An Ultimate Guide to Travel With Your Curly Hair

Having curly hair always needs extra love and care. It does not matter whether you are at home or abroad, your curly hair always needs the right hair products and proper care. Besides, if you are a person who loves to style your hair a lot, you need some styling tools as well.

Featured Image of Curly Hair Guide for Traveling

However, styling depends on the type of hair you have. From our experience, we have seen that the most unmanageable hair type is curly hair. So, taking care of your curly hair or to style it, you need some styling tools as well as some hair care products. And whenever, you are not at your home or traveling with your unmanageable curly hair, you may have to face some hard times to manage, care and style it. So, today’s article is going to about how to care and style your curly hair while you are on travel. Here are some things to follow while traveling your curly hair.

1. Shampoo & Conditioner

While traveling far or abroad, you cannot take all of your hair care products in your backpack. There are other important things to carry. Besides, the lighter your backpack will be, the more you feel relaxed during your roaming. There will be less baggage cost at the airport also. So, you have to carry only a few and most important hair care products for your curly hair.

Shampoo & Conditioner

The most important hair care product for curly hair is a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. For shampoo, our top two choices are the Kerastase Unisex Nutritive Bain Oleo-Curl Shampoo and Pantene Pro-V Gold Series Moisture Boost Shampoo.

Curly hair tends to be dry most of the time. But some of you may have oily scalp which makes the hair looks greasy and when you are traveling it is not possible all the time to wash your hair using shampoo and conditioner. It is when a dry shampoo comes handy. It soaks up the extra oil and gives volume to the hair.

For conditioner, Pantene ProV Curl Perfection will be the perfect choice for your curly hair.  But keep that in mind, in Asia you will face hard times to find this product. So, it would be better to take this product in your backpack while traveling with your curly hair.

Moreover, you can buy DevaCurl’s How to Quit Shampoo Kit. This kit will save a lot of space in your bag and you will get 3 in 1 (Cleanser, conditioner, microfiber towel) in one pack. It is really a good choice for a traveler.

However, if you are going to staying long on the new place then you can buy hair care products for your curly hair from there and you may not have to carry those products back. But if you are going to stay for about 1-2 weeks, it would be wise to take your existing hair care products from your home. Because, if the tour period is shorter than one month, the products you will buy will not be finished and you have to carry those back to your home and that may need 1 more baggage to carry.

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2. Gel

There is a little different when it comes to hair gel and mousse. The main question is what to use and when? It totally depends on the thickness of the hair, not the curls. The gel is a clear substance which is good for thick hair. Hair gel has some weight in it and has more ability to settle the hair for a longer period. So if you are on some adventurous trip and there is a lot of wind and rough weather gel is perfect to use in that situation. Using this gel will hold your hair in place in that harsh weather.

Our Recommend hair gels for thick curly hair are DevaCurl Ultra Defining Hair Gel and Pantene Curl Perfection Sculpting Hair Gel.

3. Curl Mousse

Mousse is not as strong as a gel; it is lighter in texture. If you apply mousse in the morning it may not set your hair for all day long. Mousse needs to be reapplied throughout the day. It is more applicable for thin hair as it gives some volume to it. If you are on abroad, it may be appropriate for your curls when you are roaming around the city or going for dinner or hang out. More likely it is appropriate for the relaxed tours when your hair does not face any rough situation.

Curl Mousse

While on travel, the best curl mousse will be Paul Mitchell Sculpting Foam. You can also buy Redken Guts 10 Volume Spray Mousse for Volumizing your curls.

4. Hair Oils

While traveling, you may not have enough time to care your hair perfectly. The best and easiest way to take care of your hair while traveling is using hair oil. From the primitive society till now, it is proved that oils are the best thing for hair to be taken care of. Try to take some time before the shower to oil the hair and give it a quick massage before you shampoo, that all it takes.

For your curly hair, we recommend you to use Moroccanoil Treatment Light and the Vita Coco Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.

For traveling try to buy travel size pack. But if you do not get one buy a travel kit and pour some oil and take it with your hair products. For this, you can check the Travel Smart Travel Bottle Set.

5. Hair Styling Tools

To style your curls, you need hair styling tools like curling iron, hot rollers, hair dryer, hair diffuser and so on. But do you think you should carry all of your styling tools while you are on traveling? No, you shouldn’t. It will give you pain and hassle a lot. Besides, when you are on travel, you cannot spend much time on your hair care. So, avoid the tools which take more time on styling and drying your hair. Take only the tools you need most.

Hair Styling Tools

Therefore, we suggest you take travel-friendly compact hair tools. Use hair diffuser in replace of a hair dryer for your curly hair while at abroad. Hair diffuser can flow the air and spread over a large area. Thus it does not disturb the hair wave or the curls from your style. Also, it does not cause frizz to your hair.

If you want your hair straight most of the time, then keep it straight and take only a compact sized hair straightener while on traveling. But if you like to style your curls, avoid taking hair straightener or flat iron. Take only a compact travel curling iron with a travel-friendly diffuser. You can replace the diffuser with a good quality traveler Microfiber Hair Towel.

