Saturday 15 September 2012

How to Salvage Your Style: The Benefits of Dry Restyling


With the combination of my brassy and often dry-as the desert highlighted curls, as well as my daily walks to the metro in 90+ degree weather, there were many days this summer that my hair turned into an abundance of frizz and tangles long before I was ready to hop in the shower to restyle. Twisting, braiding, and creating cute and simple styles with the resulting braidouts and twistouts yielded some of my best hair days this summer! Whether you're returning to a busy work or school schedule, or just want to extend your style without re-wetting with winter just around the corner, here are some tips and benefits that dry restyling bring to the table.

1. Turn slowly wilting curls into a lovely set of elongated twists.
Around day 7 of my wash and go, or after a week old braidouts, instead of starting anew with the detangling process, I would dry twist my hair to not only get a few extra days out of my initial style, but to get get a slightly different look from ordinary twists. To achieve the longer, fluffier look of dry twists, some of these tips were incredibly beneficial:
  • Use small sections of hair to restyle. When dry restyling, it's important to remember that you may have several days of shed hair waiting to be unleashed  during your next detangling session, so being gentle is crucial. Work with small sections when twisting and gently remove any shed hair you may encounter. This will also ensure a smoother finish to your style.
  • Try to avoid products that are heavily water based and use creamy emollient products with a nice oil and moisture balance. I avoid spray leave ins and products with a watery consistency when dry restyling. For my curls, water plus dry hair equals frizzy, albeit moisturized curls. With products like Shea Moisture Curl and Style Milk, Curly Kinks Twist Whip, and Karen's Body Beautiful Sweet Ambrosia, I'm able to easily twist or braid my hair because the products provide slip, shine, and the perfect balance of moisture to my parched curls.
2. Turn lackluster products into styling dynamos when used on dry hair
Many products that have been lurking in my product stash that have just been blah at best on wet hair have completely wowed my when used on dry hair. My luck with the Karen's Body Beautiful completely changed when used on dry hair, not only is it a good way to use up product if you're an epic product junkie like myself, but dry styling is also a great way to find use for a product in a way you had not imagined.

3. Dry styling is actually a great way to get a jumpstart on Detangling Day, also known in my house as my Half Day Hair Date complete with washing and deep conditioning. 
When going through those sections to restyle, I notice that removing the shed hair I encounter as I move along the restyling process significantly decreases my detangling time in the shower come wash day. I am also gently loosening tangles that may have formed in between washings, so I am essentially dry finger detangling my hair as I style. Anything that helps me lessen the time it takes to take care of my hair is a must have in my regimen!

And there you have it ladies! Dry detangling is a method I haven't really utilized in the past, but now with winter coming fast and hard, my grow-out the ill-advised highlights mission, and my 60 hour work week that i'll be experiencing until November, dry restuling is going to me a must have. The bonus days of prolonging detangling day, the ability to use up my lovely product stash, the low maintenance ease of the styles, and of course the beautifully fluffy and different look it gives my hair all make dry restyling an epic win in my fun experiments with my natural hair. Check out my YouTube channel Curlypad for fun natural hair chat, and here is a video with my hair in a twistout that resulted from dry styling!! Happy hair ladies!!!
     
Pics: From Frizzy dry frazzled third day hair (1), to happy moisturized twists done on dry hair (2) to a fluffy, soft twistout that prolonged a full fledged detangling session for 8 more days (3)!! 





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