Wavy curly girls, what do you use to style your hair?

[PickAChew]

I have coarse, wiry, wavy (probably 2C - wavy all the way up with the odd, mad, ringlet, if treated right) hair. It seems to be low porosity, as I've always had problems with product build up, but these have continued into the curly girl method journey I've recently embarked on.

I hit gold first time with cantu shampoo and conditioner. My hair seems to love the, whatever i do afterwards, and for the first time I can remember, I can go a full 48 hours without my scalp feeling disgusting and getting scurfy, so it's great all round. I have very sensitive skin, so this is a big win, for me.

The cantu curl activator does lovely things, but I can't use it every time. Build up - my hair ends up stringy and greasy looking. Doesn't help that I'm in the Northeast and it's windy a lot here. I can't just sit indoors playing pretty, though. That's not real life.

I was in Morrisons, the other day, so grabbed a pot of their 50p gel. Now I like the results, if I use a handful (my hair is only chin length, but it seems to need a lot or else it just dries full on 80s fluff) but my scalp has started to itch a bit. This isn't a good sign, given my sensitive skin and allergies. I've also had to take my wedding ring off because I must have got some under there and my finger is really itchy and red. It also smells a bit like Lynx body spray, which I'm not so keen on.

So, gel seems good, but I need to find one that I'm not going to be allergic to. Are the eco gels any good for wavies - there's so many different ones that I don't know which one to try, with my hair type and they cost a lot more than 50p. I have curly relatives I can pass duff stuff on to, but don't want to seem too generous :o

I'm on the curly reddit group (I don't do facebook) but a lot of wavies seem to struggle and the ones who don't all have fine hair. Plus, half of the stuff is either unavailable or extortionate over here - I'm sure Deva Curl products are great, but I'm not paying £20 for something that might leave me with a spotty, scabby scalp and Ken Dodd hair!

I use the Tigi catwalk Curls Rock Amplifier as I couldn’t find any suitable curly girl friendly replacement. I’ve used this for over 10 years and - a small fortune later- nothing else has come close to holding my curls.

I had allergic reactions to some of the cheaper gels too. The two I've tried that I don't have a reaction to are:
Boucleme Curl Defining Gel (expensive at £15 a bottle, but works beautifully with my hair and I love the smell)
Umberto Giannini Curly Jelly (cheaper at £7 a tube, but does the job)

Sounds like we have quite similar hair - mine is coarse too with some low porosity behaviour. But I don't have as sensitive skin (my allergic reactions were a light rash across my neck, where the hair and product was rubbing across the skin).

What I did do was compare the ingredients of the three (three!) gels I had reactions to, and try to narrow down what the common factors were. It was a bit annoying and pricey doing trial and error, but it did get good results eventually.

Flaxseed gel is good. I use eco style flax seed gel from amazon, with cantu curl custard on top

I'm passing a boots, this morning, so will see if they have the curl jelly in. I've heard mixed reviews but it's worth a try.

I used to use the curls rock amplifier, years ago. I found it great for scrunching but had to wash it out, the next day. It smells gorgeous, though!

I use twisted sister curl cream, it’s inexpensive and leaves my curls soft and non frizzy

Another vote for the Tigi Curls Rock amplifier here - it is a bit pricy but if you buy a few at a time from eBay it's not so bad. At the moment I'm using Toni & Guy curl lock oil. As tends to be the case, they discontinued it straight after I discovered it (damn you, T&G) but you can still get it on eBay and they now do a new version I'm going to have to try. Also had decent results with the Trevor Sorbie curl cream and like a PP the twisted sista stuff.

I mix the Tigi Curls Rock stuff with a leave-in conditioner.
or use Umberto G. Crème de curl - that's quite good.

Redken Curvaceous Ringlet Anti-Frizz Lotion. Comes in a green pump bottle. I'm also allergic to everything but this seems OK. Smells nice and I just put it on wet hair and allow it to dry on its own. It then makes nice fat curls out of my wavy/curly/ringletty mop.

I use Curl Company stuff, about £7, you can get it in Boots.

What's available in boots and superdrug seems to vary regionally. Ours, up here, seem to carry a very narrow range of curly products, which is frustrating. I found a travel sized tube of the umberto Gianni curl jelly, though, so that's what I'll be trying, next wash!

