➿ 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)

I used aunt jackie's Ice curls gel today (did mousse, gel, mousse) which I think has potential.. haven't SOTC yet

I want to plunge my hand straight into that!

I tried the cantu gel, rather than custard, the other day, and I appear to have had an allergic reaction to it. Scalp that has been so calm is raw, sore and flaky. Even my eyes, face and neck sting. Did a major sulphate wash to get rid of it, today.

I don't know if it's the hair or the angle of the photo or the name of the gel but I've got visions of you as an 80s figure skater ⛸️ now, Queen. How are they looking outside of the scrunch?

Shangpie, you can achieve smoothness but you kind of have to sacrifice volume and body for it, that's the annoying lesson you learn after throwing everything at it to achieve it. I'm not a fan of the look but ymmv, I think those with loads of hair can carry it off, I need the illusion of having more hair than I actually have. Now that I know you're in China I'm wondering how easy it is for you to get products.

Your poor head Pick, hope it recovers quickly.

Attached are my results from experimenting even though I probably should just leave it alone as my simplistic Rahua routine works best and suits my lack of willing to put in too much effort and drying time... But I kind of want to be able to use up my other products too,

Pic 1 is with the Treluxe gel, wasn't excited enough about it to endure the extra drying time but not like it's awful or anything pic 2 I used Innersense I create volume lotion(?), I'll remember that one for when I want beachy big hair in the summer, it looks a bit weird with thick jumpers

They're pretty nice this morning! It wasn't a solid cast, need to experiment a bit more but it was loose and touchable type curls

Hello ShangPie* was about to suggest the same as bo*: that a low poo might be better than washing with a conditioner. I've read that the Giovanni gel can be drying (not sure if Giovanni does more than one gel though) so let us know what you think of it.

Nice curls Queen. Never heard of aunt jackie's brand - sounds like it would go well with uncle funky's daughter (or whatever correct name of brand is). Interesting you hadn't SOTC in photo as your curls look really full and nice and don't look like they have any gel in them.

80s figure skater?! How comes??

Oh no pickachew. Hope your scalp and face feel better soon. Sounds painful. Wonder what was in the cantu gel?

I really like your hair in photo 1 Bo. Has the colour changed or is the lighting? Looks a bit lighter.

I am struggling to get some products here and just bought the Curl Junkie repair masque as a hairfinity amino acid masque substitute (as hairfinity is impossible to get right now). I also want to get the BC hairspray but it seems sold out pretty much everywhere. I'm hoping to use it a bit for hold and on non-wash days when I've exercised.

No, colour is the same it's just artificial lighting and my camera picking up on it. 80s figure skater not meant in a bad way but they used to spray their hair to the heavens to get super hold like that.

Will try the ice gel again and report back
Not as much hold but it's such a thick gel I was a bit over cautious with how much I used
Hair is now able to be worn in a messy bun which shows how much it's grown
Interesting that CC on insta is changing her name..

I think one of the reasons is that she was fed up of people thinking her name was Cailin (I thought that too at the start - not Irish so how would I know it means girl ?!). She was always ranting about it

Yeah more than likely. She's posted on the blog saying she's outgrown blogger/influencer and she's an expert

@QueenPaw

Yeah more than likely. She's posted on the blog saying she's outgrown blogger/influencer and she's an expert

Takes mental note to remove her from the next OP. This landscape is lacking serious experts, and she seems far from one. I found a trichologist on YouTube and got briefly excited, they then proceeded to talk complete nonsense...

Isn't her name Cailín

Nope it's not! Says she won't be CG but will be using her method she developed, more MH content and she's the CH of curls

I could have sworn she introduced herself as Cailín on a YouTube video

Well she certainly has the abrasive social media personality of CH down by the sound of it. I thought her following wasn't even that big.

Bit behind on this thread.

I've not followed CC since she said she wanted to be the CH of hair.

Sophie are you struggling to get products because of Brexit?

I also thought about getting some hairsrpay. I've been a bit lazy on the hair front. It's been so cold here and that really dries my hair out. I need to schedule in regular Olaplex and deep conditions. Also, the grey roots are obvs coming through nicely :-(

Looking forward to another trim at Nuala's salon when I can.

Just reading the blog post now. What does she mean by Pantene Mousse and B&B Shampoo are all her?!

Eh, the pantene mousse was an American thing for forever, I believe? And the b&b was really popular under beauty bloggers in the early 00s 🤷 it's all sounding a bit weird tbh and a little too much, 'dont you know who I am?'

