➿ 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

No I've never root clipped. As mentioned, I was very confused with the order of products and I used a bit more of the Innersense volume lotion than previously. I then scrunched the mousse into my roots at the end without thinking about it when I would otherwise only carefully glaze the mousse at the end, so I then did that too... It was a bit of a mess, I also added the ecoslay gel a step too early but it was already done at that point, I was amazed it turned into something decent after all that.

Ah, I must have missed all that Bo.

Got this to try

Grrrr just lost whole message so to simplify what I wrote

bo - hair looks good and waves and volume too. How many products did you use?!

Quirky - you made me laugh

The no sleep hair method, bung it all on and hope for the best .

Quirky

I thinking about how best to protect my hair in the summer (apart from a hat). Before I go in sea or pool then read it's best to wet hair with plain water so it absorbs less sea/pool water. Also may have heard/read to keep conditioner (LIC?) on it during the day. UV spray?

Anyone got any ideas? Thank you!

Interestingly enough I was just doing some research Sophie as my hair has decided to do its natural summer ballayage early and it's looking a little too warm to my eyes

Thing is, many don't state their UV protection. I have the daily moisturiser (for hair) from Christophe Robin that advertises UV protection on the front and on the back you find out it's SPF6 I'm assuming any that don't state it on the front of the bottle are SPF 6 or less, ie. probably useless.

I've found two SPF 30, one from Clarins which is for face and body and non greasy but not CG friendly. There's alcohol, which I'm somewhat willing to ignore as it is a spray and the majority will evaporate before it gets on your hair, and some silicones but it wouldn't be non greasy otherwise. I'm on the fence about it as the idea of daily oil on my hair isn't something I think would work well for me, also has the Clarins fragrance which I'd rather not reek of. Also not the greatest fan of the UV filters used. It does protect when wet for 40mins so that's a plus.

The other is actually from Apivita but I can't find an INCI here. Since it's more of a 'natural' brand I'm wondering if that's potentially silicone free. Can you find any more information about it on your end? and does Frezyderm maybe do one too 🙏

There's also this Shiseido SPF50 but I'm not sure if that's available in Europe (seems to be made for the US market).

*hair and body, not face and body 🤦

Updating while researching, I found a really good pubmed article here tl;dr version, you really need a broad spectrum SPF for hair. UVA makes colour fade UVB is the big one for protein loss. I'm also coming to the opinion that UV protection for hair is just as essential for hair as it is for skin. Why I've never contemplated this before, I don't know, probably because it's recent science and the amount of products developed are minimal.

I also found another product by ultrasun but it's only got one filter (polysilicone-15 aka Parsol slx) which does protect a small bandwidth of UVB protection but I question whether it's enough. The Apivita only has Avobenzone which only protects for UVA. Clarins is still coming out on top as it has four different filters that covers a broad range of UV rays.

Bo was just wondering at face and body sun cream in my hair!!!
I will have a look in the pharmacies here and send photos of any ingredients. I'll have a read of that article too - thank you.

Is the Clarins one "Sun care oil mist for hair and body" SPF 30 in a yellow bottle?

Yes, It's this one.

Curly Cailin did an IGTV (2 x 1 hours!) the other night about haircuts. It was interesting and I defo feel more confident stating what I want/don't want in terms of layering, thinning etc.

A curly friend who lives locally told me about a curly girl salon that's within half an hour of me. I've had a look. They're trained by Lorraine herself and they seem quite rigid in their approach, which is fine, but that's not what I'm about.

I am probably going to just get an inch or two taken off the overall length, but then I saw these on the salons IG and I do love a bob. I think first I want to see what it will look like with an inch or two though. I can always go shorter.

Went to my pharmacy. No hair SPFs they will ask if they can get the apivita one so I can see ingredients.

All Greek websites show an apivita hair oil that doesn't say SPF 30 on the front. They don't have silicones, alcohol or mineral oils but I don't know what the SPF is as it doesn't say (and wondering if it has an SPF as all their other SPF products say SPF on them). They are €7 or €8 a bottle.