For travel hairbrush, we would like to suggest HerStyler De-Tangle Brush and Mason Pearson Pocket Bristle Brush. The 2nd one cost a little high bit it will be worth if you are searching for a compact, lightweight and high-quality brush for your curly hair.

The last but not least, you can also use GlamWaves’s Roller Head Band to make loose curls very easily. Before going to bed, just wrap your soggy hair in it and in the morning you will get beautiful curl styles on your hair with this soft hairband.

In this blog, we have suggested some dual voltage supported travel hot rollers to style your hair from straight to curl.

6. Supporting Accessories

Along with the hair styling tools for your curly hair, you need a travel adapter or voltage converter to power up your hair tools. There are different powering sources and sockets in different places. For that, you may have to carry a travel converter and extra sockets with you. As a traveler, you should know about the power outlets and voltages of the place or country you are planning to visit. So, it is wise to take an international travel adapter and voltage converter with the hair tools you are carrying.

However, in short, we are telling you to take/buy OREI MATE M8+ Travel Companion Plug Adapter or Bonazza All in ONE World Travel Plug Power. These two are the best travel adapter you can find in the market right now.

A Note: You will need a travel converter or a voltage converter only when your hair tools do not support dual voltage. But if you have the latest model of your styling tools that support dual voltage, just an international travel adapter will work in most places in the world.

Finally, you can check this Travel-friendly organizer bag to keep all the hair care products and accessories in one bag while traveling.

7. A Method You Can Follow

Here we have discussed a popular method with that you can easily choose your hair care products while traveling your curly hair. The curly girl method is a hair care method or approach for the curly hairs. It is especially for those who travel a lot and have tried a lot of shampoos, conditioners, and hot tools but left with damaged and frizzy hair. In this method, you do not need any styling tools, shampoos or any heavy chemical products. You just need the right conditioner, gel and some procedures to follow. This hair caring method is minimal and hassle-free. This can save you time and money while you are traveling or abroad.

Below, you can learn the procedure of the curly girl method:

First thing, never use your nails while washing your hairs. Gently scrub your entire scalp and simulate it with a conditioner. Wash your curly hair with water and conditioner every 10 days or once a week.

Then, use a smooth, moisturizer conditioner over hair in sections. Distribute water evenly all or the products and rinse out thoroughly. You can again use the leave-in conditioner depending on how much moisturizer your hair needs.

Finally, after washing you should now bend forward and dry by cupping curls in a towel. Do not squeeze or disturb your curls. After that, let your hair open to air-dry. If there will be an emergency, you can use a diffuser to dry out your hairs fast. After drying use CG method recommended gel to create lift and set your hair as you want. Do not the top layer of your hair to avoid frizziness.

So, what are the CG method’s recommended products? Just check in below:

Conditioner

For curly hair, the conditioner you choose should have full of moisturizer and proteins. The CG Method recommended conditioners are:

Gel

While on abroad, most of the gel you will find make you disappointed by their quality. The gels come in the small bottles and those are mostly for men. So, it is better to take a gel for your curly hair with you while traveling. The recommended CG method gels are:

Shampoo

CG method recommends you to use shampoo as a minimum you can. And try to use a gentle shampoo for your curly hair. However, if your hair gets too much dirt and tangles, you can use these shampoos:

Some Essential Tips for Travelling With Curly Hair

There are many struggles you may have to face while traveling with curly hair. So, in the later part below, we are going to discuss the things you should do and you shouldn’t do while traveling with your curly hair.

Curly Hair
  1. Use a Scarf – While on traveling use a scarf to cover up your curls. Because curly hair prone to dry and damage and the ray of sun and different weather from the new place can do lots of harm to your curly hairs. Bonus: Try to use a colorful scarf. That will prevent the sun rays directly affect your curls and it adds style as well.
  2. Take a Silk Pillowcase – The hotel pillowcase always sucks. A smooth fabric silk pillowcase can give you comfort while sleeping and you can get more mileage and your curls get less friction while you are on sleep.
  3. Don’t Forget to Take a Diffuser – In the CG method, it is recommended to let your hair dry naturally. But while at traveling or abroad most of the time you may not have that scope to let your hair dry on natural air as it is time-consuming. So, take a travel-friendly diffuser while traveling with curly hair.
  4. Only Check One Back – It is a money saving hack. Take small sizes bottle or travel it for curly hair which consumes less space in your bag. If you are traveling with friends or with your husband, take all of their hair care products and cosmetics into one shared bag. It saves you money at the airport checkout and gives you relaxed moving.
  5. Never Get Your Hair Cut at Abroad – If you are too cautious about your hair cut and style, you should always get your hair cut from a fixed saloon or specific hair expert. But while you are on abroad, it is not possible. Different countries have different traditions and different hairstyles.

Suppose if you are in the Asian region, most of the saloon cannot deal with your curly hair as they are used to cut and style straight hairs. Besides, they take more money from foreigners also. So, it is better not to go any hair salon in a different country.

Conclusion

Traveling with curly hair is not a pleasant thing if you cannot take the necessary steps. With the right products and procedure and the method we have discussed above, you can travel without worrying a bit with your curls. That is all for today. If you have any further query do not hesitate to leave us a comment below.

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