➿ Fantastic Haircare: Making Sense and Science of the Curly Girl Method

[botemp]

Offshoot 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 (especially if you have superior knowledge) 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
Science-y Hair Blog

I always see a bit more of an attempt at curls on day 2 but I don't know if I'm imagining it. Always more frizz too and a bit knotty. Anyway, DH randomly complemented me on it today.

I couldn't sleep in the buff cuff as it was too loose. The smallest size is out of stock. So I used an invisible which worked well.

@ClientQ interesting re the subscription box. I was reading the thread about them the other night and signed up for the FFS razor box you mentioned. And a quarterly gin box (like a single G&T once a week: that's the total sum of my alcohol intake).

I also signed up for Stitchfix and received the first order today. Very impressed. I hate shopping. I'm a stone too heavy and an hourglass and shopping is a nightmare. Stuff is either too form fitting which isn't good with the extra fluff, or shapeless or oversized or stiff fabrics which all make me look huge. I don't like shopping online as end up returning most things and I don't like the idea of reverse logistics for many reasons.

Today I got:

Necklace (keeping)
Navy linen blend wrap too (keeping)
Jeans (returning)
Floral casual dress (returning - really liked it and an excellent fit but it was black and yellow and I don't like that combo)
Jersey teal wrap dress (returning - sits too low at front which is often the case with wraps).

Everything fitted too. I just wish they had an app for Android in the UK as you swipe left and right on items/outfits to say what you like and it would be easier on the phone. Of course the more you do it the more accurate it gets.

Partially dried
I used all flora and curl, stylers were their leave in, gel and then shockwaves mousse

Thanks everyone

I have almost always been a once a week hair washer.

My hair is about shoulder length with some strands a bit shorter as growing it so I can tie it all back. I had it cut last feb to keep it in shape. It actually suits me better tied up at the moment. I have to tie it up for work anyway. It is very coarse and takes ages to dry, like 6 hours. I will try cantu and see how I get on. I don’t want a high maintenance routine and to use loads of products. Will keep you all posted in cantu.

Your hair has grown Client!

I had an excellent gym session this morning followed by a long walk with a book in my ears. Now going for a clarifying wash and a conditioning treatment. I would wait until tomorrow as only washed it on Friday, but I always have a team meeting at 12.30 on a Monday so I'll do it now. Day 2 always looks reasonably decent for me.

Today's wash day, usual shampoo and conditioner, followed by the curls blueberry LIC (smells like the most sickly sweet sweet shop ever 🤮 can't really tell if it did all that much, not having the OMG it's amazing 😍 PROTEIN 😍about it anyhow), bounce curl clump cream, ecoslay orange marmalade gel (definitely a strong hold, probably a little stronger than I'd like, I prefer the Innersense gel to this so far, similar stiffness of cast but none of the rigidity this has).

It's not bad and definitely less frizz than with the all Bounce Curl styling routine but none of the body and bounce I had with the Bounce Curl gel so there may be something to the pairing. I'll see next time whether it's just down to the gel when I use that without the clump cream.

My hair just doesn't feel very me at the moment, it's gone up a curl type to what it isn't due to the hold of the ecoslay gel and scrunching it in which means it'll probably drop (as the clumps are not as thick) into something much droopier over the next few days just to retaliate

I agree it doesn't looks as bouncy as other recent wash days Bo.

Do you do any plopping? I can't remember. Just OOI.

I used the Spiralicious just now and was glad I got the unsencted version. Some of these scents are really overpowering, especially when using more than one product. We're not generally used to it as we tend to use unscented skincare.

Yes I plop after styling, means the gel can set without getting disturbed, figured that out after some experimentation. I could probably get a bit more body and volume if I pixie diffused but that's not possible with my current diffuser/blow dryer set up. It's not volume that would last though so I don't think it's worth the effort, my holy grail is to find in stylers with as little products as possible (I'm thinking it should be possible with the bounce curl clump cream to skip the LIC as it's so rich). The bounce curl routine did maintain the bounce and body as the days went by, it just got frizzier with each day, although there was an incident with a drizzle too.

