It is perfectly fine to mix and match products from the different edits and is in fact encouraged, in order to get the right nourishment for all the different hair textures out there.
Embracing your Natural Texture
There are so many different curl patterns out there! Many find that the have multiple patterns throughout the front and back of their heads. Maybe that’s tighter curls in the front and looser curls in the back, or vice versa! You may even notice that it looks different from day to day. And all of this is normal and beautiful.
Perhaps you let your natural curls do their thing on a regular basis and are here for a new styling product, or maybe you are here to nourish and repair some amount of damage.
It can take a long time to heal damaged hair so it’s important to stay consistent with your practices. If you are just at the beginning of your curly hair adventure, stick with it! It can be so freeing to confidently sport your natural hair do.
Protein vs Moisture
Learning how to achieve that balance between protein and moisture is key for curls. This is an important step in getting your curls to thrive. Curly hair types are often on the drier side, and for some that means a lot of moisturizing and hydration. For others, you still need to condition, but you may find that too much moisture causes your hair to get weighed down and isn’t as voluminous as ones curls could be. In this case, you might find that your hair does not benefit from deep conditioning methods and instead, needs more strength and protein.
Doing something called the stretch test is the easiest and simplest way to figure this out. Start by gathering about ten strands together and giving a little stretch in opposite directions, like you would a balloon before blowing it up (but gently), if it doesn’t have any stretch/give then it likely needs more moisture and hyrdration. If your hair stretches and doesn’t return back, or instead breaks, a protein treatment may be better suited.
Innersense Organic Beauty offers this helpful blog post on the topic of protein.
Once you discover this, it will be an ongoing journey to find and keep the balance. This means figuring out how often to do a protein treatment and how often to do a deep conditioning.
What Every Curl Needs
Whether you’re a hair product minimalist or extravaganza, we believe most curly types need a good shampoo and conditioner, a curl cream, and a gel or other product to create hold, and maybe a treatment mask to get extra nourishment (protein or moisture, or both).
How to Get the Most of Your Products
No matter where you are in your hair journey, it’s a great idea to do a little hair detox every once in a while. If you’re making the switch over to cleaner haircare or simply need to remove excess build up from raw oils, products, hard water etc., a charcoal-based treatment can be really helpful. Often that build up prevents not only the amazing nutrients in our products from actually coming into contact with your hair to provide all of its glory, but it also prevents water from getting in touch.
This is quite common and is a recipe for dehydrated split ends that lack the necessary nourishment of healthy hair. Removing this build up will allow for optimal penetration of your shampoo, conditioner, treatment masks and styling products, leading to healthier, more manageable hair. This detox can take time, especially if you use raw oils and products with silicones and sulphates, which means weeks or even months for some, however significantly speeds up the healing process by clearing the way for external nutrients.
Our Product Suggestions for Curly Hair
Shampoo for Curly Hair
Hydrating Cream Hairbath
This is Innersense Organic Beauty’s most moisturizing shampoo. Designed to deeply hydrate and nourish thick, coarse hair, without weighing it down or leaving behind residue. Best suited for very curly and coily hair textures.
Colour Awakening Hairbath
This shampoo is for hair that needs medium level moisture, as opposed to light or deep moisture. Crafted with coconut and pumpkin seed oils, shea butter and other emollient plant ingredients that enhance and protect colour - Innersense's Color Awakening Hairbath naturally cleans hair without residue, dryness or fading. Aside from protecting colour treated hair, it offers mid-range moisture to all hair types (we recommend this one to most people!).
Pure Harmony Hairbath
This shampoo is best for fine to medium hair types. It is a lightweight, gentle shampoo that increases moisture to provide health, balanced, full-bodied hair. This shampoo is best for hair textures that don’t require a lot of moisture on a regular basis.
Conditioner For Curly Hair
Hydrating Cream Conditioner
Best for thick, coarse hair, this hydrating natural conditioner uses Certified Organic monoi oil and aloe to strengthen the hair follicle, smooth cuticles and control frizz, while orange flower oil delivers natural shine. Certified Organic rice, quinoa and flax seed strengthen the hair follicle while shea butter and coconut nourish and hydrate to control frizz. This conditioner offers an extra level of moisture to very dry hair.
