➿ 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)

The haircut sounds good Ninny. I think thin ends are the worse with curly hair - it just ends up looking so straggly. But I recall seeing some lovely photos of your hair. Are you still finding it clumps better post cut?

The new colouring she did sounds very interesting too. She must be good at colour as that all sounds quite complicated.

Did you manage to get your deposit back?

I had a lovely wash day today. My olaplex finished and so I used the curlsmith bond salve for the first time (I had coloured hair on Thursday) and the my soigné conditioner (decided to try it instead of the innersense one). Very happy with the results. Oh that reminds me: did you try the hairspray again ninny?

I've heard of that gel not my cat. Think britt curls on insta really likes it

Yes, scraggly ends are the worst, I don't think they purposefully cut those in though. I think it's just damaged and therefore loses the ability to curl up at the ends.

Well, I've used the Rahua curl cream for a few times now and I'm very impressed. I've never had a cream give this much definition and hold while not weighing my hair down. I'm guessing it would probably be too light for other people but it works well for me. Poor bounce curl clump cream is back on the reject shelf again, I'll appreciate it in winter again, I'm sure but at this rate it'll take me many years to finish up that tub.

I'm getting a bit more daring with cutting my own hair and am really pleased with it. Well from the front, I'm still a little too scared to do anything at the back aside from trimming length, but I haven't really found good tutorials for it either so I'm thinking it's probably best not to do yourself. I'll book in with my hairdresser at some point soon.

I've actually been using the BC clump cream again on some washes. And I find it great for refreshing individual curls. It also works well for me as an alternative to LIC under a mousse.

Well done for cutting your own hair bo! Still not brave enough - it's take this long for it to start looking decent again after the disastrous cut I had!! I've been taking the BC hair vitamins and I think they've helped with growth. Noticed the other day that all the baby hairs around my face are longer than normal.

Yes Sophie I did get my desposit back as I cancelled in plenty of time.

It looked good in previous photos I posted post curly cut, but after the second cut I had a really thin bit at the bottom that was just the underneath layer. I felt like I had a bit of a mullet tbh. I think I'm going to have problems because I do think my hair does need a bit of layering as I have so much, but the amount is key. I've studied photos of the salon's other cuts to see how layered the hair is and it's varied. She was right in without layering the curls get weighed down. The first cut was great, but subsequent cuts would obviously end up making the hair too thinned out. I think somewhere in between is a happy medium and I might need to ask my hairdresser to layer it a bit more.

I met my bestie yesterday for the first time in a while and she commented on how bouncy it was. It's a bit of a long bob and I do like it. The U shape at the back was quite extreme before.

PS I didn't like the hairspray. It made my hair feel stiff and sticky and I don't like that.

I had a second photoshoot for my business a couple of weeks ago. One of the models was mixed race and just getting to grips with how to look after her hair. I gave her some of my 'not for me' products to try for which she was grateful. Also gave her a couple of my puff cuffs (the really big ones). Very happy to have less hair stuff now!

Ah good you got compliments on your hair ninny! As to cuts and layering, it's all so tricky and so much fine tuning. And it can all go so wrong so easily....!

Oh that's a shame you didn't like the hairspray as for me it's now a wash day essential. How much did you use? I use only two sprays emulsified with water in my hands. I then scrunch the mixture In my hair immediately after styling while my hair is still wet. I am very strict about not letting myself use any more than that (as otherwise my hair feels dry). For me it gets rid of that very soft feeling I used to get post SOTC.

I don't spray the hairspray on at all and don't use it on dry hair (unless I'm using it in the traditional hairspray way).

Am so with you about not having loads of different products - I think the only ones I have now that I don't use are rockin ringlets (jessicurl curl) and innersense gel. Bought them ages ago too.

I used one or two sprays (the second time) and emulsified it as you said. I actually quite like the soft feeling but it's a balance isn't it!

I blow dried my hair straight the other day for the first time in 18 months. I had been for a run and didn't have time to let it dry naturally. I hated it. It felt so spiky and prickly. I won't do that again! Although it was a good experiment.

The thing I'm working on at the moment is not letting wash days mess with exercise. I'm a few pounds heavier and I feel a bit rubbish in myself. But when I go for a run I need to wash my hair after so planning is key. But also not getting stressed if I just wash and go with zero product (which reduces drying time from around 5 hours to around 2).

Excellent wash day, horrific lighting

As I am co wash
Ziaja goats milk conditioner
AG recoil
Curl flo gel (flash dried but seemed to work!) brushed through
Aussie instant freeze
Microplop, diffuse
Realise ends are looking a bit frizzy so brush back through and squish again
Diffuse a bit more
SOTC with a random foam

I guess our hair doesn't like all the same things ninny. I think your hair is thicker than mine so maybe it doesn't need that post -SOTC grit like mine does.

Sorry you're feeling a bit rubbish too. It's very difficult with wash days and exercise. I exercise most days and try to schedule the sweatiest workouts for wash days. I find strength workouts or yoga are ok for not washing after. Running it HIIT definitely need to wash.

