➿ 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

that's annoying, bo, I did Google Briogeo as the name rang a bell. Obviously, not googled enough. It's like brands who sell in the Asian Market need to test on animals, so even if they're cruelty free in Europe they're not there, sadly.

Yeah it is annoying, but I think because it's all anonymous allegations traditional media haven't reported on it so less likely to pop up in a Google search.

There's a lot of nuance though and it gets very confusing and too much at some point. L'Oréal always gets a lot of slack as it's such a massive company for selling in China. But business wise they really can't afford not to, and they're the ones who have been instrumental in getting the Chinese government to change their stance on testing and have gone so far as developing bio identical artificial skin to test with. I've forgotten when exactly but it was supposed to be in 2020 that the Chinese government will stop with the demand for third party testing and a lot of that is down to L'Oréal's efforts (Beiersdorf too IIRC). Sure the motivation is business driven but they have been instrumental to change.

Ouidad is glycerin free with protein and it's been mentioned as a bounce curl creme gel alternative so it definitely sounds promising for me. I can't get a sample (well I can on eBay from the US but it's 2x as much as a full size to get it here) so I think I may just order it and hope for the best. Anyone have a Beauty Bay code of interest by any chance? Otherwise I'll order from lookfantastic but I have to find something else to throw in the basket to get free shipping

*Sorry meant to add, I often check Glass Doors reviews when I can remember. Most small companies rarely have anything on there but when they do it's rarely good or very obvious fake ones to drown out critical ones.

A big wash day with Acure Clarifying Conditioner, recommended on silver hair forums, Aveda Blue Malva shampoo for colour and Osmo No Yellow conditioning mask for colour (has some protein), Cantu leave in cream, Twisted Sista Dream Gel. Air dried and been under a sunhat in the humid heat after a walk. The curls are more defined when it's air dried but less consistent curl pattern.

I will look at Glass Doors, thanks.

Sorry for the briogeo suggestion Quirky. It's not a brand I use myself and know nothing about it (well actually I do now!). Nice hair by the way - you look like you've got some tight ringlets at the back and the bottom. I also like the length.

Sorry didn't mean to guilt trip anyone wrt Briogeo, I tend not to mention when brands behave badly whenever it's mentioned as IME most on MN just don't care and I'm then the person sucking the joy out of everything. The past couple of weeks on here (on the other boards mainly) with the amount of what aboutery and all lives matter crap have just compounded it tbh.

Hair looks lovely quirky, I'm somewhat amazed that wearing a hat when it's not fully dry doesn't cause any issues. Not that I've ever tried it, but I just assume it would be frizz central in my case.

Hair was mostly dry before the hat and the Twisted Sista gel has quite a strong cast. The sunhat has made it flatter and it's a bit fluffy on top. It was very humid out today.

At this length it's much curlier underneath, collar length it's almost straight underneath .

No worries, bo, I will try it and then decide, it is £££ for a large tub, anyway.

No need to apologise Bo. I think it's good that we are made aware of these things.

Yes, if I dried my hair with a hat on Quirky, I would end up with a flat straight top part and curls for the bottom half. Not a good look!

I did a little hair trimming at the front today. My curls at the front (bangs) haven't been lying properly since my cut (which is clearly a disadvantage of wet cutting on curly hair) so decided to cut a little bit. Pretty pleased with the result.

The hair cutting was quite addictive though - kept wanting to snip more and more

Wash day
Leave in - bounce curl
Mixed ecoslay gel and boucleme
Pantene mousse
I didn't comb my conditioner or leave in through so will see how it works out! Too warm to diffuse much so I've just dried the roots for now

I'm itching to take scissors to my ends Sophie...

Haven't managed to SOTC out as ecoslay has given me a rock solid cast despite sleeping on it some nice definition though

After two washes my hair is settling to the different cut. Hard to see in the picture but the underneath layers are very short and it's been a battle trying to stop them sticking out at 90 degree angles from my head

Planning to do some reading on protein moisture balance as my hair is feeling the softest it ever has so worried I'm overdoing the moisture.
On another note I need to find somewhere less obvious to take pictures so I don't have to block out the background

I love the colour out. Was it a new hairdresser?

Wash day here. Longest I've gone at 4 days.

First time I've used two gels. I don't feel my results after SOTC reflect what I see at this stage. I'll say it again ... It badly needs a cut. Obviously because of lockdown but also it's never been cut for leaving it wavy/curly. I have virtually no layers.

She usually thins it out. Should she do this too or not?

I tried to get some Pantene mousse yesterday but no luck in Superdrug, Boots or Poundland. Small local town though so maybe I'd have better luck elsewhere but I have no plans to do so.