Colour Radiance Conditioner
A rich daily conditioner for medium texture, colour and chemically treated hair. Crafted with avocado, rice bran oil and shea butter to moisturize and strengthen. Pumpkin seed oil preserves colour and vibrancy. This is a medium level of moisture for hair that is on the drier side but doesn’t need a regular dose of deep conditioning. We love this one for most folks!
Pure Inspiration Daily Conditioner
Best for fine to medium hair textures, this lightweight organic conditioner naturally detangles and increases moisture. Crafted with rice bran oil and aloe to strengthen and smooth the hair shaft, while orange flower oil delivers beautiful shine. The silicone-free formula eliminates frizz, leaving hair hydrated and happy. This is a lightweight conditioner for hair textures that don’t require deep moisturizing on a regular basis.
Hair Masks for Curly Hair
Hydrating Hair Mask
This mask will help to nourish and strengthen dry, damaged hair, that just needs some life. Whether that’s damage from heat or colouring, or simply lacks nutrients, this mask will help to soften, smooth the hair and bring back to life. Best for dry, thick or thirsty hair, this rich treatment masque is crafted with flax seed, shea butter, coconut and tamanu oils and quinoa to repair hair while delivering rich hydration and shine. Everyone needs a different amount of moisture. This mask can be used as much as 1x week or 1x a month, depending on your hair needs.
Powerbuild Treatment
This mask will be specifically for those who’s stretch test showed protein deficiency. It uses certified organic natural sunflower seed extract as well as extracts of lemon, apple and green tea to help add strength and volume to hair. This treatment helps strengthen the inside of the hair, renews shine and suppleness, and also improves colour retention.
Detox Hair Mask
A clarifying detox treatment to remove buildup. Charcoal, Kaolin clay and Certified Organic white vinegar draw micro-particles to the surface without stripping hair of natural oils. This is an important step towards getting more nourishment to the hair. If you have a lot of build up from the regular use of styling products, raw oils and ingredients found in conventional hair products, it could be preventing nutrients and other helpful ingredients from nourishing the hair. It can take some time to remove the build up, we recommend using this mask 1x weekly until you get your natural hair texture back to its natural state.
Styling products for Curly Hair
Quiet Calm Curl Control
A crème to hydrate, gently define and hold curls, reducing frizz to encourage a smoother texture. Crafted with a perfect blend of Certified Organic shea butter, rooibos tea and honey extract. Rooibos is enriched with minerals like calcium, copper, potassium and zinc, this powerhouse plant promotes hair growth and strengthens hair at the root. Allegedly its high levels of copper can also prevent premature greying of the hair. Using a curl cream of some kind can be part of two step process for those with coils or very curly hair. The second step can be combining it with a product that is designed to hold hair in place, like a gel.
I Create Hold
This styling gel is a great way to achieve sustainable shape throughout your busy day. This natural hair gel is formulated with Certified Organic honey that acts as a natural resin. Nettle and rosemary extracts combine to add incredible shine and powerful hold. Using a gel will be so helpful in getting your curls to hold and last. Once you apply, and your hair has dried, you will “scrunch out the crunch”. Scrunching here will get rid of that crunchiness, called a cast, and be left with volume and well-kept curls. This is one of our favourites!
Sweet Spirit Leave In Conditioner
This is a great leave-in conditioning spray to help detangle hair preventing damage and breakage. Ideal for all hair types, this lightweight detangling spray increases moisture and leaves hair free-flowing and ready for any style. Infused with emollient oils, fragrant herbs, flower essences and a touch of bee-friendly honey to maintain body and manageability, while lavender adds a delicate, healing fragrance. A leave-in conditioner can be a great tool for refreshing day 2 or 3 (or 4 or 5) curls giving you more time before another wash day.
I Create Waves
This pink Himalayan salt spray adds texture and enhances waves. Rich in minerals and amethyst crystal, this unique salt spray adds texture and volume to the hair, while aloe vera provides moisture to prevent parched ends. Great for all hair types, this natural spray creates beautiful, touchable, soft waves or brings lived-in curls back to life.
I Create Lift Volumizing Foam
Create beautiful hair from roots to ends with this lightweight styler from Innersense Organic Beauty. Designed for all hair types, this volumizing foam adds texture, defines curls and shapes and sculpts wet or dry hair.
