➿ 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'd get everything

I think the BC gel is a gamble, I've seen it work really well for some people with hair similar to yours so it could be a game changer but it could also be, what it seems to be to a lot of people, a bit of a temparemantal product. It's a bit apples and oranges though, soft vs hard gives very different result. I'd say the Innersense foam sort of sits between those two, so it give good definition like a hard hold but it's pretty weightless so there's softness too, but I know using just a foam is mostly for finer hair textures but as a product you use with one or the other gel you can sort of pick up some of the missing qualities (ie it makes a hard hold gel a little less heavy and gives a bit more structure to a soft hold).

Sorry, my mistake, they used to have a hairspray that was not CG friendly but they've changed it, I think. Still heard it was drying though so only really to use it when you absolutely need it rather than as part of your regular routine.

Thanks Skinful, never thought to do that with the I Create Volume. Must admit I was a bit confused by its consistency at first as I was expecting a cream of sorts and it's more gel like but not really a gel (Chia pudding or natto best describes it for me but those are some odd references...). I'll give a try sometime as a single styler.

Ah soSkinful, you're not using the innersense gel (I create hold)?

Yes I'm tempted to buy both Bo and justify it by the high delivery cost makes it worth getting more.

I would use the innersense foam combined with a gel. Yes I think BC is a gamble right now - I don't feel experienced enough with my hair or techniques to be able to mess around with it to figure out how it get it to work for me.

Has anyone used the innersense I create hold gel?

I want to get 2 gels. I will probably get the treluxe one and wanted orange marmalade but it's sold out everywhere (sorry if I've already said all this) hence the interest in the innersense one.

Oh I just read your comment re the BC hairspray Bo. Is not read/heard anything about it being drying. Just rather sticky but that stops once it's dry. Will investigate the drying....

As mentioned before I use the I Create Hold and when I mentioned 'Innersense gel' that's the one I meant to not confuse anyone further.

Do you only look at UK shops Sophie, a lot of the German and Dutch shops deliver throughout Europe at not insane prices (often free over a certain spend) and carry a lot of brands. Unfortunately, like elsewhere, the stocks are depleted ATM.

Sorry Bo - was getting confused with the lotion and the gel and the names. Just scrolled back and found yourself comments on the Innersense gel. Thank you.

Is there a particular Dutch/EU site which you would recommend? I like the sound of free shipping

I use the Innersense I Create Hold gel and that's the one I love. I do also have the lotion which I plan on trying in place of the gel. Powerdomi has an IGTV on this.

Yes, I figured I'd clarify as it was becoming confusing.

I think the sites below have English versions but I can't find it on mobile

www.myhairshop.nl/ has a really wide selection and has free shipping over €100 to your country. Under €20 below that (depends on the amount). No ecoslay and Innersense though.

www.cghair.nl/producten/proefjes?ep%5B67362526%5D%5Bpage%5D=1 This one has all the brands you're currently looking for but their stocks aren't great ATM. They do have a really extensive collection of large samples (and usually have more but if the product isn't in stock they don't sell the samples of it) but they're a bit hidden on the site and the travel sizs are hidden elsewhere again. Shipping costs are calculated in the basket, so not sure what they'd be.

saricurls.de/apps/help-center#!hc-welche-versandkosten-fallen-an from Germany has a flat European fee of €13.90. they have ecoslay in stock and also sell innersense and bounce curl (didn't check the stock for those). They often have a 10% code going.

Pupsie, what does she do with the volume lotion then? Something like Skinful? No idea how to access igtv without signing up otherwise I'd find it myself...

Bo she uses the foam then the lotion. She says both need to be applied on damp hair so she puts LIC in then puts her shower cap on for a bit then takes the excess water out with a cotton towel. She applies the foam then the lotion although she says most ppl do it the other way around but this way works best for her hair.

Ah thanks, I could never do that I always need to apply on soaking wet, I could try the swap in product order though. I think in my frankenhair madness where I completely lost the plot in the order of my products I may have done this... I'm going to try Skinful's way first because the idea on one and done is far more appealing.

I am going to try the foam and the lotion for my next wash day (tmrw night). I also want to try the Innersense Gel with a little LA Hold on top but will do that another time. I need to improve my cast. Really happy with my hair post styling but it's not holding. I want the cast to still be there when I wake up.

Thanks Bo. I just checked out those 3 but unfortunately none of them had all the products I want. And at least two sold out of the innersense I want.

Have you tried the BC hairspray Pupsie? It's supposed to really help with hold. I was considering it but now decided it's a product I don't really need at this stage plus Bo did mention it might be drying (although not got round to having a look myself on that point).

The other thing Powerdomi said is to make sure you shake the products well. I can't remember if it was Innersense or JC but she said one brand needs shaking. I'll check later and report back.

