Hair straight on top curly underneath Reddit

I have no idea why it's like this, most of my hair is anywhere from straight with a slight bend in it to wavy, and at the nape of my neck it gets super curly

I don't have too much damage from heat or bleach or dye, i've tried both straight and curly hair routines and come up with the same results.

any advice?

Current hair routine

• it varies so much, i keep changing things -co wash and condition using the Maui Moisture coconut milk conditioner, rinse upside down, scrunch using Loreal's Line Studio Gel (not cgm approved but its what i have at home), and then air dry *in this picture i didnt do anything to my hair, i just let it dry without washing/styling and these were the results

I have a VERY similar hair pattern--- straight in the front and top and wavy/curly underneath! Similar all-natural color too. For years I just did a half up look or pinned back/braided the sides, but I've recently been using the curly girl method to get some waves out of the straight sections so it's much more uniform.

I recommend adding gel or mouse to your routine. I really like herbal essences totally twisted mousse and gels from Not Your Mother and Curlsmith. Add the gel on soaking wet hair and scrunch it all with your head upside down. Then plop it for about 20 minutes to coerce the front sections into some waves. Finally, if you have the time, blow-dry it with a diffuser, paying extra attention to scrunching the straighter sections. (I rarely do this because I do not have the time haha).

ETA Some other suggestions: Only brush your hair in the shower when it's wet, or on day 2 hair with leave-in conditioner. Be sure to scrunch right after brushing.

Also, try to stop shampooing daily. That made a huge difference for me! Try expanding the days between shampoos. Also try a different brand of shampoo and conditioner that's explicitly curly-friendly, like Not Your Mother's or Curlsmith. Finally, intermittent protein, eta3 bond repair (eg Olaplex), and extra moisture treatments might help.

If none of those help and your hair keeps insisting on being straight in the front, try braiding it at night to force it into uniform waves. There are also twist methods to give you more curls than waves, but I haven't figured those out haha.

ETA2: A cut with layers also helped my hair curl because it was less weighed down.

Here's some more info. I've never known how to deal with my hair. It's coarse, dry, and frizzy. It's also really long and thick. Overall hard to manage. I figured I'd try the curly girl method.

My issue is that my hair curls well underneath, but not on top. It clumps really well when wet after I squish to condish, add my products, and plop, but the curls lose definition as my hair dries. I was wondering what I could do to make it better?

Eta: my hair isn't freshly washed here. I refreshed it today with a bowl of water and conditioner. It's about 75% wet in the pics.

Hi!

So, I'm pretty sure I have wavy/curly hair. The problem is that I also have some straight hair, and unless I just straighten the entire thing my head looks very unkempt. If I treat my hair like curly hair, then what ends up happening is the top layer of hair gets straightened out and bushy, but just underneath are some really nice, shiny almost-curls. Usually I put the top layer up in a mini bun and let the rest go free in a half up-do thing of thing to hide the gross top layer.

Or I give up and straighten it lol. But I'm trying not to do that.

Anybody else have this problem, or know what I can do to make the top layer of my hair behave without heat styling?

Thank you :)

It seems like no matter what I do, I just cannot get the top layer of my hair to curl naturally. This would be fine, I would just accept I have straight hair and treat it as straight, but the entire rest of my hair is stubbornly curly no matter what.

I have not used heat on any part of my hair in years - I'm pretty sure that there is no hair that hasn't been cut off that has ever been exposed to heat, and I don't really want to start now unless there is no other option. However, I think the reason the top part is straight might be because its exposed to the sun more than the rest, and there's not much I can do about that. :(

Current routine: wash with suave essentials clarifying shampoo about once ever 2 - 3 weeks, condition in shower with suave essentials ocean breeze conditioner about every other day, let air dry, usually brush with a regular hair brush once dry.

I know this is extremely NOT curly girl method. When I first found this sub a little over a year ago, I tried really hard to follow the method and tried some stuff including a bunch of different silicon free conditioners, KCKT, SheaMoisture curl enhancing smoothie, LA Looks blue gel, and BioSilk rock hard styling gelee. The bottom part of my hair loved those products and gels, but the top part never really curled and just looked weighed down and wet and gross if I used too much product, or just straight otherwise. And if I didnt brush the top part it would still just not curl and just get tangled looking over time. So finally I ditched the styling products and just kept with one cheap good silicon free conditioner and started brushing again, because that's what the top part likes- the part people see most. But it's not like the bottom part is invisible.

TL;DR: I've tried the CGM with poor results for the top layer. Should I give up and start straightening the bottom part or should I keep trying to get the top part to curl? If i should keep trying to get the top part to curl, product recommendations would be very appreciated.