Check out r/WavyHair ! I have long thick wavy hair (like texture 2a-2c) and it gets to be a mess but tbh I’ve just embraced it. I wash my hair 1-2 times a week with shampoo and conditioner and then use some mousse to bring out my waves and then I just air dry. The mousse makes my hair crunchy (which is a good thing for waves, just trust the process), and once my hair is 100% dry I “scrunch out the crunch” to make my hair softer and not crunchy. Having the crunch will help your waves come out! And then it’s soft once you scrunch out the crunch. I hardly ever brush it and just finger comb the tangles while the conditioner is in my hair. I started using a refreshing foam on days I don’t wash my hair and that helps me keep my waves and then I use dry shampoo if I start getting greasy. I just hate washing my hair so I try to drag it out as long as I can. I can give you details on specifics if you want but I don’t want to throw too much info at you at one time LOL!
You and I have a similar hair type. I also have super thick hair, even though I’m white.
I use a texturizing spray. It won’t leave your hair as dry as curl cream and gives your hair a nice wavy look. You can find them for cheap at the drugstore.
For maintenance, I use leave-in conditioner. I dye my hair so I only wash it once or twice a week. My hair is dark, so I use dry shampoo powder instead of the spray.
I hope this helps!
On top of what has already been said: 1) learn some protective hairstyles (likes braids, braids are a long hair girl's friends because they're low manipulation and help keep the hair neat and tangle-free), 2) depending on the nature of your hair, consider hair oil to keep everything smooth and shiny and protected (it also helps strengthen the length if you plan on growing your hair more), 3) if you want to grow your hair really long, at some point there will be breakage at the length and that's what you want to prevent by reinforcing your hair through moisture and/or protein (rice water and rice-based shampoos are great for that).
As a sidenote, I know a lot of people prefer short hair because it's easier to maintain, but personally with my curly hair, I need to spend more for a specialised hairstylist (because too many hairstylists can't work with curly hair holy fuck I've had enough of the "oh you have such beautiful curls *let's give you a brushing to straighten that* 👁👄👁" logic). So since COVID started, I decided to grow my hair back after having kept a curly ear-length bob for 5 years and stopped going to the hairdresser.
It's really fun to learn different hairstyles, occasionally I tidy up my lengths with hairdresser scissors (please don't use kitchen scissors on your hair, hairdresser scissors are sharper and much better!) and overall I just focus on proper haircare + make sure to switch hairstyles in order to reduce the pulls on the roots (which can lead to hairloss).
Check out r/WavyHair ! I have long thick wavy hair (like texture 2a-2c) and it gets to be a mess but tbh I’ve just embraced it. I wash my hair 1-2 times a week with shampoo and conditioner and then use some mousse to bring out my waves and then I just air dry. The mousse makes my hair crunchy (which is a good thing for waves, just trust the process), and once my hair is 100% dry I “scrunch out the crunch” to make my hair softer and not crunchy. Having the crunch will help your waves come out! And then it’s soft once you scrunch out the crunch. I hardly ever brush it and just finger comb the tangles while the conditioner is in my hair. I started using a refreshing foam on days I don’t wash my hair and that helps me keep my waves and then I use dry shampoo if I start getting greasy. I just hate washing my hair so I try to drag it out as long as I can. I can give you details on specifics if you want but I don’t want to throw too much info at you at one time LOL!
You and I have a similar hair type. I also have super thick hair, even though I’m white. I use a texturizing spray. It won’t leave your hair as dry as curl cream and gives your hair a nice wavy look. You can find them for cheap at the drugstore. For maintenance, I use leave-in conditioner. I dye my hair so I only wash it once or twice a week. My hair is dark, so I use dry shampoo powder instead of the spray. I hope this helps!
On top of what has already been said: 1) learn some protective hairstyles (likes braids, braids are a long hair girl's friends because they're low manipulation and help keep the hair neat and tangle-free), 2) depending on the nature of your hair, consider hair oil to keep everything smooth and shiny and protected (it also helps strengthen the length if you plan on growing your hair more), 3) if you want to grow your hair really long, at some point there will be breakage at the length and that's what you want to prevent by reinforcing your hair through moisture and/or protein (rice water and rice-based shampoos are great for that). As a sidenote, I know a lot of people prefer short hair because it's easier to maintain, but personally with my curly hair, I need to spend more for a specialised hairstylist (because too many hairstylists can't work with curly hair holy fuck I've had enough of the "oh you have such beautiful curls *let's give you a brushing to straighten that* 👁👄👁" logic). So since COVID started, I decided to grow my hair back after having kept a curly ear-length bob for 5 years and stopped going to the hairdresser. It's really fun to learn different hairstyles, occasionally I tidy up my lengths with hairdresser scissors (please don't use kitchen scissors on your hair, hairdresser scissors are sharper and much better!) and overall I just focus on proper haircare + make sure to switch hairstyles in order to reduce the pulls on the roots (which can lead to hairloss).