➿ 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

this is my day 4 hair today. pre denman I would like like that usually on day two. On wash day and day 1 it looks best though.

Well I've scrunched out now but I do think the protein treatment robbed me of some moisture. I'll deep condition again next time. I like the Innersense gel to use, it was another one that was giving me difficulty of easily scrunching out, maybe I was too impatient and should have left it to dry longer, normally I do what Client does and leave it overnight and then SOTC in the morning.

Hi Em, I'm wavy so I'm a bit different, I always use my Mason Pearson boar bristle paddle brush before I wash and I use a wide tooth comb during styling/conditioning but not always, my hair isn't prone to tangling so you usually I don't, but I needed it a lot today which probably has to do with the protein treatment I used yesterday.

See the issue I still have with mine is the curls just drop. So by day 3-4 it's tangled and virtually straight but not in a nice way! I still haven't cracked that, my hair doesn't like being refreshed so I just accept day 3-4 is hair up and then wash it

Fab head of hair @vengeancer! You're making me reconsider a Denman brush again, though I still think it's wasted on me.

Client I'm always confused by that as most curlies hair just seems to go mad the further along, mine slowly drops, although it's been pretty good for the last month or so. It definitely improved with the introduction of the chelating shampoo now that I think about it.

Wow I love your hair venge!

Some lovely waves there Bo, especially on the far side.

I've not got to grips with partings yet. I usually part just off centre and of course I'm used to doing so with a brush and getting a really defined parting. I'm trying to just create a softer parting with my fingers, gently, but I'm not confident on where it natural sits best at the moment and it's very wonky. Don't suppose it matters. Will see what happens once it's cut.

PS I do feel my hair at the roots, but from underneath so the bottom third of my scalp. I realised that I need to check higher up.

Upper back is still tight and sore Sophie, thanks. It'll settle in a day or two but I do miss my monthly chiropractor appointment.

thanks pupsie and bo. A lot of TLC goes into it and it took me a good decade to understand what works and what doesn't. unfortunately, there is no curly blue print. It's all so individual. what type, low/high porosity etc etc.... a lot of trial an error on my side but worth to be persistent.

Really nice curls Vengeancer!

Curly Cailin advises strongly against sleeping with a gel cast in hair. Can't remember exactly why - perhaps to do with moisture? I have that mason Pearson brush too Bo but never use it. Gave it to my eldest DC (straight hair. It's an amazing brush).

My curls don't like being refreshed either Client. It makes the curls go tighter but not as smooth. But after 3/4 days I'm ok to wash again or tie it up.

Your waves are looking nice Bo. Some lovely ones round your face. I've got rather confused as to what you liked and what you didn't though....

I completely agree Vengeancer that it's all so individual to your hair and what you like etc etc. But it's encouraging to hear you got there in the end. Sometimes feel like giving up - which I did once and cut it all off!!!

Re refreshing - I refresh most days a bit as I always look deranged after waking up (I don't put my hair into a bun or a pineapple as it doesn't agree with my curls the next day). I refresh by taking a little bit of standard conditioner (not curl cream/not leave in conditioner) and mix it with water and work it a bit into my curls. Anything else causes frizz.

Hhhmmm maybe I should try refreshing with conditioner Vengeancer. My curls themselves are normally ok but the pineapple makes them stick in weird directions. I find using a styling product to refresh just doesn't agree with my hair (curls seem to go tighter and stiffer) and can cause frizz too actually.

I find using a styling product to refresh just doesn't agree with my hair (curls seem to go tighter and stiffer) and can cause frizz too actually.

same here. Saw the conditioner version in a few YouTube videos and gave it a try

My hair takes about 3 hours to air dry with no product. If I'm using gel or any styling product using humectant, you can double that.

I've spent a fortune over the past year but been absolutely wowed by the results from garner hair food. About this time yesterday, I washed over the side of the bath with the end of a bottle of cantu shampoo, conditioned with the banana hair food, scrunching in water and combing out the tangles I get at the nape of my neck, where my hair isn't as coarse. Rinsed well scrunched in a small amount of the hair food as a leave in, blotted out the drips with a towel.

Stood up and patted a glob of the cantu custard over the top of my head, then leant over the bath and scrunched another handful in to the rest of my hair. Plopped in a t-shirt until bored, then air dried. Went to bed around midnight with it still in the cast.

