Curly girl hair care method

Ola everyone. I've always had curly hair but I've never known what to do with it. I'm already pretty minimal in my personal care. I wash my hair about every 4-5 days, let it air dry, brush only in the morning and evening and basically that's it. How it looks is how it looks.

I had my haircut last tuesday 3/15/22 and the stylist did this scrunch thing that just really made my curls curlier. I loved how it looked. So I decided to look into how to take care of my hair to keep it curly.

Basically you use really natural products. No sulfates, parabens, alcohol, silicone, etc. All about moisturizing and protecting your hair from damage. Oh and not brushing it. At least not dry, ever.

So I'm just gonna share some pics of the hair progress. If anyone else does this share what you do!

Day 2 post wash. Still no product in my hair. Not brushing.

Day 3, my hair has basically flattened out and I don't hate it.

Ok so this is my first real shower using the method and putting gel in my hair.

Then I put my back out and I haven't taken a pic of my hair or even paid any attention to it in 2 days. But it still looks nice I think.

I don't use a regular towel on my hair. An old tshirt works well. I use the scrunch method of drying it - scrunch out as much water as possible, turn upside down, slip the tshirt over your scalp, and scribble the hair dry, inside the shirt(less dripping, this way), and no scrubbing at the hair, to dry it, only scrunch it dry, just looking for dry spots on the tshirt. The scrubbing and a regular towel tend to add a lot of frizz.

My (long, natural red, but graying) hair is type 3b curly, with a medium porosity, high density (hairs per square inch),and very fine shaft. I'm allergic to artificial fragrances, colors, etc, so I make my own shampoo/ body/facial bars, with a 7% superfat, for moisturizing. One huge advantage to using bar shampoo, is that with no water, it doesn't need the preservatives that liquids do. I use herb-infused tallow, macadamia nut oil, Argan oil, mango butter, castor oil, frankinsense, rose absolute, and lavender &/or rosemary essential oils, in those bars. This is my favorite conditioner, which I only use on the ends: https://www.professorfuzzworthy.com/collections/beauty-and-the-bees/products/honey-silk-conditioner-bar this bar is $19.95, but a single bar will last me anywhere from 6 - 8 months.
If you don't want to make your own shampoo bars (entirely understandable), they sell some VERY good ones, and they also last a long time, especially if you cut them into 3 or 4 pieces, so the whole thing isn't being hit with water, every time you - or someone else - showers.

P.s. you can see my curls in my profile, though that pic is more than a year old, and my hair is much longer, now.  

Yeah I need to find a tshirt that is 100% cotton. I don't normally wear tshirts so I'll probably have to buy something.

I did buy some shampoo and conditioner already so if they don't work out I'll look into the bar version. I've never used one but it will be interesting.

I am doing the scrunch thing and it makes a big difference.

my hair is by no means curly, but I cut off my waist-length hair in January and the magician, I mean stylist, told me about this scrunching business and lo and behold what used to be stick-straight hair now has some texture to it. The "never comb your hair" thing was new to me, and makes a heck of a lot of difference.
She also suggested lots of product but I have a tendency to forget (#home office problems).

I have been using bar shampoo but can`t get anyone else in the house on board, unfortunately. I love it though!

I've not been using a lot of product in my hair. It's just doing it's thing. I will say shower time takes ages now so I'm not sure if it's sustainable for me. Showers are the only time I detangle my hair.

It's pretty though.

So my super frizzy hair is not so frizzy anymore and I'm really enjoying it. I'm using an all natural coconut conditioner and that's about it.

I have type 2c/3a curls and I have been using the water only hair washing since February. I will probably never go back to using shampoo/cleansing conditioner/products/etc.

A boars hair brush helps me spread the oil every few days and I "wash" (just rinse with water) my hair about once a week. When I do this, I make sure to really get into the scalp and massage as much as possbile. Since switching to water only, I have less frizz and my curl pattern holds together much better.

Something important to note is that I live in Florida, the capital of humidity, hah. Before adopting this method the summer humidity would turn me into a little poof ball and I HAD to use a smoothing serum or leave in conditioner. Now I just let my hair air dry and I'm good to go.

I view it as just more stuff I don't have to waste money on

Sometimes I feel like I am the only woman left who uses a comb.  I find brushes leave me with horrible frizz.  Using a comb it lays smoothly. Of course I an not a minimal hairstyle person.  80 percent of the time I have my hair in a Dutch braid use buns and ponytails most other days. I love long hair to the point that I cut my own after one too many stylists doubled my requested trim. It's long enough to get tangled in things as I work.

Wearing braids most of the time has greatly reduced hair breakage so I do have far less frizz.  It also makes me comfortable going several days between washing my hair which probably also helps a lot.

On those rare occasions I play up my curls it is usually as a messy bun or in a pony tail. Especially in the pony tail I will scrunch it with damp hands and then stick it into itself with a couple of pins so it's own weight doesn't straighten the curl back out as it dries. Not twisted into a proper bun, just scrunched up with a u shaped hair pin stuck through. I usually do my hair before dressing and by the time I am dressed I can pull the pins and have a day of bouncy exaggerated curls.

I have baby fine stands of hair growing very densely on my head and they are just a little curlier than your photos if I don't braid them wet.  

I have nothing to add except that Elle, I think your hair looks great.

Elle, I would describe your hair as wavy, not curly. Not sure if that makes a difference to those with actually curly hair, but it might.

I've found that avoiding ALL hair products, but brushing my (very curly) hair in the shower, shaking it out and then giving a quick light final rinse, and then letting it air dry every day, is a sure way to have it looking shiny and frizz-free within a few days after shampooing, which I do only once every 2-3 months after a haircut.

For reference, I found this image online; it isn't me. My hair looks basically the same as this guy's but less frizzy (and right now it isn't as long):

Your hair is pretty much the same as mine in terms of curl and texture.  What I struggle with is waking up with bed hair that's all knotted and frizzed.  I know I should only use a comb but it still looks messy so I end up using a brush but then it brushes all the curl/wave out.  I suppose I should tie my hair up to sleep.

What I have found is I wash my hair, put it into a pony tail, the next morning I just comb it out...