Winter Hair Care Tips for Curls

Winter is extremely tough on our hair, with its bitterly cold temperatures and drying atmosphere sucking the moisture out of our curls. That’s why our winter hair care regime should differ to our summer one. If your curls are prone to rebelling in the winter, and you feel that there is no remedy for the frizz, you’ll be pleased to know there are ways to prevent it.

To ensure curls stay in tip-top condition throughout the winter months, here are a few different winter hair care regimes and techniques to try out.

1.  Hydration: Water, Water and More Water
The number one thing hair needs when it’s dry is water. Yes, that’s right - not a fancy product, just good old H2O. In the same way that we keep our bodies hydrated with water, our hair needs it too. A great way to encourage water/moisture into the hair is to let it soak up the steam from the shower, or invest in a hair steamer for deeper hydration. Once washed, layering products (ie. cream for moisture and then gel) will help to seal water into the hair cuticle to keep it hydrated for longer. Remember to drink lots of water too! Incorporating plenty of water into your winter hair care routine will keep hair moisturised and hydrated.

2.  Squish to Condish

Following on nicely from the last tip, using the ‘squish to condish’ method is another great way to get moisture into your hair cuticles. Apply a generous amount of the Bouclème Curl Conditioner and detangle hair until it resembles a seaweed-like texture. Next, either gather hair to one side or flip your head upside down. With soaking wet hair (add more water if necessary) squish sections in a pulsing motion. Continue to squish until you no longer hear a squelching noise, then move onto the next section. Try not to lose too much product to the floor, instead try to catch it in your hands and squish back into your hair. You may find that, depending on how dry or thick your hair is, you need more conditioner or water, so add accordingly.

3.  Deep Condition

Deep conditioning once a week (or twice for very dry hair) during the winter months is a brilliant way to keep hair moisturised. Opt for a deep conditioning treatment like Bouclème’s Intensive Moisture Treatment, which features plenty of moisturising ingredients as well as protein. This kind of treatment will strengthen hair whilst moisturising it at the same time. If your hair is easily weighed down, try deep conditioning as a pre-poo treatment, to prevent hair from soaking up too much of the product. Carrying out regular deep conditioning treatments will nourish brittle hair and prevent breakage, which is more common in the winter months.

4.   Wear a Silk or Satin-Lined Woolly Hat

When it’s cold outside, we often opt for a woolly hat to keep our ears and head warm. However, while they may look cute, wooly hats leave us with frizzy, flat hat hair, which is not such a great look. If you want to continue looking cute in your woolly hat, a brilliant hack is to wear a satin/silk bonnet underneath - no one will know! Alternatively, you can invest in a satin/silk-lined one, which many natural hair brands are now producing. Wearing a satin or silk-lined hat will prevent friction on your hair, therefore preventing unnecessary frizz. It will also prevent the hair underneath the hat from drying out.

5.  Leave Conditioner In

Leaving some or all of your conditioner in is a great way to keep hair moisturised for longer during the winter months. After washing and ‘squishing to condish’ with the Bouclème Curl Conditioner, cup hands under the water of the shower and splash over hair to ensure the product is evenly distributed. Or, if you want to leave only a small amount of conditioner in, dip your head very quickly under the water stream, scrunch excess water out with hands, and continue with your usual styling routine.

6.  Add More Curl Cream

If you normally use a curl cream and gel combo, adding a small amount of cream first, followed by a larger amount of gel, try switching it up in the winter. Adding more curl cream into your winter hair care regime will help to keep hair soft and moisturised. After conditioning, apply Boucléme’s Curl Cream to wet hair (for fine hair, use 1-2 pumps, for thick hair, use more), scrunch out excess moisture with Bouclème’s Curl Towel, glaze a small amount (size of a 10p piece) of the Curl Defining Gel over, then scrunch.

7.  Tame Frizz with Gel

Dry hair = frizz. And, while it’s important to get to the root of the problem by properly hydrating hair on wash days, frizz can be tamed with a small amount of gel on refresh days. Take a pea-sized amount of Bouclème’s Curl Defining Gel and spritz a small amount of water from a spray bottle into your hands. Rub together in your hands then glaze over any frizzy areas. Add more gel or water according to your hair’s needs.

8.  Pre-poo with an Oil

Applying oil to your hair as a pre-poo treatment is a great way to help strengthen damaged hair in the winter. As part of your winter hair care routine, apply the Bouclème Revive 5 Hair Oil to dry hair, and let it soak in for anything from 30 minutes (for low porosity hair) to eight hours or more. Oil should be applied to dry hair as it is water repellent; if applied to wet hair, it will not be able to soak through the water and get into the hair cuticle. Applying an oil treatment in this way allows oils to penetrate the hair cuticle and fill in any broken pieces, therefore strengthening damaged hair strands.

Winter hair care for curls is all about getting the right amount of moisture into the hair and keeping it there. Just because the atmosphere is dry in the winter, it doesn’t mean your hair needs to be, too. With plenty of tips to try out, I hope you’ve found some new techniques to incorporate into your regime that’ll ensure you have beautifully moisturised curls all year round.