Products I use for my Curly [digipermed] Hair (a.k.a. The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Maintaining Digipermed Hair)

The photo above was taken a week after the digiperm and by now, the curls have loosened a bit. After all, it has been almost two months now since I had my hair permed at Tony & Jackey. By trial and error, I have mostly figured out how to style my hair and keep it as curly as I could with the least possible maintenance because I am lazy like that. 😛 The NO Combing rule works pretty much to my advantage since I never really use a comb even when I had straight hair. Seriously, no kidding. So before my thoughts go meandering elsewhere, here are the hair products I use to maintain my curly locks:

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First up, the requisite shampoo and conditioner. At first I used my Human ♥ Nature conditioner, but since I was obsessed with keeping my hair as curly as possible, I followed the stylist’s advice to use products specially made for curly or permed hair. So I got this tandem from the Herbal Essences Totally Twisted line. Kinda pricey compared to the regular stuff at P225 per bottle, but I have used their Hello Hydration line and liked it so I had some assurance that they’d be at the very least okay. And thankfully, they did not disappoint. My hair did indeed look more curly compared to when I was using regular shampoo and conditioner. The fact that they smell nice and fruity does not hurt either. 😉 For the record, I use the conditioner everyday and the shampoo only every other day as per my stylist’s advice. This said, I am already on my second bottle of conditioner while still halfway into the first bottle of shampoo. However, I noticed that my hair curls more when shampooed–probably because the shampoo strips the off the gunk weighing down the curls. Still, I don’t risk shampooing my hair everyday lest it dry out completely (yes, I am paranoid like that).

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I got this immediately after leaving the salon. The stylist was recommending their own products but they were a bit pricey (though I did not really ask the exact price, but you know these things) so I bought Monea Curl Defining Milk Hair Lotion instead. A few days prior to getting a digiperm, I was in a fit of madness researching all I could about the procedure and the maintenance products I would need. This product came up frequently and was recommended by a fellow blogger, though the reviews all in all were mixed. But at just P99 a bottle, I figured it wouldn’t hurt so much to scrap it if it didn’t work for me. Thankfully, it did work for me though it took some trial and error to figure out how to use it and how much of the stuff I really need in one go to style my hair. That is, a flat drop approximately the size of a 5-peso coin for my medium-length towel-dried hair and then scrunch, scrunch, SCRUNCH until my finger joints cramp. 😛 It does define the curls, but leaves a sorta greasy film when too much product is applied. Otherwise it makes my hair look pretty decently curled and with considerably less frizz compared to when I don’t use it.

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Now, I got this Lucido-L Hair Make Supplement Treatment Oil (what a mouthful, geez) mostly because I got swayed by style blogger Tricia Gosingtian‘s post about Lucido-L products. My hair did not exactly dry out like I feared after the digiperm, but I did not want to take chances either (even with the copious amount of conditioner I am using). I don’t really use this everyday though, only when I feel like it. Maybe 2-3 times a week. Supposedly, you are to use it at night on damp hair after washing as it is really an overnight treatment. But since I wash my hair in the morning when I take a bath, I apply it on dry unwashed hair at night. 😛 It smells good and it does make hair look healthy and glossy although I gotta say it loosens the curls so I am left with big waves instead. Which actually doesn’t look bad at all, I must say. I also use this on days when I am just at home, instead of the Monea.

Those are pretty much it. I have so far managed to survive having curly hair on just those products so anyone else afraid of getting a digiperm on account of its supposed high maintenance could be somehow assured that yes, even the laziest girls like moi can do it. 😉 In fact here are a couple more tips:

• Like I said in the earlier part of the post, do NOT comb your hair. If you must, do it with a wide-toothed comb when you have conditioner your hair.
• Do not rub your hair dry with a towel. Just squeeze and scrunch the excess water out by hand or with the towel. Just don’t rub, okay?
• You could section your hair and twist them while still damp and then apply your styling product for them to hold the curl. This doesn’t work for me though.
• As much as possible, use products made for permed or curly hair. They really do help in keeping the curls intact.
• Lastly, enjoy your curly hair! 😀

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UPDATE (01.14.14):
This is how my hair looks like seven weeks after the digiperm. The other side is actually a bit curlier than this, but I am badly breaking out on the left side of my face and don’t really wanna gross you out so I hope you’ll forgive me for not showing that side as well. Without further ado, here’s the photo I took yesterday: