How To Manage Gray Curly Hair

If you have natural gray curls or if your hair is starting to go gray and you're wondering how the heck do you take care of it, then this video is for you. If you are new to my channel welcome. My name is gina and i make videos all about naturally, curly hair. I try and simplify things for beginners so that everyone can achieve healthy hair gray. Curly hair is something that is not really talked about that much in the curly hair community. When i went to research for this video, i only found a handful of videos about how to manage and take care of gray and curly hair. Now you might be wondering why are you even talking about grays, and that is because i'm 28 and i already have a patch of gray hairs and i'm not just talking about a couple, sparse gray, hairs here and there i have a pretty big patch, that's happening Over on this side of my head and i'm starting to get one on the other side as well, it's so interesting how having gray hair is always seen as a negative thing when i actually think it's so pretty, especially with curls. It can really highlight your curl pattern if you start to have some grays coming through it almost kind of looks like highlights. I think a lot of people want to just cover it up, which is totally fine. I might even do that at some point eventually dye. My hair, but at this point i'm really just trying to embrace it and want my hair to just be healthy. I'Ve worked so hard over the last few years to get my natural hair back to its completely natural state and be completely healthy. I'Ve been on this hair journey for about four years now and i just recently finished getting all the damage cut off my hair. So i'm definitely not looking to just start dyeing it again just to cover up the little patch of grays. So i am going to show you some ways that you can kind of conceal it and hide it if it's not personally what you like to see so the first thing i'm going to talk about is what actually happens scientifically when your hair starts to go gray In a nutshell, our hair starts to go gray when it stops producing melanin. Our hair naturally produces melanin is what gives it its color, and this starts to deplete as we reach age 35. I think it said our existing hairs on our head do not actually turn gray. The new hairs that grow in those follicles are what turns gray. So the existing hair that you have is already grown out. It'S not going to turn gray you're just getting those new hairs coming in so it looks like everything is starting to turn gray. So when our hair starts to lose its melanin and starts to turn gray, the cuticle can also weaken leading to high porosity hair. If you're not already familiar with what porosity is it's our hair's ability to retain and absorb moisture, we all know that curls love, moisture. Any hair requires moisture and water to actually stay in it to be hydrated and prevent it from drying out, and when you have a raised cuticle that can lead to tangles breakage and it's just hard to manage in general, it can be really sensitive to humidity. My hair already leans more towards high porosity. It was definitely very high, porosity back when it was still damaged, but now that i've gotten all the damage finally cut off and fully transitioned my hair, it's leaning a little bit more towards medium and it's much easier to manage, but those gray areas are definitely the Stubborn ones, so because of this higher porosity hair type, you might notice that the gray areas of your hair feel more coarse, more brittle and more dry. That'S probably the biggest thing that i've noticed with the gray areas is they're super coarse and i even have some kinks in my hair, so that, basically, is where the hair kind of takes a bend or it just isn't completely smooth. When you run your finger down - and you feel like all these bumps and stuff and that very coarse rough feeling can be pretty challenging because it leads to a lot of tingles and snarls and it just doesn't act right compared to the rest of your hair. We also don't produce as much oil as we age so as you're getting older and your hair is graying you're, also producing less oil. So in turn our gray hair becomes less lubricated. So you don't have that barrier there with that sebum to help coat the hair, and so it can feel more dry and brittle, and your curl pattern can even change once you start to go gray, you might notice, as the grays start to come in they'll. Be a little bit looser and they might even look straight as they start to stick out, but if you just give it some time, they will start to take a curl shape and a curl pattern. Mine are definitely a looser curl pattern compared to the rest of my hair, so i'm definitely noticing that loosening of the curl pattern, but they're still just now coming in. So it's hard for me to really tell but i've noticed as they have grown out and become longer they're, actually starting to take that curl pattern. So don't be alarmed just know that it does take a long time for that curl pattern to really come in, especially if you are fully transitioning