How To Manage Coarse Curly Hair | Brittle, Dry, Tangly, & Uneven Curls

Do your curls ever feel brittle rough to the touch tangly, frizzy and overall unruly? Then you might have coarse textured hair. Even if you know that your hair texture is not coarse but you're, still struggling with overall brittleness and a rough feeling or just struggling with frizz and dryness in general, then you'll definitely still want to stay tuned for this video. If you are new to my channel welcome, my name is gina, and here we make videos all about naturally curly hair. I love talking about the science of hair, talking about product ingredients, doing step-by-step beginner, tutorials and really helping you problem solve with your curls. So, let's first start off with what is coarse hair, and how can you tell if you have coarse hair well, coarse hair is actually a type of hair. Texture. Texture refers to the actual diameter of an individual strand of hair, so this is not to be confused with density density is how thick or how thin your overall hair is. So how many hairs are on your head? If your hair is coarse, then you can definitely feel an individual strand between your fingers. It'S very easily felt it kind of feels like it might even be thicker than a strand of thread, and you can also usually easily see it. Whereas someone with fine curly hair, they might not be able to feel a strand of hair between their fingers or they're. Just kind of thin and wispy and you might not even be able to see them on a surface, especially if you have light colored, hair and a fun fact about coarse curly hair is they usually have the medulla layer? If you didn't know, our hair is made up of multiple layers, you have the cortex on the inside layer and then you have the cuticle and there's some other layers in there. But not everybody has this medulla layer, which is actually the innermost layer which is inside the cortex. I actually had a really fun hair analysis done by my main bio, a couple of years ago, where they did an assessment of my hair and actually looked at it under a microscope in a lab and then gave me a full report on it and in that They revealed to me that my hair is 50 medium and 50 coarse textured, and they actually had photos of what the medullas look like in my hair. It'S really interesting. These are like little strands or pockets within the inner layers of your hair, and so people with fine hair, apparently don't really have this inner layer. That was actually one of the most surprising revelations in that report for me, because i had no idea that i had a coarse hair, i always assumed i had fine, hair or just medium hair. Now you might be wondering, does it really matter? Well, actually, texture and density and porosity are the most important things to understand about your hair, because they do make a difference in the products that you select and just how your hair behaves overall. So another unique characteristic of coarse, curly, hair and also other types of textures as well is sometimes you'll see those little kinks within the hair. And this is where the hair strand actually changes direction, or it might even kind of flatten, like the actual shape of the strand. So if you think about a hair strand, how it's normally round, it will actually start to flatten or twist and bend in a different direction, and that's where you get those little kink areas. So i have a video to show you of what those look like these often feel very bumpy. When you run your finger down a strand of hair, it not only feels very thick and wiry if it's coarse, but sometimes you'll also feel these little kinks within there and that actually can cause a lot of tangles and a breakage. For me personally anytime. I have just a few hairs that are very tangled together and then i'll get them untangled or i'll. Look at it closely and there's a kink there and a lot of times that's just causing that overall tingly feeling. But i've also researched that other hair types can have these kinks as well or if you were causing too much tension on your hair from wearing your hair up very tight, then that could lead to these kinks in the hair as well. So you might be. Thinking is coarse, hair, stronger and more resistant to breakage, because it's very thick and wiry feeling now i didn't find any concrete research on this, but from my experience it's actually worse for breakage for me now, although the hairs might not, you know feel as weak and Easy to snap as someone with fine curly hair because of their rough and brittle feeling and texture that they have, they get tangled a lot easier and they can also snap a lot easier. I don't know if you've ever experienced protein overload in your hair before, but you get that very brittle feeling if you've used too much protein and you get that buildup of protein on your hair and that can cause your hair to just snap. Especially if you do the stretch test, which is how you can test, if you have too much protein and if your hair snaps immediately, then it's too dry and it's just not flexible, it doesn't have that elasticity. Well, from my experience, the coarse areas tend to actually show more breakage, which is very odd. You would think it would be the opposite and coarse hair can also be more prone to breakage, because it's a lot drier. I'Ve noticed this for sure. It tends to feel a lot drier, so that's what we're going to focus in this routine is moisturizing and also just improving the softness and the feeling of the hair. So why is our hair coarse? How do we have these coarse areas on our head, and some of you might have just some coarse areas focused at your crown, which is a lot of the feedback that i got from you all when i asked you, if you have coarse hair is some of You have coarse areas, others have it all over and it really comes down to a couple of internal factors, and that is our natural genetics and some people just naturally have a coarse hair, texture, just genetics. Another factor can be