Curly hair

Curly hair is not one thing. It runs from a soft wave that barely turns, to a full round ringlet, all the way to a very tight coil like a spring. The number and letter systems that circulate online give you a rough idea, but do not treat them as hard science: a single head often carries several patterns at once, tighter at the nape and looser around the face. What they all share is one practical fact. A strand that keeps bending has trouble carrying the scalp’s natural oil down to the ends, so curly hair is drier by nature and needs different care from straight hair. In Pristina a good foundation starts with a cut that respects that shape, and at B&B Elegance Besire cuts with the curl rather than against it.

The short answer is this. Wash your hair less often, use generous conditioner and a leave-in on hair that is still wet, never brush it when it is dry, and dry it with a diffuser on low heat or let it air dry. For the cut, look for someone who cuts for shape and often on dry hair, because a wet curl stretches out and then shrinks back as it dries. This page explains each part in turn, with no empty promises and no magic products.

Curls do not change from the outside. Genetics decide what shape your strand takes, and no cream or shampoo turns a soft wave into a coil or the other way around. What actually changes is how defined, hydrated and calm the curls you have look. Good care does not give you someone else’s hair; it brings out the hair you already have.

How many curl types are there and does it matter

The most useful way to think about curls is not an exact label but a spectrum. At one end is the wave, where the strand makes a gentle bend without closing into a ring. In the middle are classic curls, clear rings that hold their own shape. At the other end are very tight curls that form small springs and are the driest of all. Most people fall somewhere in between and carry more than one pattern on the same head.

Why does the distinction matter? Because the tighter the curl, the harder it is for oil to travel down the strand, the drier it is, the more it shrinks as it dries and the less often it needs washing. A head of soft waves can be washed twice a week without trouble; a head of tight coils is often better washed just once. So do not blindly copy someone else’s online routine. Start from your real type, test, and keep what works for your hair rather than for a number on a chart.

Why curly hair is drier

This is not bad luck, it is geometry. The scalp produces a natural oil called sebum, and its job is to coat the strand from root to tip like a protective layer. On straight hair that oil slides down easily and keeps the ends coated. On curly hair the strand bends again and again, and at every bend the oil stalls. The result is that roots can be oily while the ends stay dry and thirsty for moisture.

This explains most of the problems curly hair runs into: dryness, frizz, split ends and a strand that breaks easily. It also explains why the washing rules are upside down compared with straight hair. Where someone with oily hair washes daily, someone with curls often washes once a week and uses twice the conditioner. If your hair is both dry and brittle, combine this with the advice on dry and brittle hair, because many of the solutions overlap.

How to wash and condition without wrecking the curl

Washing is where curls are either ruined or kept. The first rule is less often. Frequent washing with a harsh shampoo strips the little oil curls have and leaves them rough. For most people one or two washes a week is plenty. On other days the hair is refreshed with water only, or with a little conditioner run through the ends.

Choose a gentle shampoo, ideally without harsh sulfates, and focus it on the scalp, not the ends. The scalp needs cleaning; the ends are cleaned enough by the lather sliding down. Many women with curls replace some of their washes with co-washing, meaning washing with conditioner only, which cleans gently without drying the strand. It is not for everyone and an oily scalp may not tolerate it, but for very dry curls it is real help.

Conditioner is the most important product for curls, not shampoo. Apply it generously from the mid-lengths to the ends, leave it a few minutes, and right then, with the conditioner still in, detangle with your fingers or a wide-tooth comb. Never comb or brush curly hair when it is dry, because it shatters the rings and turns them into a cloud of frizz. Rinse with lukewarm water, not hot, and leave a little conditioner in if the strand is very dry.

A step-by-step styling routine

Curl definition is set in the minutes when the hair is still soaking. This is the moment when product grabs and the curl takes shape. This routine works for most people and adapts easily:

1. Start on soaking wet hair, not just damp. The excess water helps the product spread and the curls clump into ribbons.
2. Apply a leave-in or a hydrating cream, pressing it in from the ends upward, not pulling it down. Pulling down straightens the curls.
3. Add a gel or mousse over the hydrating product if you want hold. Apply it with the same pressing motion.
4. Scrunch: cup sections of hair in your palm from underneath and gently push them up toward the scalp. This encourages the curls to spring.
5. Remove excess water by plopping: wrap the hair in a cotton t-shirt or a microfiber towel for 10 to 20 minutes. This soaks up water without lifting frizz the way a rough towel does.
6. Dry with a diffuser on low heat and low speed, cupping the sections into the diffuser and not moving them around, or let the hair air dry if you have time.
7. Do not touch it until it is fully dry. Touching while it dries is the number one cause of frizz.
8. Once the gel has dried and the strand feels slightly crisp, scrunch once more with soft hands to break that layer. The curls stay defined but turn soft.

