Curly girl method

[Freshair1]

Is this really, honestly a thing. And not a swindle?! I had a go out of curiosity, did a wash and then scrunched before letting air dry. Had thick wavy partly curly hair but god the frizz. Is this real curly hair or just a result of scrunching if you see what I mean? I usually blow dry and straighten my hair. I never usually let it air dry cos it looks awful and puffy.

@Pigeonqueen wow, your hair looks fab. I used to be OK with mine, so easy to do and often had nice compliments paid about it but since it's been cut into a different style and recently had my highlights done I'm really struggling with it. I'm just off to order it.

Yeah it doesn't work for me either. I get the same yucky heavy feeling.

I use sea salt shampoo bar from Lush and a conditioner bar then curl creme and gel scrunched into wet hair and dried with a diffuser.

How often do you all do the wash, mousse, curl cream thing?

I don’t wash my hair often, so it needs to cope with being slept on.

I think it would respond to the curl mousse and then curl cream.

At the moment I only use boots curl crème. It’s good for the day I wash it, but there’s nothing doing after that.

I have to do mine every day otherwise it just looks awful as I can’t brush it once it’s dry. It doesn’t actually take me that long now. I use a diffuser on a medium heat setting and blast till nearly dry and then leave it while I do my make up and then scrunch it out. Takes maybe 10-15 mins all in all. I could probably get away with not washing it if I just bunged it up into a bun but I really don’t like the messy bun look on me - I always feel like I need to brush it and can’t so I’d rather just wash it again.

People I follow with curly hair on instagram (particularly Hanz curls, good account for tips) seem to go 3/4 days between washes but I can never manage that.

It’s part of the reason I won’t spend lots on fancy products, I’m just washing them out everyday!

Also, a lot of curly people recommended satin bonnets etc for sleeping in and I just hate anything on my head. I guess it depends how much effort / faff you’re prepared to put up with.

Worked really well for me for 3 years then I got bad dandruff and have had to reintroduce anti dandruff shampoo. It's trial and error getting the right products and then adapting as they inevitably change ingredients. It's not an overnight results thing though so 1 wash won't do anything but it gave me my best ever curls. You need to have something to hold the curl/wave

My hair is similar to yours. I found normal mousse on wet hair, blow dry with a diffuser while scrunching works just as well. My bigger issue is that my hair doesn't have an even curl and one side is way more curly than the other.

If your hair is already curly or wavy, it will work, when you find the right combination of products for you. It won't work immediately. Everyone's hair is different. It's not and was never intended to make straight hair curly.

Buy the book. There is a lot of nonsense on YouTube that claims to be curly girl and isn't. The actual curly girl method doesn't use shampoo or oils. You need products without sulphites and alcohols. And almost all people with curly hair have some element of frizz. It's normal.

Two photos show the difference over a year or so. One was in holiday and left it to air dry with a bit of gel. The second is after ditching drying it straight for over a year. Not necessarily all curly girl approved products but I think a lot of it is letting your hair recover from always being pulled straight. It does go a bit frizzy sometimes but I've had more compliments for my slightly frizzy curly hair than I ever did when I straightened it. It takes time though.

@babyboyHarrison Omg your hair is beautiful!

Wow gorgeous hair ❤️

Ahh thank you guys. It's taken a lot of trial and error to find products I like and also what techniques to use to encourage curls how you like them. I don't like plopping I just use a microfibre towel to scrunch a bit of the wetness out of it and sometimes hover diffuse. I don't really try to encourage the curls particularly as I think it is curly enough.

It just takes time and unfortunately quite a lot of bad hair days along the way. I read a lot of stuff by curl maven curlmaven.ie/hair/ which someone on Mumsnet recommended (thanks whoever you were).

After 2 decades of brushing, blow drying and straightening I used Only Curls and after about a week I moved through bushy waves to really
decent curls.

I've since been to the hairdressers and had layers put in as well. That's been important too.

onlycurls.com

I think it might have been me I recommend her website a lot as I think she's good at explaining stuff

Jesus it's complicated.
I had a Madonna perm.in 80s which lasted years that consisted of combing it scrunch drying with moose and using my mums vitapoint and rarely washing it. Is this the lazy person's version I have very wavy hair when left

My DD26 has discovered wonderful curls this way. It does work but you need the right products and enough time.

Agree it is about finding the right products. For me, less is more. I co-wash with Faith in Nature conditioner and then use a home made linseed gel. My hair has never looked better. Finding a hairdresser who understands curly hair is really helpful too.

Sounds like curly girl to me!

I can't seem to co wash, my hair just gets greasy and even the curly girl shampoos end up with my hair not feeling "clean" so I cheat and use a little bit of tresseme!

But I have managed to get lovely waves with cg approved conditioner afterwards and then curl jelly and diffusing.

It's really not for everyone. It's never worked for me!

It's not a swindle, curls/waves really do love moisture and a gel.

My hair is fine wavy - most of the time I use any old shampoo, co-washing is never going to work for fine hair.

However the conditioner + styling product phase is totally worth it. I spent 30 years of my life hating my hair, if only I'd known I was just treating it badly.

I find curly girl the ultimate lazy person's hair. Wash. Occasionally do a deep condition when you feel like it. Leave in conditioner. Gel - if you want curls tomorrow. Diffuse. Or let it dry from the blowers in the car.

Absolutely no skill required.

For fine hair you are only going to get 2 days of curls. 3-4 days between washes I'd be a greasy mess.

Yes I always thought I had thick hair but it turns out it's thin there's just loads of it 🤣

So starting from scratch- I use virtually no products at the moment.

I have tried the boots curl crème that doesn’t do much.

What do I need? Two products? Something to put on when wet, then something to crunch out the cast or refresh next day?

The curly girl method is intended for tight curls or coils. It's far too intense for waves. I use an sls free shampoo and silicon free shampoo and occasionally a hair mask. Otherwise I let my hair dry naturally.

My hair only has slight waves, but it's very long and I bleach and dye the crap out of it.

I don't go nuts with it, just conditioner that contains no mineral oils, silicone or detergent, and let it dry naturally. I do deep conditioning treatments when it feels like it needs it.

It's helped a lot. My hair is much smoother and healthier, my scalp is less greasy and flakey, but I do still need to do it twice per week. I was hoping it would be less over the years. I've been doing it for five years now.