Lengthen, Define, Moisturize.

This is my first fall/winter as a natural. What is a product good for lengthening, defining, and moisturizing curls. My hair type i s 3c/4a and the fall weather has left my hair feeling like straw. I shampoo and DC weekly, but I use gel (with glycerin) to style, and that's just not cutting it in 40 degree weather. Also, my hair hates shea. I'm kind of at a loss. Help ladies.

Hmmmm .. find you a new gel without glycerin. This ingredient is a no no for the cold winter months. I'm actually having the same problem finding a good styler for the winter considering that damn near EVERYTHING consists of glycerin so I've been using evoo and jane carter's nourish and shine (which has been great). Also cut the weekly shampoos out of your regime because this might be the biggest problem for your hair dryness problem. Just co wash your hair with conditioner and only shampoo ONCE a month. Sounds funky but trust me it works. I'm sure the rest of the ladies are going to tell you the same thing about the sulfate that strips the moisture out of your hair if you wash too much.

Try moisturizing your hair with extra virgin olive oil for the winter since this oil is a heavy one. I usually use coconut oil in the summer because its lighter but it wasn't doing me any justice once the weather got cold so I had to switch up to evoo. I do DC my hair with coconut oil since it penetrates the hair shift really well.

I just watched this really good video on fall/winter natural hair tips. Check it out. This young lady was very informative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_1PCOTqtQQ&feature=channel

Swirly Curls,

Great advice from EMartini. Especially about the cowashing. I shampoo every other week, because I use alot of gel, but weekly is definitely too much for natural hair.

As for stylers - I gather you're doing WNG's. If so, you could try Herbal Essence Set Me Up Gel. I use the turqouise container (Max Hold 3) but I just purchased the purple Totally Twisted Gel (I think it's a Hold 2), because I'd like to see if my hair can hang with out maximum hold. I love it. No glycerin and it does a great job defining my curls. I've loved it from the day I big chopped. A little goes a long way.

As far as moisture I style it wet, use a leave-in and seal with cocount oil before I apply the gel. I refresh with a mix of water, aloe vera juice, a little leave-in, jojoba, evoo and rosemary oil. There's very little water in there. I don't measure it out. I do a light spritz and my hair is dry by the time I leave the house. It last me about 3 days. Not as long as it last in summer when I'm using more water and glycerin. I am looking for a good spray leave-in to spritz with. I'm hoping that will give me more days. I like getting 5.

I shampoo and DC weekly

You can shampoo weekly and not dry out your hair if you use the right product and the right technique. I'm not against co-washing, I just find that I have less cumulative build up when I shampoo.


I DC (with Aubrey Organics)on dry hair or Burt's Bees Avocado Treatment(it has glycerin but you will not leave this in your hair) on wet hair and then proceed to apply a sulfate -free shampoo(Aubrey Organics) to my scalp and gently move the suds down my hair shaft and rinse. Then I apply Aubrey Organics as a rinse-out conditioner and apply kimaytube leave-in.
I am sure their are other product lines/combinations that work. Olive or coconut oil can be used as the prepoo treatment.

HTH