There comes a time in every curly-haired gal’s life when you don’t feel like picking up your straighteners anymore, but not knowing how to restore your natural curls means giving in to straighteners once more. It’s a vicious cycle. While you may not be able to do this all before your dinner plans, it’s totally possible to bring back your natural curls, with time.

At first, your hair will probably be a mixture of sad curls, loose waves, and even some straight pieces chilling where your curls used to be. But hang in there. After hardcore committing to our advice on how to restore your natural curl pattern to heat-damaged hair, no one will ever know you had a long-term affair with straight hair (just don’t forget to hide all photographic evidence). It involves a lot of time and even more patience, but your best curls are yet to come…

Cut Your Losses

And vow that once you leave the hair salon, you won’t touch hair straighteners again. Damaged curls are heavy curls, so by cutting as much damage off as possible, you’ll instantly add more definition to your curls as they get lighter and spring back up. To keep em’ bouncy, get a chop every 6-8 weeks.

Try Installing a Water-Filtering Shower Head 

It’s time to put your DIY skills to the test. Installing a water-filtering shower head might seem excessive, but when restoring your natural curl pattern, you want to cut ties with anything and everything that could make it tougher.

Depending on where you live, you either have soft or hard water running through your pipes. Hard water is the one you want to avoid as this usually means it’s high in magnesium and calcium. These metals can bind to your hair, which can cause it to dry out, get greasier, and even weigh down your curls stretching them out. They can also contribute to blocking your hair follicles, slowing down hair growth with your natural curl pattern. And we figured it’s easier to install a water-filtering shower head than start your life over in a soft water city, right?

Say No to Bleach

Bleach lightens the hair by stripping it of its colour, which is especially damaging to curly hair types as it sucks out moisture at the same time. Curly hair is more prone to dryness as it’s difficult for the scalp’s natural oils to entirely coat the hair from top to bottom with its twists and turns.

Regularly bleaching your hair will raise hair cuticles, allowing more moisture to escape. This makes it harder to restore your natural curl pattern as it needs moisture to retain elasticity for the curls to bounce back up to their original state.

Top-Up Moisture Levels

Not bleaching your hair isn’t enough to prevent dryness on its own as there are many other factors that can lessen moisture such as harsh ingredients, UV rays, and washing your hair too often. Often topping up moisture levels with hydrating hair masks, oils, and conditioning treatments will help to bring back and maintain your natural curls.

Use A Bamboo Afro Pick

As you begin to get your natural curls back after long-term straightening, your hair will be vulnerable. Like, super vulnerable. Using any kind of hairbrush or comb not suitable for curly hair types will disrupt your natural curl pattern as it’s trying to re-establish itself.

Bamboo Afro Pick - €12.00

Curls n’ Clouds Bamboo Afro Pick is ideal for use when bringing back natural curls as it’s made from 100% bamboo that’ll ease friction and slide over your curls gently removing knots with wide, long teeth. To support your natural curl pattern after restoring it, we recommend using our Bamboo Afro Pick for life.

Add Protein

Hair is mostly made from protein, and the more protein it holds, the stronger it is. When our hair is damaged, it loses protein and causes gaps, weakening the hair cuticle and natural curl pattern. Adding protein to your haircare routine and diet can help to rebuild protein in the areas it was lost and restore damaged curly hair back to its former glory days.