Wave Nouveau

Difficult African hair — Photo: Zdenka Darula/Shutterstock

Q: I would like to know why my wave nouveau will not curl sometimes. It comes out straight.

A: There could be a number of things that could be the problem. Medications, styling product residue, even certain hair color formulas can affect the absorption of the chemical by the hair.

That being said, it could also be a simple matter of differences in the way the hair was wrapped during the curling phase of the multi-process service. Finally, it could be a miss-applied neutralizer that fails to lock the curl in place.

I can't really make a more educated guess about the situation given that I have no way to physically examine your hair and gauge the condition (and therefore the likely results) of you hair with this process.

If you do the wave nouveau at home yourself, then it's always important to follow the specific instructions to the letter. If you have it done in a salon, question your stylist about the results you get when they aren't to your satisfaction.

Based on the fact that you state the hair will not curl "sometimes" (implying that it has failed to curl, but curled on subsequent applications) it indicates that the hair's condition is not in question, insofar as the hair isn't so damaged as to be unable to sustain a curl.

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See also:

My curls didn't take. Is my hair over-processed?

The perm processing time has not been respected and now my hair won't curl.