The results this morning were a little messy but I seem to have everything from 2a to 3a on my head, so that's to be expected. It's rare that I get it this shiny and halo free and I'm loving the little flourish on the end curl.

And yes, I'm pale! And those are natural silver highlights!

I love cantu custard but the flaking on me is ridiculous

Yeah, I get bad flakes from it, sometimes. Remarkably, I've had none, today. Just as well with my dark t-shirt!

Your hair looks lovely and light, @botemp

And it's interesting that, for both having wavy hair, we have almost opposite issues. A good hair for me is one where I've managed to nix the volume, somewhat. Also, I haven't experimented enough to be sure but my hair appears to be mildly protein sensitive.

Thanks Pick, I suppose it's one of those grass is greener type of things as the sheer mass of yours makes me envious. I'm a bit scared of Cantu as it's meant to be quite heavy. I've been curious about hair food but weirdly Garnier doesn't sell a lot of their most popular products here but I can get them next door from Belgium ehm.. does it smell like food?

Do you get your hair cut by a curl specialist? I just read something that totally resonated and why I'm always annoyed with hairdressers, so glad I'm not alone. With wavy hair the pattern doesn't really pronounce itself until it's longer and unlike with curly hair, shorter layers don't make it bounce up but rather drag it down and look a bit 2a.

This is what happened when I saw a curly hairdresser it just was a limpy sad mesw. It's why I always get annoyed when any hairdresser cuts it too short, the shorter front layers then just become almost straight and the entire layered cut is just one length which just looks drab. My current hairdresser thankfully understands this, I was so relieved the first time I went there as he was so insistent I should steer away from shorter and keep layers to a minimum and only at the front.

Good luck, everyone. I tried this for 18 months, didn't work despite specialist cut from "Vicky Queen of Curls". I saved tons of money on products though.
Back to my silicon, parables, and alcohol and my hairs brilliant.
If you have 3b/c the method can be a bit more challenging. I've heard a few people say this.

The sheer mass of my hair tends to terrify a lot of hairdressers, @botemp!

My stylist isn't a curly stylist but she's pretty good, so long as I reaming her to keep the thinning shears in her belt. I go to an independent salon with a bit of an "alternative" reputation so they don't churn out the handful of identical hair cuts that Toni & Guy seem to! I'm due a cut in the next few weeks but don't know when I'll get to see her again with lockdown and everything as I normally travel by bus to the city her salon is in. I haven't left my own small city for 10 weeks, now and I'd already exhausted salons that didn't promise lovely straight locks, closer to home!

And yes, I'm wary of a curly cut because it doesn't always clump the same and sometimes I'm happy to just let it sag into much gentler waves, if I know I'm just going to end up tying it back, and I don't want it to look uneven when I do that.

I know you are all from all over the place, but if you can get to Manchester I can recommend Vicky, she did the best cut I've ever had, it's just the method and products that don't work for me.

Oh and it smells of banana and perfume! The banana smell disappears when it dries.

A friend just sent me this link to an ingredients checker aimed.at curly hair. Not sure if it's been mentioned before.

www.curlsbot.com/

Morning all,

Hello Develesko, sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. Thanks for hairdresser details but Manchester is somewhere I would never be. Even when in the UK, I'm in London or Dorset. Queen of Curls is a big title!!! Does she live up to her name??

PickaChew - your hair looks lovely and thick, especially at the ends. No straggly bits or thin ends

I've been researching proteins and making lists and figuring out what each one does. I was also watching a lot on Ingegirl's IG page - she has gorgeous hair and I really like how informative her posts are. The photos she has of protein and moisture deficiency compared to balanced hair have helped confirm that my hair is on the too much moisture side and needs protein (and I've got two Jessicurl protein free products on the way.... why is it that Half the time I order something, I discover a while later that it would have been better to get something else???!!! I'm too impatient). Anyway about to have another look through the science blog Bo linked to.

I also need to look at porosity and the implications of that. This confuses me more than protein. The only thing I'm sure of is that I don't have low porosity hair (I think )

Also, I read somewhere that its a very good idea to follow up hair colouring (which I have to do in the next week or so) with Olaplex 3 treatment. Has anyone done Olaplex?

And finally I think I need to start diffusing because I didn't realise the huge difference between diffusing and air drying. IngeGirl had the Dyson (expensive!!) and Manes by Mell too. Curly Cailin recommends a Diva one. For sure I need a big diffuser. What other ones have people looked at/got? I'm useless with hairdryers.