How To Cocktail Curly Hair Products

Hey everyone, its Gina and welcome back to my channel and welcome back to the curly hair care for beginners at playlist, where we go over all things, naturally, curly hair, if you're a beginner. Hopefully, these videos will help you out, because I really try and simplify everything for you. Today'S topic is going to be all about how to combine it. Your styling products how to mix your curly hair products and, what's the proper way to actually layer them, so you may have heard of the term cocktailing, which basically means you're, mixing multiple products in your hand and applying them to your hair. There'S also a method of layering, which is what I like to do, where you're using multiple stylers within one wash day, if you're somebody that likes to just use one styling product, then more power to you, because that's definitely easier, saves product and saves time. There are a couple gels that I can use as just one styler, but sometimes my hair just needs extra moisture. So I end up layering and cream or leave-in, underneath I've actually done a whole video on the right way to apply your styling products and we go over the order of products so I'll link that video down below. If you want to learn more about a basic styling routine, if you're just getting started and you're, not sure which products that you should get so it's important to make sure if you are going to be cocktailing products together or layering products together that they work well Together, one of the easiest ways to tell if products are going to work together is if they're, from the same line. There are different curly-haired lines that usually have a cream with them, gel a mousse that sort of thing or a leave-in and a gel. And it's really nice when companies come out with product lines that are designed to work together, because you automatically know that the ingredients are going to mix well together. They'Re not gon na flake on the hair or build up on the hair, because they're designed to work together, there's certain formulas to that pair really well together. So if you have a very thick cream, I like pairing it with more of a watery gel, because I don't want something to get too heavy on my hair. So I wouldn't want to use a very thick cream with a very thick gel. Sometimes it just doesn't mix the best together. So there are some signs on your hair that you might be combining the wrong products together or they might not be compatible with each other and that if your hair has flakes on it, so I've used a styling product before that caused a lot of flakes. On my hair, I've paired the wrong products together and you might notice when you go to like scrunch out the crunch, that you see flakes flying all in the air or if you look at your hair, you see little white flakes all over your hair and that Could be the styling products, not pairing well together, or it could be that you have build up on your hair and you need to clarify so sometimes the signs are very similar. Another symptom of products not pairing well together, is when you're applying your products and your hair is wet. You can see white product residue on your hair. That can also be a sign again, a build-up or you don't have enough water in your hair. If you're, applying creams and stylers to just damp hair, that's starting to dry, you might see a white residue, but if your hair is already wet, you know you don't have filled up and you're trying to scrunching your products and you're still seeing a white residue on Your hair, then maybe the products aren't compatible, or maybe you have an oil leftover on your hair that is blocking those creams and other sellers from actually penetrating into your hair. So there is a little test that you can do and I'm going to show you on my hand to tell if your products actually mix well together, so you can mix them on your hand, and you could do this test if you plan on actually mixing them And applying them already mixed or if you plan on layering your products, so all you want to do is do a tiny dollop of each product on your hand and blend it together if it feels very smooth and lotion II - and it looks like it blends nicely Together, you know it's kind of mixed well together, however, if it looks very chunky if it's starting to clump up if it's separating, if it's just refusing to blend together. One thing I wanted to show you guys is when I went to wipe that product combination off of my hands it kind of like flaked up even on my hand, it looks almost like powder or deodorant it's just like kind of peeling up. So that's definitely not a combo that would go very well together. Here'S another example with the curl top defining cream in the mop top curly hair custard. This is another example of one that mixes it very well together, they combine it flawlessly and they mix right into one now: let's try combining the Amika curl Corpse defining cream in the mop top curly hair custard. As you can see, these do not mix as well. You can see the separation between the cream in the gel. You could possibly pair these together, but you might have issues with flakes or it might not absorb into your hair very well. So here's an example from using products within the same product line from the same brand. I use the not your mother's curl talk, defining cream and the mousse and mix those together, and they mixed very well together. The cream also mixes well with the gel as part of the line and the leave-in that they have mix is great, with both the gel and the mousse. So you can see it's a clear consistency. It combines excellent. One thing I wanted to show you guys is: I just tried mixing the Amika curl corpse cream with the curl talk mousse, this combo does not mix quite as well together. As you can see, it made this weird film on my hands. That almost looks like I just put a bunch of lotion on my hands, and so it's not just like turning into a clear consistency like when I mixed the curl talk, curl activation mousse with the curl top defining cream. This would probably dry on my hair with flakes, so my hand is already dry like it's pretty much dry, and I have a white residue on my hand, so is probably would leave a white residue on my hair and once again, look I'm going to wipe it Off and there is flakes so what are some of my favorite curly cocktails? Well for one, if you like, using a gel for hold, but you find that it dries out your hair. You can mix in a little bit of cream or a leave-in to it. Just to make sure that you're getting that added moisture and your hair is not going to be too dried out with just using a gel. So now I'm going to share with