I just checked. She said to shake all Jessicurl products. And actually she also shook the Innersense lotion.

Sophie I've not tried a hairspray yet. Been trying to avoid that. Just because of the connotation/product overload.

I did order a mini clothes steamer from Amazon. It arrived today.

That's the exact reason I decided I didn't need the hairspray Pupsie! still Trying to keep my Routine simple - at the moment I'm
Only using a LIC and a gel. Hairspray is just another layer I don't think is necessary for me at this stage.

I think jessicurl products needs shaking. I think I remember jessicurl lady saying on their website. I shake mine.

Argh clearly I can't read a whole post properly you just said it was jessicurl Pupsie.

Sorry re the confusion between lotion and gel! I use it as a gel so I really didn’t even realise it was a lotion IYSWIM.
I just haven’t the time or inclination to be using lots of combinations of things.
Cleanser,conditioner and styler is enough for me.
But it’s very easy to keep trying to find the holy grail of product.

Same skinful. If I could crack the cast that would be good. But also I fully expect results to change anyway with seasons etc etc so I accept there will be some experimentation for some time to come but I am not interested in the theory for the sake of it.

Hi Bo, was re-reading the thread and saw you got good results with the BC clump cream and the BC gel together. But that your results with clump cream and another gel (might have been innersense or JC) weren't as good. Have you managed to use the clump cream successfully with other products (I won't be buying the BC gel)?

Also saw you weren't keen on the orange marmalade. Queen - you like orange marmalade I believe? Also Queen, what do you think of clump cream? I saw you have it too.

Thank you

Yes, I'm not superkeen about orange marmalade as it's really stiff and crunchy. It sometimes forces clumps together when I have my head forward and then it gets tangled when I rotate my head back up again (without the rotation it's even worse) when those clumps consist of pieces very far away from each other right side up and untangling those leaves them not looking great. I have found it useful by mixing or when layering gels but I kind of liken it to acting like glue, in the way it attaches to hair. I struggle to scrunch it out which usually leads to frizz so that probably colours my view too.

Incidentally I did a rice rinse (for hydration, a diluted version) last night, but just the rinse, no shampoo, a sort of refresh but my goal is adding in some hydration after all the clarifying lately (hydration definitely improved). After, I used the bounce curl clump cream (smidge) as LIC and the Innersense I create volume lotion following Skinful's method.

I slept in a silk scarf as it wasn't dry before bed and it's still damp now but it looks promising, soft, shiny, bounce, and smooth with next to no frizz. It actually reminds me of that BC cc and BC gel wash day. It's not that mega full body look that seems to be specific to BC but it's also free from the frazzle frizz that had. The Innersense I create volume does work like a soft hold gel and it works well for me in a way the BC gel didn't. There isn't a lot of volume but that may be down to not really being a wash day and it's not fully dry yet.

Other good results with the BC clump cream have been with using multiple gels and foam, more recently results with a routine of BC clump cream, I create volume, I create hold, I create lift were the best wash days I had (but this was before realising I had the polyquat buildup, I assume it will still work well or hopefully even better for me now).

Attaching a pic as I'm about to exercise and who knows what that will do, especially since it's not entirely dry. The flatness at the roots is down to sleeping in a silk scarf, I've never really figured that out, I assume it's just a hair being piled on top issue.

You can see there's quite a lot of curling up if you compare it to my last two wash days where my hair looks a lot longer, the all BC routine did that too (although rice rinse could be responsible here). Anyhow, based off of this, I think innersense I create volume lotion is a pretty good BC creme gel alternative, similarly soft hold so the clumps are more pronounced and an added bit of protein to give bounce. I'll repeat this again in a proper wash day next time for comparison.

The ouidad climate control gel (the normal one, not the strong hold) is meant to be a good alternative to BC gel too, thankfully I didn't buy that as it's full of polyquats (which aren't an issue for you, so it may work well). Lookfantastic carry it.

The clump cream just works for me and my hair usually hates leave in conditioner!
Orange marmalade is the strongest hold I've found, it can be a nightmare to scrunch out definitely

Your hair looks good Bo. Lots of lovely curls and waves. Gary any frizz which I guess is the trade off for what you see as lack of volume although I think it looks good.

Who is Gary and what is he doing in my hair 🤣

There's a bit more volume now, and a touch more softness as a result but I'm still happy enough with it. The elasticity is much improved, it's super springy if I pull at it, it bounces back ridiculously quick and I'm most pleased with that after the heavy duty clarifying.

I was worried it was going to be dry and frazzled again from the protein in the rice rinse but tbh I think the amount of protein in it is heavily overrated.

Queen, do you always use something like lube 😱 to scrunch out the ecoslay? I think I know this but then forget when it comes time to scrunch out 🤦