I really wanted to like all things Jessicurl because of the lack of fragrance but so far none of it wowed me. Such a shame as I could really do without all the scents, especially the 'girly' ones (sweet shop, sweet lemonade, candy Chapstick type smells), I somehow feel personally attacked by those the most 🤦

This is flora and curl wash day. Not as much hold as I like but lots of volume

Day 2 hair.

My day 2 hair is weird again, very reminiscent of when I used the ecoslay protein treatment. The curls blueberry LIC and that both have hydrolyzed quinoa protein as the 'active'. Not sure if it's the type of protein or the size that doesn't agree with me. Don't have anything else to test a theory with.

More positive (though not for the wallet), a shop here is now selling the AG re coil curl activator (they ship throughout Europe in case anyone else is tempted). Very tempted to just order (they don't do samples) as I'm somehow convinced my hair will love it. I thought that about a lot of the samples I ordered too, thankfully they're just samples 😬

@botemp ooh where is it available!?
I think the ecoslay needs a leave in under it to soften the cast, I made the error of no leave in and doing ecoslay AND mousse

I agree your curls looked springier and maybe more defined (hard to tell on photo) on the Bounce Curl wash day Bo. Will be interested to hear what you think has made the difference when you continue your experiments.

Your hair looks a lot longer from the front in that last photo Pupsie and the ends are lovely and curly. Nice colour too.

I had my hair coloured today and now at home with Olaplex 3 treatment on it. Last couple of wash days I was very happy with the Jessicurl products. I now squeeze some of the water out of my hair before applying the Rockin Ringlets and that helps.I also did a bit of pixie diffusing (odd name ) yesterday before I got too bored.

I can see some progress in my hair which is nice. The cut helped and I think the regular protein/deep conditioning is reducing the bird's nest bit I get at the top back.

It's here Client,

www.myhairshop.nl/ag-hair-curl-re-coil-curl-activator-178-ml.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjww_f2BRC-ARIsAP3zarEMifGpYDlzi57YcyDVfGz-zbw5fEL8DonkXV-yPwEkgVRKpFNAwcQaAuFSEALw_wcB

I did use a leave in under the ecoslay gel and the clump cream is pretty rich too but I think it's just a touch too stiff for me. I'm keeping it for winter to experiment with again then.

Ooh, can I join you?

I'm trying to catch up with all the thread. I've been doing CGM for about 10yrs due to terrible pg hair. Since then, I've ditched the dye and am in perimenopause. To complicate matters my silver/grey hair discolours easily, is dry and my scalp is horrible atm (probably due to going on lockdown daily walks with a hair plopped on damp hair).

*hat plonked on damp hair, that should read.

Here is today's wash day and for a laugh, the amount of conditioner I use (I rinse it all out)

OMG that's a lot of conditioner Client. It hurts my minimalist eyes! I wonder if I'm using enough actually, and of products. What's the rationale behind 2 gels?

Sophie I am jealous of your colour! How long do you have to leave the Olaplex on for?

Welcome Quirk. Ten years. Wow. Have you tried a lot of products?

Hair wash today after a 6k run. Notgijg interesting to report except I popped after gel Vs before off the back of Bo's comment about when she plops.

No theory really apart from I tried mixing the two as an experiment and it seems to work the best one must have something in that the other doesn't maybe..

Pupsie, I suppose I have, but to start with I found what worked but my hair has changed so I feel the need to step it up a bit.

The moisture protein balance is definitely something I'm going to look into. I always feel it's a clarify moisture balance, but maybe I should look at more protein.

So this is me after a "refresh" wash of just Inecto Coconut conditioner (I've been using this for years, it was recommended as a cheap, basic co-wash before co-washes were sold as such), Cantu leave in conditioner with the orange label (heavier than the white tub, but much better for my dry hair), Twisted Sista gel (which I really like) and diffused warm, then cooler to take the dampness out, then air dried. The diffuser makes my curl pattern more consistent but my hair fluffs up easily so I often let it air dry.