Meant to post pics

thanks pupsie I usually have it died lighter but i've been growing that out so this cut has left me back to my natural colour which is growing on me. It sometimes looks very mousey brown but in sunlight its a lovely golden colour so I think it can stay for now. It was a new hairdresser, although i've been in the country 3 years i've only been in this city 6 months so trying to find a reliable one still

I've had that haircut too Out, it's a styling nightmare to get it all to behave at least like everyone is getting along in the back.

Pupsie, there are a few videos about what to ask your hairdresser for and I think generally thinning out is not considered helpful. I've seen it done on one wavy person and it's her preference, but it just looks a bit odd in my opinion. It sort of hangs straight down like straight hair does (curtain like, maybe?) but then with waves iykwim. Whereas waves/curls tend to have some movement in the way it cascades down, it's really noticeable (in a good way) on out's picture where straight hair usually just sticks up slightly at the roots and then bends down along the face a bit like on Lego and Playmobil dolls 🙊 curly hair tends to frame around the face.

I do think you have to put a bit of thought to what suits your face. If you look at the big hair influencers they all have similar features, full lips, roundish or otherwise pronounced almond shaped eyes and often full cheeks, not so sharp noses or cut glass cheekbones and curly voluminous hair works well with that. Similarly I feel really weird with jet straight hair, it just doesn't mesh well with my face and I look really odd. Someone like Naomi Campbell on the other hand really suits that jet straight sleek hair and looks (still amazing, because Naomi Campbell) a little less special with other hair styles.

I remember looking for the pantene foam sometime ago but it's been discontinued here for a while not sure what the UK situation is. I had looked at the John Frieda one but then decided I don't want to use things with butane gas and would be sticking with foams. I assumed they were the same thing though but foams and mousses are not necessarily the same product group (so exhausting).

It should be washday for me today and despite warmer weather and upping the exercise intensity (with a very sweaty face) it feels like I can wait a day or longer even. I think it's down to the protein stylers as that's making it a touch drier and I tend to wash when hair gets greasy as opposed to my scalp being greasy.

Speaking of scalp, Quirky an interesting video popped up about it, seb derm/dandruff. Thought it was interesting she suggested washing more often (with dry scalp).

Sorry, copied out the wrong share link from my playlist (although the wrongly linked video is interesting too). But this is the one about scalp issues.

Yes I see what you mean re thinning out and also what suits your face. It's interesting because several people have said that I slighly resemble Sandra Bullock (I'm embarrassed to say that lol. But when DH and I met he did think that too and told his mum who hadn't heard of her (1998) and she went along to a Blockbusters and asked the sales assistant for a video box with a picture of SB lol). Anyway, my hairdresser says to me that if you look at SB's hair she never has it thinned or choppy. It's usuallly very full and thick and blunt. I was googling pictures of her yesterday and there are hardly any with her hair anything other than poker straight so I wonder if she just has very straight hair naturally. I do have full lips and I don't have cut glass cheekbones. That I'm certain of!

Well Sandra Bullock is difficult because she's very different young vs. now. I assume some of it is tweakments and some of it is just ageing but she's become quite hard and sharper looking. You see in these first two pics that these days when her hair is styled with curls that they're kept away from her face or start much lower down and bypass the face. Where when she was young it meshed very well and framed her face very harmoniously.

I do think she has a bit of a wave naturally, I think this is her own texture.

I will check that video out, bo, thank you. Leslie Thomas in the Style magazine was saying about washing more often too. My scalp is certainly better from topical hydrocortisone for a couple of days and using a scalp brush.

Nice curls, Queen and nice waves Out, though it's really annoying if the haircut is such hard work.

I definitely have a roundish face, full lips and round/almond eyes! My hair actually has less volume atm as the length and weight make it easier to control.

Your hair looks nice quite.

It's hard to see with the photo Outtheforest but your hair looks lovely. I was reading about this type of cut in the Lorraine Massey book. She called it a tunnel cut and said they cut the underneath layers and leave the top ones long to thin out the hair. Is that what you had?

My sister got me the Pantene mousse from Tesco a while ago Pupsie. Of course she now can't get it out to me here!!! They only have no 3 pantene mousse here and not no 5 - don't know why. And no 3 doesn't seem to be CG friendly. Sandra bullock is gorgeous Pupsie!!

Interesting what you say re face shape Bo. I have quite a small face (features?) with high cheekbones. Although got quite large almond eyes and lips are decent sized. But having long curly hair which doesn't frame my face does nothing for me. Because I have a small face I need the curls around it (hence my trimming yesterday). * *