My hair was always stick straight. My friend refered to it as Vidal Sassoon hair: long, shiny, and straight. After our first baby, it started getting a tad on the flufy side. After baby #4 I cut about 16 inches off because there was no time to deal with it all. Now that it's short, I've discovered it's very wavy! I've never had to style wavy hair before & am at a loss. If I do nothing it gets big & frizzy. If I blow it out it, I have to flat iron it too. If I dry it with a diffuser, I have to put mousse/foam wax in & then it ends up crunchy.
Has anyone else had their hair change drastically after pregnacy?
What do you do with your wavy hair? Any favorite products? Any advice?
EDITED TO ADD: A few of you have asked just how wavy it is. The front, around my face is still fairly straight. The back is very wavy, but not quite curly. If I wash & go, it almost looks like big finger waves across the back of my head (only not as cute). It's just past my shoulders & layered from my last hair cut in October.
LMAO sorry but i've spent 5 years thinking i was crazy!!!! i had wonderfull hair just enough body to be nice and full but i never had to do a thing other than brush it and go, 3 kids later and ok a few inches shorter, and it's curly, but only if i use product, so yeah it happens, my feet got bigger too, lol. anyways i love the styling shampoos, no particular brand over the others but i have one for curly days and one for staight days. i avoid anything that says volumizing or clarifying, it makes the frizzies worse. the heavier the conditioner the better if i want to go straight. and on culry days i use a cheap gel when my hair is wet and let it air dry and as long as i don't use to much it doens't get cruchy. keep in mind though that some of this has to do with the length of your hair, i'm letting mine grow back out, short it curls easily and if i just use some product i can avoid friz and be fine, but right now it's at a length where it won't curl, it's to long but it's still wavy and frizzy, so it's terrible right now, i'm hoping if i keep letting it grow it'll get heavy enough to pull the curl out and at least slightly resemble my long lost hair from before i had children.
Too funny! People tell me I am crazy when I tell them my hair changed. I had the opposite. My hair was very curly (like spiral curl) before I got pregnant and now it is straight. My hairdresser said it is just now starting to get a wave to it 7 years later, but not even close to curly, kind of like I had a ponytail in it and it left that wave.
When I had curly hair, I always put a little mousse in it before blowdrying it and would use a brush with thick bristles that are spaced far apart. This kept it from getting frizzy and brushing it took any crunchiness away. Also it is important to make sure your hairdresser is used to cutting curly hair so that they give you a correct cut. I actually switched hairdressers when my hair went straight.
Welcome to my world - ha ha! I've had wavy hair my whole life, and I've always been told I have "great" hair. Yes, it has body and holds a style, but I have never been able to just wash & go because it has a mind of its own.
Anyway, I use Suave Humectant Shampoo & Conditioner. It seems to calm the frizzies for me. I also use a dime-size amount of Frizz-Ease while it's damp, before I blow-dry. I style with a big, round brush while I dry it. On humid days, I use a flat iron to keep it under control.
My oldest daughter got my wavy hair. It's auburn, thick, shiny and gorgeous. My younger daughter is 5 and has the Vidal Sassoon hair -- I'm so jealous -- it's not fair!! :)
It was a freakin' nightmare. I hated when my hair changed. I like frizzeaze hair serum. I use it no matter what I am doing to my hair because it helps with the frizzies. Now not only is my hair wavy (and not evenly wavy, it's totally random) it is also frizzy, so this helps keep it under contol. Get a diffuser for your blowdryer because that also helps.
I have always had naturally curly hair and then I had my son and it became just "wavy". I think I am on my way to straight hair which will be fine with me since I always had to straighten it anyways. However, with my curly hair I put a small amount of gel in it while it is still wet and then has it air drys I add some hairspray here and there to keep it tame. In my opinion the worse thing for wavy/curly hair is to blow dry it.
Good luck
Aleisha
I had wavy hair that turned curly/frizzy 4-5 years ago. Trying to deal with it drove me crazy too! I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. When I want it to look somewhat styled, I put leave-in conditioner in it while it's still wet, tip my head upside down and blow-dry the roots, then flip it back up and use bobby pins to control the more unruly curls, then let it air-dry. Brushing it out after it's dry takes out the crunchiness. I've used a number of different shampoos/conditioners for curly/frizzy hair, but nothing has really impressed me yet -- but then, maybe my hair is simply hopeless! :) Ask your hairdresser for advice on what to do and use. Hope you get it figured out soon!
Shauna.....ooooooohhhhhhhh yes! I feel your pain! ha! I, too had straight hair til the birth of baby number 5 and then wavy came on which eventually turned to curly!
My suggestion? Find a fabulous hair stylist who "does" curly hair and find a cute style that will frame your face appropriately and then after you shower you simply crunch those curls to frame your face and your off!!
Oh, and mine was straight for 39 years...and has been curly for 3!!! LOL
Shauna,
Yes! I have natural curly hair but after my first child I looked like I had an afro!! Eventually it tamed back to normal. I use "Curls Up" it's in a bright yellow bottle to tame curls and J&J baby leave in conditioner for softness. Enjoy the new do, experiment with it have fun!!
Renee
My hair was the same way, and after baby #2, if I don't flat iron it it looks like I have crimped it. Flat ironing is the only thing I can do which takes about an hour to get it done right. So I usually just put it up in a pony tail. I always thought it very weird that pregnancy changed my hair so drastically!
