hey everyone it's Jenna and welcome back
to the curly hair care for beginners at
playlist if you've been following along
in this video series I shared tons of
tips for beginners really break it down
and simplified easy-to-follow steps on
how to transition your curls from
damaged and unhealthy curls to get
really healthy nice curls and how to
take care of your curly hair so today's
video is going to be all about
clarifying clarifying your hair and
removing build-up is the first step to
transition to curly hair and by
transitioning I mean if you previously
have straightened your hair every single
day or if you have chemically damaged
hair or over-processed hair that is just
really damaged and unhealthy and you're
trying to get it back to your natural
curl pattern so first off to start what
is clarifying and it's basically the
process of getting a really deep cleanse
on your hair to remove product build-up
to remove excess oil to really fix
incorrect scalp issues a lot of hair
issues actually come from the scalp
whether that be dryness or dandruff or
anything like that if your hair is
overly oily or overly dry clarifying can
make a big difference and we'll go into
some of the benefits of clarifying too
so first off how do you know when you
need to clarify your hair I think it's
really important to really listen to
your hair and take a look at it it
really helps if you pay attention to how
your hair is responding to products how
it's looking how it feels so you might
notice if your scalp is very flat and
has hardly any curl definition up there
if it's very way down then you might
have product build-up either from using
silicone and your styling products which
I have a whole video about the curly
girl method and what that means and I
explained there how to look for
ingredients and stuff in your curly hair
care products just because a product
might be labeled natural or it might
look like it's meant for curly hair a
lot of times their silicones hiding in
those product and I discuss how to look
for those in that video so I will put
that down below and even in products
that are silicone free a lot of times
you might find shea butter you might
find a lot of oils and wax ingredients
and wax is another one of those
ingredients that is technically not
curly girl approved but I'm not that
strict about it I don't personally look
for waxes in my products because I do
clarify frequently so that's really the
key to all of this and even if you are
someone that likes to use silicone
products it's just important to clear
I often that we you don't have that
product build-up some other signs of
needing to clarify is really lip curls
and lack of definition or if your hair
is not responding to your products
anymore if you notice that a routine
used to work for you and all of a sudden
it's not and you're just having a hard
time managing your hair then it's good
to do a nice and reset with clarifying
all the products out all that product
build-up and oils and stuff from your
hair and then starting with a clean
slate also if you have scalp issues like
dandruff flaky scalp a dry scalp if it's
itchy
or on the other hand if your scalp is
overly oily some other signs of needing
to clarify or excess shedding if your
scalp has a lot of buildup on it it can
clog the hair follicles and lead to more
shedding and prevent a new hair from
growing and this is one of the reasons
that I decided to clarify at this time
because I've been noticing there's so
much shedding I don't feel like I have a
lot of buildup on my scalp but I just
wanted to do a really good reset because
I've had so much shedding and a lot of
tangles another sign if your hair is
looking really dull and it doesn't have
a lot of shine it then there might be
product buildup or if you have low
porosity hair which pretty much means
that your hair doesn't easily let water
or products in so it just sits on the
surface and that's if your cuticle is
really sealed and closed or if you have
a fine hair and I personally do have
fine curly hair so the actual strands
are very thin it's also a lower density
like I don't have super thick hair it's
very fine and texture it breaks very
easily so it's more likely to get
weighed down by heavy butters silicones
all that kind of stuff and I will insert
a picture here of my hair when I didn't
used to use silicone free products this
was with just using whatever curly hair
products from the drugstore and when
looking back I can really see how weigh
down my hair was I thought that I had a
wavy texture but really it my hair is
more of like a 3 B 3 a curl type but
back then it was barely even a wave
because it was just so way down and
really limp and then when I switched to
silicone free products my hair got so
much curlier you can really see the
difference in my
if you look back at old videos so how
often do you clarify is one of the
biggest questions that I get about
clarifying and it really depends on your
hair type and your hair's needs so like
I said it's really important to listen
to your hair if you start to see any of
those signs then it's really good to do
that clarifying rinse or treatment and
then follow up with a good deep
conditioner so I really recommend just
listening to your hair we just do it
when I feel like my hair needs it maybe
once a month or so but if you're someone
that likes to use Co washes which is
pretty much like a conditioner that
cleanses your hair I have talked about
this in my video that I did all about
how to wash curly hair and I explained
how my routine is using a shampoo once a
week and then a co-wash in the middle of
the week when I need a really gentle
cleanse but if you're someone that likes
to just use a co-wash every time you
wash your hair then you might not be
getting that deep cleanse very
frequently so you would definitely need
to clarify more when using Co washes
only as your cleansing product so one of
the easiest way is probably to clarify
your hair is using a sulfate shampoo now
I know we preach not using sulfates in
the curly hair community but I don't see
anything wrong with using them every
once in a while because it's actually
what strips your hair and the whole
reason I'm not using them too frequently
is just to not dry out your hair