Refresh Dry Shampoo
Dry shampoo is great for getting a couple of extra days in before your next wash. Designed for all hair types and colours, this organic foam-to-powder dry shampoo eliminates excess oil, builds body, creates texture and renews second-day hair. Tapioca starch and witch hazel help pull oil, while Certified Organic honey adds body and shine.
I Create Volume
Formulated with Certified Organic honey and aloe vera to bring fullness and manageability to even the finest hair. Rice amino acids and eucalyptus add moisture, improving expansion and shine. This is a great product if you have long curly hair that gets weighed down easily.
Inner Peace Texturizer
A styling cream that creates hold, separation and texture. Designed for all hair types, it's a lightweight texturizing creme formulated with Certified Organic shea butter and bee-friendly honey to condition while adding flexible definition to hair. This ultra-moisturizing, petroleum-free formula protects from humidity, eliminating frizz and flyaways. This is a great product if your hair doesn't require as strong a hold that gel offers.
Tools for Curly Hair
Scalp Massage Brush
The silicone bristles of this scalp massage hair brush are soft enough to feel great, yet stiff enough to do the job. It can help to stimulate the scalp, as well as providing a relaxing massage. It also helps to remove dandruff/impurities, and protect the scalp from fingernails. This is great if you have tight curls, if you don't want to brush your hair, but still want scalp massage and exfoliation, which will stimulate circulation to increase growth and nutrient delivery to the root.
Diffuser
Diffusing your hair is a great way to bring out more volume and curl or wave! Using it to gently dry hair on a low heat and power setting will encourage volume (where as air drying and limit volume due to wet hair weighing down) and allow for curls to keep their shape, while preventing frizz. A diffuser is quick and efficient making wash day so much easier. Air drying can take several hours which can be problematic when you don’t have 5-6 hours to get ready for work in the morning.
Hair Towel
Using a Turkish cotton towel to dry curly hair can be wonderful for those wanting to limit heat from the blow dryer. It’s really about what kind of towel you’re using and HOW you’re using it. How many of you have spent your life vigorously shaking and rubbing your head with a regular towel? Well, this way doesn’t work for most hair types, but especially not for curls.
The first thing to know about styling curly hair, is that it needs moisture to not be frizzy. You actually want dripping wet hair when applying your products or else they won’t absorb and work properly. You only want to use a towel to lightly squeeze out excess water after the products have been applied. If your hair is on the dryer side, and you fall in the category of needing ultra hydrating products, then you may also fall in the category that does better with air drying vs diffusing. This doesn’t mean that you can’t ever use the diffuser but maybe less often.
So that’s where the Turkish towel comes into play. It’s fast absorbing so you don’t to rub and squeeze your hair, preventing unwanted frizz and decrease blow drying time. It's made with organic cotton with a tight weave which means its gentle on the hair, where as a regular towel can cause friction leading to breakage.
This towel is also great for wrapping your hair in when doing a treatment mask. It helps keep the heat in to encourage better absorption and efficacy of the product.
Did you Find this Helpful?
We want you to make the right decisions for your hair type and we know it's overwhelming when there's so many products out there to choose from. We want to help get your hair to its healthiest state and enjoy the process of doing so. We believe these products are the best out there and we know from experience that they will help to heal and restore your hair. A commitment to your practices is required as healing takes time. That time is different for everyone.
If you are just starting out on your curly hair journey, this healing time can mean a few months for some, and a few years for others. This does not mean bad hair for years, all your days are good hair days! Everyday is just another day to add more nourishment which leads to your healthiest hair possible. The end result should be less about a desired look, but rather to confidently embrace your natural hair texture and style.
If you aren’t sure what exact products to choose or want help figuring out your ideal haircare routine, you can book a virtual consultation with our owner, holistic hair expert, Diana Osborne. She can help you to better understand your specific hair texture and scalp condition, ensuring that you get the right products.
Curl Inspiration
On your next day off, I encourage you to binge watch just about any show or movie from 90’s (especially ones featuring Julia Roberts) to get some serious natural curl inspiration. This was a time before we started straightening out our beautiful locks. You'll be amazed at all the beautiful curls from this generation when you have your eyes open to for them.
