Reminder: Everyone’s curls are different; this is simply what works for me!

My hair — Medium texture, loose curls

The first thing you need to know about keeping your curls alive is avoiding heat damage as much as possible. When I was younger, I hated my natural hair and straightened it every single day. This ruined my hair almost to the point of no return until I finally began to appreciate my curls and learned how to properly take care of them. Straightening, color treatment and blow drying your hair on a consistent basis causes breakage, weakens your hair cuticles and ultimately kills your curls.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good balayage and have gotten my hair colored twice, but with long periods of time in between to allow my hair time to heal from the process. I still straighten my hair every now and then as well, but it’s extremely rare for me.

My hair straightened (left) and natural (right), pictured below:

But aside from avoiding heat and color treatments, there are other ways to keep your curls fresh and lively. I have a handful of products I use consistently to ensure my hair stays vibrant, moisturized and healthy. From shampoos and leave-in conditioners, to hair masks and creams — this is my complete curly hair routine:

1. Apply leave-in conditioner from root to ends, let sit overnight to deeply moisturize
2. Wash hair with DevaCurl no-poo shampoo then rinse
3. Apply moisture mask, leave in for 15 minutes then rinse
4. Apply DevaCurl One Condition conditioner then rinse
5. Wrap hair with microfiber towel until it’s damp
6. Apply hair primer from root to ends
7. Apply any curl smoothie, cream, milk, souflee of your choosing (mixing products is A-ok!)
8. Scrunch damp hair at ends to define curls
9. Use Conair diffuser on damp curls until dry
10. Fluff out hair for extra volume!

AND WALAH! The end result is soft, shiny, healthy hair.

Any curly hair questions? Drop em in the comments below. xx ❤