back to your natural hair, and you want to stop dyeing your hair, and you know that your hair is fully gray. Underneath it's definitely going to take a long time for that curl pattern to come back and it's great if you are looking to go natural because you might not have even thought about that, you would even like your hair when it's gray, if your hair is damaged From dying or bleaching or straightening, but if you can get your natural curls back and they still are gray, then you might actually love your gray curls, because your curls look healthy a lot of times. The curl pattern tightens up as they get healthier and just healthier hair in general is a lot easier to manage. So you might love your gray curls if you can get your hair healthy. So why does our hair go? Gray, here are some of the common causes of graying hair. The first one and the most common are genetics. There'S nothing! We can do to change our genetics in our dna. You might want to ask some of your family members if they also grade early. If you were experiencing early grain, like myself, i don't think my mom grade early she's, the redhead she does have curls, but she's got a looser, curl pattern. My sister is graying a little bit earlier, she's 35 now and she started graying. She said when she was 25, so she started growing a little bit early. So that tells me that that's the cause of mine is probably just genetics if she also started to gray early ethnicity also plays a huge factor, certain ethnicities gray, a lot later in life compared to others that tend to gray a lot earlier. Another common cause of graying hair is a vitamin deficiency or just a poor diet. I was reading that vitamin b12 iron and iodine are linked to grain prematurely. Also, smoking is a huge factor when it comes to gray hair. It really depletes the melanin in your system. Also, having a buildup of toxins in your body, exposures to certain chemicals, some other common causes of graying hair are thyroid disorders. So if you have any type of thyroid or other medical conditions that can cause your hair to gray early and the final one is stress, there are studies that have shown that an increase in stress can cause your hair to graze sooner. So now that we've talked about why our hair goes gray and some of the common causes, let's talk about how to actually manage it. The first step is to not pull them out. Do not pluck them that can just cause damage to the hair follicles. So you might not have a new hair growing if you pluck it too much. I used to do this back when i just had like one or two pop in. I would pull it out because they would just stick up straight like an antenna, then i just got over it. I let them actually grow out, and then i was able to actually blend them into my hair. There is an old wives tale that says. If you pluck a gray hair, three more will grow in. That'S, definitely not true, but you will get another gray. Hair grow in its place and it can even damage the hair follicle, which will cause no hair to grow in its place. You don't want to keep doing that, because then you could just have some hair thinning happening like i said you have to make sure that you give it time for them to grow in once they fully start to grow out. You can blend them in with the rest of your hair. The next step to taking care of gray hair is to moisturize them. You really want to focus on moisture when you're starting to get grays and if you're, fully gray, you definitely want to focus on moisture. So what does this mean? That means making sure that you are doing your deep conditioning treatments. I recommend deep conditioning at least once a week. If you can't do once a week, definitely do it at least once a month. You can use a combination of protein or moisture-based deep conditioners, but i would really focus on the very moisturizing ones. I do have a video that i did all about my top 10 favorite conditioners and i share five of my favorite deep conditioners, so i recommend checking that out because there's some recommendations of my favorites that are both protein and moisture, based and at all price points. When you're deep conditioning, you can also try adding a heat cap when you add heat to your hair when you're deep conditioning it helps open the hairs cuticle even more so if you do have low porosity hair. This is something you definitely want to do. I haven't been using heat quite as much when i deep condition, because if you have high porosity hair your cuticles already raised, you might not need it. You can also damage your hair's cuticle by using too much heat if it's already in the raised position. But if your hair is already somewhat healthy - and you know that it's not super high porosity, it can really benefit from using heat. I like to use a heated cap. It'S a microwavable cap from a thermal hair care. It'S called a hot head. I will link it for you down below, but if you don't have that you can just put a shower cap on your head, you can even do that, while you're in the shower and kind of let the heat of the water and the steam sort of steam. That deep