Short coily hair: why your care routine changes after a month

For the first few weeks, a quick run under the tap is enough: water brings the bounce back in a second. Then, after a month, the hair stops responding the same way. Here's what changed.

Nothing, except that a habit took the place of a care routine. A short cut on coily hair doesn't need less care than long hair: it needs different care, with an exposed scalp, a shape that loses its line quickly and far less room for error with water. The six steps of the Rituel Texture® don't change with length: our step-by-step tutorial goes through them one by one.

Point 1What really changes

Three things change, and only one is truly restrictive. The first is visible straight away: the scalp is no longer covered. Sun, wind and cold reach the skin directly, so it feels tight sooner and becomes more prone to dandruff. A fingertip massage two or three times a week, with a few drops of light oil, is usually enough to restore comfort, and a hat in winter does the rest.

The second is the shape. Two centimetres of regrowth throw off a short line, where they'd go unnoticed on longer hair. That isn't a care problem, it's an appointment to keep, and it's the only real constraint of a short cut.

The third is the most misunderstood. A short strand holds less water than a long one, and many people conclude that it needs wetting often. What we see in the salon says the opposite: in women who wet their hair every morning, the fibre absorbs quickly and loses it just as quickly, and the hair looks permanently dry despite daily attention.

Point 2The Rituel Texture® on short hair

The Rituel Texture® doesn't get shorter with your hair. It's the amounts that go down, and the time spent, not the number of steps or their rhythm. Plan on a full routine every seven to ten days, exactly as with long hair.

It starts with Chadian finger detangling, using your fingers on dry hair, section by section. It's the step most often skipped after a cut, because it seems pointless on a few centimetres. It becomes possible again from about two centimetres, and it's still useful: it mechanically undoes knots at the root and clears away some of the flakes before the water arrives. Dry detangling isn't what does the damage. A comb on bare hair, with no product to help it glide, is.

Next comes the Moisturising Detox, a two-step cleanse: a gentle clarifier, then Le Shampoing Réparateur, sulfate-free, massaged in with the fingertips and never with the nails. On an exposed scalp, this double wash matters all the more because it removes build-up that exposed skin doesn't tolerate well.

Le Masque Réparateur then goes on for ten minutes, under a cap if possible, on towel-dried hair. Ten minutes is enough: on a short cut as on long hair, there's nothing to gain by leaving it longer. It's through this mask-coated hair that Le Peigne de Man Dol' passes, from ends to roots, before rinsing. On three centimetres, it takes a minute, but that's no reason to skip it.

The Rituel Texture® ends with protective drying, using a hairdryer, after applying La Crème Coiffante, in small sections and keeping the dryer moving, never stopping on one area. On very short hair, drying is up to you, depending on the look you want: air drying works perfectly if you're after bounce rather than stretch. La Crème Coiffante, applied one last time, closes the session: that's the Lock in moisture step, and it doesn't change with length either.

Point 3Between two routines

The days in between need very little, as long as you don't fill them with unnecessary steps. A small amount of La Crème Coiffante worked between your hands and then smoothed over your head brings back cohesion and softness, in a few seconds on a short cut. That step, and that step alone, replaces the spray bottle: it refreshes the shape without wetting the fibre again.

Your scalp, for its part, enjoys a fingertip massage in the evening. If the skin feels tight in winter, a few drops of light oil worked in during the massage are enough; if it becomes oily or flaky, use nothing at all and wash a little more often instead.

If you work out several times a week, an extra wash is no problem at all: Le Shampoing Réparateur was designed for exactly that, up to twice a week, with no clarifier beforehand. That's the answer to sweat, whereas a daily rinse with plain water wets without cleaning.

Point 4Styling in a few minutes

This is the real advantage of a short cut: a few minutes are enough, and you see the result immediately. On three or four centimetres, twirling strand by strand around a finger gives definition, with a result that stays a little compact, its known limit. Below that length, texture comes mostly from the way La Crème Coiffante is worked in: in a small amount, melted in with light circular movements, it shapes the texture without making it stick.

Then there are accessories, which do a lot for a short cut: headbands, scarves and turbans change your look without touching the fibre, and help out on days when regrowth blurs the line. Our article on defining curls details the techniques that also work on short hair.

Point 5At night, in this order

With longer hair, you prepare for the night with six braids pinned up on themselves. On a short cut, there's nothing to braid, and it comes down to three steps, always in the same order. First, a little La Crème Coiffante, worked over the whole head with extra attention to the ends, which are the oldest and most fragile part of the strand.

Next, a silk scarf. That's the protection Ghana prefers over a bonnet: it holds the hair without completely enclosing a scalp that's already more exposed than with long hair, and it comes off in the morning without flattening the shape.

Finally, a matching silk pillowcase. It's the friction against cotton that wears the fibre down night after night, and the pillowcase is often the habit people keep up best over time, because it doesn't require anything before bed. Our article on night-time protection looks at the different materials.

Point 6The salon trim

Allow four to six weeks to keep the shape, compared with two to three months for long hair. It's the only area where a short cut costs more time than long hair, and it's better to accept that from the start than to let the shape fade away.

The technical point is worth knowing, because it's something to discuss with your hairdresser. With us, the cut comes after the Rituel Texture®, once the hair has been stretched by protective drying: the hair is then readable, and shrinkage no longer distorts the result. It's the same phenomenon that fools everyone about their own length, and we come back to it in can coily hair grow long. Cutting bare hair, on the other hand, gives lines you only discover at the first wash. Our directory of partner salons lists hairdressers trained in coily textures, and our article on cutting coily hair explains what happens in the chair.

One last point, often overlooked: if you're still unsure about the length, don't cut. The decision belongs to the client as much as to the hairdresser, and a short cut is something you choose, not something you have sprung on you halfway through an appointment.

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