naturally curly hair is more dry so we
need some of those natural oils but
sulfate is the same type of ingredient
that is then like your dish soap or your
laundry detergent it's just a cleansing
agent it just breaks down oil removes
everything so it doesn't hurt to just
use that every once in a while on your
hair so maybe like once a month or every
two months that's just a really easy way
to know that you're removing silicones
but you want to make sure that your
sulfate shampoo does not have silicones
a lot of times silicones are hiding in
shampoo I don't know why they put them
in shampoo this is really no purpose a
lot of times you see them in cream
products like conditioner and styling
products but every once in a while I
will find them in shampoo and there's
just no point in that in my opinion I
will list off some it to look for but
the most common one is a modem ethic
owned or domestic code there's all kind
of different ones there's even some that
don't end in code that you have to look
out for there's really no point in
clarifying with a sulfate shampoo if it
has silicone so that's really my point
there is just to make sure that it
doesn't
silica another option and this is
usually what I do is use a really mild
sulfate and I will list out some
examples of really gentle sulfates that
are not quite as harsh on the hair but
they still can remove silicones another
thing you can do is use a clarifying
shampoo now a lot of times these are
labeled as clarifying they have harsh
ingredients in them that will actually
cleanse the hair and one of the ones
that I like that is not quite as harsh
is the diva curl buildup buster I've
done a full review on this I will link
it for you down below but it's like a
micellar cleansing water and that
actually cleanses the product buildup
from your hair but I find that just
using apple cider vinegar kind of does
the job or using a sulfate shampoo so I
don't use it quite as frequently as I
used to but that is an option so just
look for anything that says clarifying
and that is something that you can use
every once in a while when you need to
deep cleanse another thing you can do to
actually really cleanse the scalp and
exfoliate the scalp is using baking soda
I used to do this all the time so you
pretty much take your shampoo and I
would use a sulfate-free shampoo for
this or you can even use a co-wash if
you'd like to use co washes and just add
a little bit of baking soda and just
gently massage your scalp you can also
do sugar or salt there's all kinds of
different exfoliating shampoo options on
the internet if you google them like
natural ones and that's a great way to
just gently exfoliate the scalp but you
don't want to be too hard and the last
way of clarifying your hair is using the
raw apple cider vinegar rinse so what
are some of the benefits of clarifying
well first clarifying is really good at
balancing out the pH in your hair so I'm
actually going to share with you how I
clarify my hair using raw apple cider
vinegar so we'll go over that in just a
little bit but I did want to share with
you some of the benefits of using apple
cider vinegar rinses so the first one is
it balances the pH in your hair and the
pH is essentially the scale of how
acidic versus how alkaline it is I think
I have that right I'm not a chemist or
anything I do have some notes here and
basically frizzy hair is said to be more
alkaline it's also antimicrobial so
apple cider vinegar helps kill bacteria
it also controls fungus on the scalp so
if you have itching is if you have any
type of scalp conditions it
it has a vitamin C and B which is always
really good for your hair it helps
exfoliate the scalps if you have a lot
of dead skin cells on your scalp if you
have dandruff and product build-up and
then also it's anti-inflammatory and so
it's great for dandruff as well if you
have a sensitive scalp which is
personally my favorite because it has
the most benefits as I mentioned for
your hair so now let's finally get into
actually how I do the treatment on my
hair how I fully clarify using it in two
super easy and I show you kind of my
full wash routine and when I do this so
here's a shot of my hair before I hop in
the shower and it has a lot of product
build-up and my roots are very way down
because I use the scalp treatment that
has oil in it I'll be sharing this with
you guys soon
so I have the oil in my roots you can
see how flat they are and then my hair
is super tangled it's looking really
dull it's definitely a feeling dry and
the apple cider vinegar works with all
that kind of stuff so real quick I
wanted to share with you how I mixed up
the apple cider vinegar before I apply
it to my hair so for using apple cider
vinegar it can be a little bit harsh you
definitely want to dilute it with water
it's really important to use the raw
unfiltered apple cider vinegar so this
says on it that it's with the mother
which is just the particles that settle
in the bottom it's from the apples it's
actually what has all the vitamins and
nutrients in it so it's really important
to get this and I would also highly
recommend getting the organic version so
you just want to shake up the bottle
make sure you get all of that sediment
mixed in and then pour it in a bottle if
you know of a bottle like this you can
use a spray bottle or just use the cup
or you can mix it in a bowl and pour it
over your head but this is the bottle
you can just get on Amazon and it has
like a nozzle on it or you can apply it
right to your scalp so you want to
dilute it with two parts water in one
part apple cider vinegar so it's always
like a three-to-one ratio and so it's
one part apple cider vinegar and then
two parts water so I just pour some on
the apple cider vinegar in I'm just
filling this up about a third of the way
and then I'm going to fill up the rest
of it with just plain water then you're
just going to shake it up and you're
ready to apply it on your hair so we're
starting off in the shower I'm going to
fully wet down my hair and I like to
actually detangle my hair first I always
do this if you've seen the video I did
on how to wash curly hair I really
recommend starting with a conditioner to
remove all the tangles
