➿ 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

Hello Quirky I've seen you on the French thread which I mainly lurk on and sometimes (extremely rarely) post. You have lovely hair. Beautiful colour and a nice shape/cut. My cousin uses a Briogeo shampoo for her scalp issues.

Why so much conditioner Client?!! Wow!!! You hair doesn't look that long. Does it get very tangled?
What CG friendly mousses do you use and would recommend Client?

Yes I am very happy to have hair that is all one colour again Pupsie. And my natural colour too. The Olaplex bottle said to leave for 10 minutes but apparently Olaplex continues to work on damp hair for up to 45 mins (I think that was it) so I ended up leaving it on for an hour (had to leave the house for an errand too). I did a deep condition afterwards. My hair definitely needs protein and get over moisturised very quickly to waiting for ApHogee to arrive. I know it's not strictly CG friendly but I need to get a good protein injection into my hair to rebalance it.

You have some very nice curls at the bottom Bo and your hair looks much fuller. I can see what you mean about the frizz though. Have you tried the Bounce Curl clump cream with the Bounce Curl gel? Or was that your first Bounce Curl wash day combination?

I think your hair looks lovely Outtheforest. Really smooth and nice waves. Women go to the hairdressers here to get their hair to look like that

I haven't Pupsie, but it looks to be a pretty standard copolymer type and those tend to weigh my hair down.

Yes, Sophie, I tried the bounce curl combo first and then got the best results so far but still noticeable amount of frizz (though I suspect it's actually emboldened -by protein and/or glycerin- baby hairs, which since they don't get trimmed due to length probably have higher porosity and are therefore unruly bastards), there's quite a lot of glycerin in the bounce curl gel and I think that's a factor. I wasn't very wowed by the spiralicious gel in terms of styling performance but it was absolutely frizz free and that is glycerin free. I was going to layer the Innersense mousse over the bounce curl duo next wash day but I think I might go double fisting a la Client with the gel.

Your hair looks great Out, very jealous of it and the colour

Quirky I have a patented twisting technique go me I think on the Science-y blog there was talk of a gelatin mask being good for mimicking human hair keratin (there's that £££ brand Virtue as well, which has actual human hair keratin but it's not CGM). Think Client mentioned doing it once or twice? I just can't get past the idea of trying to work jelly in your hair but I'm sure it's not actually like that.

Do you mean to use a glycerin free gel and then layer on a glycerin gel or vice versa Bo?

Vice versa, probably, so bounce curl gel creme followed by spiralicious. Will have to do a bit of research as to whether order matters or I can just mix the two products in my hands and apply.

Hi SophieLion, I remember you on the French threads. I've been cutting my hair myself, though only trimming and shaping the ends a bit. Your hair looks lovely too. I'll look into that shampoo, thanks.

I will look at keratin and the science-y blog, thanks bo.

I think my hair likes glycerin, I'm pretty sure it's in a few of my favourite products.

Let me know if you find out whether order matters please Bo. I might try that myself too as always have a bit of frizz (although after the olaplex there was none!!! Not sure how long that lasts...)

SophieLion olaplex is rated highly on silver hair forums. I definitely remember my hairdresser using it when I went lighter. Which one did you use?

I used no 3 Quirky. Not all of the numbers are CG friendly. It was a bit pricey but a little really goes a long way and I used only a very small amount for all my hair.

No 3 is a bond builder so it's good to use after your hair is damaged (that's why I did it now after doing my colour). Plan to do it again towards the end of the summer after all the sun and sea.

Do you have the Lorraine Massey book on the curly girl method? I remember there was info in there re silver hair. I can post photos for you if you don't have.

I was looking at Olaplex No 3, actually. A lot of people with silver hair use it. I think dark dye has some conditioner in it often, so the texture can really change.

I haven't actually got the Lorraine Massey book. That would be helpful, thank you.

@SophieLion VERY tangled! I need the slip but my hair just sucks up conditioner despite not being dry, it's strange. I've always used a lot even before CG

@botemp definitely try mixing, the other thing that's worked well for me before is using a bit of water based silicone free lube(!) , it does seem to help with frizz (it's apparently similar to the original curl keeper and cheaper...)

Client, my hairdresser told me that trick. I haven't actually tried it myself, though.

Both the Cantu Leave-In Conditioning Cream and the Twisted Sista Amazing Dream Curl Gel have glycerin. The first quite high up and the latter, it's the second ingredient after aqua (water). Both products work really well on me.

Curly Cailin has done 2 x 1 hour IGTV curl clinics. I'm half through the first one and finding it interesting.

