➿ 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)

Your hair looks fab quirky!! Looks like it really liked the hydrating conditioner.

Are you Liking the treluxe serum Queen?
*
Ninny,* I think manes by mell has a video about that. I have watched it but don't remember enough to tell you the answer to your question!

Really enjoying the serum, seems to help with frizz but enhances curls too. Smells nice and not mega pricey

I don't usually use it as a deep conditioning treatment. Mid week I usually use all the Gallinee stuff, including the mask, whereas at the weekend, I tend to clarify. I think like bo says, the very cold weather plus heating meant I felt my hair needed something extra. It obviously liked it, this is what my curl pattern was before perimenopause.

I think the balance is different in conditioners and the deep variation, where the first will have more cationic ingredients and the latter will have more butters and oils. But a lot of CG conditioners tend to be heavy on oils and butter so they're pretty much like deep conditioners. I have the lighter Innersense conditioner and it's like a deep conditioner for me. CG deep conditioners tend to be too heavy for me.

Well my Lookfantastic order finally came in (still waiting on the rest of my black Friday things) and I tried the Gallinee mask and the Giovanni foam last nigjt. The Gallinee really surprised me, I didn't think it was that conditioning until I washed it out and hair feels very nourished and my scalp also feels really nice. I've only ever had similar scalp feeling after using the Christophe Robin sea salt scrub shampoo which is a lot harsher on hair (I used it to clarify).

The Giovanni foam is nothing spectacular but that's kind of what I wanted from it, I just scrunched it in with gel over the top left it to air-dry and then went somewhat damp into my silk cap and it looks good this morning, wavier as opposed to curly (might be down to the Gallinee, it's heavier than it feels and I left it on for far longer) but with good definition. It's not crazy voluminous like Innersense foam but none of the weird frizz so it's great for when I don't want to do the whole routine thing. It's been kind of hard to scrunch out though, it's still partially in but with the drizzly weather I'm taking that as a positive.

I'm glad you liked the Gallinee mask, bo, I think it's the best product of their three. It doesn't seem very conditioning but is, iyswim.

Hi Bo, may have asked before (so sorry if that's the case) but which site do you order hair products from in NL?
Trying to get hold of treluxe serum and it's sold out everywhere in UK. Thanks

Hi Sophie, I buy Treluxe here shipping to Greece is nearly as much the product though also they're using the national mail which has a lot of delays at the moment so expect it in the new year at the earliest.

Saricurls in Germany have a cheaper shipping rate for all of Europe and use DHL so will probably get to you quicker.

Hope that helps

How are you liking the serum btw Queen?

Thank you. Will check them out. I have found a curly buddy here so thankfully we can share shipping costs but there are some limits!!

Really enjoying the serum, it seems to enhance curls and also reduce frizz

Urgh do I need to get it too....

Curly buddy sounds like a great find (and friend), Sophie. Sari curls sells a brand called Curly Girl Magic, apparently the gel is really great and the serum is really good for scrunching out the crunch, there's two though I'd have to look up which one of the two serums is the SOTC one.

My hair's overdue a wash, I keep waiting for my black Friday orders to arrive (only 1 came in so far), so my hair's in a state as my patience runs out. Strict lockdown though so I'm not going anywhere (and if I do, it's hat weather ) but I'll wash it in a bit. I also think I need to do another trim.

Sorry, not curly girl magic, it's pretty curly girl (can you really blame me though with brand names like that out there...)

You are a star Bo! Thank you so much. I have just ordered my treluxe from Sari (good test of my awful German too) and you were right re delivery cost. Much cheaper than shipping from UK.

Yes I've heard of pretty curly girl. I've seen the Dutch IGers using it a lot.

I also wanted the hairfinity masque but Sari doesn't do hairfinity. And neither does look fantastic now for some reason.

Yeah, I think they're both Dutch brands but I'm not sure, they seem to presenting themselves as international brands, it may just be that NL is their EU base.

You can get Hairfinity from their own site and their shipping is really cheap. here, I calculated the shipping on the mask and it was a little under €7 to Greece (I chose central Greece as the region, but I assume only the islands will have a higher cost).

Glad to have helped finding you Sari curls, especially with no deal Brexit looming it's good to have alternatives.

I've also seen people raving about Curlkeeper. But never tried any of their products.

Thank you again Bo. I don't need to order the hairfinity right now as have another similar mask to use up but will probably order from them direct then.

Am so happy I found the treluxe as I know it came In Stock at naturalistic a few days ago abs by the time I looked (one day later), it was all sold out again. Seems the treluxe business is doing well. I added myself to the waitlist at house of curls and naturalistic so will be interested to see when it comes in.

