How Your Curly Hair Changes With Age and What You Can Do About It

If you have naturally curly hair, you’re probably all too familiar with the love-hate relationship between you and your hair. It can be a struggle that those with straight hair just don’t understand. But whether you’ve been straightening your hair for the last 30 years or not, it’s never too late to embrace your curls.

As you age, your curls can loosen, change their shape, or even form new curl patterns due to hormonal and environmental factors. Or maybe you’re experiencing curly hair for the first time in your life as your aging locks change the shape of your hair follicles. No matter the reason, the transition to your new hair shape or texture can feel daunting. Especially if your aging curly hair is also starting to gray because that can affect your hair’s texture as well.

If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry—Better Not Younger is here to help you fall in love with your curls again.

What Happens to Aging Curly Hair

First, it’s important to address the elephant in the room: hormones fluctuate.

They fluctuate day to day and especially as you age. These hormonal changes actually alter the state and texture of your hair. If you noticed your hair, or perhaps a friend’s hair, change structure during pregnancy, that was because of hormones. As your hormones fluctuate, your body can change the shape of your hair follicles, which are responsible for your curl shape and pattern.

Your hair might go from straight to curly, the other way around, or take shape somewhere in between. It probably happened to you during puberty, too, although no one would blame you if you blocked those awkward memories out. The point is that any big hormonal changes or fluctuations, from puberty to menopause, can and probably will alter your natural hair.

Curl patterns can also change as curly hair grows. The shorter your hair, the more likely it is to form a tighter coil and curl more dramatically than longer curly hair. Gravity is responsible for that—​​gravity also has an easier time of loosening curls the weaker they are, which is why products that help to strengthen curls are so important.

And when you take into account all the other ways hair naturally changes with age, when it comes to aging curly hair, the change in your hair texture and shape may be a little more dramatic.

In order to combat this change, you want to keep your hair follicles and scalp as moisturized as possible, so that you can keep the bounce in your aging curly hair. Regular trims, and shorter haircuts in general, can help bring some life back to your curls and take a little of the weight off your shoulders. Pun intended.

So what exactly are those ingredients you should be applying to your beautiful curly hair?

The Best Curly Hair Products and Ingredients for Your Locks

When it comes to choosing the best curly hair products for you, a lot of it can come down to trial and error. This is because everyone’s hair has individual needs, and reacts to various products differently. That being said, we’ll do our best to give you a head start on the beneficial ingredients you should be looking for, as well as some great products to get you started.

Better Not Younger’s Curly Hair Collection was designed to become a standard part of every curly girl’s hair routine. It's a collection that features a brand-new Bounce Back Super Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner for Curly Hair as well as a new License to Curl: Curl Revival Boost Spray!

With B vitamins, a curl-reviving plant butter and oil blend, and fatty-acid-rich argan oil, our Bounce Back Super Moisturizing Shampoo is designed to gently cleanse and nourish your fragile curls while removing excess oil and product buildup. All without drying out your aging curly hair, especially the ends. It’s also designed to help curls keep their bounce and stay fresher longer between washes.

Our Bounce Back Super Moisturizing Conditioner, on the other hand, is designed with the same plant butter and oil blend as well as the moisturizing properties of aloe vera and a protein-rich blend of rice, spirulina, and kelp. It not only detangles and strengthens for greater curl definition and bounce but also keeps moisture locked into porous, curly hair longer for softer, smoother curls.

While our shampoo and conditioner are great, the real star of the show might be our License to Curl: Curl Revival Boost Spray, which is the first curl-reactivating spray developed specifically for women over 40.

Formulated with Jamaican black castor oil, baobab extract, and honey, our revitalizing spray is basically a curl-reactivating powerhouse product! Designed with ingredients to refresh and reshape aging curly hair, our spray will decrease frizz and help curls stay resilient, defined, and fresher between washes.

Dry Curly Hair

Unfortunately, everyone experiences dry hair at some point in their lives, either because their hair refuses to retain moisture, or because their scalp isn’t producing enough oils to keep their hair moisturized. It’s perfectly natural for your scalp to produce fewer oils as you age, however, your dry hair could also be due to over-washing or other environmental factors.

As your scalp produces less oil, your hair texture can change so that it feels coarser than before. If this is the case, then it’s more important than ever to focus on hydrating your dry, curly hair every step of the way.

When it comes to moisture retention, our curl-reviving plant butter and oil blend is specifically designed to hydrate and nourish your dry curly hair. With a combination of Amazonian Cupuacu and Southeast Asian Kokum butter and Coconut, Buriti, and Abyssinian oils, our 3-step curly hair regimen strives to make sure your curls remain strong and moisturized so you can enjoy up to 24 hours of definition and frizz control.

Piggybacking off of our shampoo, in addition to our curl-reviving plant butter and oil blend, our brand-new conditioner contains an amino acid, iron, and protein blend to help support fuller- and stronger-looking hair and curls.

Your dry curly hair will soon be a thing of the past thanks to the moisture-retaining properties of Jamaican black castor oil, baobab extract, and honey—all of which we’ve included in our revival spray to attract, retain, and seal moisture into your cuticles. Designed to be used straight out of the shower or as a next-day refresher, our spray also helps boost and reactivate curls.

 Thin Curly Hair

When it comes to thinning hair, curly girls get a leg up on everyone else. This is because thinning is usually less noticeable with curly hair vs. straight hair since the voluminous texture can hide the thinning parts. That is, as long as you use the right nutrient-rich and moisturizing products.

Enter B vitamins. Vitamin B3, Niacin, and B7, Biotin, are both essential for not only supporting your hair health and the condition of your scalp, but they can actually help strengthen and add volume to your aging curly hair.

Taking the health of your hair into consideration when choosing the right products and stylers, and the ingredients contained within them, is tremendously important. Because the thinner and weaker your aging curly hair is, the less likely it is actually to curl. However, it’s never too late to bring life back to your beautiful curls.

And while you work on revitalizing your curls, always remember to protect your thin curly hair when you’re outside in the elements by wearing a hat or scarf and washing your hair less frequently during the week.

Tell Us: Do you have a story about your aging curly hair that you want to share? Share in the comments below!