And thanks everyone, I'm definitely taking notes. I've seen some twisted sista stuff in primark, so will definitely check that out.

I use Boots Basics Curl Creme, about a 10p sized blob and then Cantu shine and define custard. I don't feel like there's a build up in my hair and the cantu custard scrunches our to leave defined curls. Superdrug also stock cantu products and you'll find them on offer from time to time. This has been my regime for about 18 months and my hair has never been curlier.

I've not seen cantu in our superdrug and the only stuff I've seen in boots is the less useful stuff for me. Straightened hair is still the norm around here and the region I live in is very WASP-y, so I'm ending up ordering stuff online.

I'm tempted to order the cantu. Udtsrd, though.

There is the CurlBot webpage you can use to see if stuff is Curly Girl friendly www.curlsbot.com/ just find a list of ingredients online and cut and paste.

Quite a few people seem to like the VO5 Mega Hold gel which is cheap as chips (though not in the 50p range, though cheaper than the UG Jelly).

If you are Herts are I have some Eco coconut gel you can have for free - I tried it but my hair hates it (apparently something to do with my porosity? - anyway - just turned super stringy). Cannot be arsed to post it - but if you want to drive by my house I can leave it in the porch for you.

Also a wavy low porosity and I like Boucleme for a light hold otherwise Boots own brand purple gel in a tub which is very cheap and works well too (it's found in the men's section though).

I've got 2c curls and love cantu shampoo, conditioner and coconut curl cream, curl activator.
I also use boots curl creme it defines and holds.the curls really well without looking greasy and has rave reviews.
I also love Palmers manuka honey leave in conditioner spray.

Apparently the purple Boots gel has been discontinued. (And boots having all their waxes and gels in a "Men's hair care" section is a big bugbear of mine - I've spent most of my adult life with very short hair because I can't do a thing with it when I have to wash it with hard water and have often had a good mutter when I've realised that yet another product I've wanted to try is apparently for men.)

I've never heard of Boucleme, before. It looks interesting but quite pricey!

Thanks for the offer, ColdTiredFoggy but I'm up in the Northeast. It sounds like it would make my hair stringy, too. The cantu curl activator is lovely, but I can't use it wash after wash unless I do my first wash with a sulphate shampoo, every time. If I use slightly too much, I end up looking like medusa! It's hard to get just right.

The palmers leave in looks interesting, too. I tend not to use anything like that because my hair feels awful with too much on it - it either goes sticky or feels like straw but I do feel like it would benefit from something light like that, some days. I usually just refresh with water and on windy days like today, don't even bother with that because if I go out in the wind when it's still damp, it's instantly trashed! I'd rather have it fluffy than stringy.

Volume isn't a problem for me, mind. My hair was most at home in the 80s (Though I had to perm it back then!)

Perhaps you're putting too much product on your hair from day 2 onwards. I just refresh hair with the leave in spray and it reactivates the hold of the boots curl creme that's in there. If it still looks a mess I smooth a very small amount of non greasy twisted sista curl activator creme/umberto Gianni curl gel or something like that.
Curly hair looks great when it's just done but like worzel gummage when it's a mess 😁 x

I use the v05 mega hold gel spray in the blue bottle. I prefer it to the actual gel as it doesn't weigh my hair down as much but still gives great results

I don't have curly hair myself but have been using the Curly Ellie range on my son's hair. The daily detangling spray is lovely and very natural. It's designed for kids but they post lots of pics on their Instagram stories of before and after and it seems plenty of adults use it too.

I don't add any product to my hair after day 1. It just doesn't seem to like it. And I rarely get past day 2, unfortunately. If I do, it's smelly by teatime!

You can get sample sizes of the eco gels, I saw them somewhere... I like the olive oil one

eBay have some of the travel size and so do this website
https://www.cchairandbeauty.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=eco%20gel

Ooh, they're good prices.

I also like Boucleme and it lasts a long time. When I want a change I like Jessicurl products which are similar but they have a stronger hold option.

I've started using Curl Keeper Original before my gel, and again as a refresh, or you can run wet hands over your hair and it reactivates. It's not cheap but you only need a small amount and it doesn't make your hair greasy.

For gel I'm loving Giovanni L.A. Looks Firm Hold gel but it's pricey, otherwise the Umberto Giannini Curl Jelly is really good.