people are using heavy curl creams and leave-ins, only co-washing and deep conditioning too frequently. They may also be styling their hair soaking wet and leaving it wet for long periods while it air dries.
Clarify and use a lightweight deep conditioner with protein or a bond-building treatment. Reduce the amount of heavy leave-ins and curl creams. Diffuse instead of air dry.
Another cause of webbing is if your hair is too dry when you’re putting your styling products in. Your hair should be evenly wet, and not have areas that are starting to dry. Curly hair products go on best when hair is very wet.
Mist hair with water after towel-drying. I prefer to towel-dry my roots first, and then mist the lengths of my hair with water so that it’s not stringy and frizzy, but also not soaked and dripping wet. Depending on your hair type, you may prefer more water.
If you’re someone who has very thick hair or damaged hair, you may still have webbing going on while you’re styling that will show up after your hair is dried. This is why we can’t just rinse out our conditioner and then scrunch in some product as is. This will result in lots of frizz within the inner layers because you’re only really getting the outer layer coated with product. The inside is left messy and tangled and it will just dry stringy and frizzy.
Section hair and use fingers or a brush to smooth out the hair after applying products. I like to apply my curl cream first to help detangle so that I can section off my hair. Then you want to section your hair and apply your gel very thoroughly. I prefer to use a brush to smooth everything out. This prevents frizz and tangled curls within the inner layers of the hair. Make sure you’re using a brush that will not cause breakage and that you have plenty of slip in your hair from your products.
After styling, I diffuse to set the gel cast and add volume. Diffusing shouldn’t be causing you any webbed frizz or tangles as long as you’re doing it properly. I have a video all about the mistakes you may be making when diffusing that are leading to frizz that I recommend watching.
After my hair is dried, I like to flip it upside down, fluff out the roots, and scrunch out the cast.
I love how my curls turned out with this styling product combo! It’s a good option if you’re dealing with dryness from cold weather but still want to humidity-proof your curls and have them last for days. Refreshing is also very easy with this combination.
Webbed frizz is common and it’s tough to completely eliminate it. Usually, wet frizz is from shorter hairs that are not grouped into curl clumps. You can have shorter hairs from new growth, breakage, or simply having layers cut in your hair. Coarse hair types are also more likely to see wet frizz because the strands don’t want to lay smoothly together. Fortunately, this can be fixed with the smoothing styling techniques we discussed here.
If you need help with tangles and webbed frizz on wash day, then check out this video about How to Get Rid of Tangles when Refreshing.
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