Natural Curls: Following YouTube Tutorials vs. Heatless Curls

Healthy locks can be hard to recover after severe damage caused by blow-drying and straighteners. Over the last years I have been trying to find a solution that enables me to use my natural curls without them looking too destroyed by the constant straightening. I found two solutions: follow the tutorials available on YouTube for curly hair or use the silk heatless curl kit. Which method is better to get my curls back in shape? Find out the answer in this article.

When I finished university and I started working full-time, fifteen years ago, I would often struggled to tame my curls with the limited time I had in the morning. I then opt to start straightening my hair, which eventually took me to the keratin straightening treatment, meaning my curls would disappear and my hair would be tamed with minimal effort. No big deal, considering I would spend less time fixing my hair and the keratin treatment just required to be redone every 4 months. After so many years of this constant damage to my hair, I realized I could not keep doing the keratin treatment, if I would like to dye my hair blonde to cover the grey hair. My curly hair started to come back, but unfortunately with no definition. I tried every product for curly hair, blow-dry my hair less or let my hair dry naturally, but nothing worked. Last year, I even put hair extensions (article here) to give more volume and definition to my natural curls. However, this didn’t work too.

After much research, I had two action plans to see if I could recover my curls: follow YouTube tutorials that promised to transform damaged curls into beautiful locks or try the new trend of heatless curls. Which method would be the curly hair savior?

FOLLOWING YOUTUBE TUTORIALS FOR CURLY HAIR

The amount of time I saw all the natural curly hair youtubers spending to keep their hair healthy and nourished, it seemed a hard task for me, but I was up for the challenge! I followed the tips of these three tutorials:

So after watching these tutorials, it was time to get all the tools and products to get the end result of bouncy curls. Here is the list of the products I got:

►Microfiber towel

►Electric Scalp Massager for Hair Growth

►Hair Heat Cap

►Silk Night Sleep Cap

►Tangle Teezer Hairbrush

►Hair Diffuser

►Curly Hair Products (leave-in products)

Upon having all the necessary tools and products to bring my curls back to life, I followed every tip given on the tutorials by this order:

1.I used my regular pre-shampoo treatment. You can use the popular Olaplex No. 3 (article and review here);

2.Washed hair with shampoo whilst massaging scalp with the electric scalp massager for hair growth;

3. Rinsed shampoo off and dried my hair with the microfiber towel.

4.Applied conditioner on towel dried hair, avoiding scalp. Applying conditioner on the scalp can make hair heavier and consequently without volume.

5. Warmed up on microwave for 3 minutes the hair heat cap and put it on whilst having the conditioner on. I left it for a minimum of 20 minutes.

6. Rinsed conditioner off and again dried my hair with the microfiber towel. I made sure to remove just a bit of the excess of water. I didn’t dry my hair completely.

7. Whilst my hair was between wet and damp, I applied hair products by turning head down. Firstly I applied a hand-size of leave-in conditioner, always avoiding scalp. After I put a hand-size of hair mousse, again avoiding scalp.

8. After applying hair products, with head still down, I scrunched my hair as shown on the tutorials.

9. Divided hair into small sections and with my head up, I started to brush each section with the tangle teezer by scrunching the section at the final, before moving onto the next one.

10. Turned head down and started to blow-dry my hair with the diffuser on cold air mode. I dried slowly with the diffuser a centimeter away from hair. I made sure not to touch the hair whilst being blow-dried.

11. Blow-dried hair like this for 1 hour. Yes you read it well, 1 hour! The last 30 minutes, I started to move my hair, left and right, as if I would be parting it with the diffuser, so the hair would be flexible by the end.

12. Finished to blow-dry my hair for about 10 minutes on hot air mode.

13. This is the end result:

Clearly, by the picture, the YouTube tutorials for curly hair, really work. My curls were defined, bouncy and look healthy. The last time I saw my curly hair like this, was fifteen years ago, so I was very satisfied with the result.

Despite the nourished and good-looking curls, I was drained by the time it took me to have my hair looking like this. Overall 3 hours to have these beautiful curls! That’s too long for me, when the next day, even after using the silk night sleep cap, I had to touch up my curls in the morning and hope for the best. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The next day, my curls were uncontrollable and the 3 hours I spent the day before seemed useless. At least, when I straight my hair, even if the next day my hair is looking crazy, I can manage to tie it up in a nice ponytail. Not the case, if the hair is curly.

So is this method worth it? In my opinion, for everyday is a totally no for me. It takes way too long. Plus, the next day, after washing and styling hair, the curls will need touch up ! For a special occasion yes the effort can be worth it.

HEATLESS CURLS

I purchase the silk heatless curl kit, size XXS, with a silk pillow case on https://feverless.net/. The kit can be bought on other websites, such as Amazon or Revolution Beauty. I followed the tutorial for heatless curls on Feverless website. It’s in Romanian, but what matters is doing the steps present in the video. This is the tutorial:

After washing my hair, I applied hair serum and a bit of hair mousse for curly hair. Then, I twisted my hair around the silk pink cord. I slept with it and in the morning I undid it. Here is the video of me putting the heatless curl kit:

In the morning when I removed the heatless silk cord, I admit I was expecting a better result. This means that the heatless curl kit is more suitable for straight or less curly hair, if compared to mine. On very frizzy curly hair like mine, heatless curls helped to tame my curls in a way that the volume was under control and the curls were less frizzy-looking, though I couldn’t say my curls looked glamourous as I expected. My hair looked more wavy than curly.

This method is much more easy than the YouTube tutorials for curly hair. The curls, though, look less defined.

Probably the heatless curls would work better if I would straight my hair before, but then, what would be the point, if I’m trying to cause less damage on my hair.

I like the fact that it’s very easy to use, but I have to admit I dislike the result on my natural curly hair. I would like a more defined looking curls.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Both methods are still not what I would desire to get bouncy curls. One takes way too long, the other doesn’t define the curls as desired. If I had to choose one method, I’d probably would choose the heatless curls, for the quick application, even if my curls looked more wavy. What would you opt for?

Recently, I found an easier way to style my curls, even if the curl lock isn’t perfect. I wash my hair following the steps described in the YouTube tutorial section from 1 until 5. Once I towel-dry my hair I apply the Cantu Shea Butter Wave Whip Curling Mousse and let my hair dry naturally. Easy and quick!

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