Cold weather hair care, day three

What's cooler than a smart, sassy redhead? A curly, smart, sassy redhead! RedCelticCurls, whose blog Pittsburgh Curly offers up an assortment of curl-related observations, primarily of the scientific/geeky/insightful variety, has been inquiring and experimenting with her hair for years -- and it's paid off. She understands what ingredients work for her thick, coarse locks and stays away from the ones that have proven to disappoint her.

It's hard to argue with a mane this riveting, no? Here's what RedCelticCurls has to say about her cold-weather hair care.

"Last winter, my hair had few problems. It wasn't a very cold winter, and low dew points did not come into play that often. This winter is different. It's actually cold, and dew points have averaged from the teens to negative single digits. My curls had turned to waves. While that wasn't a bad look, I did want to find something that gave me my 'oomph' back.

"After some reading around, I decided to try the Lustrasilk Shea Butter Cholesterol Plus. It doesn't have anything that my finicky hair objects to, and for $2.49 for a 20 oz. tub, I couldn't complain about the price. Little did I know then that not every Sally's carried this product, and some were even obstinate about ordering it. I got lucky.

"I started out using this as a leave-in then reapplied as a curl cream. I have since tweaked it to using Curl Junkie Curl Rehab Curl Moisturizing Deep Treatment as leave-in followed by the Lustrasilk as a curl cream. I have been getting outstanding curl enhancement with this combo. If I use the Lustrasilk alone, I also get a big boost in volume. It's nice to have winter options now. I can forgo the Lustrasilk if I want waves (something I can't get in the summer) and hit the Lustrasilk if I want curls."

Nice to find effective options that don't cost a fortune! Lustrasilk seems to have worked for lots of people (unfortunately, I don't think the weather was cold enough here for Lustrasilk to have been much help to me). Although it's available at some Sally Beauty Supply stores, I recommend you buy it at Amazon to keep frustration to a minimum. (Also, get only the Shea Butter or Olive Oil versions if you are avoiding silicones.)

What to use in cold weather

A couple of months ago, I wrote about cold-weather hair care. I had a few product recommendations, but mostly I wrote in general terms about which ingredients to seek out and which to avoid.

But because I know that a lot of you don't want to be bothered reading labels and pretending to be a scientist, I'm going to make your life easier. I'm going to ask some other curlies to offer their suggestions about what products have worked for them!

I'll begin with myself, mostly because I am the easiest for me to contact.

I live in San Francisco, where dew points don't vary nearly as much as they do in other parts of the country (or the world, for that matter). Dew points here are in the 40s for most of the year, although in the winter there are probably a few weeks where they dip into the 30s. And at unpredictable times, there are days where the dew point creeps up over 50.

But last Christmas, I found myself in New England, where the dew point never went above 20. I was pretty frightened, I don't mind telling you -- I had no clue whether my theories about what would work for my hair would actually prove out. I packed Karen's Body Beautiful's Super Silky, which has no glycerin. I figured I'd use it as a curl creme.

Well, I used it that way and got some very pretty curls (see photo -- but know that the curls were prettier in person). But what amazed me even more was the way I could squeeze a bit into my palms, scrunch it into dry hair, and watch my hair perk up at midday when the dry air started to take its toll. I was very impressed with Super Silky and highly recommend it for cold weather!

But you know what? Not everybody's hair is the same. I know, it's shocking. So I thought it might be fun to ask some other curlies what they use when the dew point is the same as one's dress size. I turned to the fabulous Nikki, of Curly Nikki blog fame, who knows a thing or two about hair -- especially her own! Can you believe how gorgeous this woman's hair is?

"My go-to ingredient/product is Shea Butter, of course! I truly believe that this mystical butter has single-handedly saved my ends from splitting and breaking off during the harsh winter season. I style my hair twice a week (twist-n-curl) using rich water-based conditioners to moisturize (DevaCurl OneCondition + Jessicurl Weekly Deep Treatment), and Shea butter to seal the goodness in. I also touch up 2-3 day old hair with Shea- it de-frizzes and somehow moisturizes! I also like that the weight of it prevents extra shrinkiness. I hope to continue my love affair with Shea Butter well into the summer."

If you're wondering about quantities, Nikki uses a pea size amount, melts it between her palms and applies it to the ends of each curl with her fingers. She calls it, "tedious, but effective."

