Heard good things about flaxseed gel but aren’t sure how to apply it?
Maybe you’re wondering how long to leave it in or how often you can use it on your curly locks?
Or perhaps you have more than your fair share of frizz. (what curly girl doesn’t?) Does this gel help with that?
Admittedly it isn’t the same as commercial products. But is that a better kind of different or not so much?
Let’s see if we can’t help with your concerns. Of course if you need help making flaxseed gel, we tell you everything you need to know about that too. But I digress.
Here’s what we’re going to cover in this quick hitting article covering how to get the most out of flaxseed gel.
Quick Section Navigation
- VIDEO: How To Apply Flaxseed Gel To Hair
- VIDEO: Can You Refresh Curls With Flaxseed Gel?
- VIDEO: Does This Gel Produce a Cast?
- Can Flaxseed Gel Be Used On Dry Hair?
- Can You Leave Flaxseed Gel In Your Hair Overnight?
- Can You Use Flaxseed Gel Everyday?
How To Apply Flaxseed Gel To Hair
APPLY OTHER STYLING PRODUCTS
Like her you may need to play around with which styling products to use BEFORE applying the flaxseed gel. In this case she only uses a leave in first. (It’s Kinky Curly Knot Today.) Primarily to get rid of any tangles.
APPLY THE GEL
Grab some. Rub it between your palms. And apply like you would any other gel product to soaking wet hair. You want to make sure all your curls are getting some gel love.
You may find it best to do in the shower because things can get a little messy since this works best on dripping wet hair.
WARNING: It literally feels like you’re putting raw eggs in your hair.
In fact you may find it’s just not going to distribute well without lots of water since slick isn’t a strong suit of this natural gel. Hence why it’s best to do this in the shower.
SCRUNCH
Then once worked into your hair you’ll want to scrunch it like you would with any other gel. All to help encourage your curl pattern to take shape.
SCRUNCH THE CRUNCH
After it dries you may find you need to scrunch the crunch to get to the amount of fluff you want in your curls.
Some feel it takes a little bit more finesse to apply than store bought gels. But I feel it’s worth the time spent coming down the learning curve.
Here’s another take on application. Note the similarities. And the differences.
She does two things differently with her wavy hair.
SECTION
She finds that to get a thorough application she likes to section her hair.
FINGER CURL
To help with clump formation she twists smallish sections of gelled hair. Then she scrunches the gel deep into her hair. She observed it may take more scrunching than with a purchased gel.
In the comments of this video I saw three or four more bits of sound advice from one generous soul, Katrinator89, that I felt were worth sharing.
First, be generous with the gel when applying it. Yes it may feel slimy. That’s okay. It’s supposed to.
Scrunch it in like you would any other product.
HACK: See if scrunching it in with a cotton t-shirt doesn’t work to encourage your hair to curl. It will also absorb both excess moisture and gel. But not enough to be affect the effectiveness of the gel – if you know what I mean.
That t-shirt hack is not one I’ve seen anyone suggest when scrunching.
Final tip? You may want to avoid gel near your roots. Which isn’t all that different from when you use commercial products, is it?
Of course when it comes to drying diffusing is a way to speed things up. Start by diffusing until your mane is at least half dry. Then air dry the rest of the way and see how that goes. Adjust how long you diffuse until you get the desired results.
Now if you don’t know the ins and outs of diffusing your curls then you’ll want to check out our take on diffusing tips and tricks.
Anyway, some application routine like these should give you beautifully defined, loose and lovely curls!
Can You Refresh Curls With Flaxseed Gel?
Now don’t think just because this is a natural approach you can’t refresh your flaxseed gelled locks.
Actually you can. And bring your waves or curls back to life plumping them up like you would with any off the shelf product after spritzing with water.
Some just lightly add a little more flax seed gel.
Some use a liberal amount.
Others dilute the gel first then spritz that from a spray bottle.
The point is this will reactivate and bring your next day curls back at least somewhat for many if not most. It won’t be gross. But it may take some experimenting to find out what does the trick with your hair.
You should get the idea from this quick clip.
Even with speeded up playback, I didn’t feel you needed to watch over two minutes of gel application and scrunching followed by 45 seconds of diffusing. Basically the approach is …
- Dampen with rice water
- Section
- Apply ample amounts of flaxseed gel
- Scrunch like crazy
- Finger curl
- Diffuse
Bottom line. Not that different from the typical refreshing curls routine.
Of course if refreshing isn’t in your styling regimen a step by step guide we wrote covering refreshing curly hair can bring you up to speed fast!
Does This Gel Produce a Cast?
Good question.
Picking up where we left off … let’s quickly talk cast. Sharing a few tips and what to expects.
Typically flaxseed gel has a softer cast than its store bought cousins. That said the general rule of thumb is the thicker the consistency of your flaxseed gel the harder the cast.
Like commercial products you’ll likely get a better one if you apply the gel to hair that is soaking wet. Such as it is when you have just finished conditioning and haven’t yet stepped out of the shower.
That is the best time to give clumping and definition a hand.
If you shampoo at night and don’t want to risk putting your waves or curls at risk overnight, you might wait until the morning
Finally some report they get curls that are nicely defined and super soft WITHOUT having to scrunch out any cast at all. Is that crazy or what?
Can Flaxseed Gel Be Used On Dry Hair?
It can. But typically you do not use flaxseed gel on dry hair. Just like any commercial gel it’s best on soaking wet hair as it is activated by water.
Plus that’s likely not your best move since it doesn’t spread easily into your tresses to begin with. Which will be made that much harder on hair that is dry.
Can You Leave Flaxseed Gel In Your Hair Overnight?
You can. Then just break up any cast in the morning.
But I’d think unless you’re totally rushed in the morning for best results it would be better to apply it in the morning. Then at least diffuse partially dry and the let air dry the rest of the way.
Then next day just refresh your curls.
Otherwise you’ve got the whole sleeping-with-curls thing to deal with. Know what I mean?
Can You Use Flaxseed Gel Everyday?
Why not? It’s totally natural. No undesirable ingredients.
Does Flaxseed Gel Help With Frizz?
Many claim it does. It you noticed every one of the videos mentioned how little frizz they had.
As you know frizz results from parched strands. This gel quenches their thirst. At the least that means less frizz.
But many tout no real frizz to speak of. Naturally YMMV. But why not give this goop a try to see what it can for your frizzy curls?
For more curly hair ideas head over to my Pinterest board for curls. It shows all sorts of ideas. Pin what you want for later when your curls aren’t cooperating.
I loved this article, so helpfull. Thank you.