Naturals Do You Set Your Hair With Gel?

[CaraWalker]

i randomly used some of that carolsdaughter smoothie with green ecostyler gel on top and my leaveout has felt soft and supple for days now. my hair needs something heavy on it to keep from feeling dried out and seems to react badly to oils. it took me months to admit my hair hated coconut oil.

would this be really bad for my hair if i did it all the time? ecostyler is supposed to be alcohol free. it does flake though.

 

[kandake]

I use it. It does flake if overused. I don't feel comfortable recommending it because my hair is crap. But, I've seen people on youtube use it without problems.

 

[whiteoleander91]

I don't see a problem with it...just keep a close eye on your hair. I know some have trouble with Eco Styler leading to breakage, but those people also tend to need lighter products in general. I think the protein in the gel is what a lot of ppl have trouble with. There are thick protein free gels now that work well like Wetline Xtreme and Ampro Argan Oil. So you could try those if you start having any issues.

I've never tried the CD Hair Smoothie, but the ingredients look nice.

 

[Honey Bee]

Nap85 has a video, "Cheat a flexi set" or some such, and she uses gel. I tried it once and it came out okay (for my first natural flexi set ).

eta: I finally figured out the whole re-sizing picture thing. Sorry it's blurry, I didn't intend to share these pics. I'm holding the roller size that I used. I'm not sure if it was all the way dry and I used Eco Argan Oil, but I just wanted to post an example of Nap85's method.

 

[CaraWalker]

my hair might need protein. idk. its hard to ever tell because nothing ever really makes it feel better or worse.

 

[Nightingale]

Nap85 has a video, "Cheat a flexi set" or some such, and she uses gel. I tried it once and it came out okay (for my first natural flexi set ).

I used her method with pink ecostyler gel and it worked well. Soft hold, lots of shine. I'm going to try it with a protein free gel next.

 

[ForestRose]

I have 4c hair so not even edge control sets my hair. I do like using cantu twist and local gel for twist/braid outs tho and it always make my hair super soft. Anyone struggling with definition or maintaining the frizz after a day will benefit from using gel imo.

From what I gather the best way to keep hair moisturised is getting a good moisturiser and sealing with some Shea or other butter.
I tried the water + oils \+ butter too and at the moment my hair is still dry as a dessert.

 

[almond eyes]

I have 4c hair so not even edge control sets my hair. I do like using cantu twist and local gel for twist/braid outs tho and it always make my hair super soft. Anyone struggling with definition or maintaining the frizz after a day will benefit from using gel imo.

From what I gather the best way to keep hair moisturised is getting a good moisturiser and sealing with some Shea or other butter.
I tried the water + oils \+ butter too and at the moment my hair is still dry as a dessert.

If you have high porosity hair, you cannot set you hair with cool or room temperature water and oil, you have to warm up the water and the oil slightly so that it penetrates the hair. Other than that you hair will be dry. I need very warm water as a base for everything.

 

[ForestRose]

If you have high porosity hair, you cannot set you hair with cool or room temperature water and oil, you have to warm up the water and the oil slightly so that it penetrates the hair. Other than that you hair will be dry. I need very warm water as a base for everything.

Thanks. I realised that I don't do actually have high porosity hair. I did think I didn't but I don't. I was doing the test wrong and pushing the hair into the water. Apparently you are just suppose to drop it in and submerge it then leave it alone for a few mins.

 

[LivingInPeace]

I try not to use it that frequently because I'm afraid it will dry out my hair. I don't know that it does but that's my hair paranoia, hairanoia.

 

[Ogoma]

I love the super wet gel for this. It has no protein or glycerin and leaves me with a ton of shine and minimizes shrinkage. I use tresemme undone as a leave-in under it. I use it for wash and gos and have used it once for curlformers.

 

[NappyNelle]

I've been doing this on average 5 days a week for the past 6 months. Hair is doing well.

I make sure to shampoo it well and deep condition every week. Prior to using the gel I use an oil or butter. Sometimes I double up with a water based moisturizer and the oil or butter, then gel.

 

[frida1980]

Yes, but I use flax seed gel. The regular stuff dried my hair out.

 

[Ann0804]

I use Camille rose curl maker to style my hair in twists. It has a nice light hold. It's not sticky. Keeps my hair in place quite well. My hair doesn't get that dry feeling after it dries.