Sorry to hear you are in lockdown. We've been since beginning of November and schools shut since then. Hoping schools will open again after Christmas.

Yes, it's a lot stricter than it's ever been before so it's taking some adjustment. Schools won't be going back until mid-end of January but they're looking to open up primary schools a bit earlier 🤞

I've not come across curlkeeper, but I can barely keep up there's some new brand every week, it seems. I'm trying to just stick with what I have (though might end up ordering the Treluxe serum, but I'll hold off on your experience then I have two reliable reports) but it's very annoying waiting on my severely delayed orders (I'm somewhat concerned that if they have to resend them at this moment in time with standard post I'll be slapped with import taxes and VAT in case of a no deal ).

Off topic (of this thread), I ordered the Foreo Bear, I'll let you know how I get on with it. Google memories or whatever it's called (part of the image gallery backup thing), reminded me of how great I looked exactly one year ago, so that was the final push I needed. It's not that I look bad or anything, a year of lockdown and pandemic just seems to have turned my face a bit squidgy, it's just not exuding the taut healthy bounce it used to which I blame less on ageing or products and more on not talking as much anymore, being stuck indoors, not as active, etc. So a bit of muscle toning of the face makes sense. Did you ever end up ordering that or the Nuface?

I don't think curlkeeper is a new brand Bo but you are totally right: there are just so many brands. I have found some things I like (and what I don't like) so going to stick with those and will use the "spare" products on my curly DD.

Hope your package arrives soon. Couriers just within greece are taking 2 weeks plus at the moment.....

Actually I completely forgot to follow up on the nuface or the foreo bear after my initial enthusiasm but funnily enough saw something about nuface today and though I must look into it again. Do let me know how you get on with the foreo. Do you also need to use that every day?
Will have to do some research about the two.

Yes, you need to use it daily for the first few weeks but it's a lot shorter amount of time and it's a stronger current (the standard bear, the mini is less powerful). The before and afters of the Foreo impressed me more and it has anti shock protection, I always get unpleasant zaps when I get laser hair removal on my face which is obviously a different technology but apparently the Nuface can be quite zappy so that would probably put me off. I think currentbody does allow you to trial the Nuface for X amount of days and if you don't like it you can return it for a small fee.

My derm has used something with a current on my face which she said was for my spots (current destroys bacteria I think). That also zaps a bit as she puts it on and zaps every time it loses a bit of contact with the skin. It's not pleasant.

Really looking forward to hearing about your experience with the foreo. I know I would use it every day if that was the requirement.

I'll look into the nuface trial system but have a feeling that it will be a complete performance doing that here!

Back to hair: I was looking at my products and feel the only one that has been an absolute waste of money for me (and doesn't even work on DD's curls) is the innersense gel. Does anyone else have any products like that?

Devacurl wavemaker for me. It wasn't cheap, first sort of CG purchase (other things were CG approved but not of the CG movement brands) and I initially did really like it but couldn't consistently replicate the results (now figured out it's the polyquats in it building up) and then the devacurl 'scandal' happened and I stopped using it altogether as I was experiencing hair loss (most likely unrelated, thought so at the time but better safe than sorry). It's still sitting in the bathroom haunting me. I really should just toss it out.

I really like the Innersense gel for myself though, I do use it on soaking wet hair, but maybe you just got a bad batch. I don't think they're too consistent (not unheard of with natural brands) as my sample bottle was not as stiff as the full size one.

Foreo talk: I personally find something you use everyday easier to stick to than every other or 3x a week. I came across this demonstration as apparently the instructions from the manual aren't that good so I figured I'd familiarise myself with it and I'll be amazed if it's that effective on me (I wasn't expecting eyebrows to shoot up after one session) but I'll let you know when it gets here (Monday, but I'll probably use it
Tuesday morning).

I love the Innersense Gel. I get good results with it. Probably equal to TreLuxe.

What does this Foro Bear do?

Ugh. Hands and ageing. Couple of juicy veins becoming more prominent. I assume there's nothing I can do about it. I already use hand cream, and gloves, and SPF when I can although hard with so much hand washing ATM.

Well I would happily send my innersense gel to either of you. It's almost full. Just need to see how much it would cost to post it. Will try to have a look online today.

Apparently there are Facebook curly group in the UK where you can swap or sell products. Perhaps you could try it with your NL curly fb group Bo? (Although after the scandal not sure how easy it is to get rid of devacurl products).

I'll watch that video too - thanks. Ninny: foreo bear is like the nuface but apparently better and stronger current.

As suspected, posting a small (1kg) parcel to UK or NL is €22.50 or €23.50 A bulky letter (if I can keep it under 1kg) is €12..... Perhaps I can wait until I next get to England and see from there.