For the night, protect the curls with a pineapple: gather the hair into a very high, loose ponytail on top of your head before bed. That keeps the curls from being crushed under the weight of your head on the pillow. A satin or silk pillowcase helps a lot, because rough cotton draws out moisture and creates frizz overnight.

Why cutting curly hair is different

This is where the biggest difference lies, and where many people have walked out disappointed by a bad cut. Curly hair is not cut like straight hair. The first reason is shrinkage. A wet curl stretches under the weight of the water, then as it dries it shrinks and lifts, sometimes by up to half its length. A cut that looks even while the hair is wet can come out completely uneven once it dries. That is why many hairdressers experienced with curls cut on dry hair, curl by curl, so they can see where each one falls in its real state.

The second reason is layers. A blunt one-length cut piles all the hair at the same level at the bottom. On curly hair that creates heavy weight at the bottom and emptiness at the top, and the result is the famous triangle or pyramid shape: narrow up top, wide below. Layers remove that excess weight and let the curls up top lift and gain volume while the bottom softens. Where and how much to layer depends on how tight the curl is, so this is work that needs a trained eye.

A good curly cut aims at shape, not just length. The hairdresser looks at where the curls fall around the face, how the hairline behaves, and builds a shape that will grow out nicely as the hair gets longer. When you go for a cut, do not just say how many centimetres to take off. Explain how you usually wear your hair, whether you diffuse it or let it air dry, and what shape you have had before that you liked. For how to talk to your hairdresser, read the haircut guide. If you also have split ends, a cut is often the only real fix, as we explain in split ends.

How to control frizz in humidity

Frizz is not always the enemy. Some of it is simply the curl trying to form, and anyone chasing zero frizz is often chasing flat, lifeless hair. But excess frizz on humid days has a clear cause. A dry strand acts like a sponge: when the air is damp, it soaks up moisture from the air, swells and lifts. That is why the same head looks calm on a dry day and frizzy on a rainy or muggy one, as often happens in a Pristina summer.

The fix starts with hydration. A strand well saturated with moisture from the inside has less need to pull it from the air. So leave-in and conditioner do the biggest anti-frizz work, more than the anti-frizz products themselves. A layer of gel helps too, because it forms a thin film around the strand that keeps outside moisture out; that is the crisp cast you then soften with scrunching. On very humid days keep touching to a minimum, because every touch opens the curl and invites frizz. And accept that on some days the weather wins a little, and that does not mean you did anything wrong.

Honest expectations

It is worth saying plainly what you can expect and what you cannot. A good routine makes curls more defined, softer and calmer, and that is a change you see within weeks. But you will not have salon-perfect hair every single day. Good curl days and bad curl days exist for everyone, even for people with beautiful hair.

Do not expect products to change your curl type. They do not. You can change how defined it looks, not the basic shape of the strand. Do not expect an instant result from every new product; hair needs a few washes to find its balance. And do not trust promises that a single treatment straightens curls forever with no damage; permanent straightening from heat is damage, not transformation. When hair is already damaged, sometimes cutting off the damaged part is the most honest and fastest step forward.

Consistency matters more than any expensive product. Wash less often, condition generously, apply product to wet hair, dry gently and sleep in a pineapple: those five habits do more than any new bottle. Start there.

A curly cut in Pristina: at B&B Elegance

When you need a cut that understands the curl, in Pristina you find it at B&B Elegance, in the Bregu i Diellit area, a short walk from Rruga B, on Jakov Xoxa street near Muharrem Fejza. The hair side belongs to Besire, the mother, with more than twenty years of experience with strands of every shape. The salon is family run and small: Besire handles hair, while her daughter Biondina covers facial treatments, so a haircut can be paired with a skin treatment in the same visit. A cut costs 15 euro, the same price as any other cut, and includes a cut shaped to your face and hair type; the details are on the haircut price page. Hours are Monday to Saturday, 9:00 to 17:00, closed Sunday. To book, write on WhatsApp or Viber at +383 44 397 749 or +383 49 326 303, tell them you have curly hair and how you usually wear it, and you get a clear time and a clear answer.