Curly Hair & the Desert.

My hair went through various changes over my 10 day vacation. First stop was Vegas and it was 103 degrees, I was certain this weather was going to make my curls dry and frizzy, but I actually had a pretty great hair day. I just wet my curls in the shower and then applied the Curl Defining lotion to my wet hair, combing it through, and let it air dry. The curls were bouncy and soft. That night, after spending way too much time in smokey casinos, I went back to the room and washed my hair with the Carols Daughter Shampoo. Instead of conditioning it with Carols Daughter, I applied the Organics Curl Enhancing Smoothie to my hair as a leave in. I twisted the left front strands of my hair and pinned them back, then threw my hair into a shower cap and went to sleep. When I woke up, the curls were still damp and very moisturized. I proceeded to get my hair wet again and add the Curl Defining product to it.

Then we went to New Mexico, which is where the curls took a turn for the worst. New Mexico is going through an extreme drought right now, the worst its been since the 70s. They haven't had rain since February and they have also had a terrible 30-40mph daily wind. I tried applying my Curl Defining product to my hair on Saturday when we got there, but being outside for a family picnic left my hair looking dry and stringy. Overall, the curls were not well defined and I had major frizz. I think I only had two good hair days out of the five while I was there.  I tried to apply the Organics Curl Enhancing Smoothie to my hair each day just because I felt it needed more moisture, but it didn't really help.

I went swimming on Monday and didn't have a shower cap, so my hair was exposed to all of the chlorine in the pool. When I got back to my aunt's house, I washed my hair with sulfate shampoo to give it a deeper wash and to strip the chlorine from my hair. I then added the Carols Daughter conditioner, combing it through and letting it sit for 5 minutes. When I got out of the shower, I put a small amount of the leave in conditioner in my hair. The curls looked okay after that; they dried and were a little more springy, but still just felt dry, which is to be expected when using the sulfate shampoo.

The last night we were in New Mexico, my hair felt great. I just got it wet in the shower and combed through the Curl Defining product again, but it left my hair feeling smooth this time, maybe my hair perked up because it knew we were headed back to California. It still didn't look as good as it has in the past, but it was the best hair day I had while in New Mexico.

We flew back to Vegas on Thursday and I once again got my hair wet in the shower and added the Curl Definer. My hair looked a little better, but still not as good as I wanted it to look. Yesterday was an awful hair day. I tried getting my hair wet in the sink and towel drying it instead of adding product to wet hair. I took a quarter sized amount of the Organics Curl Enhancing Smoothie and ran it through my hair, combing it through after, of course.  I then sectioned my hair off in four sections because I am not liking the way that the hair underneath looks and thought sectioning off my hair would help, so I sectioned my hair and added the Curl Definer to each section, combing it through and scrunching it. I liked how it looked while it was wet, but when it dried, it was stringy and dry once again.

We left Vegas this morning, so I am finally back in California, but still in the high desert at my parents house. When we got home, I did the works to my hair, shampooing and conditioning it with the Carols Daughter, then adding the Curl Enhancing Smoothie to it after I rinsed out the other products. I am hoping that the desert weather is affecting my hair because if not, I wasted $9.99 on the Curl Enhancing Smoothie product. I've been searching YouTube for tutorials on how to apply this product to hair because the back of the container just says to add to damp or styled hair for curly results. Sometimes it is making my hair kind of curly, but other times, it isn't doing anything, which frustrates me. I am going to give it two weeks and the weather where I live to see if I can make it work, if not, I am going to buy the Carols Daughter Tui Leave In Conditioner from Sephora. I was going to pick it up yesterday, but I decided I wanted to give the Curl Enhancing Smoothie more time.

Today, my hair looks really straight and frizzy, I'm not happy with the frizz, but I will say I like how shiny it is!

I'm going to Target tomorrow to look into purchasing a diffuser, just because I want to try and see if it will even out my curls. I don't like the idea of using heat on my hair, but luckily, my blowdryer has a cool air option, so I hope that it works the same way using heat would.

I will say, however, through the bad hair days I've experienced over these past ten days, I am beginning to embrace my curly hair. I hardly miss my straight hair anymore, nor do I feel as though I'd be prettier if my hair was straight. I think my curls make me look unique, plus they are ideal for dealing with this heat because I don't have to worry about sweat making my hair curly. I still need to figure out how to get the shape and feel that I want from my hair, but I am enjoying the journey so far.Follow @AlexiaaBrooks