Offshoot thread from the Fantastic Skincare threads to document the trials and tribulations in order to make sense and science of the curly girl method. We don't necessarily follow it to the letter and are even critical of it in places. Nor are we especially knowledgeable at this point but we're learning as we go. Feel free to join in as we attempt to approach this with an interest in ingredients and try to not buy everything that promises us magical things…
Useful blogs:
Curly Cailín on the golden triangle of healthy hair
Science-y Hair Blog
The Mestiza Muse
The Beauty Brains (podcast/blog)
Understanding ingredients:
Commonly found ingredients in haircare
Useful information about cosmetic chemistry
Porosity:
Removing build up:
Shampoos which remove product build up
Cationic compounds (of interest to those with buildup prone and/or fine hair):
Cationic compounds found in cosmetics
Polyquats (of interest to those with buildup prone and/or fine hair):
Polyquat buildup
To polyquats or not
Silicones, polyquats and soap
Another cosmetic ingredient to be afraid of?
Protein/Moisture balance:
(video)
Extract and proteins in CGM, a biochemist explains
(video)
Hygral Fatigue
SPF protection of your hair:
UV protectant ingredients
UV damage of hair (pubmed)
Summers sun and your hair
Rice water rinses:
Rice Water Rinse
Elasticity:
Is it too late to improve your elasticity
Managing elasticity and porosity in hair
Hard and soft water:
(video)
Hard water and your hair
Olaplex:
How does Olaplex hair treatment work
Frizz:
Hair frizz science
What's your frizz type
How to tame your hair based on frizz type
Flash Drying:
Flash Drying
Next level nerdery:
Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair (cosmetic chemists' textbook)