10 Easy Steps to Make Straight Hair Curly and Bring Back the Bounce

Tools and materials:

• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Olive oil
• Deep conditioner
• Leave-in conditioner
• Wide-tooth comb
• Hooded dryer

1. Wet your hair

Use really warm water, but not hot enough to burn you. If it can burn you, it can also burn your hair. You want it hot enough to melt any oils and generate a little bit of steam between your hair strands so it can curl your hair back up quicker.

Make sure your hair is thoroughly wet and saturated. It should be at least 60-100% reverted before you move on to the shampoo stage. If you’ve straightened your hair before, you know it can take up to three washes before you’re able to revert back to curly hair.

2. Wash

Start by putting shampoo on the scalp. By this stage, you will have some dandruff unless your hair has been doused in oil, so you want to focus on the scalp and make sure it's clean. I prefer not to put oil in my hair as I find that oil coating your hair slows down the reversion process. 

When you go in for the second wash use half the amount of shampoo and still focus on the scalp. The lather from your scalp should help lather up the rest of your hair. Make sure to get off all of those products and silicones. You want your hair to be squeaky clean so you can have the perfect bounce back.

A tip for sectioning: While washing, I like to be strategic about my sectioning to get the best reversion time. I wet the entire section so my hair will start reverting before I even start shampooing. After wetting it, I split it in half and clip up the top section so it can continue to revert while I’m working on the back. So that way, when it’s time to work on the front, it’s already reverted a bit.

Of course, not every one’s hair is going to revert at the same rate as mine, so If your hair feels a bit more dry than usual, I suggest waiting two-three weeks for it to fully bounce back.

3. Deep condition

Apply your deep conditioner about four inches from the scalp. If your hair is shorter, don’t put it too close to your scalp, because you don’t need those products clogging up your pores. They’re meant to moisturize your hair. You’ll know how much product you need by the density and thickness of your hair.

4. Detangle

While I’m still deep conditioning, I like to go in with a wide-tooth comb to detangle my hair and also spread the product around. 

5. Twist

Then, I wrap it around itself to squeeze the product into the hair and then twist up the full section before moving on to the next.

6. Go under heat

Tie up your twists and go under heat for about 20 minutes before rinsing. Most deep conditioners don’t require you to go under heat, but every single deep conditioner I’ve ever used works best when you do. You know your deep conditioner is working well when your hair fully absorbs it and you can’t even see it in your hair. 

At this point, your curls should be looking very good with bounce back and shine.

7. Leave-in conditioner

You don’t need much leave-in, so only use a small amount. After conditioning, my hair felt so smooth and very, very moisturized.

8. Seal with olive oil

Because my hair isn’t in tip-top condition, I decided to seal it with a little bit of olive oil.

9. Twist

At this stage, I always put my hair in twists. My hair flourishes and comes out the most moisturized when I do this. I know it’s tempting to do a wash-and-go, but I suggest you let your hair rest and sit and fully revert.

10. Go under the heat again

Finally, while the leave-in conditioner is still in your hair, go under the heat for another 20 minutes, and you’re done!

How to revert hair back to curly tutorial

Reverting straight hair back to curly after a silk press doesn’t have to be difficult, and now you know my favorite routine to make sure my curls bounce back. Let me know what you think about this technique down below!

Products used:

• Shampoo - Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo
• Deep Conditioner - Olaplex No 6 Bond Smoother
• Leave In Conditioner - Olaplex Bond Intense Moisture Mask
• Olive Oil - Pompeian Robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Brush - Tangle Teezer Brush