➿ 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)

Yeah, I have some really stiff hair around my crown that does its own thing. It was the same when I was trying to wear it straight. That's the bit that flash dries really easily, too.

Yes I think hormones play a big role in hair (and skin) quirky. My hair changed so much after my last DC and became much frizzier and annoying and that's why I got so fed up that I cut it into a pixie!! Good luck with finding a shampoo that works for you.

Ninny, that's a lovely head of hair you have there! do you clarify with a sulphate free shampoo? I'm thinking next time I purchase products I might get the bounce curl clarifying shampoo to use every few washes as my hair seems to appreciate being clarified.

Also Ninny, the innersense ICH gel: this is very thick and sticky compared to other gels I have. Bottle says to apply to damp hair but seen some people apply it to soaking or add water like you say. What do you find works best for you?

Your hair is looking good also pickachew. I really like the left and the style - particularly the shorter layers right at the front.

I surprisingly had a good wash day yesterday! Was getting very fed up with all this so it cheered me up. I figured I was tipping into too much protein so balanced my products so that only my shampoo and LIC had protein. I used treluxe LIC, BC clump cream and spiralicious gel (innersense styling products gone back on the shelf). I styled half upside down, half right way up. No brush styling - which made things a lot quicker. Wet plopped and then added gel after microplopping - which I think helped my hair not to get weighed down by water trapped in by the gel. Pleasantly surprised but like ninny says, I really would like to have consistent wash days. It's also looking fairly decent today (so far - will see what happens later....)

Oh apparently curl training is supposed to work in the long-term ninny but I just cannot be bothered to do it plus no time anyway!

I also tend to get halo frizz pickachew and when I had too much protein the last few washes, bits at the crown dried quicker than the rest. I have found that washing upside down in lukewarm water helps. Do you do that? I also apply extra product and do a bit more scrunching there.

I think we should all complain more often if it suddenly leads to good hair 🤣 I similarly had a good wash day yesterday after my ranting. First time using the Xtava diffuser and a few rookie errors on my part (as it's so large so how to hold it isn't all that intuitive) so far from perfect or what I suspect it could be but really impressed with it in spite of that. I was mainly hoping it would just cut drying time (which it did) without disturbing the hair too much but wasn't really expecting any more than that but it's given me the most uniform curls/waves ever and a decent amount of volume. Not tonnes and my hair still does the swelling bit (which I like, it just looks fuller) after drying but the curls remain well defined.

Interesting though about washing upside down, I usually do this over the tub but did it in the shower yesterday and it felt decidedly less efficient and water is definitely on the warmer side. I really should have clarified as well but I've been feeling a bit under the weather so my hair was overdue a wash by a day so I assumed it was just dirty rather than built up but I haven't clarified in over a month (have chelated with the Cantu, maybe that's considered a sulphate free clarifying too, not sure, but it's not really any good at clarifying). Don't usually go this long without clarifying but quitting the quats has definitely helped stretch it out and not make me be as reliant on it.

Sophie I use a Phyto clarifying shampoo that I've had for about 3 years (it smells divine (tea tree) or Bumble & Bumble Sunday.

I can't see the Phyto on their website now, certainly not in the same packaging. It looks like they've had a redesign.

Bo which products have you discounted in terms of quats please? And what should I look for on a label?

Thank you.

It's basically anything with -quaternium, polyquaternium-number in it although there are a few that have different names. Jessicurl spiralicious has a lot of quats in it that really made it noticeable for me. There's also Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride which is a cationic surfactant that also can cause buildup but it's almost impossible to find products without it and it's usually the last ingredient. Isitcg.com flags them up separately as 'approved with caution' so that's been really helpful. I've also linked a view blog posts of interest in the OP under a polyquat section.

Ah thanks Bo. I missed that re the OP. I'll take a look.

One week until cut and colour. Can't wait.

I do wash upside down. I can't clean around the nape of my neck properly if I don't and get spots there. Combing conditioner and product through has really helped, particularly with the scruff at the back of my head. I also flip upright to smooth gel over my crown before leaning back over the bath to finish off with my handful gel.

I've accepted that gel wise I'm purchasing the aussie stuff from the big evil empire for the forseeable. It's not even marginal gains. Nothing else has come close.

Looking forward to seeing the transformation, ninny

With the news in our region, I suspect I'm going to end up going 5 months between cuts, again.

Finally the puff cuffs in the micro size are back in stock. Just ordered some. The minis are too big for my hair. I think they'll work better than using an invisibobble or a silk scrunchie, especially overnight.

These are what I use to tie my hair back. Little slippage and no snag. I get them from superdrug. They'd probably work for pinsppling, too

I've been looking at hair buffs, basically a tube of stretchy material that gives you something resembling Marge Simpson hair that keeps your hair up but not tied up. So it sort of lays above you on a pillow rather than you lying on your hair.

article on it here

They have a European site for a change, most are polyester which don't appeal but the merino wool ones do seem like an interesting option for winter. If I come across some cheap stretchy silk I might try making one for myself as well.