 

[Adiatasha]

I use Camille rose curl maker to style my hair in twists. It has a nice light hold. It's not sticky. Keeps my hair in place quite well. My hair doesn't get that dry feeling after it dries.

I bought this over the weekend for my hair... I love it . Love it

 

[LdyKamz]

Hmm I never had any problems with gel. When I set my hair I usually use some sort of curly pudding with eco style on top. Recently I used a jelly from curls unleashed and some Shea Butter to set only because I didn't have anything else and it came our way better. Curls were softer and held better for some reason.

 

[Dayjoy]

Last night I mixed cream leave in (GDLI) with equal part Ecostyler and used that on my braid out. I haven't taken it down yet, but I'll be back when I do.

 

[Guinan]

I've been using some sort of gel for years to set my curlformers and I've never had any issues. I use eco, fsg, la bella or botanical gel. I did this as relaxed and now as natural. If I don't my sets won't last. I can get 2wks out of my curlformer sets

 

[kimmiecakes]

I use eco to set along with whatever other product I grab out of the stash. I haven't really noticed a problem. I think the gel might give me an extra day or so. Lord knows anything I can do to extend my time between sleeping in rods is a go!

 

[Dayjoy]

My braid out felt really no different than usual, maybe a little more definition. But I'm not quite sure it was enough that I can skip braiding or twisting tonight.

 

[almond eyes]

Sometimes that so called float test isn't a good indicator of your porosity.

If your hair gets softer when exposed to warm water then it is a good indicator that your hair may be high porosity.

Best,
Almond Eyes

Thanks. I realised that I don't do actually have high porosity hair. I did think I didn't but I don't. I was doing the test wrong and pushing the hair into the water. Apparently you are just suppose to drop it in and submerge it then leave it alone for a few mins.

 

[ForestRose]

Sometimes that so called float test isn't a good indicator of your porosity.

If your hair gets softer when exposed to warm water then it is a good indicator that your hair may be high porosity.

Best,
Almond Eyes

I thought all hair got softer when exposed to water. I'm just taking a guess with my porosity in all honesty. Going based on what most 4b/c ladies are.I think that once I start my new regimen I will have a better idea. Especially that I will be doing the test on healthy hair now. I recently just learnt what dense in hair terms meant too. I was always wondering how people could test the density of their hair strands lol . I'm continuously learning

 

[HaveSomeWine]

I've tried it a few times but it leaves my hair crunchy and resembling a Jerri curl.

 

[almond eyes]

I thought all hair got softer when exposed to water. I'm just taking a guess with my porosity in all honesty. Going based on what most 4b/c ladies are.I think that once I start my new regimen I will have a better idea. Especially that I will be doing the test on healthy hair now. I recently just learnt what dense in hair terms meant too. I was always wondering how people could test the density of their hair strands lol . I'm continuously learning

I thought all hair got softer when exposed to water. I'm just taking a guess with my porosity in all honesty. Going based on what most 4b/c ladies are.I think that once I start my new regimen I will have a better idea. Especially that I will be doing the test on healthy hair now. I recently just learnt what dense in hair terms meant too. I was always wondering how people could test the density of their hair strands lol . I'm continuously learning

Hi po hair responds very well to very warm water to soften it. You could send your hair to Komaza and they would be able to analyze your strands and let you know. Knowing hair density is the easiest, if you have lots of hair it means high density and on the thinner side lower density. But yep the learning continues for all of us.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[BostonMaria]

I tried flexirods years ago and just didn't follow the directions the right way, plus the gel I used was too crunch. Needless to say my hair looked a hot mess LOL

On Saturday I set my hair with a homemade oatmeal gel (link to the original post here) and used flexirods. My hair came out beautiful, light, and not crunchy at all. I've gotten alot of compliments. Maybe one day I'll try flexirods again with ecostyler, but for the summer I'll continue witih the oatmeal gel.

 

[PinkSunshine77]

No. I use As I am curl define cream with Chi silk infusion..or just water. I hate how hard Gel makes my hair feel.

 

[TwistedRoots]

No when I tried gel the heavier ones never worked well with my leavin and I hated it by itself looked like I had a jerry curl and my activator wasn't acting right...

 

[SweetlyCurly]

I mostly use curl creams during the collet months. Now that it's warmer, I'm reaching for my gels (mainly Eco and Xtreme wetline). These two do better with frizz and also have UV protectant which is needed with this demon sun.