Olaplex on waves
October–November 2022
I remembered I had some Olaplex and decided to give that a try, paired with lots of hard-hold gel (Aussie Instant Freeze). It worked beautifully and I was thrilled. I had big, juicy wave clumps for the first time!
I also had my most successful second-day results ever, which was a big deal for me as anything beyond day 1 hair was pretty “bleh” at this time.
This kicked off an obsession with finding the hardest-holding hair gels imaginable + hair repair products, which lined up nicely with a late-October trip to NYC. I purchased a ton of haircare products in the US, and I’m still working my way through them two years later (heh). I also picked up some alligator hair clips on that trip and started reliably sectioning my hair into three parts to wash and style thanks to the awesomeness of the clips.
In early November I started experiencing pretty bad wet frizz while washing for the first time. I took a look at the products I’d been using and realized I’d managed to choose a bunch of products with no protein in them for a few washes in a row. I re-introduced protein and the wet frizz went away over the course of the next month. This is how I learned my hair likes protein!
Tools & Products
Some things I purchased and/or used in this time…
- Olaplex No. 3
- Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer + the diffuser
- Aussie Instant Freeze Sculpting Hair Gel
- Xtava Black Orchid Diffuser
- Dyson Airwrap
- LA Looks Styling Hair Gel
- CURLSMITH In-Shower Style Fixer
- DevaCurl CurlBond Re-Coiling Treatment Mask
- Herbal Essences Totally Twisted Mousse
- BioSilk Rock Hard Gellee (discontinued)
- Alligator hair clips
October 15, 2022
That night I tried a different overnight hair wrap. I’d tried sleeping in silk scarves but they always came off. Pineapple-ing it on top of my head didn’t work terribly well, either. This situation is a repurposed gathered headband, and paired with lots of sturdy big bobby pins, it stayed on all night!
October 15, 2022
Not only did the wrap stay on, but is also worked to preserve my hair! I was SO thrilled to have good day 2 hair without doing anything.
October 28, 2022: New York
I visited NYC in late October 2022 and practiced my refreshing as I didn’t want to waste my precious NYC time washing and drying my hair any more than I had to. I used a gel I’d made for this refresh.
October 30, 2022: New York
NYC wash day results. I used the blue LA Looks gel for the first time—it has a lot of fans on Reddit!
American product haul
I bought so many hair products to try that I had to check a second bag for the trip home!
October 31, 2022
Day 2 waves from the LA Looks wash day. I was able to refresh without adding any new product—just misting with water, scrunching, and diffusing.
November 4, 2022
I’m tried a “wash now style later”; did a clarifying wash and the DevaCurl mask, scrunched in some leave in, micro plopped, and let it air dry overnight. The next morning (pre-styling) I had a wee bit of not-quite-straight-ness happening! This was very exciting as it made me feel like I wasn’t a total wavy imposter.
November 5, 2022: A vintage find
Long drying times continued to irk me, so I picked up this portable overhead dryer on Kijiji. It’s rather delightful and hilarious, but hasn’t gotten much use since fall 2022.
November 5, 2022
I tried the Curl Smith In-Shower Styler for the first time and it made my hair super stringy; this is how I learned I can’t use products with very much oil in them. I gave the gel to a friend with 3a/3b curls and it has worked really well for her!
November 6, 2022
I re-washed my hair and tried again, using less of the CurlSmith In Shower Styler and combining it with the Herbal Essences Totally Twisted Mousse. I also tried Denman brush styling with the twirling around the handle. It was more work but almost certainly resulted in better product distribution than anything else I’ve ever done. I sectioned, added leave on and mousse, brushed through, and then brush styled. Sadly, it was a fail—soft, stringy, messy. Boo.
November 8, 2022
Another wash day; I tried sectioning my hair to apply product + some brush styling. I used a Curl Smith leave-in and the BioSilk Rock Hard Gellee as my gel. I’m not sure the brush styling did much—I had to do a ton of scrunching to get much of anything to happen. The gel definitely formed a good cast, and I think my hair dried faster than with the Aussie gel.