➿ Fantastic Haircare: Making Sense and Science of the Curly Girl Method (thread 2)

[botemp]

Offshoot thread 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 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 on the golden triangle of healthy hair
Science-y Hair Blog
The Mestiza Muse
The Beauty Brains (podcast/blog)

Understanding ingredients:

Commonly found ingredients in haircare

Useful information about cosmetic chemistry

Porosity:

(video)

Removing build up:

Shampoos which remove product build up

Cationic compounds (of interest to those with buildup prone and/or fine hair):

Cationic compounds found in cosmetics

Polyquats (of interest to those with buildup prone and/or fine hair):

Polyquat buildup

To polyquats or not

Silicones, polyquats and soap

Another cosmetic ingredient to be afraid of?

Protein/Moisture balance:

(video)

Extract and proteins in CGM, a biochemist explains

(video)

Hygral Fatigue

SPF protection of your hair:

UV protectant ingredients

UV damage of hair (pubmed)

Summers sun and your hair

Rice water rinses:

Rice Water Rinse

Elasticity:

Is it too late to improve your elasticity

Managing elasticity and porosity in hair

Hard and soft water:

(video)

Hard water and your hair

Olaplex:

How does Olaplex hair treatment work

Frizz:

Hair frizz science

What's your frizz type

How to tame your hair based on frizz type

Flash Drying:

Flash Drying

Next level nerdery:

Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair (cosmetic chemists' textbook)

DH and I just watched the first episode of The Undoing. Nicole Kidman's hair is breathtaking. I said to DH that I have a real appreciation for what it takes and he said so does he lol.

I think she always wears wigs when acting 🙊 I know her hair on Top of the Lake (looks very similar to the new show, still need to watch that) was a wig. She doesn't have the wild mane she once had, her own hair has noticeably thinned for years now. She may have alopecia but it's not something she's ever come out with herself.

Oh wow. I had no idea!!

I've seen photos from the Undoing, her hair does look fabulous, wig or not. I feel sorry for her if she has had thinning hair, hair loss is always distressing. I'm sure lots of actors have all sorts of "adjustments" to look like they do .

It looks so realistic quirky. I mean there's a bit of frizz, and in the outside scenes you can just tell it's dropped a bit. It's remarkable. Maybe the thinning hair is just a rumour.

Right now I absolutely love the treluxe gel Bo (although need to try it out for a month or so to really see) but I was still wearing hair down on day 3 and I had been hiking and a 5km run with it and it still looked fine. Your DIY haircut sounds like it went well!

Yes sorry Quirky, the scalp question was to you. Glad it's improving. Does the curlsmith weightless cream LIC contain any protein?

Ninny, I've read about people using LIC, mousse then gel. But some also do mousse, gel, mousse. I've been using the innersense foam and always use a gel afterwards but I'm not sure the foam has a strong a hold as a mousse.

Just googled The Undoing. Hair looks great but it looks a bit styled in some photos (as the top and front are a bit straight). Also she has been straightening her hair for years (such a shame as she had such gorgeous curls) so unless she has been on a super strict CGM regime, I would be surprised if her hair was so healthy and balanced.

I'll leave the speculations to the female hair loss forums. It gets a bit wild there, there's some very angry people about it, though I do understand that it's one of the last things women don't talk about and a major Hollywood star would give it an important voice that would make other women dealing with it feel less alone. I am quite open about it, mostly because hair professionals (not medical, hairdressers, etc.) made me feel absolutely shit about myself because of it but also since I'm one of the lucky few who has seen a good reversal so it's a lot easier, it's asking a lot of someone when they're in the midst of it to be public about it.

You're making me indecisive Sophie, money wise a bunch of samples and the gel are the same price altogether, I'm heavily inclined by your enthusiasm to just buy the treluxe and not be diligent and experiment first. I'm not really in the mood to experiment either... off to YouTube to check out some further reviews and seal my fate.

I have tried 4 gels so far Bo - deva curl one, innersense gel, spiralicious and treluxe (only the one time - washing tomorrow). As you know I've struggled with innersense. The others have all been fine and I like spiralicious a lot. It's just the treluxe was impressive as gave such good, lasting results without diffusing etc.

It could have been the combination of products I used it with (used clump cream as a leave in and then the innersense foam) or my hair. My cousin loves the treluxe gel to but says she never gets much of a cast from it. It gave me a very strong cast and very quickly (even with the air drying). Curly Cailin raves about it on her blog.

What other sample gels are you considering Bo?

bo, that's really awful that hairdressers would be like that about hair loss, you would have thought it was something they come across quite often. Also, getting medical help early is surely the best thing to do and treating it as taboo is not exactly encouraging that. I know I have a few thinner patches from previous scalp damage (luckily, I have a lot of hair and they're small, so it's not very noticeable) and also from the most recent scalp psoriasis, where a few lumps of scalp and hair with it, peeled off. Hopefully, it will grow back, and is just thinned out temporarily.

