Um, Hi. What’s your hair secret?

Curly hair. Is it a curse or a blessing? My answer in high school—curse! My answer now—well, that depends on the day, occasion, and humidity level. But, generally speaking, I would say blessing because I have finally learned, or accepted, how to deal with my blonde, frizzy, curls golden locks of hair.  My hair story has been one of trial and error. Try this look, try that style, try this product, try that technique. For sure, it has been a journey. But I’ve got a good thing going on with my hair lately. Or at least I think so, until I see someone who has fabulous curly hair, and I instantly want to know her secret.

So I ask. No shame. It is slightly out of the comfort zone. Slightly awkward. But, when it comes to perfect curls, I ain’t messing around.

For Instance. The lady at the park with the perfect, dark, spiral curls (not made by the curling iron—I can tell the difference). I needed to know her secret.

This is how it went:

“Um, excuse me. Hi. I know this is a little odd, but I just wanted to tell you that you have such pretty curly hair. Could you tell me what you use?”

She was great, and so sweet. She thanked me and I could totally tell she understood. Us curly haired understand. (All you curly haired out there are probably nodding your head right now.)

When she shared her “secret” she was laughing because it was so surprisingly simple, and CHEAP! She said, “You remember the gel that was popular in junior high called L.A. Looks? The big yellow bottle that is like two bucks. I use that! After spending tons of money on expensive products, and it’s that gel that works for me!”

I was shocked. Shocked!

She even had more to share—she was all sorts of information. She said that her hairdresser suggested she only wash her hair with shampoo ONCE a week. All the other times she just rinsed with conditioner and used a hair pick in the shower to comb it through.

What!? Well I tell you what. She had fabulous curls so I was going to give her “secret” a try.

I bought the gel and a hair comb.

And off to the shower I went. I shampooed and conditioned my hair as normal, but this time combed it through.

I wish I was a bit more hair geeky and nosy and asked how she styled her hair once she got out of the shower. Like, did she put the gel in first and then comb it through, did she use a brush? Did she comb it or brush it out and then put the gel in? Did she scrunch it? Did she air dry it? Did she blow dry it?

(This may seem like a lot of inconsequential questions, but if you have curly you understand.)

I just had to wing it.

I decided to do it as follows:

Towel-dry hair, put gel in hair, comb out hair, scrunch hair with towel, air dry while I put makeup on, then diffuse blow-dry.

This was the end look. I manually curled the very front bang area with the curling iron because I have freak-a-zoid curls there that need serious help.

Here is the thing about curls. NO TWO HEADS OF CURLS ARE ALIKE. However, this style result was very similar to the pretty brunette curls lady at the park.

Personally, I like my curls to look soft. Not wet or crunchy, and I thought this was on the more wet, crunchy side. But it definitely was not frizzy, so that was good. Actually, I think this look is better on brunettes. I think blonde hair reflects more light and makes it look wetter or something. This look does give more defined curls though. So if you like, maybe L.A. Looks is the gel for you!

After this try, I gave the L.A. Looks Gel a few more chances, but I concluded that it was not the product for me, and I went back to what I’ve been using for about a year now.

Garnier Fructis Style “Curl Construct Mousse”

It’s super cheap! It is light weight, and gives me the soft look and soft touch curls I like. As seen in many of my blog photos…

…with a little help from my curling iron {wink}.

As to the shampooing my hair only ONCE a week advice—I have continued doing that and I like! It cuts down on the frizziness and helps keep my hair less dry.

So in summary: Shampoo less for healthier curls. L.A. Looks for more defined curls. Fructis Mousse for softer curls.

Class Dismissed.

(For a how-to on getting those soft, loose barrel curls that I usually do refer to this post.)