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.

[FlyMeToDunoon]

MN haircut?

I started today and-
I think I put too much product on as I had crispy curls until I shook them out and even then they were/ are a bit coated.
I let my fringe curl and it looked weird. So I straightened it and that looked weird too.
However my hair is much more curly!

Am looking forward to the next wash to try and improve my technique.

[sleepsforwimps]

Just caught up with this thread, how is everyone getting on with co-washing and plopping? Any improvements?

[FlyMeToDunoon]

My fringe has recurled overnight and I looked a tad um weird for the school run.
I may wash again just to try and sort the fringe out.
I think it said on one site to wash once or twice a week but my scalp gets itchy and usually my hair would be a mess after 3 days maximum.

[sleepsforwimps]

Hurrah to the return of your curls!

I can imagine fringes are tricky with a curl, I cut myself a shorter fringe once whilst pregnant (the hormones made me think it was a good idea ) looked awful, struggled to tame it, spent ages trying to smooth it to my head... and that was just a bit of a wave..

[FlyMeToDunoon]

Yeah well I made the mistake of straightening mine about a week ago and cutting it then. Of course it has sprung back very short.
Eeek

[shinyshoes]

pardon my thicness I really need to be walked through this VERY VERY slowly.

is this the sequence

wash with original source shampoo
rinse

condition with Original Sorce conditioner wash off

add a small amount of conditioner DON'T wash off

wrap in turban

apply boots pink curl creme

not using any brushes (dont know how i'm going to get away with this my hair is VERY thick and halfway down back. )

please dont use words like poos and plopping whilst explaining it to me as ive no idea what this means even though I have read this thread

thanks for patience ladies

[shinyshoes]

Also how do I know if I have
1,2,3,4 type curls??

[BornToFolk]

Shinyshoes, ideally you want to cut out the shampoo altogether. What I've been doing is just doing one wash with a small amount of shampoo - I'm working up to cutting it out altogether! The idea is that you "co-wash" with conditioner.

How's the curl creme working out? I'm going to get some once I've used up all the Frizz Ease I currently have...

[BitOfFun]

It seems to work best to leave shampoo out altogether, but you might need one more shampoo to get rid of the silicone build-up in your hair.

From then on, wash only with silicone-free conditioners, leave some in after rinsing first lot out. Detangle with a wide toothed comb in the shower.

Use a small amount of clear gel for curl hold, scruching it up through the whole head. Squeeze hair dry gently with scrunches from a soft tshirt rather than a rough-fibred towel which can frizz up the hair surface.

Look up plopping on YouTube for tips how to to wet hair up in cloth/ microfibre turban to help it start drying undisturbed.

Finish off drying naturally or on a verylow heat/speed diffuser, without touching too much. It also helps to clip up some of the top clumps of hair while you are doing this, as it gets air in at the roots and gives volume, while helping hair underneath the top 'canopy' of curls find their own curliness without being squashed.

Hope that helps! I am only reading the links and know no more than you, you know

[BitOfFun]

Frizzease= work of the devil, you know! Pure silicone. You need to ditch it too...

[BitOfFun]

Why silicones are Bad:

Most of the highly commercialized lines of hair products (Pantene, Garnier Fructis, Aussie, Tressame, Sunsilk, etc.). contain silicones. These are ingredients that generally end in -cone, -conol, or -xane. If at all possible avoid silicones and also waxes in your hair products. Short term, silicones will make hair look sleeker and less frizzy, but in the long run they will coat the hair shaft of porous curly hair and seal out moisture, causing the hair to become straw like, less defined, and frizzy. Hence, silicones make quick fixes for frizz, but over time, they are truly damaging your hair. Sulfates get rid of silicones, but at the expense of completely stripping your hair of all of its natural oils! The solution to these problems is to eliminate both sulfates (in your shampoos) and silicones (in your conditioners and styling products). An exception to this rule: if a silicone has "PEG" in front of it, it is water-soluble and will not cause product build up.

[shinyshoes]

excellent , much clearer now thank you. I will start this tomorrow as I need to go and buy some of the styling products/conditioners mentioned

[BornToFolk]

Oh I know Frizz Ease is bad but I've been using it for years and it'll take me a while to wean off I think! But I really want to, it's costing me a fortune as well as not being great for my hair...

[kdk]

Hi

Been looking at this thread with interest as have very fine but extremely dry curly hair.

ATM don't have too much money so can anyone recommend a good cheapish conditioner/leave in conditioner/styling range?

Does it matter if they are not from the same range? And where can you buy cheap non-terry towels?

Sorry for all the questions but hoping that after 40-odd years of problem hair I may finally find a solution!

[Grandhighpoohba]

Kdk, have been to Poundland this morning - two bottles of different Original Source conditioner, wide toothed comb and a micro fibre turban, 4 quid. Less than a bottle of that damn serum!

Have turban on head as I type, we shall see how it works.

[BitOfFun]

Inecto coconut conditioner is good too- mine cost £1.49 in boots. I paid a fiver for a clear gel from the health food shop too, just because it has no nasties in it and I was exhausting my eyes in boots and starting to look like a shoplifter

[BitOfFun]

This blog is excellent as a quick reference for ingredients- I have bookmarked it on my iPhone to refer to while shopping.

[shinyshoes]

Right ladies this 'no combing/brushing business will be very hard for mr I have thick hair I mean very thick and I have to wet it in the mornings to get a brush through it. If I don't brush it, it gets very knotty( have done this on lazy days) I can't just put fingers thru it. That isn't going to get the knots out. Is the no brushing absolutely essential ?

[shinyshoes]

Right ladies this 'no combing/brushing business will be very hard for mr I have thick hair I mean very thick and I have to wet it in the mornings to get a brush through it. If I don't brush it, it gets very knotty( have done this on lazy days) I can't just put fingers thru it. That isn't going to get the knots out. Is the no brushing absolutely essential ?

[Grandhighpoohba]

ok, so now i have sticky, fluffy hair thats flat at the roots and took all day to dry. So what am I doing wrong?

washed hair first to remove silicon.

washed with Original source mint and tea tree conditioner. rinsed

applied original source amond conditioner, combed through with wide tooth comb, rinsed a bit, but not completely.

Applied scrunching jelly, plopped into turban thingy. sat with wet turban for hours. Took turban off, curls nicely defined but still pretty wet. Tried not to touch.

But its not good...

[BitOfFun]

It takes time for your hair to re-moisturize- mine is still improving after about a month of dropping the shampoo. Worth persevering though.

No brushing of dry curls, EVER!

Detangle in shower with conditioner on only.

And over time, as your hair holds moisture better, the tangling diminishes. I used to get nappy bits at the back, underneath, which I couldn't even get my fingers through. 'Tis much improved now, and my curls are only truly wrecked after copious shagging. Obviously that means I have to co-wash far more frequently than you lot will...[har har]

[Grandhighpoohba]

Can live with the fluffy, but sticky, no. It feels horrible. Do you have to only half rinse at the end for it to work - I think there's too much conditioner in there, cos its worse at the front than at the back?

[BitOfFun]

Just rinse properly then, and add a 5p sized bit of conditioner distributed as evenly as you can- at least you'll know how much is in there then, and how to adjust it. And go very sparing on any gel.

[shinyshoes]

BOF when you say no brushing of dry curls does that mean I can brush when my hair is wet?

Sorry for the thickness