aging as we age and our hair starts to turn gray. It can feel more dry, brittle and coarse. The gray areas of my hair actually are more coarse. I'Ve done a whole video all about graying hair and how to manage it. So i will link that for you down below, and you can watch that after this video, because they definitely go hand in hand. Another internal factor that i found very fascinating when it comes to our hair. Texture is hormones, and just our overall health and nutrients within our body now hormone imbalances or changes in hormones can really affect our hair, and it's not something that is talked about enough. I feel like i was reading about how certain hormone imbalances or thyroid conditions can cause a change in hair texture. Another big internal factor that can affect the coarseness or the texture of her hair is nutrient deficiencies, so the nutrient deficiencies that could be causing a change in hair texture or a more coarse texture could be a deficiency in ferritin or iron, vitamin b12, vitamin d or Minerals such as zinc and magnesium. Now i'm starting to wonder if my iron deficiency could have caused all of the coarse hairs on my head. So one of the reasons for having coarse areas in a certain concentrated area of your head, such as around your crown, which is what i heard the most from you all, that you have so things like the sun that uv rays, if you're outside a lot, especially In the summertime, those uv rays can be very drying and damaging to the hair and that area of your head gets the most sun, also wearing your hair up in tight ponytails or sleeping in the pineapple hairstyle. So now, let's get started with the wash day routine. Where i'm going to walk you through some of the common problems with horse hair and the solutions to fix them, so the first problem or issue you might experience if you have coarse hairs on your head, is the feeling of them being very rough and sort of Brittle to the touch, so they have a very rough feeling to them. So what you want to do for this is to make sure that you are using products that contain a lot of slip and have a very softening effect on the hair. One of my favorite things to do before i shampoo, my hair is use a pre poo oil to dry detangle, my hair. Now, if you've never seen me do this, you might think i'm completely crazy because who detangles their hair while it's dry, but this actually really helps me reduce breakage. I have way less shedding and it just helps soften those coarse hairs tremendously. So i'm using this pre shampoo oil from flora and curl. This is definitely one of my favorites because it instantly softens up the hair softens up any existing gel casts in my hair to where i can more easily detangle. So you'll want to do this prior to shampooing your hair, when it's still dirty. I like to do this in sections, so i can gently finger detangle, my hair, and i usually do this about 30 minutes prior to hopping in the shower, or i will even do it the night before the key. Is you want to let that oil fully soak into your hair? So you don't want to go right in with shampoo on top of hair. That'S too oily, and you also don't want to use too much oil. It'S just enough to create some softness and help you get your hands through your hair, better. Another good solution to softening up your hair, that is very coarse, is to use your conditioner first before shampooing. Now i decided to clarify it for this wash day i used the curlsmith detox kit, which is actually a three-step system that first comes with a primer. The primer is meant to be applied to your hair first prior to shampooing, so it's technically a pre-poo. I still like to do an oil though first to detangle, and then i use the super slip primer from curlsmith, and this really helps to just soften the hair. Further helps you detangle, because sometimes i still get a lot of tangles when i go to wet my hair, even after i've dry detangled, because you're changing that structure of the hair once you wet it so a lot of times, i do still get tangles. So this just ensures that my hair doesn't turn into a tingly matted mess when i'm shampooing. First of all, your shampoo should not be causing a matted mess in your hair. Then it might be too stripping, but second of all, especially if you have coarse hair, you want to avoid that tangled matted mess when you're shampooing. So you would want to first detangle your hair get rid of all those knots and then shampoo and you'll notice. How much easier it is to shampoo your hair and to clarify your hair? It'S not nearest stripping on the hair, so i use the curl smith detox, shampoo scrub, which is a really nice exfoliating scrub on the scalp. I usually use this about twice a month, especially if i have it build up on the hair. This just helps, remove it perfectly and it doesn't leave my hair feeling stripped as long as i use that primer first. So another reason why i wanted to clarify for this routine is build up, is another common problem with coarse hair so because coarse hair is already thick and already has that brutal feeling when it gets build up, it's definitely very noticeable. Now you might be thinking, i thought, fine hair gets filled up more and it definitely does, but for me personally, i've noticed that any type of build up on my hair just feels so gross in areas where i have coarse hair. It just feels even more sticky and gets more tangly and stuff, so that's also why i wanted to clarify for this routine, so, along with coarse hair, having a more noticeable buildup. You also want to avoid protein overload, so protein overload is when you've used too much protein in your routine or used too many routines back to back that had a lot of protein and it actually builds up and accumulates on the hair. So if your hair is high, porosity and coarse, you might not experience this very often. But if it's low, porosity and coarse, that is definitely a recipe for getting a protein overload or even if it's medium, porosity and coarse, because