Holiday Haircare | Protecting your curls
Going on holiday means changes to our hair. With warmer weather, changes in water and chlorine in the swimming pool, it is easy for curls to dry out and change.
For me living in England, my hair is used to damper weather and a different type of water when being washed. I don't have to worry too much about humidity and chlorine and so the products and styling methods are different.
I have just returned from a week trip to Alanya, Turkey and i wanted to share with you a few of my hair care tips, which helped me to keep my curls looking moisturised and soft, and even getting to day 3 curls without it drying out too much. Some of these apply for both on holiday and at home, but are a little more important.
Bedtime routine
Ladies, pack that satin pillowcase or wrap a satin scarf around the hotel pillow for bedtime protection. I do this at home as well, but on holiday the humidity is crazy and the last thing you want to do is miss out on this bedtime protection and wake up to maximum frizz! I am not a fan of using a scarf to wrap my hair at night, as i find that it slips off in the night so much, but what i do is take a scarf and wrap it around the hotel pillowcase. This doesn't come off and keeps those curls in check! I got my satin pillowcase from Osocurly and you can too by clicking on this link.
When it comes to bedtime, it is best to give your hair some little extra moisture. What i would do is rub some coconut oil onto the ends of my hair, and also to smooth down the top. Remember that frizz occurs when your hair is trying to cling onto the moisture in the air and from friction, so smoothing these top and ends with oil before bed not only flattens them but it will provide that moisture that is missing, leaving your hair nice and smooth.
As with at home, it is possible to sleep with your hair in your own desired way. For me a pineapple doesn't always work. I find that i wake up more like a mushroom. Instead i like to leave my hair down as it is, as i find that i wake up with my hair smooth and in the right shape i need it to be in for the day. It is less effort to do in the morning.
Washing your hair
When i first travelled with my hair at the state i have gotten it to, i thought i was going to need to wash my hair every single day to keep it healthy and curly. I learnt that this is not necessarily true. I find that as long as my hair is tied up and protected during the day, then it doesn't need to be washed everyday. Instead i co-washed my hair every other day, and i only shampooed my hair twice (once because i wore my hair down in the pool and all day so it was wet and with chlorine, and the other when i deep conditioned). What i found when washing my hair abroad, is that it still leaves my hair feeling dry because of the difference in the water.
In England the water is soft whereas in turkey, it is hard. This hard water can sometimes mean that the shampoo we use is not being washed out properly, or they affect our hair strands differently, leaving our hair feeling a little like straw. What i did after washing my hair was to go back to my trusty spray bottle, where i mixed bottled water with conditioner and oils, and soaked my hair in this mixture before combing it through. I always find that it is hard to comb my hair in the shower when on holiday because of how dry and knotty it gets. By using bottled water, it was closer to washing my hair at home with water it is used to, and so my curls got that soft feeling back in them.
When on holiday i also wash my hair with different products than what i use at home. At home i like to use a few different brands of conditioner, but when i go away i turn to Organix (OGX Lemon Highlights conditioner. This is because the lemon in this conditioner helps to bring out the blonde i have applied onto my hair, as well as the natural blonde i have at the front of my hair. By applying this conditioner, both when washing my hair, and also daily in the spray leave-in formula, ensures my hair attracts the sun but stays protected. I love how blonde it gets.
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| Blonde curls: Day one after having my hair out in the pool and around the pool |
Do not forget that deep conditioner!
It is so easy to let normal haircare slip when away, but ladies do not forget to pack your deep conditioner! Mid week i applied one of my faves to my hair to help to restore it to its better state. The good thing about this trip, was that i was away with a curlfriend and so we both deep conditioned our hair together. We used the shea moisture jbco masque and then covered our hair in shower caps. The weather was still so warm and we had a hot tub for our deep condition and chill, so no extra heat was needed. When i say my hair NEEDED this is masque! Your hair is experiencing so many changes when you go abroad so give it some TLC, a break, and keep it healthy! It may seem like a chore because your on holiday, your their to enjoy yourself, but you will understand when you have done it.