But the opposite happens when it's wet, brushing or combing through product usually means the waves struggle to clump back together again.

God, no, one of my favourite time wasters is combing conditioner through my wavy hair and watching it instantly coil up again!

That bounce curl post is interesting but as someone with coarse hair and reactive scalp, the option of the cleanser doesn't appeal. My scalp and hair both benefit from a thorough clean followed by moisturisation.

False alarm Quirky. Just looked through the whole CG book and the only part about silver hair was how to transition to silver hair (which you have already managed!). Sorry...

Client do you mean mixing lube with gel and applying as part of wash day routine rather than using it to refresh?

I watched the first curl clinic Pupsie. I saw there was a second one but it ends up being quite late here (we're 2 hours ahead). I'm thinking that i might book a one-on-one curl clinic with her at some point if I feel my moisture protein balance still isn't right after the aphogee.

Sophie yes I only watched half of one. I'll finish them today.

I though I'd do the same re 1-2-1 but only after I've had it cut. Wonder how much it is.

@SophieLion either! Can be used any time really

@PickAChew

But the opposite happens when it's wet, brushing or combing through product usually means the waves struggle to clump back together again.

God, no, one of my favourite time wasters is combing conditioner through my wavy hair and watching it instantly coil up again!

With conditioner it's fine, that's great for clumping but that's the last thing I'll comb through, once that's rinsed out it's like an elaborate performance of don't disturb the hair and gently gently GENTLY. I can't even squish in to aggressively or it ends up a wet frizz extravaganza

I'm sqeaked out by the idea of lube in hair 😷

I've been looking into glycerin (but not read up on it enough) and it seems it acts (or hair reacts in similar way as it does to) protein. I think I'm definitely one that favours moisture over protein in the balance but I'm not super sensitive to it, just slightly and need to stay away from high doses of the stuff and keep it in little increments.

No worries, SophieLion. I think she was going to write about silver curly hair, but I'm not sure if she has.

One of my main issues with silver hair is using purple/violet shampoo to keep the colour and offset that against my dry curly hair.

I know some people don't get along with glycerin, but I seem to. Not sure why, either.

We have someone coming today to see about a water softener as we have very hard water.

A quick Google tells me Lorraine Massey wrote a whole Silver Hair book in 2018.

Do you use a CG shampoo quirky? There's an Italian brand, Jean Paul Mynè, that does silver hair products, the Grey Pepper line but AFAIK it's only a shampoo. It's CGM friendly and very popular with silver curlies here, it has protein too. The blueberry version (which is for keeping blonde hair icey) has a mask too iirc.

Would be curious to know what the silver hair book says, as I've googled and it was like 3 articles that were mostly a vehicle to sell products.

There's been quite a few videos on my feed on hard/soft water but I've yet to watch. I know it's a major hassle having very hard water with my hair, chelating makes such a difference.

bo, I think shampoo and I have a love hate relationship, tbh. I used to low poo and co-wash, then when I hit perimenopause I started just co-washing as my scalp went super dry. That then gave me build up. I have used some not strictly CG shampoo, I have a huge bottle of Aveda Blue Malva as it's great for greys but drying. In desperation of build up I went back to Neutrogena non build up occasionally with a newly purchased denman shampoo brush. I have ordered a small size of the Briogeo shampoo SophieLion recommended to try. I will look out for that Grey Pepper Line (when I've finished my Aveda). My scalp can be super sensitive, so I think I need to change things slowly to see what works and what doesn't. So far, spot applying hydrocortisone has calmed it down, but I want to keep it that way!

I live in a hard water area and for 5 years have had a water softener and I love it. But at the moment we have an issue with pressure coming in off the road, and also a leaky boiler valve so the water softener hasn't been working properly (I knew it!! Apart from the build up in the kettle and the tell tale signs on taps and heated towel rails etc.). Waiting for it to be fixed. I will never be without a water softener again.

Oh, Pupsie that's really good to hear. We are getting a quote, the water here is really hard. It discolours my hair very easily which means I need more clarifying/chelating or purple shampoo.

The misty weather today has given me super curly, frizzy hair that I'm going to end up putting up, I think.

Has anyone come across the 123 gel method? I came across it while researching what gel to pair the Bounce Curl gel with. I can only find a few articles in Dutch and the English ones are just slapping on three gels not the method as below:

LIC on soaking wet hair

Gel 1 gel without glycerin and without protein

Gel 2 gel with glycerin and protein

Gel 3 gel without glycerin and with protein.

I'm curious to try it, using the BC clump cream as LIC but not sure if I have anything for gel 3 except for my Aveda gel which does have glycerin but iirc it's very low down in the INCI.