conditioner into your hair or you can also take a hair, dryer and just kind of hover it when you have your shower cap on with that deep conditioner and that heat will help open up your hair's cuticle. Also incorporating moisture in your styling routine is extremely important, so you'll want to start off with either a leave-in conditioner or a curl cream, or both if your hair is very dry before you apply a gel or mousse. Having that moisture layer on first is really going to help condition the hair, so that way, your mousse and gel products don't dry it out, and so your hair doesn't dry out throughout the week. Gray hair, like i said, does not produce as much oil. So your hair is going to dry out a lot faster. High porosity hair loses moisture, so you really want to focus on moisturizing it on wash day and keeping that moisture in. So how do you keep moisture in your hair? Well, you have to seal it with some type of gel or mousse or even a serum. At the end, i personally love using gel products to seal and moisture because they give me hold. It also gives my hair structure. I'Ve done videos all about my favorite, leave-ins and creams, and also about my favorite gels that i will link for you in a playlist down below so using protein ingredients in your styling products or in your deep conditioner can really help to give the hair structure, especially If you're struggling with those gray pieces, not looking very curly or just not curling up at all, protein can really help give it that structure. But you have to be extremely careful with protein when it comes to gray hair, because gray hair is already very coarse. I'Ve talked about this before in my protein and moisture balance, videos that i've done, but anyone with coarse hair has to be very careful with protein because it already has that wider feeling to it. It'S not like fine hair, where you can barely feel it between your fingers. So if you have coarse hair using more protein, ingredients can make it feel even more coarse and brittle, because the protein can just build up on it and you get that really rough feeling. I'Ve definitely had this happen to my grays into this area. This whole area of my hair is very coarse, whereas the rest is more medium and it can feel very brittle when i use too much protein in my routine and once it gets brittle feeling it just doesn't feel great. It doesn't curl up as easily and it feels very rigid, so it gets very tingly, especially on refresh days. I struggle a lot with tangles so because of this coarse texture using any type of products that are going to help give you that lubrication is really going to help. So for that i like to use pre-poo oil. So i do this before i shampoo my hair. I apply a little bit of oil. I just use one from mish: it's the polished, hair and scalp oil. I can link it for you down below, but it just allows me to finger detangle, my hair before i go in and shampoo it, so it gives it some slip so that way when i'm detangling i'm not causing any breakage, and it just helps soften up those Very coarse hairs, so then, when i go and shampoo my hair, it doesn't get even more tangled and the shampoo doesn't just dry it out. I also forgot to mention, make sure you're not using a super drying shampoo that contains harsh sulfate. I will list the harsh sulfates here on the screen that can cause drying, but with gray hair, it's already very dry. So the last thing you want to do is dry it out with very harsh shampoos that are just going to raise the ph too much of your hair. So some other things that you want to look for when it comes to products are products that have a lot of slip to them. Here are some ingredients. I will put up on the screen that will indicate that that product is going to have a lot of slip. So if you see any of these like slippery elm or marshmallow root extract in your conditioners and your leave-in conditioners, even sometimes in your shampoo. That'S definitely the way to go, because it will give your hair that slip and manageability. Also, i like looking for these ingredients in my gel. I love a gel formula that has more of like that watery slippery texture, because since i do have coarse hairs on my head also high porosity, i get a lot of tangles, even when i'm styling, which just leads to more shedding. So if you use products that have more slip, you're not going to struggle with applying them to your hair, it's going to give you more slip that way you can easily finger coil, the grays in if you want, or if you want to use a styling brush To blend the grays, it's going to give you that slip when you are styling and applying your products, so another styling tip that can really help. If you have gray hair is using more water, i'm a huge fan of damp styling. I think i get more volume when my hair is not dripping soaking wet when i'm applying my products, but on those areas that are starting to gray. I do find that i have to add more water, so what i'll do a lot of times is just wrap. My hair up in a hair repair towel, which is a cotton hair, towel highly recommended. If you have not