I have a buff I use for the stables and keeps my hair clean!
Today I've washed upside down and then brushed my gel through but the right way up. Lord knows how it will turn out but it's an experiment at least bonuses of WFH and nobody seeing me

Powerdomi uses a buff. When I tried to fine one they were all polyester. I have a couple for running as it happens.

I've spent 2 hours going down an ingredients rabbit hole. I've got a spreadsheet lol. Basically I need to reorder some shampoo as my Giovanni is very low. I wnat to make better informed decisions.

Generally I'm looking into:

Protein
Humectants
Film Forming Humectants
Cationic Surfactants
Polyquats

So far I have these 2 questions:

1. The Giovannia Tea Triple Treat has a clarifying ingredients which the isitcg site recommends using only once or twice a month. It's halfway down the list. I'm not overly bothered but should I be?

2. Is Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract the same as glycerine? But then I wondered if it's a protein given that it's apparently from the pea family.

I can't believe this is how I'm spending my Saturday night. DH gone for a walk. Hoping to finish before he comes back.

It's useful and I think it's flagged a couple of products I will take an extended break from, even though I think I like them in a gut feel sort of a way.

Most people really like polyquats, I think I'm just an exception as I'm so build up prone. Some are modified silicones and they act similarly.

In the OP under protein there's a link to metizia (sp) blog there's a post where a biochemist explains plant extracts like glycine soy bean extract (no it's not like glycerin, it's somewhat in protein territory but not a protein).

How mild a shampoo is isn't really down to the chosen surfactants, it's their concentration but a bit difficult to know from just an INCI, but it's usually mitigated by including conditioning ingredients. I'm not sure I linked those in the OP but there's a good blog post on the beauty brains about it and the scienc-y hair blog has a few posts on it too. But I think you really just have to see how your hair feels after it, the Cantu mild shampoo I use as a polyquat buildup clarifier (of sorts) is anything but mild but the surfactants are mild and it contains conditioning agents 🤷

Thanks Bo. From what I've read fine hair is more likely to struggle with build up. I have medium thickness hair and actually most of the products I use don't have polyquats. Only the Spiralicious so far. But there is something I'm using that is causing me build up, I think.

The Bounce Curl Clump Cream has Cationic Surfactants. Maybe it's that. Or I wonder if the Biolage HydraSource is too rich (Cationic Surfactants near the top).

I'll keep plugging away. Washday today: first since Wednesday. Kept it simple with Giovanni LIC and L.A. Hold.

Your hair looks fairly dense, ninny so that may not be helping eith build up as it requires more effort to rinse out thoroughly.

Yes it is very dense Pick and takes a lot of rinsing.

Diffused. Will SOTC tomorrow but so far styling the right way up seems promising, just depends how the roots look. I feel like I've managed to really get product onto every bit of hair

Curly Cailin's blog post on Treluxe is live.

curlycailin.ie/treluxe-review-what-to-buy/

The only product of potential interest to me is the

Curl Enhancer Styling Gel

Today I've clarified using B&B Sunday followed by the Hairfinity Amino Acid mask, just for 15 minutes with shower cap. Then I just used ICH and diffused for 10 minutes. Went out for a walk with DH with it drying. Dried to a solid cast. Looks pretty good. Definitely going to try minimal styling products for a while.

discovertreluxe.com/product/hi-definition-curl-enhancer/

Hmm, heavily fragranced and high on protein really doesn't sound like my thing. She seems to be sporting the kinky frizz I get from too much protein so I'm a bit that she says her hair is frizz free, I guess we have a different idea of what constitutes frizz 🤷 Wavy Curly Ali was also doing the shush shush on what looked to be an amazing wash day, was wondering if that was treluxe too. Will be disappointed if it is now as I don't think I could be convinced by anything with strong fragrance that eventually dissipates.

Just clarified and tried out the curlsmith hydration deep conditioning mask (forgot the name) and it's very moisturising and my hair felt really nice and fully nourished so I'm cautiously optimistic. Just used curl cream and gel after although I could probably have skipped the curl cream, potentially.

Most products seem to be quite heavily fragrances?

Some are pretty eye watering, though. I tried a hask mask, once, and it was so strong it gave me a headache.

Another plus of the jessicurl, though the conditioners smell a bit rank without any added fragrance.

The first review on the gel was raving about it but knocked it down to three stars because of the fragrance. Most stuff does smell strong but IME most of it doesn't linger. I wish more were like JC where you can just choose for things to have fragrance or not.

Post diffusing notes, the shrinkage is insane, I had chin length hair after diffusing to about 80% dry (it wasn't drying easily) and it makes my hair look 3a/b (it's not) defined all over and very voluminous with a lot of root lift. Which is quite impressive considering there's zero protein in this routine. Will see what it's like tomorrow, there's a patch where I somehow missed gel and that's feeling a little fluffy so I hope it's just that bit because it's looking quite good in its cast atm.

I agree re the option to have an unscented version of a product.

Bo did you not use the Rahu shampoo and conditioner again? That has protein?

I want to increase the protein in my routine. Not to much but I think I tend towards overly moisturised, but also don't think I can tolerate too much protein.