Curly girl help!

[TyrannosaurusRights]

I’ve been loosely trying curly girl for a few weeks. I’ve hit a snag.

Wet I’ve got lovely waves/curls forming. But its not drying like that.

I’ve tried more gel (the gel does seem to vanish but even with palmfuls of the stuff it’s not holding), adding and subtracting curl cream, plopping for longer/shorter, diffusing/air drying.

What am I doing wrong?

What gel are you using and do you get a cast? Are you applying products on damp or wet hair?

Umberto giannini curl jelly in the bright pink tube - it seemed well recommended.

Apppying after plopping so more damp hair I guess.

Not really getting a cast. Some crunchy bits occasionally but not a consistent cast on the curl as I understand it.

Hmmm. I must admit I don't like that gel, never got on with it!
You could try a different gel - eco gel (I like the green one), cantu custard, Aussie freeze is one of my faves

I don't bother plopping - all it does is give me a wet pile of hair in a bag on top of my head for 20 minutes. I do a very light scrunch-dry with a t-shirt and then get on with the rest.

For me I think the cast comes from applying the gel while there's still a decent amount of water on my hair –it helps get an even spread from about an inch from the root down to the tip. I'd say the sweet-spot for me is nowhere near 'dripping wet' but still wet to the touch.

Seconding Cantu custard - and I'm currently using Boucleme defining gel which is brill.

I found that gel made my hair stringy. I scrunch the water out with a t shirt then use mousse. Its trial and error to begin with as everyone's hair reacts differently to products.

I get the best cast from mousse and then gel on sopping wet hair, so I put it on in the shower. Not all gels will give me a cast either. I have the LA eco gel at the moment, which gives a good cast.

Ok. Different gel and a mousse on the list to buy to try. What mousse is good/what am I looking for with mousse?

I’ll try applying products to wetter hair too as that’s an easy swap.

I use Shockwaves Volume Mousse, No 5. There is a one for curly hair but it's oddly not CG. Frizz Ease mousse is good too but more expensive so I'd try the cheaper one first.

I don't get much of a cast either. I think it just depends on your hair. I get a slight cast with the mousse but it takes about 5 seconds to scrunch out.

The key is sopping wet hair to be honest. And a mix of mousse gel that works for you. I think I tried 10-15 different products.

Have you tried the bowl method? That helped me quite a bit too.

Good luck fellow curly x

I use the pink gel. It sort of forma a cast but I don't need to scrunch it out, it seems to sort itself out. This is what I do:
Wash with Garnier Ultimate blends coconut & cocoa butter conditioner. Instead of leaving a bit in I rinse it all out & then add back a bit afyerwards, then I know how much I'm using. I then use Cantu Curl activating creme, follow by the Umberto Gianini pink gel. I then wrap it in up for up to an hour, partly because otherwise my hair takes all day to dry. I then don't touch it until it is completely dry. I don't scrunch out the cast, I might ruffle it a little with my hands but the cast falls away quite quickly on it's own (maybe I should use more gel?)
It's usually great on the first day, but the time I've slept on it, been out in the wind/drizzle it's no different to how it was 3 years ago before I started this. However, it's what I do now, it's no hassle & the curls do look nice on the first day.

Don't throw out or change the gel yet!!

As others have suggested try Pantene mousse first. Put mousse into fairly wet hair, scrunch it very gently and then add gel. If you have long heavy hair it might be worth diffusing it dry. I find that I get better curls that way as wet hair is heavy and it pulls my curls downwards.

It really is a journey. At the start I had very loose waves. It took 6 months before they developed into more tighter curl pattern due to all my hair damage.

check how much protien is in your products, if everything has protein maybe scale it dow, and if nothing had protien maybe add some in styling products. i really like flora and curl for protein products, and noughty for shampoos and conditioners

The Umberto Giannini gel didn't work for me at all, it made my hair really stringy and didn't form a cast. I second (third?) The Cantu Custard, or the cheap L'Oréal gel. You might need to use a lot more gel than you expect, my hair is just past shoulder length and I use a blob the size of maybe 1 to 1.5 tealight candles.

When dry, your hair should be frozen solid by the gel cast and sticking out at mad angles. Only when it's 100% dry can you break the cast. You can put some argan oil on your hands (or just dry hands) and run the flats of your hands firmly down your hair to break the cast, as though your hands are straighteners. All being well you should then have perfect bouncy curls and look like an angel.

As a PP said, it's a journey. You have to keep experimenting with different products and application methods until you discover what works for you.