already tried it, it's like a t-shirt, so it doesn't cause frizz. But basically, when i get done washing my hair and conditioning and rinsing out the conditioner i'll put the towel on my head to absorb the excess water at the root and then i get out of the shower. Take it down and spritz a little bit of water. Just where i need it to be able to apply my styling products, but in that coarse area, where there's more grays, i definitely have to apply more water to those areas, because if they start to get dry, which you'll notice they'll dry a lot faster because they Tend to get more high porosity, then you'll have to make sure that you're adding more water to those areas before you're putting in your styling products. So another styling tip for gray hair is to make sure that you are not using too high of heat if you're using too high heat, when you are diffusing that can just cause more split ends and more damage and damage those really dry hairs. So what i like to do is i use my diffuser on just warm air and i even switch to cool. Sometimes it does take a little bit more time, but i get a lot less frizz. So another thing that you want to keep in mind with gray curls is it's just like having a platinum or blonde hair where it can turn brassy? If you have hard water in your home, which means that you have water that has an excess of minerals like calcium and magnesium, those minerals can cause your hair to get a brassy or a dull appearance. Hard water just causes a lot of problems with curls in general, because our shampoos don't lather up. It leaves a film or a build up on the hair. So if you're not sure, if you have hard water, you can test it, but you can just look for signs too. Like a lot of times, you'll see white residue on your bathtub or on different areas of your home, like your shower head will have like a white buildup on it. So that is what also builds up on our hair and it can turn gray, hair kind of like a brassy color. So in order to remove that hard water buildup on your hair, you can use a clarifying shampoo that contains any of these ingredients. I will put them up on the screen, but these particular surfactants are able to actually remove hard water build up on your hair. A regular, clarifying, shampoo or regular sulfate cannot actually remove this buildup from your hair. I can link you to some shampoo recommendations for hard water in the description box down below. You can also try an apple, cider, vinegar, rinse. I'Ve heard that that also helps with brassiness and another easy way to correct brassiness is use a purple. Shampoo. I'Ve never tried a purple shampoo because i obviously have brown hair, so i don't need to a lot of times blondes like to use these, so i don't have any off the top of my head to recommend to you, but i'm sure you could find some online With others that have blonde curly hair that use a purple shampoo on a regular basis, but that, i would say, is more for people that are fully gray and fully have went gray to where they'll start to notice. That color. If you just have a patch of gray like mine or some sparse gray, hairs you're, probably not going to notice any of that brassiness or it might not be happening yet because it's just a few grays, not your whole head. So now, let's talk about some ways to actually conceal and hide your grays. If that is something that you want to do so if it's happening in just one concentrated area like mine, is you can adjust your part? I wear my hair parted on this side, mainly to be able to cover them up, because i have that gray patch right here. So if i were to part my hair on that side, it would be completely exposed. So that's one way that i just hide them and they really just blend into my hair. So it's not necessarily noticeable unless, if i like, pull it apart and you can really see it so one of my favorite tips that i like to do when i'm styling to conceal them is use a brush. I love using brushes to style because i like getting those curl clamps. It also just kind of forces my curls into submission and makes them take the right curl pattern, because sometimes the curl patterns can be all over the place, but using a brush when you're styling will help clump those gray hairs into other curl clamps. So that can really help hide them, especially if you have grays that are just very sparse and random throughout your whole head, if you don't kind of force them into a curl clump, so that way, they'll group into that curl pattern. They might just stick out all over the place and not form into any clumps, because they might not be the same texture. Yet they might not have the same curl pattern as the breast, so that can really help just hide them because it will clump them into the rest of the hair that isn't gray yet so another temporary option to cover grays is use, root, touch-up sprays or hair Mascaras, i didn't know they made hair mascara yet. But when i was researching for this video, i found some hair mascaras on amazon that are meant to cover grays and i think that's genius, because sometimes, if you have roots coming