➿ 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

*Sorry meant to say I can't buy it anywhere as it's out of stock everywhere like all the other small independent us brands.

bo pretty standard price hike sadly I generally find imported beauty and hair products retail here at anything from 50% extra to double unless they're coming in on mass scale. Import tax is high to supposedly to protect local manufacturers but in reality to line the governments personal pockets.
Did a bit of an experiment washing yesterday and did everything as usual without mousse, definitely a lot more frizz and a less distinct wave so seems it was doing something after all

Pupsie, I have heard of Jack Martin, didn't he do Sharon Osbourne's hair? I went blonde before transitioning to silver, but would say maintaining that silvery colour when it's been bleached us hard. It would be interesting to know how well the colour lasts and the condition of the hair too.

My Jean Paul Myre Grey Pepper shampoo has arrived this morning, so I look forward to trying that out and comparing it to the Aveda Blue Malva (not strictly CGM) for silver/grey tones.

Wow. She has beautiful hair Bo and I love the colour. Interesting technique. Does anyone else apply products in sections like that?

Omg she has gorgeous curls, bo!

Pupsie, it seems to be a pretty standard technique with naturals as they tend to have a lot of hair with usually high density. Definitely of interest if you have high density hair, may help with the whole gel distribution you've been experiencing.

I did my Innersense routine this morning as I ran out of time yesterday. Not sure if it's dry or not, the hot weather is throwing me off, I do like how it looks not scrunched out, I usually look like a drowned rat and never understand eny curlies saying they go out with wet hair but it kind of looks like an intentional wet look. I may just leave it unscrunched with this weather.

I agree, it's an interesting technique. I might give it a go when I wash at the weekend and have more time.

I often go out with wet hair because I'm lazy . Actually, it takes ages to diffuse my hair and it tends to fluff up even if I use a low temp and setting on the diffuser. I also like to let it dry naturally every so often (not in winter, as it would be freezing and take days to dry).

Yes some products are very expensive PickaChew but so far I have found a little goes a long way. eg I have the Biolage moisturising conditioner (which is not super expensive but more expensive than a normal conditioner) and I find I only have to use a very small amount (and much less than a "normal " conditioner).

Not heard of Mielle Bo but the name makes me think of Miele . Must wash the video. She has lovely hair.

Where are you going to in Greece Pupsie?

Freudian slip there Sophie with the Miele reference and wanting to "wash" the video . I'll message you re Greece!

I don't know if I can be arsed with that technique. I did it with the olaplex and it was tiresome, because of the hair volume and density.

It's day 2 hair here but it's in a messy bun atop my head. I don't think I can be bothered to do anything else in this heat, and I might actually stick with that for the next 2 weeks before the haircut. (Will wash it of course, but no point trying anything new until it's cut I think).

Ha ha I read your post and had no idea what you were talking about Pupsie. Had to read my post a couple of times** before I realised what I had written (I'm very tired and slow today). Yes Freudian slip indeed!

I have actually applied product in that way. Manes by Mel does it like that too. It's. It actually too bad. I use a brush too and it really ensures that the product is well distributed through the hair.

• Oh for goodness sake: "it's actually not too bad "

What brush do you use @SophieLion?

I have the Denman one Pupsie. It was just by chance - saw manes by Mel was using it and remembered one of my DDs has the same brush.

My curiosity got the better of me and I scrunched. Excuse the lighting, it's not the best. I do like it, it's much of a looser wave than my last wash day. Feels more casual and easy breezy which works fine for right now. I was expecting a touch more volume as I used the volume lotion but it's not massive so not sure if that's worth the investment. I'm going to make my previous wash day merge with this one and see what that will result in next time frankenhair 😬

I haven’t read all the thread but my pixie cut has been growing i to a curly bob during lockdown. Quite like it. Anyway Cantu cream has worked miracles for me. I love it.

Evening all, i’m three months into modified CG and my hair has gone from fine flat misery to happy fine wavy joy (on a good wash day anyway!)

I’m currently using johnson’s baby shampoo (new formula, no sulfates) to wash 2-3 times a week, garnier papaya hair food (with a light touch, my hair is fine), and a heat cap plus shea moisture black castor oil treatment as a deep conditioner once a week, after a clarifying wash and a rice water rinse. I scrunch in some giovanni leave in and some boucleme gel while soaking wet, squeeze out with a t-shirt and diffuse.

Pretty happy with how i’m progressing so far, but am wondering if anyone could recommend a protein treatment and/or their favourite protein-containing styling products? My hair LOVES protein and it would be nice to be able to add more into my routine without the faff of boiling rice!

this was today after a wet refresh - one aide is wavy, one side is like ‘yeah, whatever’

Still can’t believe how far i’ve come though!

I've not had great experience of shea moisture, so far. Stupidly I keep trying, though. Have some duoerfruit complex stuff to try when I'm done completely with another one. Might just bin the last of it in account if old age. Been doing my thing of using it up. On DS1 and it leaves his hair, which is similar to mine, like brillo pads.

@SophieLion my major concern is that I dump £20 on a bottle of something and either my hair reacts badly to it or I can't cope with the scent.

Nice waves bo and KnitFast. My hair has been in a messy bun the last two days as it's so hot. The front, shorter layers went super curly yesterday with the humidity.

My only problem with the Shea butter and Jamaican Castor oil conditioner was the colour, but silver/grey hair discolours so easily. The same with the the Coconut Macademia Garnier hair food (though I added a few drops of gentian violet to make it a purple conditioner instead) both were creamy yellow and quite scented but rich.

Welcome knit. I'm interested in the Hairfinity Treatment Mask. I don't think I'd need to use it often, but I think my hair will at some point tip towards being too much moisture and not enough protein. It's out of stock at the moment though.

Thanks quirky, may I suggest you read up a bit on cationic compounds. I've recently figured out that's the thing that makes the difference for me. They have several benefits but among them is their ability to preserve colour. Their ability to bond to hair and improve lipid (oils and butter) absorption/adherence while strengthening hair should also make it interesting for you as well.

Knit my experience with a protein treatment wasn't that great. I think it's difficult to assess at the beginning how much protein you need and a treatment is potentially too much swinging you in the opposite direction. You could try the curls blueberry bliss leave in conditioner, it's a good amount of protein without being a full on treatment.

Thanks, bo, I did used to do baking soda paste quite regularly as a clarifying treatment. Nice to know some of the science behind it rather than just because somebody said so.

Yes, it's a lot easier to make decisions when you know the mechanisation behind something. I was really clueless why I'm enjoying such heavy products like the bounce curl clump cream and my Christophe robin mask when usually an ingredient list that rich looking would terrify me as it would just sit on top of my hair looking lanky. The cationic compounds in the formula explained it all and I already knew my hair liked a good polyquat but I had no idea what they did.

I'll have to see if it causes any buildup over time as I am usually prone to that (but have been using the Christophe robin mask for years). Wasn't easy to find a shampoo with the necessary ingredient recommended but now found one from living proof that's also chelating and clarifying in case I do have need of one.

Bit of an experiment today. I just washed as normal and then applied some leave in. Micro plopped a bit and resettled it when right way up and applied a tiny bit more leave in to the top layers. Left it to dry. No gel. I'm not unhappy with it and it's nice to know this is always an option.