SophieLion, I can't see any protein in the Curlsmith Weightless Air Dry Cream, I think the only protein I use is in wash off products. That seems to be enough for me atm.

Bo, forgot to say that the treluxe gel has a smell which I don't really like. It smells a bit chemical-y but once it's on the hair you don't notice it.

Thanks quirky. Sounds like a good product as I like creams on the hair but..... I already have too many stylers/curl enhancers so will need to wait until I run out of something else before I try anything new

It's really a lic, but was less heavy than the Cantu I was using. Once I adjusted my shampoos and conditioners, I needed something lighter.

My curly haircut is cancelled

Mine too Queen but think about how much longer our hair will be come cutting time.

Oh sorry to hear that ninny and Queen.

Yes I think you did say it was a LIC on an earlier post quirky but I wasn't paying attention

Well, obviously there's far more important stuff going on than haircuts. However, the Bristol salon has opened up extra slots to try to fit in as many people with November appointments as possible before Thursday. I've got an appointment at 3.15pm today, and with the owner herself. Nervous but so excited. My hair looks good for half a day at the moment. I'm a bit fed up with it. I'm hoping that a cut will make all the difference.

Ooh, that's good news, hope it goes well, Ninny.

Well, the jury is out. It looked good after cutting/before washing and wet. It feels gross ATM with all the products in it. I am desperate to wash it. I hope I can do sth decent with it...

@NinnyNewName what products did they use?

I've washed and styled it and diffused to mostyly dry (which was much quicker than usual, obviously). It feels shorter and more layered and a bit odd, but I think it's just that it feels lighter and frames my face more vs being a lot shorter. But I feel a little naked, but that's because I have so much hair, usually. I'll see how it is tomorrow.

The salon owner was lovely although an odd start as she approached me with straight hair and a mask on, didn't introduct herself and I didn't recognise her. She can't quite get over her success (people travel from all over the UK, plus day trips from Europe!).

I didn't like the Aveda styling products and my hair felt mank. She also wasn't impressed by:

washing hair upside down
styling upside down
any kind of plopping
single product squishing (she applied three products THEN squished)
overthinking/analysis of protein/moisture balance, porosity and all the other stuff we get worked up about.

We had an interesting chat about influencers. She said one tried to get her to try Boucleme, and she did and didn't like it and they were messaging back and forth and she told her as much, and the influencer said she didn't like it either and the salon owner was a bit but you've been recommending it on your IG etc. Influencer then removed all reference to said brand from her IG grid and said something about the brand not paying her last invoice. I only mentioned 2 IGers and she didn't mention this one by name, but I think I can guess who it is and it was one of the ones I mentioned. Because I had already noticed this person starting to recommend the Aquis towel as her "favourite towel ever" when she'd never mentioned the brand before, and in fact used to rave about the Boucleme cotton one. And also she posted that a reader had said she was like the CH of curly hair, and this made her chuffed to bits and she said that was her dream.

Oh, and she took me downstairs to the basement to cut it - took photos down there. Then upstairs to wash and style. Then took after photos with a huge ring light. But otherwise no trying to make it look worse before.

DH really liked it when I walked in. Said it was mega curly. I'm reserving judgement to the morning and keeping everything crossed.

@QueenPaws

Be Curly Co Wash
Sap Moss Conditioner
Style Prep
Something else
Confixor

I'm half expecting to be on her IG so I'll let you know what the something else was!

Oh, and a couple of other things. She said she didn't need to cut much off as it is healthy, and actually there wasn't much on the floor in terms of length, and not a vast amount re volume actually. She said I'm 2b to 3a curl-wise and medium porosity, generally (as we know most people have a mix).

It was interesting watching her work. More like an artist than an exact science like my usual hairdresser.

That's interesting about upside down.. did she say why?

She said it wouldn't flatten the back?!

*would flatten the back.

Hmmm. I'm not sure about my hair. It's curlier and fuller and has a better over all shape for sure. DH and DSs think it looks really nice.

I think the layers around my face are too short. Also she thinned them out (only the very front part) by slicing the scissors down through the hair - in one place each side. I didn't realise she was going to do that before she did the first side. I thought that was a complete no-no in curly cuts but I do have a lot of hair and it really did need framing around my face so maybe in certain circumstances it's okay.

I think it's just going to take a while to get used to it and I'm looking forward to it growing! Maybe in a few weeks when it's longer, because it's got a good shape, I'll love it.

I don't think I'll go back. It's a long and not particularly pleasant drive. Which leaves me wondering what to do next. Revert to my hairdresser, hope she hasn't got the hump and hope she can keep a similar shape, or find a new one entirely, which in itself feels risky.

I've tried to take some pics but none are really doing it justice.