Hey..This is Auri’al. She is one of my bestest and cutest friends in the whole wide world.

Look at her!

Just out here slayin’ the curl game!

She has a few hair styling secrets I never knew about until recently that have kind of changed my life. I would say that Ms. Auri’al takes fairly good care of hair. She does what I think most us do to our precious locks… torture them in pursuit of the perfect hairstyle. Sometimes we learn our lesson and grow it out for a few years, take perfect care of it, and get it so it’s almost perfect, then think to ourselves, “I’m bored. So I’m going to go blonde..or red..teal, some kind of ombre, back to black” …then Beyonce comes out with a new album and light hair it is again!

Anyway, that’s not really the point. The point is people are embracing their natural hair more than ever and I love it, but no matter the texture of hair is, trying to wear a natural curl day in and day out without using heat or chemicals is a big commitment! Whether it’s just for a week, a few months, or years it’s a lot of work!

More often than not I leave the house feeling like I am having a great curly hair day, it’s looking full maybe my curls even have a little bounce to them, but by the time my lunch break comes around it all looks a hot mess! There’s no telling what parts will get frizzy, some of it will fall flat, then some of it is just all WTF… So back to the flat iron!

But not Auri’al… She’s gone from the little neighbor whose hair I would spend hours trying to get straight with our little ConAir curling irons to the prettiest hair ever! We didn’t know what we were doing back in the day and I think there’s a lot of people out there who still don’t quite know what they should be doing either because it’s hard to find the help and information we need to properly take care of our more textured hair. I know I don’t.

Auri’al has shown me the way now! Here’s some tips she let me in on.
First off, finding the right kind of products for your hair type is very important. For a ton of moisture and shine she mixes these oils in a spray bottle and they keep her hair feeling soft and gives her some extra protection from the dry Minnesota winters. I assumed she was using some extra fancy and expensive hair products, but these oils were all around $5 from the GNC store.

It’s always nice to dabble in new products and brands as well. Our hair is never exactly the same each day, so sometimes you may need to switch it up and add in extra products for extra loving when maybe your hair just won’t cooperate.

A Denman brush and some styling clips will come in handy as well!

I had always heard that it’s best to wash color treated hair in cooler water because it keeps the color from fading, but never had I heard to do the same to keep your curls from getting frizzy! I guess it makes sense if you think about it. If we get terrified of what the hot and humid weather might do to our hair style for the day,why wouldn’t washing our hair in a hot and steamy shower or bath be just as scary!? Since curly hair is usually a little thicker and more coarse it doesn’t need to be washed as often. Or at least shampooed. I don’t have as much hair as Auri’al and it’s not as curly so I shampoo my hair about every five days when wearing it curly, but condition it almost every other day to rehydrate and get the hair wet again so I can get a fresher curl.

This Queen of Curls though shampoos about every other week to avoid drying out her hair and conditions every five days or so. Since her hair has so much texture it can hold a style much longer than less textured hair so once she gets a routine going there’s no need to over do it trying to get a brand new look every single day. Make that hair last! In the end it can be less work for you.
Also, leaving in your conditioner for at least a good twenty minutes changes how healthy the feels immediately! Most conditioners that are meant for more textured hair are deep conditioners. This means the longer you let it soak in the more work it will do! As soon as you hop in the shower try washing your hair right away so that you can leave that conditioner in for the remainder of the time.

Have you ever heard of drying your hair with a T-shirt? I have seen this tip in all the magazines, Pintrest, Buzzfeed, and everywhere else you can find hair styling tips. It’s these little steps that I’ve heard from all over but always thought to myself, “Does it really makes a difference? Sounds like just another stupid thing hairstylists do to sound fancy but I don’t have time for all that!” Well maybe if I would’ve tried this the first time I saw it in Seventeen Magazine I could’ve saved a lot of time and avoided a lot of bad hair days! Drying your hair with a cotton shirt really does reduce frizz!! Like by a lot. I think this is one of the tricks that has changed the outcome of my hair the most!

Then put some oils up in there! Maybe even mix it with a leave in container for extra hydration. Auri’al made her own little concoction mixing these together and she runs it all through her hair before she brushes it out.

Now when I was in cosmetology school I was told that once curly hair is washed do not brush your hair, because this breaks up the curls and creates frizz. When I was in cosmetology school I was also being taught these rules by people who’s hair was straight as can be and had no texture! So when Auri’al told me that when she wants her to be super big and wild she doesn’t brush through it I was shocked. When she wants more pieced out uniform curls that she has a little more control over she does run that Denman brush all through her hair.

See the difference between the two??

She sections the top half of her hair from the bottom to brush and run more product through each section.

The other thing that blew mind was this little trick she does to get volume.

The final step is she takes these little clips and pinches the hair right at the root while it dries. Leaving out the area that where the hair is going to be parted she clips the hair underneath so as the hair is drying it sets upright which create a whole more volume! Then just let it air dry while you finish getting ready for the day and you’re done!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve tried teasing and fluffing my hair a million times and once I leave the house my hair falls flat! Then some curly head like Auri’al struts past me and my day is ruined! I always thought that kind of volume and curl wasn’t achievable for me because I just didn’t have the right hair. It’s these small “Hair Hacks” like this that really are game changers! They won’t do the exact same thing for everyone but I didn’t intend on being able to use these tricks on my own hair. I just thought my bestie had amazing hair and I wanted to share with anyone who might have the same texture and wanted to know how to get the same look. So I was shocked when I copied her routine and had the best hair day ever! For real! My head was so big the other day – not because my hair was slaying and blowing in the wind. It was because I finally found an easier routine that involved embracing my own hair and the compliments came flying in! We clearly have different hair textures,but if it works me and it works for her, I think those who can maybe only get a beach wave in their hair to those who feel like their hair can only stay in a fro should give these little tricks a try and see what they can do!

Let me know if this worked for you or any other tips you may have below!