Chelated last night, my hair's a bit fluffy but otherwise fine, probably should have deep conditioner. YouTube seems to be trolling me and keeps suggest DIY mullets cut with a razor, a bloody Gillette Venus razor at that

And I think frizz is becoming a fashion thing. I must admit, I like it, but maybe it just works on blonde hair with ruffs?

Sorry early 10s but probably circa 2008/2009 onwards.

Her name is Gabriella. I also don't like that she asks for money (well "donations") for all the free content she provides. No one else does that and many have far more followers than she does.

Don't get me started on brexit ninny. We've been (trying to) order books from Amazon de and it's been a disaster. Cancelled most orders as they took so long to despatch and then were refunded most of the other ones as they never arrived.

But some products (eg hairfinity masque and BC seem to have shortages in Europe full stop at the mo).

I need a cut too. Has one booked and then we went into lockdown again.

So are we now officially the CC haters has she always been like this or is she potentially struggling financially through the pandemic?

Are you ordering English books Sophie? I think a lot are just struggling to get out of the UK, bookdepository is indicating 20 working days delivery atm I don't know how much they charge to Greece and they're certainly not as affordable as Amazon but our local American bookshop ships to Greece.

A lot of American curl brands seem to be difficult to get hold of, I think kinky curly is now finally in stock. I can see the hair spray in stock in one shop here but they only ship internationally to Belgium and I'd offer to send it on but it'll probably be more money to ship than what it costs.

No i don't hate her!!! And actually I think she has lovely hair and knows her stuff (her blog has been very helpful for me). She is just a bit erratic. Sometimes she comes across as charming and charismatic and then other times she is rude and complaining. I remember when I first followed her (I joined IG in June maybe), she was always complaining about her followers reacting to her stories. No one else complains. The money thing I noticed maybe one or two months ago on IG and thought it was quite poor. I suppose all this is why she has less followers compared to other curly IGers. I guess she is struggling financially.

Yes it was English books Bo. We can also order via bookshops here (they always have English books in stock but not always what I want plus they are more expensive). I might try book depository when all this is over

I echo what Sophie says. Plus it's the wanting to be like CH that turned me off. I think it's widely accepted that CH has changed quite a bit (I met her a few years ago). So it's that aspiration plus the mental health/suicide content that puts me off. I think the latter is dangerous territory.

Oh yes, she LOVES that comparison

I wasn't being serious, more along the lines of, if you dare criticise a guru's conduct you're made out to be a hater, jealous, troll. And probably really ugly to boot

I think it's entirely possible to appreciate the content but not the content creator, problem with para social relationships is that your conduct can undo the good you've done elsewhere. It all sounds a bit amateurish and old school blogging, if you need a reliable income just start up a patreon or that Kofi (sp?) thing not randomly ask for donations. It sounds like it's all gone a bit too her head tbh.

And, yes, agree, stay out of mental health, influencers are more likely to do harm than good and it's at risk at coming at the detriment of mental health understanding.

Well now I am using the bear and tret, I cannot possibly be anything other than gorgeous

Many of the curly IGers I follow regularly talk about mental health (and I don't follow many people at all on IG because I don't like it). They say caring for their curls helps with mental health issues. I'm not sure how as sometimes spending hours and hours on hair (treatments, masks, diffusing etc etc) and then it coming out crap is not good for my mental health!! Perhaps their hair is more obliging than mine......

Skincare went through a phase like that as well, all the time consuming ten step rituals and multi masking that took up an entire evening were framed as 'self care' and weirdly included a giant glass of wine . It annoyed me greatly then too, there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of 'vanity time', there's no need to dress it up as something noble. Yes, it can be a coping mechanism, but depending on the individual that can be healthy or the complete opposite. It's not and never will be a substitute for therapy but influencers will have you believe differently 🤦

And, yes, yes, to cgm being crap for your mood. I appreciated the time investment as it mentally occupied with something other than this pandemic but the moment I started stressing about when to wash and rearranging my whole life around it, I knew I needed to dial it back, by a lot.

I have definitely used the term 'self care' on these threads but not for a while! I agree, it can be a total pain in the arse. I think for me personally throwing myself into it just as lockdown 1 hit was similar to having a new hobby, and it was a very welcome distraction. But like the rest of it I've dialled it right back now. I definitely have curly haircare fatigue.

Just been for a 5k run and off to Sunday Sunday, Olaplex, deep condition etc etc lol. It really needs it.