Readers Diary – Sara Rice

Readers’ Diary includes some of my beautiful readers who’ve had a curly hair transformation after following the Curly Hair Routine. A whole section dedicated to my readers.

“When I was young I didn’t even know I had curly hair. I just thought I had “ugly wonky wavy hair” and so I would wash, blow dry, and straighten it everyday. I discovered Henna/Indigo as a way to dye my hair and seal down the hair cuticles and make my hair smoother and less frizzy. I spent 3 1/2 years doing full head applications of henna which loosened my curl pattern to more of a 1-2a pattern, and made my hair low porosity and my hair got greasy and weighed down super easily.

At this time I discovered Anjana’s Curlsandbeautydiary blog and was shocked to learn there was a method to the madness for “ugly wonky wavy hair.” After just one wash I saw an immediate difference and saw my hair getting some uniform wave, and I was thrilled! I knew if I grew out my henndigo dye, then my hair would be even curlier. It took multiple big chops, and 3 years before my natural color and texture was grown out long enough to chop all of the dye out, because I also struggled with chronic illness and hormone issues.

My hair is now 2c/3a curls, medium porosity, and I am always learning more about my hair, but it is still the basics I learned from Anjana that I build on. Her blog changed my life and taught me everything I need to know about curly hair. I learned I was doing literally everything wrong with my hair because I was treating it like it was straight, so no matter what clean ingredients I was using or how much I was avoiding heat, my over cleansing and brush drying my hair routine was damaging my curl pattern.

Key learning points from the blog:

1. How to shampoo my scalp rather than all of my hair.
2. To leave conditioner in, rather than rinsing it all out.
3. How to hold the moisture in my hair that it needed.
4. Protect my hair for multiple days without washing it.
5. But even more so how to embrace and take care of the natural beauty God gave me in a healthy way.

Anjana is still the first and only blog I send beginners to. I now love to share everything I have learned and do curly hair treatments on others to show them the love I learned. It is part of my ministry now, to mentor others women to embrace their value as they are, without having to alter themselves to straight hair beauty standards, or anything else other than who they were created to be.

My Curly Hair Routine:

Shampooing: Before Anjana I swirled all hair on-top of mine head to shampoo all of my hair together. Now I shampoo with a dime size per zone (front, crown, back) hanging upside down so hair falls away from scalp and applying is easier and gentler to disperse on roots; “prayer hands” any excess foam down over my length; come upright and massage with a scalp brush. Rinse scalp and let shampoo rinse out over my hair.

Condition: Before Anjana I would glob a bunch of conditioner randomly through hair, run fingers through haphazardly, avoiding the scalp, leave in a few minutes, and wash completely out with cold water. Now I apply Conditioner from tips to roots from all angles with praying hands and gently adding in more water before more conditioner as I detangle with my fingers. Leave in a few minutes. “Modified Squish to Condish”: Instead of tossing water in upside down, I now do what I call “The Whip Method;” just barely stepping under the running shower head letting the water hit my roots briefly on the roots right side up, and then back if my head hanging upside down. As water is dripping out of hair, hanging upside down, squish up in “pulsing” with just water and conditioner left in hair.

Styling: “Prayer hands” and “rake” my leave in cream or custard, then still hanging upside down with my boar bristle brush, gently brush with resistance the top all the way through, and then “barrel roll around” and repeat on underside. Flip back forward and brush front with wide tooth comb to separate curl clumps, repeat upright with back underlayer. Repeat with a medium hold gel or foam. “Whip” even quicker on roots to get water into hair for “Modified Squish to Condish” hanging upside down and then from all angles so hair doesn’t stick to scalp. Repeat “pulsing” one more time hanging upside down.

Drying Hair: “Plop” hair while drying body off, changing clothes, lotion, etc. Shake out plop and spray in primer from all angles and scrunch with hands. Wait a few minutes, scrunch dry with t-shirt. Wait a few minutes, then glaze and scrunch another medium hold foam or gel into hair from all angles. (Repeat once more if necessary). Wait another few minutes, scrunch dry with T-shirt. (Repeat once more if necessary). Air dry (or “Hover” diffuse+ “pixie” diffuse dry) shaking hair every now and then from different angles to keep hair off of scalp.

Breaking the Cast: When hair is dry and cast is formed, hang upside down and “clap” hair dry with bare hands from all angles. Shake fingers at roots from all angles to “fluff”, then scrunch any last bite of soft crunch. If hair has been dry lately I will use an oil on hands.

Refresh: Dry refresh curl by curl

Products:

1. Refresh Products: Original Moxie Reforming Curl Creme (mixed in bigger bottle with water)or mane tame
2. Sleep Protection: Blissilk Pillowcase and Bonnet (with hair in a pineapple)
3. Shampoo: Rizos Hydrating Shampoo, Original Moxie No Foam Cleanser
4. Conditioner: Rizos Hydrating Deep Conditioner,Original Moxie Featherweight Conditioner
5. Definer: Rizos Curl Cream, Bounce Curl and Clump Creme
6. Primer: The Innate Life Neroli Primer
7. Hold Products: Original Moxie Just Gel, Original Moxie Mane Tame Serum, Original Moxie Pop-Life Foam
8. Refresh Products: Original Moxie Mane Tame Serum, Original Moxie Reforming Creme
9. Treatments: Bouncecurl Deep Treatment, Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil (for scalp), Righteous Roots Growth Oil, The Innate Life Rose oil

Thank you so much Anjana, for being a life changer, and for your detailed work to blog and support others with such a thorough and giving heart! ♥️”

Start your own curl transformation today! – Start Here. Read about other readers’ transformations here – Readers’Diary. Here’s a big shoutout to all my lovely readers – I would love it if you can share photos of your curly hair’s before & after, how the blog has helped you and a paragraph about your routine and products. Send them to info@curlsandbeautydiary.com