you some of my favorite product combinations. This is one that I've talked about so many different times, they're, not even from the same brand or from the same line, but I just found it out by testing and experimenting, which I definitely recommend you doing. One product might give you really great moisture, but it doesn't give you enough hold, or vice versa, so mixing them together will give you the best of both worlds. So this is the Amika curl corpse defining cream. This is my favorite curl cream. It'S very thick and moisturizing, but it doesn't weigh down my hair and I always get really good curl clumps. This does also have a protein in it, so it helps give me those chunky, defined, curls and then there's the we'd, add advanced kind of control, heat and humidity gel. This is the old version. They do have a white label. That'S a lighter hole. You could go with that if you don't need this much of a stronghold. This is really great at blocking out humidity and it's a liquidy watery texture, which is my personal favorite formula of gel, because it's just so easy to apply to my hair. If you have fine curly hair, I recommend looking for a watery texture. Gel curl corpse line from Amica does have a gel in it, but the gel to me it did not work at all. It gave me zero hold. It'S like. I had nothing in my hair, but it was that very watery texture. So I know the product had a lot of water in it and that's probably why this one pairs so well with this cream, because this gel is a similar texture. It'S not too sticky, but it is very watery and still gives a really great hold. So I was able to find the perfect combination for my hair. So usually, when I combine these, I just supply the curl cream. First, I only use a little bit of this. It'S a fix. You only have to apply a tiny pea-sized amount for your entire head and I also focus it on my ends and then I go in with some of the gel now sometimes I will scrunch out some of the cream if I feel like I've applied too much Before I go in with the gel or I'll just go right in with the gel and apply it all over my hair, so that's more of the layering method. I don't think I've ever tried actually mixing them before I apply them, but you could and see what you like best, but I just prefer the layering method. Now, I'm going to show you mixing in my hand with the cream that I really like and then the dippity-do girls with curls jelly. This is another one of my favorite gels. I haven't used in a while because I've been testing other stuff, but this is more of that jelly formula. So it's in a tub kind of like the texture of jello. So it's definitely a different formula. It'S more thick! This one just does not mix as well with the Omega creme. I still have used these together and I get okay results, but not as good as the WETA gel. So sometimes, even if something looks chunky in your hand when you're mixing it sometimes it can still work in your hair, especially if you have a lot of water in your hair. When you're applying your products, it's kind of getting diluted anyways, so it might still work. But if you're struggling with your hair you're having flakes or it's looking way down, then it could be because the products don't work well together. So I just wanted to share the differences in my hand, between mixing it with this type of formula of gel versus the watery gel. So there's a really easy formula to follow when you are trying to layer your products - and it usually goes in this order. So typically, you know you wash and condition your hair and then you can use a leave-in if you feel like you need extra moisture. If you have higher porosity, hair or very damaged hair or you're transitioning, then you would want to use a leave-in conditioner, and that is just a conditioner. That'S usually a more lightweight than a regular conditioner, and it just soaks into your hair a lot better and you leave it and you don't rinse it out. Then it you can use a styling cream and a styling cream just helps to add some more curl definition to your hair helps your curls clump together. It helps with definition and adds more moisture, and then the next step would be to add a hold. Now it's optional, you don't have to add hold, but if you want your style to last longer, then it's definitely critical to add some type of hold, whether that be from a gel or a mousse. So that would be the next step in the final step would be, if you want to add, like a finishing oil or serum to your hair, just to seal everything in. If you have issues with humidity in your area or you have very dry frizzy hair, then you could finish with a sealing oil, but you want to make sure you look for a Sarah Moore oil that is meant to seal in the hair and be used last. Not a moisturizing penetrating oil, so, as I mentioned, using products that come from the same brand and are in the same line, you know they're going to work well together. So I just wanted to shout out some of my favorite products when I'm using kind of that three to four step system, and that is the not your mother's curl talked products. These are affordable from the drugstore. You can get them at Ulta or Target, or I think Walmart has them. Now too, they just came out with the curl talk, leave-in conditioner spray. You could take a leave-in conditioner and it mix it with the mousse. If you want to add a little bit more moisture or you could spray a little bit of leave-in conditioner in with your gel, just to add some more moisture but keep in mind when you are combining products like that and actually mixing them in your hand. You'Re probably going to dilute it some, so you might get less hold in your gel if you're mixing in a cream or if you're, just adding water to it, you're kind of diluting it to where you can spread it easier on your hair. But it might not have as much hold if you're diluting it with another product. So that's it for this video. I hope this was quick yet informative for you. I will be sure to list out these products that I mentioned in the description box down below, as well as on the blog post. That goes with this video. If you have any questions related to this topic, definitely leave them in the comment down below and I will get back to all of you or if you have a favorite product combination. I would love to hear your suggestion because I'm always looking for new products to try out and new combinations. So if you have a favorite combo, definitely let us know so we can all see it. So that's it for today's video, I think y'all. So much for watching don't forget to subscribe to my channel. If you enjoyed this video and I hope to see you back next week - bye everyone, you