Wavy Troubleshooting

Here are some problems I’ve struggled with and some solutions that worked for me.

This could mean you have low-porosity hair, so now you know another thing about your hair.
I find mousses dry faster than gels.
Some gels dry faster than others.
Your hair will dry faster if you break the cast before it has fully dried.
Try getting a bigger diffuser; the Xtava Black Orchid Diffuser is massive and pretty inexpensive.
Use a microfibre towel to squeeze as much moisture as possible out of your hair before you begin diffusing (aka “micro plopping”).
Diffuse your hair until it’s 80% dry, and then put it up in your silk bonnet and sleep on it, letting it finish drying overnight.

Is there lots of oil in your routine? I learned I can’t use much oil/butter or my hair gets really stringy.
If your waves aren’t usually stringy—did you use anything new in your routine?
This can also just be a “it takes time” thing; my clumps got bigger as my hair got healthier. Treatments with Olaplex No. 3 and the K18 Molecular Hair Mask also helped.

Me too—you are not alone! This is pretty common because the hair at the front tends to get pulled straight the most when we pull our hair back into ponytails, buns, etc., and the hair at the top gets more damage from hats, the sun, etc.
If you like pulling your hair back into tight ponytails/buns, stop doing that. Switch to looser styles; I use claw clips and headbands to hold my hair out of my face.
As my hair got healthier, the front bits improved.
I often pin the first layer of my hair up and back so the curlier under bits show.

Try harder hold products
Try using more of your hard-hold products—I get the best results when I start with “crispy ramen” hair.
Experiment with different overnight preservation methods; I am fully on team silk bonnet.
My wash days started lasting longer as my hair got healthier and I’d had more curly haircuts… so just keep at it.

I could never get a scarf to stay on overnight and be comfortable. If it was tight enough to stay on, I’d get a headache. If it was loose enough to sleep, it’d come off.
I’ve had the best results with bonnets that have elastic around them.
High quality roller pins are excellent for further securing bonnets/scarves if needed.
If your head is bigger or smaller than average you might have more luck making your own bonnet so you can size it to your skull (this is what I did—I’ve got a big head).

Alligator hair clips help a lot with sectioning.
Practice helps, but yeah, two years in it’s still annoying, but the results are worth it.

If you haven’t been having issues with wet frizz and it suddenly starts happening, take a look at the products you’ve been using recently and see if you notice any patterns in what they do or don’t have.
I started experiencing wet frizz when I inadvertently dropped almost all protein from my routine for about four washes. I re-introduced it and it took about four weeks to go back to normal.