Even though I said I was going to practice with the Denman brush this week, I actually didn’t because I was noticing some things happening with my hair.
To preface: As I mentioned in a previous reflection, I've realized that my hair likes to have conditioner applied on damp hair, and then introduce more water after the fact. So in the shower, I started squishing to condish while cowashing and doing my rinse out/leave in. I also started applying conditioner directly/closer to my scalp first before I apply it to the length or ends of my hair. These two differences have aided in my hair becoming so much softer in just a week of almost daily cowashing (but I’ve always been a daily cowasher, so the frequency wasn’t necessarily a contributing factor). I've also been losing way less hair, which I also attribute to better use of gel (because my hair doesn't tangle up, which it does when I don't apply some sort of styling product after cowashing even though I use leave in).
- Because of that success, I started applying other products in similar fashion (by other, so far I've tried gel, cream, and clay mask [which by the way worked FANTASTIC]. So one day, after I had applied gel (Wetline Extreme gel - green), and my hair was nice and stiff and caked with gel, I took water in my hands and started squishing and scrunching, and the effect??? clumps and deep waves and curls and hair with movement (while wet). Even while drying it still maintains a lot of the clumping. As a result, my hair has been looking better, acting better, and feeling better these past few days.
So, I'm putting the Denman on hold just because I want to play around with this technique more. I'm hoping the added moisture that S2C provides will help increase my hair's elasticity (which is marked by things like curl formation/curl retention).
- Even though I do have shrinkage, I think my hair has very low elasticity which manifests itself in the form of my hair not being curly/coily/wavy even when it's wet; it's just frizzy. While it could be argued that this just means my hair isn't moisturized enough, what it also means is that my hair doesn't have the strength/capability of curling on its own (if we think about how like....babies and small children with curly hair can often go about without product in their hair or just like one dab of cream or something like that, I think it's because their hair has a high elasticity [disregarding curl size, shape, or texture] and will curl basically no matter what, assuming it's been detangled or whatever).
- There's a YouTuber with 3B curls who styles her hair with a Denman brush. One day, I was watching one of her videos and after she runs the brush through her hair, she can shake the section and the curls just start to appear. She seems to have high elasticity because she has optimal curl formation/retention. I tried doing her method, and it didn't work fully, but I could see my curls trying to curl back up; but, that low elasticity wouldn't let them be great. So, I don't see myself being successful with the Denman brush until my elasticity improves. This is also why I'm putting the Denman brush on hold.
- Also in that same vein, I feel like if I had high elasticity, I would have better success with curl creams. Curl creams don't cause my hair to clump up or create much definition, and since my hair won't do these things on their own, the curl cream is ultimately useless on its own.
To summarize: My hair is low elasticity which is making the Denman brush ineffective. But Squish to Condish has been improving the overall state of my hair, so I'm thinking it will improve the elasticity of my hair. In the mean time, Squishing to Condish in gel has been creating better hair days.