in, you could just apply some of that and it would cover it up. There'S also a lot of root. Sprays like l'oreal makes a root touch-up spray that one to me seems like it would just cause like build up on your scalp and especially with curls. We don't wash your hair as often so i personally wouldn't want to spray that in my hair, unless, if i was about to wash my hair the next day or if i just had a special event or something, and i really wanted to cover them, that would Be a good option, but it's not something i would want to do every day and they might be drying too on your hair, i'm not sure about the ingredients, but make sure you check them if you're trying to avoid alcohols and other dry ingredients. But the mascara seems like a good option, because you're just kind of dabbing on some color you're, not like spraying your whole roots to where it's getting down on your scalp. Another trick that i used to do all the time is using eyeshadow to cover grays a lot of people like to do this around their hairline, even if they don't have grays. Some people like to do this to make their hairline look thicker even to fill in any sparse areas to make their hairline look more. Even i've actually done a whole video about this. It'S very old! If you go back, you can see how my hair used to be colored. I had a very vibrant, like burgundy brown, reddish color. I love that color, but it was so much maintenance and when my hair grew in it looked gray because my hair is a natural ash brown. You can't really tell here on camera, but it is more of a cooler toned brown, so it really showed up very obvious when my roots would come in when i had that really warm rich red brown color. So what i would do is, i would take an eyeshadow that matched my hair and i would just fill in like just the line of my part, to hide those roots until i could get it colored again. Coloring your hair is so much maintenance, though that's why i'm trying to show you some other options, so you don't have to just constantly dye it speaking of hair dye. Let'S talk about some safer options. If you want to keep your natural curls healthy, but you don't want to damage it with hair dye and you still want to cover those grays, so you can use a semi-permanent dye and that usually lasts anywhere from 6 to 12. Washes from what i read online. So maybe that's something that you could do at home, but you have to be careful whenever you're dyeing your hair at home, because gray hair will definitely take color differently than the rest of your hair. My mom struggles with this so much because, like i said, she's a redhead and she's fully gray, so when her roots come in, she has you know that strip of gray hair well, her roots, always color completely different than the rest of her hair. That might not be all the way gray yet so she has a lot of trouble with her roots. Looking super bright, orangey red when she first gets them done. So just keep that in mind. You want to avoid dyeing your hair at home. If you don't know how your gray hair is going to take to the color, because it doesn't have that existing melanin in it, so it's going to react differently than your natural hair color. So the reason semi-permanent and demi-permanent dyes are healthier for your natural curls because they don't have that ammonia in it. So it's not going to actually lift your hair cuticle. It'S just going to sort of sit on the surface and wash out over time. This is probably the route i will go when i decide if i want to start really dyeing my hair to cover the grays at this point, i'm not really worried about it and i just deal with them and cover them, and i just sort of embrace them Too, i don't really worry about them, but if it starts to take over then i might try some of those semi-permanent hair dyes we'll see so there's also demi-permanent hair dyes, which are longer-lasting than semi-permanent but they're, not quite as damaging as permanent hair dye. They still contain some hydrogen peroxide to help lift the hair's cuticle, but i don't think they fully have all that ammonia in it to actually damage your hair's cuticle. And then, of course, there is permanent hair dye which actually colors the inner layers of your hair, and that will be permanent. It has to be grown out. So my last and final tip for dealing with gray hair is to follow some other influencers that have gray hair or starting to gray. There are so many great curly girls over on instagram that share their natural hair journey and they have gray hair. I definitely recommend following them, because it's so inspiring to see others that have these beautiful curls, because then you'll see that others can have gray hair and look really pretty too. So it will help you love your natural gray hair. So that's it for today, i'm gon na summarize all of these tips over on the blog post. That goes with this video. So thank you all so much for watching. Don'T forget to subscribe to my channel. If you have not already, i would love to have. You join my youtube family i post on sunday, so i hope to see you back next week. Bye everyone