How To Stretch Your Curls & Avoid Shrinkage! Curly Hair Styling Tips! | BiancaReneeToday

Hey curlfriends, I'm Bianca Renne and you're watching Bianca Renne Today. And today we're going to talk about one of the most common curly hair struggles, which is shrinkage. We have longer hair than most people think. They would just never know because our curls spring up and make it look way shorter than it actually is. So I'm going to show you some tips to make your hair look longer and hold that elongated look all by how you style your hair. How you style your hair is the main game changer between your hair looking like it's up here versus down to here. I may be able to give you an extra couple inches, which will make it look much longer. Starting off on freshly washed hair, I actually finger detangled this side and I used a brush on this side and all I used was a co-wash today. This is the Twist by Ouidad Big Rich and Dreamy Ultra Hydrating Co-Wash. This portion of today's video is sponsored by Twist, so thank you so much for sponsoring this video. But this is one of my favorite co-washes. I actually only like two co-washes in the world, but this one is the most affordable one. This is a 16 fluid ounce bottle and it's only like $10, so you definitely get your money's worth. It has a great slip and smells amazing. Now I'm going to show you how I can use pretty much the same exact stylers and get two different results depending on how I style my hair. So I'm going to start off with the Curl Goals Moisture Lock Leave-In Conditioner. It's supposed to detangle, soften, shape your hair. This has three little droplets on it, which is the different indicators that Twist puts on their products to show you how much moisture you're going to get. And this product is sulfate, paraben, and silicone free. So I'm going to spritz this on to get my hair some extra moisture. Ooh, I like the smell of this one too. I'm going to do a little split test today. This is going to be my elongated side and this is going to be my shrunken up side. So instead of just finger detangling like I normally do, I'm going to use a brush on this side because when I use a brush, I get way more definition, but with more definition comes more shrinkage. So I'm going to use this Felicia Leatherwood Detangler Brush. I don't think I've showed this on my channel before. It's not my favorite to detangle to be honest. It kind of reminds me of the Deadman Brush, but I would use it more for like after I detangle and for definition. I've got the leave-in on that side, I'm going to scrunch up. When you're scrunching up all the time, you're bringing your curls up. Scrunch, scrunch, giving your bigger chunks of curls. Now this side, I'm going to apply some more product and I'm just going to use my finger and I'm going to stretch it down. All right, so I'm smoothing this one down. All about the stretch. I want to stretch my hair as much as possible. You could already see a difference. So this side I scrunched, scrunched it up. This side, I just finger detangled. There we have that. Now I'm going to add the Boss Bounce Light as Air Buildable Styling Cream. This is supposed to shape, support, and define your curls. Now the red bottles by Twist are the ultimate moisture. So if you have very, very dry hair, you're going to want to go for the red bottles because that has one, two, three, four, five little water droplets here at the bottom. So on the side where I'm probably going to have more shrinkage, I'm going to apply more product. When you add a cream styler, oh, this is thick. Okay. If you use thick products on fine or low porosity hair, it could weigh down your hair. But I'm going to use a little bit of this because I noticed when I use a cream styler, I tend to get more shrinkage because with cream comes moisture. Moisture means less frizz. Cream stylers often don't have a hold. They're just to make your curls nice, soft, and define. But I'm going to show you today how important using a gel is to hold your curls in a more elongated state. So I'm going to add this in here and then actually stop after the cream. See, I'm so used to using my hands. Okay. Let me use my brush on this side like I'm supposed to. If I use a brush, I will get bigger chunks of curls. If I do in sections, more definition, comes more shrinkage, and then I'm going to scrunch it back up. There's that side. If I had to guess, I would assume that this side is probably going to look more juicier, maybe a little bit more moisturized, but definitely shorter. Now on this side, I'm just going to use a little finger dollop because when I use less product, I also seem to get more elongation and I'm only going to really focus it on my ends. So let's barely put it to the top since we already got that moisture from the leave-in. And that is because I have low