Curlformers Routine for Natural Hair

I use Curlformers to skip to third or fourth day stretched hair. What this means is that normally, if I do a braid out, it will take a few days of stretching the hair to get to the length I am used to wearing it down at. When I wash my hair and then use my Curlformers, I get a nicely stretched texture which helps me style with ease.

ROUTINE

1. Deep condition treatment applied to hair. Leave in overnight (however long you choose).

2. Added a little conditioner to hair before rinsing everything out of hair (the slipperier, the better).

3. Detangled in shower: Parted in 4 sections. (Since it had been a while since my last wash, I had to part each "fourth" in half to detangle thoroughly). The more saturated my hair is with conditioner, the easier it is to detangle.

4. Keep conditioner in hair after detangling a section, then two strand twist that section of hair, pinning it out of the way. Repeat for entire head.

5. Once hair is sectioned off, full of conditioner, detangled and in twists (4 or 8 depending on the detangle process), I step out of the shower and turn down most of the hot water leaving it cool.

I stand over the tub with my head under the stream and let the water run down my scalp and hair. I then take my palms and begin to squeeze out most of the conditioner, while my hair is still in twists.

Sometimes I have to take down a twist, squeeze out conditioner, and then retwist. The whole point of this process is to seal your hair with cool water to prevent frizz, while keeping in a bit of conditioner in your hair while rinsing out a good majority of it.

6. I find one of my husbands over sized shirts that I don't like and I use it to blot my hair every few minutes to aid in the initial drying process. You want to get your hair a little dry before you begin the Curlforming process.

Some curly girls on the web would argue to apply Curlformers to completely wet hair to get the sleekest results, but I don't find that to be true with the method I use. For one, I don't want to sit around for a whole day and then sleep in them waiting for my hair to dry. Been there, done that, never again.

7. Once hair is no longer dripping, I begin the styling process. Which includs gel and oil. This particular time, I had Olive Oil Eco Styler gel and some coconut oil. I usually like to use aloe vera gel, but I ran out.

8. At this point, I have 8 twists in my hair (four sections parted, two twists per section). I currently am in possession of 24 Curlformers, and I have somehow made this work just fine. I use 3 Curlformers per twisted section. Take down one twist, part it into three, and each section gets a Curlformer.

9. Before I apply a Curlformer to a section, I dab a little gel (perhaps a dime sized amount? I'm not sure how to describe it. You might have to do some trial and error with the amount needed for your hair depending on how you section it off) in my palm followed by a few drops of coconut oil. Then, I smooth the mixture starting at the root down to my ends. I make sure my hair is pretty well covered with product and then begin the application of the Curlformer.

10. To apply the Curlformer, you will need to assemble the stick, push the stick all the way through the center of the Curlformer. I take the section of my hair, lightly twist it at the root and hook the latched end of the stick around my hair as close to the root as possible. Be sure that the opening of the hook is facing upwards. This is important when you go to pull your hair down through the Curlformer.

You pull the stick downwards as you hold the Curlformer close to your your scalp. You need to pinch the opening of the curlformer so it's open enough to pull through all your hair. This might be confusing, so I am going to link a video of the process being done. It's from NikkiMae2003's Youtube channel. She's pretty awesome.


11. Once the entire head is completed, I sit under my hooded dryer for about and hour. I take a break and get back under for another half hour or so. Since I didn't apply the Curlformers on to soaking wet hair, my hair dries faster with the same beautiful results.

I recently broke my hooded dryer, or at least shorted it out by accidentally covering the air vent with a book I had been using to keep it balanced. As a result, I will need to create some sort of blow dryer situation that can still aid in the drying process. Since the hair is safely ticked away inside of the curlformers, I see no heat damage from using medium settings at a healthy distance away from the head.

12. I pull off one Curlformer to see if my hair has dried or not. I pinch the opening of the Curlformer and it gently glides right off. If dry, I remove all Curlformers, and start to break apart the spirals. I do not wear my hair in spirals afterwards. I tried wearing my hair in the spirals, and it was okay for the first half of the day, then it began to look strange and fluff out in a weird way. I use this as a base to quickly braid my hair in 4-6 braids, so I can have a nice chunky, stretched, silky braid out. 

This can last anywhere from a week to two weeks depending on the quality of upkeep. It would be ideal to get two weeks out of this, only having to Curlform twice a month. It's a great way to style your hair if you are in a stage where you can't find that perfect routine.

My photo quality for my hair shots aren't the best. For some reason I couldn't get any non-grainy pictures.  I took my braids out as soon as I got up the next morning. I had to leave out for work, so I quickly took down the braids and carefully separated the sections from the ends upwards, to reduce frizz.

This is how it turned out after I fluffed a little bit. I didn't go crazy with fluffing it, because I knew it would do that on its own. So my hair started off a little flat but still maintaining its chunky waves. In case you were wondering, I prefer braid outs now because it gives me the look that I like to wear. 

I used to do twist outs, but I have grown to love a wavier pattern as opposed to the curly spiral. That's just my preference. What is your preference? Braid out or twist? I see a lot of girls twist, and have such beautiful results. I need to switch it up from time to time. 

This picture was taken on day two, I would like to say. I know it's a crappy picture, but it still kind of shows the overall shape and flow of my hair when I re braid it each night after a Curlforming session. I enjoy the look of controlled wildness. 

In conclusion, I say investing in Curlformers is a good idea because throughout our hair journey, different things work at different times. It's always nice to have a go to styling routine that produces consistent results. 

Z