5 Reasons Your Natural Curls Aren’t Popping

“I can’t find anything to keep my hair looking wet.”

“My curls won’t pop!”

“How can I get my natural curls to form and be really curly???”

Trust me, ladies, I’ve heard it all. About once a week I get a question of this nature in my email or within a comment on a blog post. Many of you have been natural for a while now but you’re still not sure how to make those curls pop. Here are 5 reasons your natural curls aren’t popping and the mistakes you probably don’t even realize you are making.

Natural Curls Aren’t Popping? Here’s Why!

1. You Don’t Deep Condition Enough.

The first question I always ask when someone tells me their curls won’t pop is “How often are you deep conditioning?” Most of the time the answer is once a month or sporadically. Unfortunately, this is not going to help your situation.

The foundation of healthy curly hair is moisture and moisturizing conditioners that penetrate the hair. Your strands need to be nourished from the inside out with well-performing deep conditioners.

My favorite right now is the Adowa Beauty deep conditioning mask. Add a steam treatment to really open up the cuticle and infuse even more moisture.

2. Your Hair Lacks Protein.

News Flash: there is such a thing as over-moisturizing your hair. It’s called Hygral Fatigue. For this reason, you need to ensure your hair has the proper protein-moisture balance. What does this mean exactly? You need to improve the elasticity of your hair and your regimen should include conditioners with protein like hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydrolyzed keratin, and hydrolyzed silk protein just to name a few.

News Flash #2: shrinkage is good! It’s actually a sign of healthy hair. Which leads to #3.

ALSO READ: 3 BLATANT SIGNS YOUR HAIR NEEDS PROTEIN

3. You Have Heat Damage or Manipulation Damage and You Don’t Know.

Are you the type of girl that re-twists your hair every night? Wanting the perfect twist-out every day is actually harming you more than it is helping. High manipulation of the hair by styling and twisting it every day can lead to the weakening of the hair and impact your natural curl pattern.

Hair that is limp with no curl is also a sign of hair that has no elasticity. High manipulation can also lead to breakage. Give your hair a break and opt for a wash and go, buns or curly puff ponytails.

As far as heat damage, the signs are pretty clear. If you’ve noticed a change in your curls after using heat to the point where it does not curl at all, more than likely your hair is damaged. Unfortunately, heat damage is irreversible and you’ll need to cut the hair.

POPULAR READ: How I Survived A Year of No Heat On My Natural Hair

4. You Are Protective Styling Your Hair to DEATH!

The best way to get your natural curls popping is to WEAR your natural curls. Even if you aren’t completely satisfied with how your hair looks currently your curls will start to enhance as you wear them in their natural state more often. That means lay off the braids, sew-ins, lace front wigs – everything.

Wearing your curls in their natural state will require you to moisturize your hair daily as well which leads us to #5!

5. You Aren’t Moisturizing Daily

Moisturizing your hair once in the morning is not enough. Curly hair is dry – the end. There is no way around that and the sooner you understand the better off your natural hair regimen will be. If your hair also feels dry by mid-day, use a refresher spray/spray like a leave-in conditioner.

The main takeaway is moisturizing once or twice a week is not going to do the trick for most people. You must moisturize daily and even multiple times a day if needed.

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