that protein really is just going to sit on the surface and can't absorb as much so. It leads to more of a rough and brittle feeling so with coarse hair, it's already very strong. You know our hair is made up of keratin amino acids, so we don't need to add a lot of protein to coarse hair because it's already strong. However, i still love doing protein deep conditioners and incorporating protein, because the rest of my hair is medium and it's also high porosity. So i just have to use protein with caution. I don't want to do a protein heavy routine back to back every single wash day. I like to alternate so for this wash day. I wanted to use one of my favorite hair masks that is protein. Free. This mask is from briochio it's the avocado and kiwi mega moisture mask. I talked about this in my top 10 favorites video that i did for my 2021 favorites, but it's a really great, deep conditioner at softening the hair, which is why i wanted to include it here. I have other deep conditioner recommendations as well that i will list for you on the blog that goes with this video, along with other products that i recommend for coarse hair, but this one in particular, is extremely softening. Your hair should feel soft and moisturized when you rinse out your deep conditioner. If it doesn't and it just feels brittle, then it wasn't moisturizing enough or you have build up on your hair, that's blocking it from soaking in so. Our next problem with coarse hair is coarse. Hair is often a lot drier, as i mentioned previously, so we need to focus on very moisturizing products, products that contain lots of softening emollients or oils, but we don't want to weigh down our hair, because if you have low density hair like me, then that can Definitely get weighed down and if you like volume, then you don't want to be over moisturizing your hair. So that's definitely a tough combination. So what i like to do is still use moisturizing products, but i just don't use too much of them and i don't layer too many moisturizing products. So i'll show you what i mean. So if your coarse hair is very dry or if you have very dry hair, then you want to make sure that you are deep conditioning regularly and you also want to make sure you were not skipping using a leave-in or a cream. I usually use one or the other, but i'm actually going to use both in this routine, just to show you some options, but i usually use some type of moisturizer as a base layer. Before i go in with my gel or my mousse, and that's definitely critical, you don't want to use too much, though, if you do have hair that gets way down easily. So for my leave-in, i decided to go with this one from we dad because it actually says that it's designed for coarse to medium hair, it's called a mask, but it's actually a leave-in which is really interesting, but it's very liquidy and watery. So it's very lightweight which made it ideal for this routine, because if you don't want to weigh down your coarse hair, but you also need a lot of moisture. This is a great option, so you want to focus that leave-in conditioner on areas that are very coarse for you. So then for my curl cream, i'm going to use the we dab, curl shaper, take shape, plumping and defining cream. Now this is a very thick butter. Normally i advise against using thick butter creams if you have a fine hair, but when you have coarse hair you can definitely really benefit from using some thicker creams. The key is, though, to not use too much so you'll see the amount that i pick up. I just do like probably a nickel size amount for my whole head and i also add a little bit more to some areas that feel very brittle as i go. But for the most part i keep it pretty minimal here, the more moisturizing products and creams that you use under your gel. You could potentially reduce the hold in your hair. So that's also why i'm going pretty light when it comes to the cream and i'm also first applying it to those coarse areas and then working the rest through my hair and combing it through it's interesting, because this curl shaper line, i think, is meant for fine Hair or hair that you know if you want more volume, however, this is a very great cream for those with coarse hair, because it contains lots of great moisturizing ingredients. So now, for my gel, i decided to go with the we dad coil infusion good shape, defining gel. They have some other gels that look similar to this, but make sure it is this one. In particular, i will link it for you down below, and it also says it's great for medium to coarse hair. This is a gel that has sort of like a cloudy consistency to it, which is great because that means it's very moisturizing. It'S very slippery and has a lot of moisture: it's not going to weigh down your hair and it does give a medium hold, so you could go with products that are stronger hold. I love stronghold products, but just keep in mind that can lead to more of a brittle feeling in your hair. So if you're really trying to soften your hair, then just go with a medium hold gel. I don't usually recommend soft told gels because they just don't hold up and for me, that's a waste of time to spend all that time on wash day and then have to completely refresh on day two. So i'm pretty heavy-handed when it comes to gel and this gel is not gon na weigh down your hair, so you don't have to worry about applying too much. So if your coarse hair is very dry, then you also want to avoid products that are going to make it feel even more dry. So you want to watch out for drying alcohols in your hair products. This is usually labeled as denatured alcohol, but these are drying alcohols in your products. These are often found in gels, mousses and hair sprays, and these can make coarse hair feel even more dry. I would also avoid products that give your hair more texture, so any type of volumizing foams, some mousses any type of texturizing sprays, dry shampoos and hair sprays. Anything that gives your hair a lot of that grit in volume