To think the curly hair method is a con?

Then you're lucky! If I did that, I'd look like I'd been electrocuted!

I'm wavy rather than curly and found that, while I could get good results eventually
A) it took longer than straightening to get my hair to look decent and
B) they lasted a day because my hair is too fine for refresh days to work

So in the end I gave it up as a bad job and have gone back to straightening it. I think I'd somehow made myself believe it was the easier version of getting half decent hair, but actually it was just as much work, but different.

Very simple after you've covered your bathroom waving your head around in a bowl plopping this and plopping that

I think it works amazingly for some people, I am in a facebook group where people show off their results.

I tried it for about a year and it definitely improved my hair for a while, but I started it in the hope it would be a way to help my natural hair look it's best with less effort and I actually found it took much longer than blow-drying & straightening/curling etc. So I gave up.

I have a loose wave so can’t get heavy stuff:

faith in nature shampoo
hair food papaya for conditioner and leave in conditioner
shock waves mousse (curl creams don’t work for me)
argan oil gel

How long did you try curly girl for?? It took me months to find the right combo of different products and mine is now a million times better than it used to be.

The CG method didn't suit my hair. Its wavy/curly and different all over, one side isnt as curly and I sleep on that side. In my experience wavy/curly hair needs water to hydrate, I always squeeze and scrunch my conditioner into my hair after combing through, then rinse. It also works to dunk your hair in a bowl and get it sopping wet. Curl cream is often too heavy for me as is leave in conditioner. I love Umberto Gianni products they work well for me, I also like Curlsmith souffle. The Laifen tech dryer has been the only one that dries my hair and doesn't cause frizz or blow the waves out. I'm afraid its all trial and error and a big pain in the arse. It would help if you told us what type of curls you have. Xx

What curl type do you have? There's so much to try and know with curly hair.
Have you ever had a curly cut or went to a curly hair dresser? Nuala moray and the curl clinic on Instagram is amazing.

It's very individual to your hair IME. CGM worked well for me initially as my hair was so dry after 30 years of sulfate use. Over time, I needed to clarify my hair. I find a low poo shampoo works best for me - I use Noughty's frizz magic or Lush's tofu. My hair is fine, low porosity and wavy so it doesn't need weighing down with heavy butters etc and gets build up easily. I have to wash it twice a week.

I find gel takes ages to dry, even with a diffuser. I use inecto curl spray from Savers and mousse (john frieda) for hold. Works for me! ⁸

I'm a lazy low standard curly girl.

Wash and condition 2x per week with low/no sulphate and silicone products.

Squeeze out excess water.

Use hands to comb through a squidge of curl activator and a bigger squidge of gel.

Go out with wet hair, sometime in the next 24 hours it will dry.
Damp down and wear half up the next day if necessary.
Damp down and tie up fully the next day if necessary.

Repeat.

I get lots of compliments. When the weather is kind it looks gorgeous for days. When its damp I have a permanent halo of frizz.

But I cant blow dry without a full hours long barrel brush routine to make it go all Kate Middleton or else I look like Hagrid. So its a air dry curly routine for me.

I've recently started using MooGoo on my daughter's birds nest -so far so good!

Just don't use shampoo

I leave my conditioner in

If I use shampoo it goes wispy soft and fly away, if I don't it doesn't. I use one other product and scrunch dry. Don't need to do CG method

And you can’t brush your hair when it’s curly, and there’s nothing better than brushing your hair on an evening to get rid of loose hairs and the environmental of the day out of it.

If you have a massive Afro, I’m really surprised it looks bad when you straighten it, which makes it smoother and sleeker. Why don’t you put waves in with the straightener to give it more body if you prefer that? Or curl it under at the bottom with the straighteners? It doesn’t have to be stick straight and lank.

I’ve done curly girl, now I do what suits me, shampoo occasionally, discovered my hair loves soft water sadly not an easy option where I live! Currently using Superdrug Avocado shampoo and conditioner, liked the L’Oréal tubs but have stepped away for a bit as they’re quite heavy I have fine hair which doesn’t like too much product. My go to product has been Cantu curl creme and umberto gianni gel, I end up going back to them. Also like the cantu shampoo. I have to avoid anything that pushes protein as it makes my hair frizz more. Most mornings to refresh I have to soak my hair, some days it behaves some days less so….trial and error, but the curly girl method at its basis is sound although shampoo and conditioners in general are better than when the method was first created (IMO). I find my hair is better now than when I was being militantly CG! 😁

I think what happens to a lot of people is, they don’t realise how long it takes to resurrect your hair from all the damage done by heat and silicones. So they give up before starting to see the results. It takes a hell of a lot of patience.

