➿ 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

Ps I can't believe how quickly this thread is moving. It must be the Bo and Pupsie effect. I rarely post on other threads (except an ongoing exercise one) and normally end up killing them off

I've looked at the GA.MA IQ as an alternative to the Dyson, it's still a fair bit of money though. I do wonder how many of those Dysons were gifted, everyone with a social media presence has one. You should ask your hairdresser when you see her, sure she'll have good suggestions.

As I understand it you do olaplex 1 and 2 with your hair treatment, so it's mixed in and 3 is a maintenance you do a couple of weeks after to maintain results but can also be used on its own. It's just not as concentrated of a treatment. My hairdresser uses their shampoo and conditioner on me and it looks great that day but goes limp and greasy the next

You will have some low porosity Sophie, everyone does, virgin hair coming out of your head is always low porosity (unless you're seriously ill maybe). We tend to have a mix and hair becomes more porous at the ends just from damage over time which is why those become dry and split easily. Depending on what else you do the balance will go in one direction or the other, colour will make your more porous and bleaching even more.

Lol Sallie @ the Bo and Pupsie effect.

I can't find the Ingegirl you're talking about on IG. Is it possible to link please?

Yes I definitely have a mix of porosity and can see that that's quite normal.

I got the collapsable diffuser recommended by someone but in reality, because I have so much hair, it's too small. I think I need a much bigger one.

Client I was considering a silk bonnet at some point but not sure. You don't like?

I still haven't got around to reading about protein. I did just buy some rice for the rice water rinse.

Has anyone tried the Aussie Instand Freeze Gel? Seems quite popular. Trying to remember the gifting and sponsored posts aspect of all this, as per the skincare influencers too.

Sophie

I came back with the recommendation as I thought my post looked like I was pissing on everyone's chips.

Yes, she's amazing and only cuts curly girl method, nothing else. She worked with Lorraine massey before she went to the states. All the products she uses are curly girl too.
I do wish it had worked for me, but that's maybe because I'm older, I'm in my 50's.
I really can't recommend her enough, and including the train fare it cost me £50 not cheap but she doesn't recommend going every 6 weeks, more like 10/12.

I'm 50 @dev. Do you mind me asking, what was it that didn't work? Just out of interest.

It was lovely on top but underneath just still frizzed. Within 30 mins of seeing Vicky it did too.
The top was lovely defined curls, but underneath was like a birds nest.
No matter what I did nothing would work.

I'm not interested in Olaplex no 1 or 2 Bo. Just no 3 which I understand is a good CG friendly deep conditioning treatment for damaged or coloured hair (want to use it after I colour again although planning to use an organic range).

I think you mean Sophie not Sallie Pupsie! Sorry correct name is Ingecurls (not ingegirl - I actually googled ingegirl and it came up with some very dodgy websites )

It's a shame it didn't work out for you Devlesko. Couldn't Vicky tell you what the problem might be?

My Innersense and Jessicurl products have arrived ! And my thermal cap!! Am planning rice treatment on sunday followed by deep conditioning and then styling with Rockin Ringlets and my usual DC gel (so only adding in one new thing).

Pupsie my cousin has instant freeze gel and loves it. I imagine it is similar to the Jessicurls spiralicious gel as they are both protein and glycerin free.

Just come across the Gama professional IQ you mentioned Bo. It's very odd looking. More like a microphone than a hair dryer. Also not particularly cheap (although much cheaper than dyson!)

Olaplex 1 and 2 is CGM friendly too, they add it to dye to help limit the damage it does to hair. 3 is a less concentrated version. It's not a deep conditioner (or protein treatment), it's a stand alone treatment and you have to do a whole routine after it. Can't remember if you have to shampoo it out or not, but it's not a conditioner.

Yes the GAMA is not much cheaper but the diffuser is almost identical to the Dyson which seems to be one of the main selling points of the Dyson. I came across an interesting thread on Reddit when looking for hairdryer possibilities, and there's another one about how the temperatures aren't low at all here so that's permanently ruled out the Dyson for me which is great for my dislike of Mr Dyson. The only thing selling it to me was the promise of gentler lower heat that would be good for hair health, it clearly doesn't deliver on that and there's plenty of diffuser options out there.

Oops. Sorry Sophie

Morning, has anyone come across Philip Martin's organic base colour range?

Sophie, never heard of it but if you are after reddish/auburn tones, henna is amazing esp for curls. Not just colour but also care. I have dark hair and use henna once a month. it gives a great shine but the conditioning properties are absolute bombe.

The Boucleme cotton towel is back in stock on their website if anyone was waiting. I've just ordered.

Made a very exciting discovery today of a shop full to the brim of hair and beauty products a mix of imported and local products, not over priced and lovely hopefully knowledgable staff. They suggested some Cantu items as not to heavy or expensive so I've got a shampoo, protein/moisturising mask and mousse to try.
Hoping even if I don't get any curlier itll keep my hair healthy and less dried and damaged

Currently sat with modified rice water rinse on, ie mask with some deep conditioner added. It was a bit of a faff and there was too much (followed curlycailin's recipe and quantities). Also feels a bit wasteful re the rice. Also wondering if anyone makes one I could just buy but that's just me being lazy.

Pupsie, the "recipe" Cailin has on her website is for 2 people. The correct amount is half of that amount of rice and water. I made that mistake too. She has the right amount for 1 person in her IG or somewhere else.

Venge, I don't want to go red like henna. Just want my natural colour which is a fake warming brown - not completely cold like black.

Outtheforest, that's an exciting find! Good luck with the new products. Some people find cantu quite heavy depending on hair type. I can't remember what your hair is like. I always like the smell of cantu products - coconut.

Oh thanks Sophie. How odd. Who'd make enough for two?! I got it from her blog and missed that bit.

sophie my hair is I think around 2B maybe with the odd strand of 2A and 2C. But it's very thick in both strand thickness and amount of it. I realised I actually bought a garnier brand shampoo. There where a lot of products to choose from so figured I'd start with the cheapest

Sophie, there is also brown henna if you dont want chemical dye.

Pupsie, I think it was for her and her daughter? I'm not sure. In any case I used the amounts from the blog and then added the one tablespoon of conditioner (which I think is enough for one person) so my proportions ended up all wrong: too much rice protein to too little conditioner and my hair felt a little dry afterwards. Told my cousin and after much discussion we realised her blog is double the amount of rice etc. I don't think her blog was clear (or if it was, we both missed it!)

Sounds like Cantu will be ok for you then Outheforest if your hair is thick. I do have the curl cream but my individual strands are quite fine and it did weigh my hair down a bit.

Oh I didn't know that Venge. I will ask my hairdresser on Monday as she is into all the organic stuff. My colour is a real mess at the moment though and needs sorting so I wonder if henna is strong enough to do that....?

Sophie thankfully I only used half the rice. It didn't feel nice. Was a bit gross tbh.

Sophie, henna can be quite strong and it is permanent and does not wash out. just fades a bit over time. From what I read, it is not good for covering grey.

and if you have chemical dye I think there are some issues with henna. worth a google.

Well I won't be doing that again. It's lost some of the wave and feels/looks like it's taken a step back.

Felt so mank I had to wash it again. Clarified, put regular conditioner on for 3 minutes then tee-shirt dabbed and leave in conditioner. No gel tonight.

I think my hair is probably pretty well.balanced and the rice concoction was too much. Also think less is more for me.

I found these two photos useful: