Frizziness

I had a revelation of sorts about my hair last night. I've been attempting to stretch it out (without heat, of course) this week. For a day-and-a-half I wore it in a bun (see my "Donut" Bun Step-by-Step post), and loved the ease of just donning my satin scarf at night, taking it off in the morning and going. However, when I took my hair out of the bun last night to moisturize and finger detangle it, I didn't like how it looked. It was clumpy and I had quite a time sectioning it for detangling. This was my first time dry detangling it with my fingers. I normally prefer to set my hair in two-strand twists after my weekly wash regimen, so I've always detangled it when wet and loaded with olive oil or conditioner. 

There's some sheen, but not the shine that
I'm used to with my twists.

Well, I finger detangled and moisturized with a hair butter. Then my wonderful Hubby massaged my Vitamin E oil blend into my scalp all over (it's been a bit itchy, especially at my nape, I guess from being tied up in the bun). The massage felt soooo good and I could tell my scalp was happy. Then I "pineappled" it for the night with my trusty nylon ponytail holder, thinking I'd wake up with soft, easy-to-style hair. NOT SO. GRR. My hair was just the opposite - stiff and kind of hard. So stiff, in fact, that I had a hard time pulling it back into a ponytail to bun it again (I literally didn't know what to do with it).

So this brings me to the topic of frizziness. I know - the big bad 'F word' shunned by many naturally curly gals, including myself. Aside from the fact that I just don't like my hair being frizzy, I'd also read that frizziness was a result of poorly moisturized hair, so I really didn't like my hair in this state. But there have been many times that my hair has been frizzy after I'd moisturized and sealed it. What was up with that? 

Then last night it hit me. My hair was plenty moisturized but it still lacked shine (there was sheen in some spots, but definitely not the shine I'm used to from my twists/twist-outs). I noticed that my strands were separated and not clumped together and defined. {Lightbulb!} My hair can be chock FULL of moisture, but if my extremely curly strands aren't encouraged to cling to one another when they're wet, then the result when they dry is a head full of lackluster, "frizzy" hair!

After taking my hair out of the bun.

Freshly re-moisturized & pineappled for the night.