And it’s important to apply much less leave-in product than you think you should. 5p coin sized portions of curl cream is enough for shoulder length hair.

Lorraine’s book really is life changing. She makes so much sense.

I have wavy hair so looked into the relevant OC products. After some research I came to the conclusion that it’s a huge rip off and a massive faff.

Do you use a hair bonnet to sleep in? I find mine is okay when I wash it but as soon as I sleep the curls go flat.

OP, have you read Lorraine Massey’s book, the Curly Girl Method? If you follow her method religiously, after a transition period of about a year, you will have beautiful curly hair that you were naturally meant to have. Frizz is a ‘curl waiting to happen’.

To see good results, you do have to stick with it for a long time. It gets worse before it gets better. Also, it’s more dependent on the technique than the products. So more expensive products don’t necessarily mean better results.

The basics are,

• wash your hair with silicone free conditioner, instead of shampoo (cowash)
• if you must clarify any build-up, do so with a surface free shampoo (low poo)
• at the start, to get rid of any remaining silicones, wash your hair with one last sulfate shampoo. After that, it’s only cowash or low poo wash.
• after washing your hair, apply the silicone free conditioner again and leave for a few minutes.
• then use the bowl method (google it, it’s very simple) to rinse it off. Squeeze excess water off.
• squish a little bit of curl cream into your hair. Too much will weigh your hair down.
• Plop your hair with a T-shirt. Don’t use a towel.
• after a few minutes, unplop and apply a little bit of hair gel (again, silicone free).
• let your hair air dry completely.
• if a cast forms, break it by scrunching your hair with a T-shirt.

I know it seems like a lot of work but take it from a curly-haired person who straightened her hair for two years with terrible results, it really is very simple.

It works for some, but not for me. It was just too much product. Mine does best with minimal handling or it goes frizzy. I use the John Frieda dream curls range and try to leave it a couple of days between washes. It generally looks best if it's just been rained on...

YABU to say you have a massive afro unless you are of black origin.

There is a transition period while you work out what works for your hair, I did mine during lockdown so not many people were about to see it, and those that were all had hair in need of haircuts too!

YABU. There are a lot of tutorials and techniques that are massively time consuming, but you don't need all those. I only wash my hair once a week and I don't refresh in the mornings either, I found that faffing with my hair only made it frizzy.

The best things I've done are stop using silicon and sulphate containing products, and sleeping with a satin bonnet on. Bonnets you can get for only a few quid on amazon, and hair products don't have to be expensive. I use 2 different conditioners and a very mild shampoo if my hair has a lot of buildup

Alberto Balsam Sunkissed Raspberry Conditioner 300ml - Boots £1 from boots

Hair Refine Shampoo | ALDI UK the blue bottle volume conditioner from aldi £1.20 a bottle

I spend more on a hair gel, if I don't use a hair gel onto sopping wet hair my curls go frizzy. I'm trying out a few different ones just now after my favorite was discontinued

I tried but find it’s such a faff. Probably if I tested loads of different products and practiced for ages, I could get it right. But in my experience, it still ends up frizzy or it looks greasy. And then it only is nice for one day (or half a day), then absolutely awful after that.

Firstly you need sapphire free shampoo and wash out any product build up.

i waited 6 months not straightening my hair to let the curl reform.

I get a spiral cut - twice a year - find a curly hair dresser!!

I use boots own brand curl cream £2 a tub

Any sulphate free shampoo and conditioner.

Curly Jelly also works well.

Thing is, there’s different types of curl ( and it’s quite usual to have more than one curl pattern on one head). I used a few different products until I found something that works for me. There are actually a few forums on fb where you can sell on products you’ve bought and tried but found to be crap. I currently love aveda be curly range but that might not work for you.

I use a fine spray of water then coat it generously in curl cream then a gel ( confixor also aveda) Turn it upside down and squeeze it into clumps, squeeze the excess wet out, don’t rub it, then leave it. When it’s nearly dry I put some balm through it. Seems to last all day for me. But yes, I’d love to just brush it through and leave it, that’d be lovely.