The Curly Girl Method

[sleepsforwimps]

I want to thank whoever it was that mentioned this method in a thread a while back. I googled it and have started the no-poo method, it has absolutely transformed my hair. So thankyou, thankyou, thankyou whoever you were.

I'm back on the Frizz Ease.

My hair has been getting worse and worse. Yesterday it looked like shite - frizzy and greasy at the same time.

So today I shampooed twice, used serum and mousse and it looks much better.

I haven't completely given up on the Curly Girl thing, I'll try it again at some point.

I think I need to try a different styling product too. The pink creme was good for a bit but sometimes made my hair feel sticky and coated.

I need to be brave and actually try washing with conditioner too.

I do think the Original Source mint and tea tree is really good for the 'wash' bit of co-washing it really makes your head tingle.

I also add a few more drops of tea tree to it before I put it on for extra cleaning power, I think you need to spend quite a long time massaging your scalp to shift the dirt and grease, as you no are no longer using powerful detergents that take away alot of the hard work.

I use gel all the way through my hair and the pink cream just around the front and ends where it might get frizzy.

WhereTheWildThingsWere I agree, Original Source mint and tea tree is really good for co-wash bit. It feels lovely but I do give my scalp a really good massage with it. My hair is not remotely greasy, though, it is very dry.

I tried plopping for a long time, but that was a disaster! Definitely 10-15min plop for me.

I think I need a stronger conditioner as my hair is definitely curlier, softer but can still get fluffy. I will try gel and pink curl cream. I have got very thick hair, although the curls are quite soft. I am also pg so it is even thicker than usual!

I am still loving this method, every other day I alternately lo-poo or co-wash and inbetween days I spray on some diluted leave-in- conditioner.

The only thing is that the gel gives a bit of a permanent wet look in my blonde hair. Can anyone reccomend a better one, or a CG friendly mousse?

Any curly blondes used lemon juice for clarifying purposes?

Dilute the gel? I use 2/3 water, 1/3 gel. Blonde curly haired DD uses this mix too. We have Tresemme gel in the house right now but we've used Pantene too.

There is a video somewhere showing yo how to 'scrunch out the crunch'. Basically you just tip head upside down when hair is dry and just keep scrunching through it until it's all soft, works for me.

What gel are you using?

I'm using boots purple gel - mathanxiety, does that mean you put it in a spray bottle?

Thanks WTWTW - that works!!!

I'm still plopping away every other day but my hair looks beyond ghastly. Tbf that is as much because it hasn't been cut for some time, but even so.

I think I either need to commit properly i.e. buy some hair products! and scrunch accordingly, deep condition etc., or get off the pot and go back to struggling with crap, semi-wavy hair. I really can't face no-poo'ing, my hair and skin are just too greasy for that.

My fringe is marvellously curly today though

I use an old bottle and do the mixing in it. Proportions are approximate... I could probably spray it, though. I pour it out on my hands bit by bit and rub them together before scrunching. When DD does the diluting she makes it a bit more like 50-50, which would gum up the spray bottle.

How often do you all co-wash?

I get my hair wet at least every day in the shower, use conditioner probably 5 days out of 7, and give my scalp a good thorough scrub twice a week. My hair tends to be pretty dry so I focus the conditioner on the ends, on the nape of my neck, and around my face, where it's at its driest. Days I don't scrub, I spread conditioner through my hair, especially on the ends, then rinse quickly. I've been doing this for quite a while though, so I think my scalp has found its normal level of oiliness. I use diluted gel for scrunching every day.

My last shampoo was fri night. I washed, conditioned and Boots Curl cremed.

My hair was very dry/stiff/powdery yesterday - I diluted the curl creme, too, to avoid this.

The curl creme is certainly not for me.

Anyone else find this?

And, what did you find works better?

Thanks in advance.

The curly girl book recommends a gel that is colourless and doesn't feel sticky when you get it on your hands, and contains the ingredients VP and PVP.

thanks mathanxiety - I'd already tried using it in a spray bottle with poor results!

Wuxiapan - the curl creme is excellent, if you use an unbelievably small amount and emulsify, see the video linked above for the amount with long hair.

I've been alternating co-washing with lo-pooing and doing one or the other every second day.

Hi all

I'm about three weeks into no-poo and finding that while my hair feels okay, it lacks shine/gloss - has anyone found a spray or glosser or pomade that is suitable for curly girl method? Any high street stuff seems to have some sort of silicone in. Am I just going to have to accept non-shiny but soft hair?

so math, are tresemme and panthene gels curlygurl compliant!? or are you just saying you have them in the house and that's what you use?

Maggie the Tresemme and Pantene gels that I use (diluted) have the big advantage of being cheap and since there are three of us here with curls, that's a major consideration. I have a hard time reading the very small print in the ingredient lists when I'm shopping and I didn't bother looking at anything over a certain price to see if there was anything available that was truly ideal. The Tresemme and Pantene work pretty well for us for the price. They contain (among many other ingredients) VP and PVP but also dimethicone in the case of Tresemme anyway, possibly Pantene too, but I don't have any handy right now to check. The Tresemme bottle actually says to rub the gel, presumably in your hands, 'to activate the ingredients' now that I'm sitting here reading the back of the bottle...

I emulsified with the boots Curl creme, way less that 1/3 cream to water and it still left my hair sticky and dusty and horrible.

Never again.

Now using my old leave in (Suplhate/Cone-ised), but sticking with the no-poo/OS wash and see how that goes.

1/3 cream to water?

It was the gel that was suggested to dilute, I just emulsify a pea sized bit o cream and apply directly to wet hair

obviously it won't work for everyone!

I dont add water to my curl creme
I have given up co washing as my hair felt gritty and lank
I am shampooing with OS but still conditioning and plopping and my hair looks fab
I have waves rather than cursl though
Although if I use the scrunching gel and my diffuser it curls up lovley!!

it took me a long time to find my balance but i think i'm there now with wetting my hair once every two days roughly and just spraying inbetween, CO-washing mainly (about twice a week) with MOP C-system conditioner (no cones) and shampooing with a very gentle (Boots botanics) once a week.

this works for me if i just use boots pink cream.. if i use gel then i need to shampoo more often.

once every three weeks or so i wash properly with a proper shampoo (aussie usually).

my scalp never goes greasy though and i have dry hair and skin so this might not work for other people with greasier skin/scalp.

Well fellow curlies I have now been co-washing for about 6 weeks and I am pleased to report back that my hair has not turned into a greaseball. Actually it is shinier and bouncier than ever, hurrah . I even find I have better second day hair (never knew what second day hair was until I co-washed, always found it looked crap/frizzy/flat etc etc... on the second day and clipped/tied it back) so double hurrah for good second day hair. I do find I like to wash it every other day though and really concentrate on the scalp when washing.

I have been using OS conditioners up until now, but have just purchased a big bottle of Garnier repair and shine conditioner so will report back with how that goes.

How is everyone elses barnets getting on with co-washing? Has anyone else stopped pooing?