Image:@swavycurlycourtney
If you have wavy hair, you may know the struggle of trying to tame your frizzy undefined waves and choosing to straighten and blow fry your hair for years simply out of habit. Blogger, Courtney aka @swavycurlycourtney, has had her share of hair challenges embracing her wavy hair, especially growing up with pin straight hair then once puberty hit her hair changed and she struggled to embrace it in its natural state.
Over the past two years, Courtney has learned to care for her waves by following the Curly Girl Method and understanding the importance of moisture and protein balance. She wanted to help women embrace their naturally wavy hair and began documenting her journey on her blog reaching about 100K+ across social media.
This year, Courtney was voted the best blogger for wavy hair by our NaturallyCurly community in the Best of the Best Awards 2020.
Learn more about her journey to self-love by embracing her natural waves and empowering others to love themselves as they were wonderfully made.
Image:@swavycurlycourtney
What has your curly hair journey taught you about yourself?
While I have learned a lot about how to better care for my hair, what I have really learned is to embrace how I am fearfully and wonderfully made! There is something so transformative about working with your hair to make it as healthy as possible rather than torturing it into something that it is not.
What tips have you learned throughout your hair journey that keep your waves at their best?
Honestly patience, stubbornness, and being observant. You may be able to Amazon Prime 2-day ship the products to your door, but you cannot get the results that quickly. Even if you are doing everything perfectly, all the scrunching, plopping, diffusing, it will still take time for your hair to heal. Give yourself grace while you are learning the ins and outs of the curly girl method.
Also, really taking the time to learn about your hair’s texture, porosity, likes and dislikes is so helpful. Instead of blindly using whatever products “works for everyone” take time to list your hair products to document what works and what doesn’t. If a certain application technique doesn’t give you your favorite wash day results, that is OK! Try something else! You can change things up to make this work best for you.
Another thing that is helpful to me is taking a break from styling. As a wavy with oily hair, I tend to have to wash more often than most curly girls. And styling every time I wash can be exhausting. So my wash day routine with cleanse and condition with CG approved products, air dry and call it a day. I find that my hair isn’t detrimentally affected and I get a break!
Image:@swavycurlycourtney
What was a hair mishap you experienced in your journey and what did it teach you?
One of the mishaps that happened to me was wildly over moisturized hair. Turns out that weekly deep conditioning and using very moisturizing stylers was not the best for my hair’s texture.This is something that was kind of hard to correct. I have to really learn to read ingredients labels and incorporate lots of protein treatments to correct the issue. I wound up having to use WAY more protein in my hair care routine than most. But my hair not only tolerates it, it NEEDS it in order to stay healthy. This was something that really taught me to listen to my hairs needs, instead of blindly following what worked for everyone else.
If you had to share one tip with wavies what would it be?
Do not be discouraged when you start doing the “Curly” Girl Method and your hair doesn’t transform into ringlets. Comparison is the thief of joy. And it can be frustrating when you are caught in the middle somewhere between straight and curly. I have had many girls with a tighter curl pattern than mine tell me that I have no business doing the Curly Girl Method and that it is almost rude of me to try. And those comments really hurt. But when I changed my mindset from trying to achieve ringlets that aren’t mine naturally, and started focusing on listening to my hair and the health of my hair, that is when my hair really began to shine, both figuratively and literally.
What are your holy grails & what makes these products stand out?
Turns out that I really really enjoy trying products and experimenting with different combos and techniques. But one of the products that really stands out to me is the Curl Junkie Repair Me! I haven’t found anything else like it. It is an actual protein treatment, as it contains a protein in the first 5 ingredients on the ingredients list. But it is also moisturizing enough to be used as a deep treatment without a follow up conditioner.
What advice do you have for wavies who are currently transitioning?
Give yourself grace! You are learning something completely new. Remember when you were first learning how to style your hair in middle school? Remember how it would take you 2 hours and it still looked mediocre. Well eventually you became a pro with the blow dryer and flat iron. But that took time and practice. When you start doing the curly girl method, you are learning a completely different way to “do” your hair. Washing my hair upside down and scrunching in gel and diffusing felt so foreign to me when I first started. It took me HOURS to do my hair. Well now, after almost 2 years, I can do my hair in 30 mins. And bonus, my hair is so much prettier and healthier and holds a wave/curl way better than it ever did when I was heat styling.
