So you’ve applied this product that’s supposed to help control your curls and tame your frizzies. You read the label and followed the directions explicitly – or so you thought.
Either way, the results weren’t quite what you were expecting. Could this be a bad product for your hair type? Or could the solution be as simple as making sure your hair was wet enough or wasn’t too wet for the product to work?
The Dilemma
Almost all of us have experienced this at one point or another. On our quest to get the perfect curls without midday frump or frizz, we apply a product on our hair that promises to keep our curls in check. The bottle said apply to wet hair, but did that mean soaking wet or towel-dried/damp hair?
Type 2s tend to have thinner hair that holds in moisture a lot longer than our coily type 4 counterparts. So the question then becomes, at what point can we apply these products that are meant for a wet application? Should we do it as soon as we get out of the shower, or after our hair has had a chance to dry some?
The Solution
If you’re adding a leave-in conditioner or curl cream to your hair, scrunching it into soaking wet hair and then patting any excess drips with a microfiber towel can actually have amazing results!
However, wavechaser, one of our CurlTalk users, recently shared the results of her experiment, which was to see if the amount of water in her hair made a difference. In her own words, “Who knew scrunching into damp hair would help so much!” For type 2 wavies, applying product to damp hair can be much more beneficial than applying product to completely wet hair.
Overall, it depends on how porous and coarse your hair is. The more porous it is, the drier your hair can be when your apply product. The less porous it is, the better products will work when applied to wet hair. The opposite is true for how coarse your hair is. If your curls are very coarse, apply products to wet hair. If your hair is fine, apply products to damp hair.
And, always remember wavies, DO YOU!