And so I'm closing with one more photo of her to-die-for locks. Just amazing.

Tune in tomorrow, when I will be posting yet another curly's secret product for cold-weather hair beauty...

Curly brains

I had planned to write about hair porosity. I had also planned to write about dew points.

And then a couple of smarty-pants bloggers beat me to it. And dang if they didn't do great jobs, to boot!

Tiffany's latest blog post is a MUST READ for any curly. If you've been baffled by what your hair needs and the product junkie in you has been taking blind stabs at potentially magic potions, you will learn how to kick that habit when you read what she writes about the role of porosity in determining what to feed your hair.

Meanwhile, PittsburghCurly provides a fabulous summary of the dew point phenomenon. It seems like I'm always talking about this topic when I'm at naturallycurly.com and maybe people think I'm obsessed with it. (Can you imagine? What a preposterous notion.) But it is so important to get the connection between dew point and your hair's needs, and I'm so glad PittsburghCurly has crafted such a great reference post. And I like that she called me a hair geek.

If you read both these posts, you will know 90% of what you need to know to keep your hair looking great.

Cold weather hair care

Have you been confused about why so many of the products you normally rely on suddenly seem to have stopped working their magic? The answer: WINTER.

(Apologies if you live in a different hemisphere and are in the middle of a humid summer. I promise to cover that more in depth in about 6 months...)

Back in August, humidity might have been the demon you were fighting and so you adapted your routine to keep moisture out because there was just too much of it in the air. Summertime dew points were upwards of 55 and the weather was warm. Now, maybe your dew points are more in 'teens and twenties and it's much colder. Does that really affect how products perform? Does it ever. Laurabeth has a fantastic post about the difference in hot and cold weather and the effect on hair, if you care to learn more from an expert.

When the weather gets cold, your primary goal is to keep your hair moisturized. It's impossible to get the moisture from the air, so you have to use products that will do the trick. This means lots of aloe vera, creams, and butters (if you hair can tolerate butters). Humectants such as honey or glycerine may defeat your purposes -- remembers that humectants pull moisture wherever it's needed, so if the hair is dryer than your hair, guess where the humectant will pull from to try to hydrate the air??

In addition to the dew point situation, you also have to remember that your hair cuticle is tighter (like most things, hair contracts when it's cold). This means that not much pollution is getting in, sure, but it also means that not much moisture can, either. Even the type you apply yourself. Where does that leave you? For some people, it means just using bigger helpings of moisture. For others, it means applying moisture more than once a day. If you're in an environment where heaters are running to combat the cold, consider that a double whammy -- the air is already devoid of moisture and now the heater is making things even drier. Oy vey, what's a girl to do?

- Use heavier conditioners. Now is the time for serious stuff, not the empty conditioners I'm always railing against anyway. You want to pull out your Aubrey Honeysuckle Rose or White Camellia or Island Naturals, your Jessicurl Too Shea, your Karen's Body Beautiful Hair Milk. Try to leave some in or if you aren't a fan of that, add some as a leave-in.

- Ditch the light leave-ins. Especially if your dew point is below 20, just don't waste your time with anything that doesn't contain some oil or shea butter. (Try to stick to jojoba, coconut, and other hair-friendly oils. Stay away from mineral oil, also known as parafinium liquidum. Depending on your hair, you might also want to steer clear of castor oil, but I'll leave that to you to decide.

- Use creamy curl cremes. I'm a fan of Pink Boots curl creme, but in this cold weather, it is not enough unless I put something under it (yes, in addition to my leave-in). Curl cremes I've been loving so far this winter include Loma Imply, Donna Marie's Lock & Twist (just a little goes a LONG way), and Karen's Body Beautiful Super Silky. All of these are excellent! They either contain no glycerine at all or have it in very minute amounts.

- Avoid gels that contain humectants. I've noticed that I get better results with, say, Max Green Alchemy Sculpting gel as opposed to Biotera. Aubrey's B5 gel is really fabulous in this weather.

Not sure what constitutes a humectant? Check out this article for some guidance. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the article for a list of humectant names in products.

- Consider scrunching out your crunch with the help of a butter. Jane Carter's Nourish and Shine was a favorite among many last year, but this year, I'm hearing raves about Karen's Body Beautiful Hair Cream as well as Butter. (I don't personally scrunch out this way but many curlies have success with it. I'll be trying it when I'm in New England next week -- their dew point is scary low.)