Will layers help or hinder a natural wave?

[Pipsweet]

Hi guys!

I have shoulder-length hair, which used to be naturally curly but then went shapeless when I suffered from hair loss a couple of years ago. I'd love to try and introduce a natural wave to my hair, as it sometimes looks like it's trying to wave if I leave it to dry naturally, but soon becomes limp and shapeless again. I'm growing my hair out, but I was wondering:

if I get layers cut into my hair, will it be less likely to become wavy? Does having longer hair encourage a curl, or does it weigh it down and make a natural curl harder to achieve?

ALSO, another quick question I just thought of, will using curl activating shampoo/conditioner/mousse have any effect whatsoever?

T.I.A.!

 

[HairEgo]

Hey..

So heres the deal with wavy/curly hair: if its all one length - the hair has a harder time curling; think gravity its being pulled down no matter how thin or thick your hair may be. Introducing layers into the hair means that the hair will naturally have more movement and texture. You can also use a curl enhancing shampoo and conditioner; the best one in my opinion is Matrix Curl Life; it starts working as soon as you shampoo. It has polymers in it that effectively manipulate the hair to have more texture - obvioisly someone with bone straight hair wont benefit from this, but someone such as yourself with a bit of texture will.

 

[Bec688]

That sounds like some pretty awesome advice to me!

 

[Dragonfly]

I like Gina's advice as well.

I have wavy/curly hair that I like on the longish side. Having long layers allow me to have more control over it's texture.

 

[Orangeeyecrayon]

i agree with gina, as i usually do lol.

another benefit with layers when you have curl or wavy hair is you do not get triangle head (which means your hair gets supper puffy at the ends but is flat at the top)

 

[homemade-beauty]

I think with curls you absolutely have to have layers. Otherwise, like previous poster said you wind up with triangle hair. If you hair looks limp, i think layers will help either way, adding bounce and volume.

I, for one, have "struggled" with curls all my life. I always dreamed of straight hair (goes to show you, we are never happy with what we have). I found that growing it out longer will make it less curly. I am guessing it weights it down more. So if you are going for curls you might want to get a shorter, maybe midlength cut.

Hope this helps.

 

[SearMeCarefully]

I think it really just depends on your hair and how it responds. I know that many curlies when they cut their hair shorter they have more curl because there isn't so much weight I assume - however that is totally not the case with me and a few others I've come across. The shorter my hair is the less it seems to curl. I think long layers would be a good way to go. It frees up your hair, allows it to move more and not clump together/be weigh down

But as I said everyone is different and how they react is different

I would be interested to try a curl enhancing shampoo/conditioner but I'm pretty picky with the ingredients I haven't come across any that are free of cones/sulfates =(

 

[Lucy]

you just have to be careful the layers aren't too short.. i have naturally curly/wavy hair and i had an AWFUL hair cut once where i asked for layers and the shortest one came to like my ear. it made my hair when it was dried naturally go into a weird shape as the shorter layers would curl up and be even shorter and the rest would just lie flat.

 

[Orangeeyecrayon]

i think the length of the layers depends on your hair type, which your hair stylist can help you in deciding what looks best, my shortest layers currently are not even down to my ears, because the hair on the top of my head is finner than the rest and so if it is to long it weighs to much to curl up

 

[magneticheart]

Awesome advice from Gina!

Originally Posted by Lucy /img/forum/go_quote.gif you just have to be careful the layers aren't too short.. i have naturally curly/wavy hair and i had an AWFUL hair cut once where i asked for layers and the shortest one came to like my ear. it made my hair when it was dried naturally go into a weird shape as the shorter layers would curl up and be even shorter and the rest would just lie flat.

Lol! The exact same thing happened to me! It was the first time I had my hair cut in layers and the shortest one came to my ear and then there were NO other layers! It wasn't faded out gradually, that was the only layer and the rest of my hair was long! I looked like a mushroom, I was mortified LOL

 

[Lucy]

lol katie!! it was my first time with layers too.. for years afterwards i wouldn't touch them with a barge pole and just had totally flat hair and then one day i found a hairdresser that understood my hair and cut layers in that suited my natural hair shape.

 

[magneticheart]

I couldn't wait for mine to grow out, they were so awful, I went to another hairdresser to see if she could blend it into the rest of my hair (thank god she made it look semi-decent, I'd have cringed leaving the house with that hair do lol) and she looked at it and went "Whoever did this totally butchered your hair." I was like oh thanks, that makes me feel great

But I've had layers ever since, just never been back to that hairdresser haha