could make your hair feel worse and instead look for products that have a very slippery ingredients, so just to name a few really great ingredients for slip. One of them is slippery elm, which is a great film-forming humectant. Some other good film forming humectants are aloe and honey, so those can be very softening on the hair and feel very slippery as you're applying them. I also forgot to mention that i do have a twenty percent off code that you can use anytime on we dab site. So if you're interested in picking up these, we dab products use my code which is listed in the description box down below. So the next problem i wanted to talk about is how coarse hair tends to have more kinks in it, making the curl pattern more uneven, more resistant to uniform, clumps and more frizzy. So a lot of times these areas that take that sharp bend or turn also lead to a lot of single strand knots. I get these all the time and they usually require immediate trimming. So i have a pair of hair trimming shears that i will just take and snip off those single strand knots as soon as i find them and as i mentioned before, whenever i find those it's almost always in an area of my hair that has these kinks. So one styling technique that i wanted to suggest. If you do have these coarse areas that are causing a lot of frizz and you're struggling to get uniform, curl clumps is brush styling. I talk about brush styling all the time. Some people don't like brush styling because they say that it messes up their curls, but i found that it actually can help enhance your curls. But you want to be careful to not cause breakage, so i usually use a brush that doesn't create too much tension. But you still need some tension to be able to actually create ringlets, but it doesn't have to create too much tension and also making sure that your hair has a lot of slip, so i'm not brushing hair that is tingly or hair. That feels like very dry. This has plenty of slip in it, so the brush is easily gliding, so i'm not causing breakage so using a brush to style will help you create more uniform, curl clumps, and this is really the best way to group those unruly coarse hairs into curl clamps. I talk about this technique in my video all about the common mistakes you might be doing during styling that are leading to frizz so for this technique, you're, basically picking up any little frizzy pieces and actually twirling them into a curl clump. This helps tremendously with hiding gray hairs and also those wild hairs, like the one that i showed you that i had shed, that was short and had a lot of kinks that one, i'm sure was not forming into a curl climb with as wild as it looks. So this definitely helps kind of tuck them away and hide them and with using a brush you can get more uniform ringlets. So if i didn't use a brush to style, my hair would definitely be all over the place. It would look a lot frizzier in the course areas and there wouldn't be as many ringlets. So this helps just get that more uniform curl pattern, but you also want to be mindful to not over manipulate your hair in those coarse areas. So, by over manipulating i mean doing too much brush styling too much scrunching too much scrunch diffusing, like any of that over manipulation can lead to more of those kinks in the hair and more breakage. So just be gentle with your hair and don't force it in a different direction. So now that i'm done styling, you can see how my hair looks wet. It definitely looks a lot more uniform. I usually check around the course areas and just make sure there's no crazy hairs poking out. If there is, i will just take a little gel on my hands and finger twirl, those into a neighboring curl clump. So now i'm ready to diffuse i'm using my shark hyper air, which i will have link for you down below. The next problem i wanted to talk about is how coarse hair is more prone to looking dull and not having as much shine so to fix that you cannot only use products that help give more shine that contains those film formers that i talked about. But you can also use a finishing oil and here's how my hair looks after i finish diffusing i do have some gel casts in my hair, so you can break that up, but i'm going to be using a finishing oil. This is the curlsmith bonding oil. This is really great to use as a sealing oil. It helps soften the hair and it can really help seal in the moisture, so your hair doesn't become dull throughout your week and in between washes, and it also adds shine to your hair immediately. So i use a very small amount. A little goes a long way with this oil and the more oil that you use. You can really just soften it too much to where you don't have any hold in your hair. So i just use a little bit and i sort of glazed it over and kind of used it to tame any flyaways. But i didn't want to scrunch a ton of it in my whole head because i wanted to maintain that hold. So i tried to focus it in just those coarse areas around the outer canopy of my hair. So here's how it looks afterwards. You can see how much shine that i have it's crazy combination of these great products and that gel gave a lot of shine plus using this finishing oil. So if you are looking for more product recommendations for coarse hair specifically, then i'm going to list out more suggestions over on the blog post. That goes with this video, along with the products that i used in this video. So the link for that post will be in the description box below this video. So if you head over there, you'll get lots more recommendations. So let me know what your texture is in the comments down below. Also, let me know what your porosity is in curl type. I would love to hear what everyone's hair type is. So if you enjoyed this video, i think you might also really like the one that i did all about how to manage grain curly hair. Even if you are not yet graying, i think it can still be very helpful if you are looking for more tips and tricks for having tangly and unruly and frizzy hair.