Marissa curls and hand curls on Instagram have a technique "wash now, style later". Not tried it but you may find it's a time saver for you. Think they wash one day and then style the next. Also I've seen people using dry shampoo (Hair dance and living proof I think often come up). Again not tried dry shampoo (although quite intrigued).

Do you diffuse dry your hair at all? I've started wet plopping again and then micro plopping before adding gel and diffusing for a bit. Max 10 mins diffusing as I hate it. It's speeded up my drying time a lot (as opposed to starting with soaking wet hair). I don't pixie diffuse as I figured it was giving me wonky curls (thought wet plopping was the culprit but turns out not to be).

Nice curls notmycat!

• hanzcurls on Instagram (not hand curls)

Sophie I agree, I can get away with weight training with hair in a pineapple.

I'll take a look at the wash now style later.

I do diffuse - I hover diffuse for 10 to 15 minutes.

I've also been wet plopping with my leave-in or Treluxe serum and then dry plopping for 5 minutes then applyling gel. That seems to be working well. I spray my hair a little if I need to. Last week I skipped leave-in and went straight to the Treluxe serum and got good results.

I feel such a fraud on here, I barely do two or three steps at most and cannot remember the last time I diffused

Hair looks really good Cat.

I've seen different versions of style later, some just wet the next day and then style others leave their hair wet in a plop for hours, then wet a bit extra then style. Considering hair is extra fragile when wet in a bit hesitant about the latter method.

I've pretty much permanently switched to mousse instead of gel as that drastically cuts down the drying time, have you never gotten on with mousse as a final step Ninny?

A bit of dry shampoo is good with vigorous exercise if you apply it on your scalp before exercise and don't work it in, then toussle out after exercise. You just need to avoid powdery white ones.

No the "wash now, style later" posts I saw were definitely drying their hair. Didn't see anyone sleeping in plops or with wet hair. They re-wet it the next day.

Ooo ive not seen dry shampoo used that way Bo. Interesting. All the people I saw used it afterwards and I do wonder how it magically gets rid of post-exercise frizz when it is a cleansing product. Perhaps putting it in beforehand helps with that?

Yes, the theory of putting it on beforehand is that it'll basically absorb the sweat/sebum you produce while exercising so it never really has a chance to settle as opposed to removing it retroactively. I wouldn't recommend it as a daily thing but one or two times a week is probably fine.

The ones who kept their hair wet didn't sleep with it, it was more like they did it in the morning, then did the whole routine of looking after children, doing a very full make up look, doing house chores and even dropping children off at school, etc. So they'd get to their hair around the afternoon and do the whole laborious styling routine and half hour diffusion. It all seemed like a lot of extra faff to work your day around to me but these are the very perfected curls types of people of which I'll never be one.

I've only tried mousse once Bo. I think it was Innersense. I need to investigate.

Yes plopping for hours with hair isn't going to do a scalp any good either.

The Innersense foam has its qualities but it's a little too proteiny for my tastes to work in place of a gel.

Dry shampoo isn't a priority for me right now but thank you for highlighting a different way to use it bo. Will see in the future if I buy one to try.

I think that innersense product is more of a foam than a mousse ninny and much more watery than a mousse. I don't know how much of a cast a foam would give - maybe yes, maybe no. Like bo, I'm not overly keen on the innersense foam. When I use it now, tend to just dot it in my routes for volume. It has a strange smell too....

Not sure if it mentioned but I bought the my soigné LIC after a lot of positive recommendations (and seeing as my innersense conditioner is almost out). Using it as a normal conditioner which a lot of people do. I think it contains more protein than the innersense one I use and definitely (for my hair) didn't give as much slip as innersense and wasn't as concentrated so I had to use a lot more of it. I will need to use it a few more times to be sure. Just FYI! Loads of others rave about it though.

I want to try SOTC with the innersense foam, I did have a tiny bit left but I can't find the bottle!
Wash day later, will post a pic of what I'm using when I have a second

Today's wash day

Eek you're using the snot , that product is actually really popular here.

Interesting about my soigné, I remember looking at that brand, maybe a year ago and it was all homemade somewhere and difficult to get a hold of. It was just a flaxseed gel and co wash at the time I think and it was very pricey for a tiny tub.

It is definitely snot like I only use a tiny bit emulsified with water as a kind of finishing gel

Ha ha ha didn't notice at all it was called Snot. I couldn't use that product. It would make gag every time I thought about what I was putting on my hair...

What is the advantage of SOTC with a foam notmyCat?

I think my soigné still only has about 4 products. The conditioner was cheaper than my innersense conditioner (innersense is expensive though lasts for ages. I've used mine almost every wash day for 7 months and still around a 1/3 of bottle left). I used 4 scoops of my soigné and was struggling to de-tangle my hair. My cousin says she uses one scoop (but she does have less hair than me).

It just seems to add a bit of grit. My hair is so fine it drops quickly and using a foam seems to give it a bit more hold especially on any stubborn bits

And results. A bit producty but I wasn't sure on how much snot to use

I might try the foam to SOTC when I'm home. Would be nice to get more use out of the product. Does your hair feel product-y afterwards? And how many pumps of the foam do you use?