Are you sure that's a hair one you found Bo?

Pupsie, me, I would go to the Lorraine trained hairdresser as so curious to see what all the fuss is about!! Yes I would also chop a little bit first and see. I think a bob is a tricky length - especially with curly hair. And your hair is quite long now. (This comes from someone who chopped her hair off into a pixie on the spur of the moment!!)

Apparently they all available slots are booked up Sophie. I feel torn as am v loyal to my hairdresser who hasn't given me a bad cut yet and has also sorted out the hatchet job I had before I found her. She's been a hairdresser for 30+ years and she does understand my hair so I think I'll be okay. No thinning and long layers will be my instructions.

Oh no I didn't mean you should swap from your hairdresser Pupsie - I remember you saying how you'd been with her for years. Meant that I am so curious to see a "Lorraine Massey trained" hairdresser after all the hype that I would go myself

Oh I didn't take it like that Sophie. But it is tempting! I will see how I go on Wednesday. 5 more sleeps!

Well I guess you always have a back up if your usual hairdresser doesn't do what you want. My cousin said that curly Cailin said not only does she take her own products to the hairdresser but also her own hairdryer and diffuser and dries her hair herself!

I'm also going to pop to supermarket later today or tomorrow as they have a huge section with all the pharmacy brands (like apivita and Frezyderm) so will see if they have something there for the hair.

Yes Sophie and she also said most curlies only need a cut 2-3 times a year. I usually have a root touch up every 5 weeks and a trim every 10.

I thought about taking my own products but I don't know if it's best to let her use hers because of washing out the colour etc. I think one wash with her products isn't going to do any harm?

No I don't think using their products one time will do serious damage. Plus you can treat it as your clarifying/chelating wash. Do the olaplex 3 at home though afterwards.

Been researching hair SPFs which I found here:

"Polysianes" SPF30 by Klorane but it contains isododecane as 7th ingredient which is is a "wax/non-natural oil" and not CG friendly.

"Solaire" SPF50 by Furterer - first ingredient is isododecane (so not CG friendly either).

Apivita one - here no SPF number is given though. I will attach photo of ingredients in next post from my phone - sorry bit of a rubbish photo. I have put the ingredients in isitcg.com and it may or may not be CG friendly (will send photos).

Not quite sure whether worth buying any of these....

I found an article on naturally curly.com which has 15 hair protectors for the summer but only one mentioned SPF number (SPF 18).

Ingredients for Apivita plus results (seems it is CG friendly - with caution) but not sure how much protection it provides

Also the clarins one (ingredients below) has a drying alcohol as first ingredient and and also silicone so definitely not CG approved

INGREDIENTS* : ALCOHOL. DICAPRYLYL CARBONATE. DIISOPROPYL ADIPATE. DIISOPROPYL SEBACATE. DIBUTYL ADIPATE. BUTYLOCTYL SALICYLATE. DIETHYLAMINO HYDROXYBENZOYL HEXYL BENZOATE. ETHYLHEXYL SALICYLATE. HOMOSALATE. ETHYLHEXYL TRIAZONE. POLYSILICONE-15. BIS-ETHYLHEXYLOXYPHENOL METHOXYPHENYL TRIAZINE. ACRYLATES/OCTYLACRYLAMIDE COPOLYMER. PARFUM/FRAGRANCE. CALOPHYLLUM INOPHYLLUM SEED OIL. TOCOPHERYL ACETATE. AQUA/WATER/EAU. ETHYLENE BRASSYLATE. BENZOIC ACID. ALOE BARBADENSIS LEAF JUICE. BUTYLENE GLYCOL. GLYCERIN. CASSIA ALATA LEAF EXTRACT. PHENOXYETHANOL. PLATANUS OCCIDENTALIS BARK EXTRACT. CITRIC ACID. POTASSIUM SORBATE. SODIUM BENZOATE. [S3299A]