Curly girl newbie help - fine wavy hair.

[MarianneFaithful]

I'm trying curly girl (again) and my hair just looks awful. I'm clearly not doing it right. Could someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong or point me at a good Facebook group.

I'm using Cantu conditioner for both washing & leave-in. Does I need to use 2 different conditioners? I've used Aveda be curly curl enhancer then loreal invisihold gel. I sort of got a cast but the front just looks stringy, not curly, and it all feels thick & gunky, not soft & bouncy.
A couple of days after washing it just looks a mess.
Where am I going wrong?

Hopeful bump.

I don't know, it's overwhelming. I'm very fine haired & barely wavy but would love to get my hair as wavy as poss. My hair can't take any product really & gets greasy so quickly. I've just been using an sls shampoo. Think plopping is the main thing but I just don't have time & diffuser alone doesn't give me great results

Cantu is really heavy and gunky- even just using a tiny bit - I think it’s best suited for very thick hair. I know it never suited my very fine curly hair. I’m currently using Boucleme gel, which is a bit spendy but a bottle lasts 7 or 8 months as I don’t need much. It’s much lighter, though even with this I swap products regularly as my hair seems to get used to the same product after a while. Sometimes I use the pink gel (umberto giannini??) with the Frizease curl mouse (the cgm approved one) to mix up what I’m using.

I’ve abandoned full-on co-washing too as I found that without a regular wash with a ‘proper’ shampoo, there is just too much build up and my hair feels heavy. Currently using a lovely Soapnuts shampoo cleanser once a fortnight which seems good.

I loosely follow it, so not one of the evangelical experts. I have fine but very curly hair, and it sounds like the product is too heavy for your hair. I'd clarify wash it (I use shampoo once every 6 weeks) and try lighter products or less product. My fine hair likes the garnier banana in the tub, I just use a 50p sized leave in after cowashing , then a 5p worth of cantu curl activator, then gel. I'm using a lloreal one with oil that's nice just now.

Total game changer was using a denman brush to style when applying products.

Find girls with your hair type on YouTube or Instagram, the videos are great. I like Marisacurls and Manes by Mel as they have similar hair to me.

Once you find your products it is definitely easier to maintain good hair days.

I find that the best thing for my curly fine hair is shampoo, Frizz Ease conditioner, a drop of L’Oreal oil, and air dry.
The more I do, the worse it looks.

I've got fine curly hair, but curly rather than wavy.

Purist curly girl doesn't work for me, my scalp is quite sensitive so it needs shampoo rather than just cowashing. I also don't do leave in, I find it too heavy for fine hair and I get more scalp build up.

I do the following:

• child's farm baby shampoo (basically a very mild cleanser)
• Tresemme botanique conditioner no -cones (comb through in the shower before rinsing)
• Use microfibre towel turban coming out of the shower
• Then umberto giannini curl jelly
• Leave to dry naturally and scrunch out the crunch using hands or towel

All these products are low cost and available at Boots/supermarkets.

Cantu is probably far too heavy for your hair.

Rather than co-washing, which can leave your hair coated and gunky, try a sulphate free cleanser and use a lighter conditioner. Shea moisture superfruit complex and maui moisture hibiscus (the pink one) are great for my wavy hair.

For styling, you need something to hold the wave and help with clumping - that may be a gel, mousse or curl cream and I find that takes more experimentation to get right.

I use
Giovanni natural mousse
Aveda confixor
Diffuse until dry then scrunch out the crunch

My hair is fine and likes protein

Cantu is also too heavy for my fine wavy hair. I shampoo with a silicone free shampoo once or twice a week (to get rid of gym swear!), then use tresemme silicone free conditioner. Then aveda thickening spray or photosomething mousse.

Leave in conditioner doesn't work for me
I wash with as I am cowash and a silicone scrubber. Condition with Alberto balsam then use mousse and gel. I put mousse in then brush with a denman brush (I also brush when conditioner is on). If I don't brush my hair ends up stringy. I use snot gel (tiny amount) or, more recently, one in a pink and white tub
Air dry or diffuse

Cantu is very heavy, more suited to very thick or Afro hair. DD's hair is fine and we love the garnier hair food range. All the conditioners are safe

I don’t follow Cgm religiously as it doesn’t work for my hair.
Currently I use Noughty Wave Hello shampoo (no sulfates or silicones) and conditioner twice a week. I use a tiny bit of Noughty wave hello curl cream as my leave in and then use Umberto Giannini Curl Jelly gel to get a cast.