you want to be very gentle I recommend
using just your fingers to detangle
because if you use a brush or a comb
sometimes it can break your hair and our
hair is super fragile when it's wet so
you want to be very careful when you
detangle now that all the tangles are
out I'm actually going to shampoo and
I've been using this line from the main
choice this is a peach black tea
collection so that was the conditioner
on use first and I'm using the shampoo
from that line I really like this
shampoo because it's really miles on the
hair does a great job at cleansing and
it's anti shedding it helps reduce
shedding and since I've had so much
shedding lately I definitely think this
is helping with that I did do a full
review on this line so I'll also put
that down below for you so I'm just
cleansing my hair I'm really focusing on
this scalp sometimes you have to keep
adding shampoo and really cleanse
several times to get rid of oils and
stuff on your hair so that's what I'm
doing here I just gradually add more
product and just gently massage my scalp
so then after I shampooed my hair kind
of got tangled up I think just from all
the oils and stuff so I just really
gently get detangled with my fingers
before I'm gonna actually apply the
apple cider vinegar so I actually like
cleansing my hair first and then rinsing
with the apple cider vinegar but if you
can't stand the smell then you might
want to do the apple cider vinegar rinse
first it's just up to you you can try it
different ways so now that I finished
shampooing my hair and my hair is
detangled I'm gonna apply the apple
cider vinegar rinse to my scalp and just
keep squeezing it this was cold so I did
have to try to lean back and you don't
want to get it in your eyes either
because it will burn them so just be
very careful and I would apply this all
over the scalp and just let it run down
your strands so I applied it the entire
bottle all over my head and then I
actually threw it up in just a ponytail
holder and let it sit for a little bit
you want to let this sit for maybe 5
minutes or so
not too long but you do want to let it
sit on there and really soak into your
scalp so at this time I actually went
back and continued with the rest of my
shower I washed my body I shaved all
that kind of stuff so it's about five
minutes before I actually did the final
rinse so now I'm actually rinsing out my
hair and I was
present how soft my hair was it was
crazy how soft it was was something that
seems like it would be drying because
it's acidic but it felt so good and soft
it felt like I just applied a deep
conditioner which is just crazy I don't
know how this stuff works like that but
I guess it's just so nutrient rinse that
it's just really good for your hair it
really helped to detangle any tangles
that I had leftover and just really
softened up the hair and I could tell
how clean it was feeling so I'm actually
going to deep condition which I highly
recommend doing after you clarify just
to add that moisture back in so I just
kind of put my hair up in my hair repair
towel just to absorb a little bit of the
moisture on my scalp because when I
apply a deep conditioner I like to walk
around for like 30 minutes or so and I
don't like it dripping so I did absorb
some moisture at my scalp and then now
I'm applying the diva curl deep sea
repair which is one of my favorite
strengthening and deep conditioners this
has protein in it so it's great at
repairing your hair but I recommend
trying out the melts into moisture too
from diva curl that's just a great
all-around deep conditioner it's really
good at providing moisture but this one
it gives me a little bit more protein
into my hair but you just don't want to
use too much of this so if your hair is
dry and brittle I would recommend going
with the melt into moisture so you just
really have to listen to your hair see
if it needs more moisture if it needs
more protein and I can do a whole video
on that or you can look it up but
basically you want to have a good
balance of both and not overuse one or
the other so I applied the deep
conditioner all over my head and then I
actually went and applied my heat cap
which I have a whole video on how to
deep conditioned curls I will link that
for you down below too it's part of this
series and I break it down on my full
routine when I deep condition so you can
see the rest of the steps that I do
after this after deep conditioning I
just rinsed out with cold water and I
finished styling my hair like normal
this Sally and routine that I did today
I have a whole video on it it's my diva
curl styling routine I will link it for
you down below but really easy and I get
really great volume and definition with
this routine so if you wanted to see how
I style it you can check that out as
well
so here is what my hair looks like after
you can see how much more shine that I
how much definition that I have it feels
so soft and tangle free it's just crazy
how soft it felt like even when I was
about to blow-dry my hair my hair was so
soft that I felt like I didn't have
enough hold with my gel but then once I
dried I magically had all this hold and
definition and it just felt so soft and
nice and it didn't feel brittle or
crunchy or anything but I still have
really good hole from the styling
products that I used but I just feel
like I have a really great volume my
scalp feels so clean which is such a
nice feeling and when I like scratch it
I don't feel like I have any buildup
which is really rare for me I feel like
I always have like product on my scalp
but I really love my results so that is
everything I hope that was not too fast
for you I know it's a lot of stuff but I
think clarifying is so important and
this is really the first step to
kickstart your natural hair journey so
if you want to get any of the products
that I mentioned I always list them all
out on the blog post that goes with this
video which will be the first link down
below if you have not already subscribed
I would love for you to subscribe here
to my channel I usually post weekly all
about fine curly hair and also some
makeup for beginners and some home stuff
here there so I'd love to have you join
my YouTube family and I will talk to you
next week bye everyone
you