porosity fine hair. You probably could use more if you have high porosity or very thick hair. Once again, bringing everything down and doing barely any scrunching, just like that. Let's see how we're looking. This side, still winning in the elongation department. We are past the boob here. Not so much there. Now I'm going to get the gel. I'm not going to apply a gel on this side because I want you to see how a cream styler on its own does. But if you want elongation, do not be afraid of gel. So many of you are afraid to use a gel because you don't like that crunchy feeling. You can get a soft hold gel. This one, the Weather Up Gel, is a soft hold. Still frizz-friding, long-lasting, it says no crunch, and it only has one little droplet for moisture because that's not the main reason for a gel. You shouldn't look for moisture in gel, any gel. So I'm going to apply a lot of gel on this side. Ooh, this one smells the best, I think, out of the Twist products. And I'm going to smooth this down. Everything is down. Down and away from the scalp, but down. And I'm not going to use a brush. That's that side. I'm on the top, and here is this side. You could already tell before you even dry your hair how it's going to look when you just style. This is the brush side. Look at my curls. They're much thicker when I use a brush. Look at this beautiful curl. Ooh, juicy. That's definitely going to shrink up. And this one, we're going to leave like this. So now I'm going to let this air dry for just a little bit, then I'm going to come back and show you how to diffuse to make your hair look longer. And I'm back. I waited maybe 30 minutes, but I'm going to start diffusing now. As you can see, this side is still a little bit shorter. I'm going to grab my diffuser. On the shrinkage side, I'm going to be diffusing up like this. It's going to give it even more definition. Where this side, I'm going to diffuse down and even pull it to keep that elongation. Let me show you. Wow. I haven't done this in a long time because I know what happens, but wow. You guys would have thought that I cut my hair. I literally could April Fool's you guys and say, yeah, I did another big chop. Shoulder length? Shoulder length shrinkage. That's wild. And that's all about how you style and diffuse your hair. If you diffuse up and shrink it up, it's going to shrink up. I also have some bigger clumps because of the brush. So now I have to like, I could spread this out and make more volume. But if you get those bigger, juicier, very moisturized and defined curls, it's going to look a lot shorter. I'm shocked. Now let me do this side and show you how you should do it if you want to elongate it. Once again, everything's going to be in a downward motion. So we're kind of just trying to dry our hair, but not really shrink it up. So I do have a little bit of a cast forming from that gel. And now let's start from the roots and then work our way down. Do you see what I see? Wow. It looks like I have way more hair in general on this side. It's fuller and longer. Wow. So as you can see, I basically used the same exact products. This side I added a gel. I probably could have got similar results from even just using a cream, finger detangling, not using a brush, stretching it down, diffusing down. But I always will get the most elongation when I add a gel on top because you need that hold to keep it stretched. How many more inches am I getting here? At least like four, maybe five more inches just from different styling techniques. Now this side, the curls are still popping. I mean, look, everyone's just very bunched together. Everyone's very moisturized. Look at these cute little ringlets. Like you can't beat this type of definition, but even if I try to take it out a little bit, it's just going to be so much shorter. If you enjoyed these elongation tips, make sure to give me a thumbs up and subscribe. I give you guys curly hair tips every Sunday. You also can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at MsBiancaRenee. And if you try any of these tips, please tag me on Instagram so I can see your new elongated look. If you haven't tried Twist products yet, you're truly missing out. If you want to see a full review on the full line, I do have another Twist dedicated videos. Make sure you guys watch that one. I am loving these products. You guys told me you wanted more drugstore affordable products. I got you big jumbo bottles for a very affordable price. So if you want to get any of these products, make sure to use my link in the description box. I do get a little bit of a commission if you use my link, so thanks for helping me out. And don't forget to subscribe. Hit that little bell so you're notified as soon as I post a new video. And I will see you guys next week. Thanks for watching Bianca Renee Today.