Curls in winter
— dry air, heating, wool

We think of summer as the enemy of curls. It is winter that dries them out most. The day the heating comes back on, the air indoors becomes drier than a beach in August, and the textured fibre, which already holds water poorly, loses it hour after hour with nothing to replace it. Add the wool of beanies and scarves, showers that run too hot and the constant passage from cold to warm, and January curls are dull, static and brittle — and no product is to blame.

This article closes the cycle of seasons we opened with our pieces on summer and after-sun repair. It explains why winter air empties the fibre, what wool really does to it, and then pauses on three ingredients you read on our labels without necessarily knowing what they do: Glycerin, Erythritol and Aloe Vera — the humectants, whose season is precisely winter.

Why winter air drains the fibre

Cold air holds very little water. When it enters a flat and a radiator brings it up to twenty degrees, it does not gain a drop: it simply becomes able to absorb far more, and its relative humidity collapses — often below 30 %, where a humid summer's air exceeds 60 %. Air that dry behaves like a sponge. It takes water wherever it finds it: from the skin, from the lips, and from the hair.

On straight hair, the closed cuticle and the sebum coating the length slow that loss. On a curl, whose scales open at every bend and whose ends never receive sebum, nothing holds it back. Water leaves the fibre for the dry air, the keratin stiffens, and the curl loses exactly what made it supple — we described this mechanism in our article on the moisture-protein balance.

Then there is movement. Ten times a day, the fibre goes from the icy air of the street to the overheated air of an office or a train. At each passage it contracts, then expands. A curl that is already dry copes badly with these back-and-forths: that is where ends split.

In summer, exposure damages the curl. In winter, the air itself does — indoors more than out.

Wool, the soft enemy

Beanies, scarves, roll-necks, lined hoods: everything that keeps you warm in winter rubs against the hair, and nearly all of it is wool or acrylic. For the curl, it is the problem of the cotton pillow carried outdoors, with two aggravations.

The first is static. Dry air no longer conducts charge; the friction of wool or synthetics against keratin builds it up. Hairs repel one another, stand up, escape every style — that halo of frizz that appears when you pull off a hat. It is not a sign of dryness in itself, but it only appears on a dry fibre: well-hydrated hair conducts charge and does not go static.

The second is absorption. Wool is one of the most hygroscopic fibres there is. A scarf resting eight hours on the lengths draws out the water and the leave-in applied in the morning, exactly as a cotton pillowcase does at night.

The remedies are simple. A satin-lined beanie, ever easier to find, or a satin scarf tied under an ordinary hat, removes the direct friction. Lengths tucked inside the coat, or tied in a low bun or a loose braid, do not touch the collar. And the hat comes off before entering a heated place, so the fibre does not sweat under the wool before going back out into the cold.

The shower, the comfort trap

When it is cold, scalding water is a temptation. It is the worst moment to give in. Very hot water dilates the cuticle, dissolves what little hydrolipidic film remains, and leaves the fibre open just as it is about to meet the driest air of the year. Wash with lukewarm water, and finish every rinse — shampoo or mask — with a cool blast that closes the scales over the water and the treatment.

Space out the washes, too. Every shampoo, however gentle, removes water; in winter the fibre takes longer to recover it. One wash every seven to ten days with Hydra Curl is enough for most curls, the scalp producing less sebum in cold weather.

Humectants, and the real question about glycerin

A humectant is a molecule that attracts water and holds on to it. In a hair product, its role is to bring water back into the fibre and keep it there. On our three labels, three humectants appear among the first ingredients of Hydra Curl and Condi Curl: vegetable Glycerin, Erythritol and Aloe Vera juice.

A debate runs through the textured-hair community every winter: since a humectant draws water from the air, what does it do when the air has none left? The fear is that it reverses the current and pulls water out of the hair. The reasoning is right in principle and wrong in practice. It describes the case of pure, highly concentrated glycerin applied on its own to dry hair in very dry air. That is not how a product is formulated. In Hydra Curl and Condi Curl, the humectant is dissolved in a base that is itself mostly water — that water is what it brings and holds — and it is immediately sealed by lipids: Olive and Jojoba Oils in the shampoo, Shea Butter and coconut triglyceride in the leave-in. Water goes in, and the lipid film keeps it from coming back out. In winter the humectant is not the problem: it is the solution, provided it comes accompanied.

Each of the three has its nuance. Glycerin is the reference humectant, the most effective at attracting and fixing water; at high doses it can feel tacky, which is why it is dosed with restraint. Erythritol belongs to the same chemical family, the polyols, but it is lighter and drier to the touch: it hydrates without weighing down or sticking, which makes it the ideal complement to glycerin on a fine curl. Aloe Vera, finally, is more than 95 % water, loaded with polysaccharides that form a supple film on the fibre and hold moisture at the surface. Together the three cover the inside of the fibre, its surface, and how long it lasts.

The winter routine, in practice

Washing, every seven to ten days. Hydra Curl in lukewarm water, massaging the scalp with the fingertips, without rubbing the lengths. Its gentle surfactants remove what they should; its Glycerin, Erythritol and Aloe begin hydrating before the treatment even starts.

The mask, at every wash. Nutri Curl on towel-dried hair, fifteen minutes under a warm towel — a step winter makes pleasant. Heat opens the cuticle and lets Avocado, Kokum and Baobab in where the fibre has given up its water; Panthenol softens it again. Cool rinse to close.

The leave-in, every day. Condi Curl on damp hair after washing, then every morning on lightly misted lengths, with extra attention to the ends. In winter you can double the usual dose on the last ten centimetres, where the fibre is oldest and most exposed.

Never wet outdoors. This is the most important rule of the season. In hard cold, the water held in a still-damp fibre freezes, and a frozen curl snaps at the first rub. Wash in the evening, or dry with a diffuser on warm air before going out: the hairdryer we avoid the rest of the year becomes, in winter, a tool of protection.

In the evening, undo the day. The hair has rubbed on a collar, breathed dry air, crossed ten changes of temperature. Before bed, a small amount of Condi Curl on the ends, a satin bonnet, and the fibre recovers overnight what the day took from it — all of it is in our article on curls at night.

And the air at home

The last lever is not a product. A bowl of water on a radiator, laundry drying in the bedroom or a humidifier raise a room's humidity by a few points, and those few points change a curl's night — and the skin of the face. Houseplants help too. What holds for chapped lips holds for hair: in winter, the air is the treatment we forget.

If, despite all this, curls are still rough in February, do the elasticity test. A strand that snaps instead of stretching lacks water, not protein: that is the case for almost all winter hair, and daily hydration, not a shock treatment, is what brings it back.