Black women, natural or not, are always on the look for that one product that perfectly defines the beautiful shape of  uniquely coiled strands with a healthy shine and cheerful bounce. Still, this may not be as difficult as you may think. In fact, it can be fairly easy to make your curls happy.

First, you have to find out what your hair likes. That has nothing to do with how your the type of curls you have. You have to know how your strands respond to different products. Does your hair absorb a product, does it make your hair feel soft or does a product stay on top of your strands and make it feel sticky.

Every hair type and even every strand is unique. While some people’s hair aborbs oils, oils may not do a thing for another person. So you have to find out if your hair favors, water, oil or a mixture of both. If it’s a mixture, should it be more to the oily side or more to the moisturizing side. If you know what your hair responds best to you will be able to find the right products which will make your strands very happy and make yourself look good!

Shampoo
A good shampoo is fundamental because products, no matter how good they are, they won’t work on dirty hair or strands with buildup.

A good shampoo will clean your hair without drying out your strands. After washing your hair should feel clean and soft and hopefully smell good as well. Feel free to check the Nappshop for a few great shampoo options.

Happy Curls
For my happy curls I used the following products:

Freshly washed coils

No More Knots
Silky Shea
Herbal Gel
Tangle Teezer

Wrap a towel around your head once your hair is washed. Let it sit for a while so it can absorb most of the water from your hair. Once your hair is towel dry, this means that it’s still moist but there is no water dripping from your hair, continue with the next step.

Spray some “No More Knots on your hair to untangle and part your hair in manageable sections. Manageable means just enough hair to keep in the palm of your hand. Spray a bit more No more Knots if necessary and start untangling. I prefer to use the Tangle Teezer.

Once the hair is completely untangled, add one part of Silky Shea and one part of Herbal gel to the hair and squeeze it through to make sure the strands absorb every bit of it. Here is a trick: add a mixture of the Silky Shea and gel to the teeth of the brush and brush through. You will feel how smooth your hair becomes and you will see your curls pop. If you like that and don’t mind walking around with damp hair, you can continue to the next section until all the hair is done. If you do mind and want a bit more of stretch, continue to the next step.

Once a section untangled and moisturized, make a twist. Continue until you have about 6 to 12 large twists. The sections don’t have to be perfect.

Now here is another trick. Take three twists and make a braid out of them. Repeat until all your twists are braided up. The braids will give your curls that extra stretch and volume.

Another great advantage is that you can go to bed while your hair is drying. Once your hair is dry, all you have to do is take the braids and twists out and then you can enjoy your happy curls!

After care
Depending on your hair type you can re-twist your hair at night with the same mixture. You can even twist up your hair in the shower, add the towel and when your hair is towel dry, braid up the twists.

Twisting up your hair takes only half an hour and taking your hair out will not even take 15 minutes in the morning.