I use Umberto Giannini refresh spray as well in day 2 or 3 if I need it.

I’ve never co washed - my hair is too fine and it wouldn’t cope. I don’t often use intensive conditioners as they just don’t agree with my hair either.

I agree with Littlegreenfrogcake - get into Instagram or YouTube and find people who have similar hair to you - then you can see how they do it.

Oh, and it does take a while for hair to settle to being curly again I think. I started out with all this in July / August and I’m only now feeling like I’ve got reasonably reliable results when I wash my hair.

I have fine hair, but lots of it, and it's wavy-curly.
After trying literally every combo of CG approved product, I now use Cantu cleanser and Garnier pot conditioner, rinsing both out well but gently.
I've recently been using a Cantu mousse which is lovely, not heavy like their leave-ins and very moisturising. Then I use Umberto gel, in the pink tube to form cast and scrunch very gently by squeezing the hair when totally dry.

I've gone into town and bought these. I'll report back after Wednesday when I'll probably wash it next.

@MarianneFaithful the tubs are nice but I tend to use them for wash/good rinse out detangle only. The bottles of the same are better as a leave in

@MarianneFaithful let us know how it goes! I got lost down a rabbit hole of curly hair treated with Opalex over the weekend and have ordered the #3 treatment - god knows if it'll help tame the frizz especially around the front sections of my hair but am going to give it a go!

I have fine wavy hair been through the curlygirl journey.
I have learned:
I have a two-day limit on washing - refreshing doesn't work - my hair just looks stringy and a bit grubby.
Most calming products are too heavy for my hair - refreshing products don't work - I just wet my hands and pat down the frizz.
Avoid silcones but wash and condition hair. squeeze water out - no towel.
Use a hair thickener - Aveda thickening tonic & a gel - Boucleme curl defining gel and brush it through with a Denman brush, lift hair gently away from roots then scrunch
Dry the roots first from every angle - dry rest of hair a bit and then clip using tiny butterfly clips till dry. Then scrunch the crunch.
I get volume, some curls, and minimal frizz.

That was much better thanks! Even a day after washing it still looks ok. It's curly at the back of my neck and round my face, but the sides are a bit flat. That might be because it needs a cut though.

Hi OP. I’m in a similar position to you I think. My hair is wavy (curly in parts) and fine but lots of it. I accidentally dropped into the world of curlygirl when I just stopped blow drying it (which made it bushy and dry) and began air drying. It was a revelation, the awful bushiness was gone!

So then I began further forays into curlygirl stuff… with very mixed results I have to say. I followed it religiously until a couple of weeks ago when I finally acknowledged to myself that it wasn’t working and that I looked like I’d been pulled through a hedge backwards.

So now I am trying a sort of modified CG method:

Wash hair no more than twice a week (I really don’t need to wash any more than this)

Use Olaplex 0 with 3 pre-wash

Curlsmith shampoo

Kerastase chrome absolu treatment, this is NOT CG approved but oh wow the difference in my hair!! I was trying to convince myself I mustn’t use anything but CG approved products and how awful silicones would be for my hair… until I realised my hair just looked shit. Giving up on total CG and using the kerastase product has transformed my hair from crazy frizzy wild woman to soft textured pretty waves (minimal frizz)

Tiny blob of cantu cream on microfibre-towel dried hair

Air dry

I can’t quite work out why I tried to stick religiously to CG for so long despite the evidence of my eyes!!!

Basically as long as I avoid any kind of hairdryer (even a diffuser which is awful and turns me into a poodle) and as long as I try to solve the dryness and frizz, my hair is fine.

Full CG wasn’t for me but modified seems to be working.

Hope that helps!!

'Curly Hair Method' UK support group is a good Facebook group. A LOT of information though so can be easy to get very overwhelmed