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| Shea Moisture JBCO Hair masque and the sections in twists. This was then covered by a shower cap and left on for 15-20 min |
Your hair WILL frizz, you WILL look like a lion at some point, and guess what? You rock it like it was on purpose. There is no way to completely avoid frizz in those first few days of your holiday. You want to wear your hair down in the pool and do the sexy hair flip with it wet. You want the photos of your hair down and don't want to wear a pineapple all day. So do it! Go have fun! I got so many compliments about my hair when it was down, even though when i looked in the mirror i thought "fix it!". Your hair just needs to adjust and get used to the new changes, so give it time. Don't feel the need to try and force it to any certain style or over apply products. Relax and give it time. Embrace the volume, rock the frizz and let it grow.
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| Frizz much |
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| Rawr |
I am one of those curlies who doesn't like to comb their hair after applying product, but when abroad i find i comb my hair alot more. The best styling method for me was:
- Section hair into small sections starting with the back.
- Apply my spray mixture (DIY video of what is in the mix can be found here)
- Using a shower comb, comb the first section out.
- Apply a leave in conditioner (i used asiamnaturally coconut leave-in)
- Using a denman brush brush this through from roots to tips
- Apply a cream or lotion to your hair. I used curlsmith oil-in-cream and then brushed this through as well.
- Twist this section and move onto the next until all of your hair is done in this method.
- Apply an oil to your hands, (i used righteous roots) and untwist each section carefully. Having oil on your hands will help reduce any frizz.
- I then applied Mielle Organics Pomade to Oil with my hair in just two sections and undid some of the clumps of curls (the more oil based products you apply to your hair while it is wet, the more moisture you are going to seal in! Just make sure to only be applying small amounts.
- The final product i applied to my hair was my fave curl product curl keeper! I apply this by flipping my head forward and scrunching this into the ends. This acts like a gel and keeps my curls held but not with a cast. After flipping my hair forward i repeat on each side. You do not need alot of this product and it reactivates with water meaning i don't need to use anything other than my spray bottle for the next few days.
- Air dry - the beauty of being abroad is that it is so hot i don't need to apply heat to my hair which is perfect as it means less shrinkage :)
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| 1st night |
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| 3rd Night |
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| 4th Night and fully dry |
As you can see my hair has less frizz and more definition. On the photo above i had not done the method, i have added it to show that i could get away with wearing my curls down thanks to the curl keeper, and not having to do anything but spritz it with some water.
Give your hair a break and try a nice updo sometimes
The pulling, brushing, product overload as well as the weather and water changes discussed, mean alot of manipulation on our hair. Have a hair break by wearing your hair in a protective style for a day or two. I opted to have a bun day and dressed this up in the evening by adding a braid and some braid clips. This just meant that my hair got to have an untouched day and a break. Keeping it in a loose bun meant that the ends were tucked away and didn't frizz. I used a satin scrunchie (of course) in order to do the bun. I got mine from www.osocurly.com.
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| Issa Bun day! |
Oil oil oil. A new best friend for my hair but even more so when on holiday. Due to its sealant and shine properties, applying oil as a final styling product will lock in everything! In June i went to Egypt, and what i did was take 2 little mini oils down to the pool with me. I kept my hair down by the pool almost everyday of that week because of this. Whenever my hair got wet, i would dry it with my hair towel (which i will discuss soon) and the applied either a coconut oil or another type. My favourites for in Egypt were argan oil and coconut minis from boots. They fit in my beach bag perfectly. In turkey my go to oil was Righteous roots and grohealthy. Righteous roots is also my oil of choice for my spray bottle. I had both a mini one for the pool and travelling, as well as a big one for styling meaning i could just apply and go.
Towel for curly hair
As mentioned, when on holiday i air dry my hair. Not only because of the faff of having to pack a hairdryer with you, but because of the heat itself. My hair dried alot faster than it would back home. To get excess product and water off however, and to take down to the pool to dry pool/sea water from hair, a micro fibre towel is a MUST in your beach bag. These towels will ensure that your hair isn't soaked, but also that it does not frizz through the friction of cotton towels against your curls. Get yours www.onlycurls.com.
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