Shauna,
My hair was also always stick straight. After my second child I got the same wavey/frizz action going on. It is quite frustrating to me to bc I am just not used to dealing with wavy hair. I have to use a flat iron. But I really am just in the same boat as you. So you arent alone.
No real advice from me...just made me chuckle! One of my sister's has curly - beautiful hair! But every time she got pregnant it straighten A LOT and was more just blah, less than wavy hair. Everyone knew when she was pregnant RIGHT AWAY because of her hair! It stayed this way for her whole pregnancy and most of when she was breastfeeding! Then, back to normal. She was told HORMONES!!! Good Luck! And, I hope you enjoy whatever hair you end up with :-D
boy do i hear yah..lol. before baby #1 my hair was thing and had very few waves, after baby #4 everyone thinks i get my hair permed. i got some stuff from SALLY'S BEAUTY SALON called PROCLAIM. it's 5.99 a bottle and it's lasted me almost 6 mo. i just put it in my hair after i towel dry it and it helps alot with frizzes & fly aways. garnier makes something also, it's called FIBER GUM, it's like a very thick gel you put in after you towel dry your hair, and it is awesome(just don't use alot). i usually wear my hair up, i can't stand having it touch my neck or face. alot of hair places sell clamps & ties & twists you can use to style your hair up, most of the ones i have take less than 5 minutes to get your hair up & they are very pretty. good luck!
I'm a cosmetologist so let me tell you that your hair chaging from pregnancy is VERY normal! My hair got darker with my first child and then lighter with my second. I don't know why those hormones affect us so - you'd think with everything else that happens during pregnancy we'd get cut some slack! ;-) I had a hard time determing how "wavy" your hair is from what you wrote. If it's just a little wavy getting a flipped out bob is really cute and works well with that hair type - I know, that's mine! For a medium to very wavy/curly believe it or not, getting a perm can be a big help. My sister has very curly hair but I preiodically perm her anyways. The problem with natural curl is that it very often tends to be uneven curl so getting a perm will give you uniform curl and should allow you to style it with more ease and less product (so it doesn't get crunchy.) Hope that helps and good luck!
Shauna,
I thought I was the only one with wierd post pregnancy hair! Mine did the opposite of your though. Wavy my whole life, I punch out my son, all my curl fell out. Almost 7 years later it is coming back. Anyway, to answer your ? - I find gel works better than mousse. I also use a leave in conditioner first. Small amounts of both, brush out to style my part, let it dry naturally, then run finger thru it to soften the slight "crunch", it holds the style but makes it soft. Good luck to you and your wave!
I have the dreaded wavy hair too! But, I've actually come to realize that I am the only one out of all my friends who can straight OR curly hair, depending on how I style it. It took a long time for me to come to this realization and embrace it, but I figured "well, I'm stuck with it, so might as well find the positives". So, here are some suggestions..
If you want it straight, you are going to have to blow dry it. There's a product by Big Sexy Hair called "Straight Sexy Hair, Smooth and Seal" It is the ONLY product out of probably 20-30 things I have tried throughout the years that gets my hair stick straight with no frizzies. When you use it, pull all of your hair up into a clip except for a fairly small section going all the way around the bottom of your hair in the back. Spray and flat iron. Then undo the clip while holding onto your hair and use your finger to part out another section. If you do it in thin sections, you'll get the best effect. I used to do it in about 4 different sections, but then was told to use smaller ones, so now I use about 10 and LOVE the difference!
For curly hair, you have the right idea, mousse and diffuse.
If you want to let it dry naturally, the only thing I've come to know that I can do without having nappy hair when it's dried is to put mousse in it while it's wet. It dries with a lot of wave, but the mousse keeps it from getting frizzy, so it's not bad at all. Then, I am a bobby pin junkie. While it's drying, I usually twist my bangs back and bobbie pin them, totally cute!
Oh! If your hair gets crunchy to where when you shake it out with your hands it doesn't soften up, use a little less mousse until you find the right amount. When I wear my hair curly though, it's usually a little crunchy.
I had the exact same reaction with my hair. The lady who cut my hair before my son was born knew how straight it was. I didnt go back to see her until he was over a year and she could not believe me when I said I think my hair was starting to get curly. We put a curling mousse in and sure enough curly hair. Mine is the same way - if I do nothing it is a mess of frizz, to make it straight takes way too long, so I have gone the mousse and diffuser route. I really liked the salon product that I used the first time but way to expensive to buy regularly so I just get the Fructise brand and it works pretty well. I have to be careful how much I use to keep the crunchies down. I also find taking a large comb to just the ends helps make it look a little more natural.
Good luck - I feel your pain. Sadly growing up in the 80's I used to spend so much $ to make my hair look like this and now that I have it some days I would love to go back to straight!!
I have always had super straight hair, never even would keep a curl with a home perm or anything. Straight hair for 35 years until after baby #3, but I kept it long, so I couldn't tell very much. After baby #4, I donated my ponytail and I've been hating my haircut for 6 months now! Hairdresser suggested Rock on curl activator or something like that. I have two bright blue bottles of stuff I put on. And a new blow dryer with a diffuser.
I'm planning on growing out all these layers again, so the weight of my hair will give it just a slightly wavy look instead of messy mop top.
I had curly hair that was so easy. My hair is long and I would just get out of the shower put mousse on it and go. Not any more. Now its frizzy, kinda wavy but a mess. Not nice at all. We are trying for #2, I am hoping it might go back. haha
part of it is the pre-nate vitamins, and then the hormone changes. It is very good for your hair. If you aren't breast feeding, you can probably drop your special vitamins.
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