To try to sort out my scalp, thanks bo for the links upthread, I'm going back to spot treating with hydrocortisone. I think it's eczema as it's around my hairline and ears . I have some nutrigena anti-residue that I use occasionally and have a denman shampoo brush, which has helped build up/scalp issues a bit. I'm trying to counteract the drying nature of the shampoo with night time scalp massage with almond oil and a little tea tree oil.

I think I need more protein products, though. The only think I've got is an Osmo hair mask (violet to stop discolouration). I think previously I read so much confusing information on porosity and protein, I didn't take it into account.

Crikey Client I think that's a year's worth of conditioner to me 🤣 not the first time I'm considering that I may need to use more but I do tend to think I've used too much more often than too little (except gel at the back) so I'm probably ok?

Your hair looks lovely quirky, I can't remember if it was on this thread already but Pupsie and I were discussing the lack of resources about CGM and additional needs of grey hair. It seems odd there's so little information on it. I wouldn't know either whether you'd want more moisture or protein. The only thing I could go on is probably keratin as I know that drastically reduces with age/greys which is technically protein, so maybe specifically seek out that?

Yesterday's wash day. I used the bounce curl creme gel with my usual curl cream. It's definitely responsible for bounce and definition which looks good on the bottom but the top is very very frizzy and a bit flat. Good shine though. It's annoying, I really like it for the potential but I can see it's going to take a lot of work to get it to work well for me and it shouldn't be this hard. Did a bit of reading last night and it seems most layer another stronger hold gel over it or use it to refresh, so it's a known 'difficult' beast. Don't have much gel left to experiment with, hesitant to buy a bottle for more experimentation but it's the only product to give me such full defined body for now (aside from Devacurl Wavemaker which I'm still scared to use) and that's something that's worth a lot to my fine and thinning hair. Argh.

My hair is nowhere near the level of the beautiful curls on this thread but it is really liking no silicone, no/minimal sulfates and a few CG techniques. I have spent years smothering my hair in endless anti frizz products and it seems all along they where actually adding to the frizz halo

Bo have you tried the Giovanni gel? It's probably my favourite so far. I bought a travel size but will definitely buy a full size one.

Quirky I am about 30% greys and due to COVID haven't had my usual roots touch up since early March. Usually have it every 5 weeks. It's a semi and matches my natural colour: she pulls it through to the ends once or twice a year. It's interested to see what's there in terms of grey as I've never really seen it before. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it tbh. I have always been mid brown with some natural reds and I like my hair colour. Not unhappy about going full grey, but I'm only about 30% at the moment. One option is to gradually go lighter, but then I'll have the opposite problem of dark roots to conceal. Argh!

Out you have lovely beachy waves!

I need to get better to faffing (for want of a better word) my hair after plopping, and also creating my parting. I'm quite heavy handed. Some of my hair at the back stays stuck upwards when I turn my head the right way up. I'm trying to be gentle so as not to disturb the gel/waves etc but I don't find this bit easy!

Well, my hair ended up quite wild and frizzy due to the weather yesterday, so I put it in a plait.

bo, I was wondering about keratin too. I am on a couple of silver hair groups on fb (might be worth looking at pupsie) but I am still completely confused about porosity and protein. The water porosity test shows about mid porosity, but my hair soaks up moisture like a sponge, greys are apparently mid porosity or could be a mixture... the info on the Curly Caillin blog was really good and clear.

I think I don't want to chop and change too much, but try products slowly to see what helps.

Out lovely waves, I had wavy hair pre puberty and in my first pg, it was much easier to tame than curls.

Things I have been doing for a long time that work for me, t shirt for plopping. Though, I think I'll have to try bo's twisting technique as my hair's longer and the roots can look a bit weird when I air dry after. The squish to condish, though I didn't know it was called that! Boots cheap curl creme is great, I tend not to use it after washing, but on days after: wet, leave in conditioner, curl creme.