As a baby, I had a lot of very white, very fine, very straight hair. See below for a pic of me doing my very best impression of a dandelion.
As I got older, it darkened, but it stayed pretty much straight through my childhood and teen years. If you’d asked me to describe my hair texture, I would have called it straight and fluffy. It tangled easily, was a bit frizzy, and held artifical curls well, but there was absolutely no pattern to it.
Then, a few months ago, I saw Kirsty Leanne talk about starting the Curly Girl Method on her hair. And then I kept seeing other people talking about it. So I did a bit of research, and found that some women who thought they had straight hair but frizzy hair, had discovered that they actually had wavy hair.
So I got in the shower, and shampooed my hair, and detangled it with the help of water and conditioner, and then I scrunched it a bit, wrapped it in a tshirt for 15 minutes, and when I unravelled it: voila. Your girl had waves!
… Sort of, anyway. But it was a start.
Important Note about the Curly Girl Method
Before I dig further into my own experience so far with CGM, I’d like to recommend reading this article: The Whitewashing of the Natural Hair Movement.
We can’t talk about curly hair without discussing the fact that, same as the Body Positive Movement, the Natural Hair Movement was created by and for Black women.
Black people have faced opression for their natural hair texture for centuries, and they created the Movement to take back ownership of that.
I think it’s important that we acknowledge that those of us who are not Black and now wish to embrace our own wave patterns, are riding on those coat tails. This is their space, and we are (at most), guests in it.
This post is mainly just me talking about my recent hair care, but I really do suggest that, whether or not you decide you want to try the Curly Girl Method yourself, you also research a bit about the history of hair, specifically Black hair, and the huge part that racism has to play in our modern beauty standards.
What is the Curly Girl Method?
The Curly Girl Method is a set of hair care “rules” that are meant to help you care for and enhance your natural wave or curl pattern.
Note: this won’t MAKE your hair curly. It’s about embracing and enhancing your hair’s own natural texture, whatever that may be.
For me, I want my hair to be as healthy as possible. What CGM has done is teach me how to recognise what my hair needs. Is it thirsty for moisture? Does it need a protein boost? In 6 weeks, I feel like I understand my own hair so much better than I did before.
The unexpected beachy waves are actually just an added bonus!
The Curly Girl “Rules”
The most generally accepted rules of CGM are:
- No heat
- No sulfates (sulfates are the harsh detergents you get in a lot of modern shampoos)
- No silicones (silicone is the element in a lot of modern conditioners that clings to your hair shaft and make it appear smoother. Hard to remove without harsh sulfates)
- No dry-brushing, or combing without conditioner
- No regular towels (use a cotton tshirt or microfibre towel instead)
- Limit your hair washes
NOTE: I’m not a Curly Girl Method expert (obviously, I’ve only been doing this 6 weeks, and I have loose waves at best), so I’ve added Further Reading links for you wherever I can.
How I Got Started
So the funny thing is, I’d accidentally already been following most of the rules without even knowing about them.
I stopped straightening my hair about 3 years ago, and only heat-curled my hair very occasionally (mainly because my hair is very long and dense and it takes foreverrr to do, and I’m a lazy hair girl) ?♀️ Since discovering the Dressing Gown heatless curl method, I haven’t used my GHDs for about… a year? Maybe?
I started wrapping my hair in a tshirt instead of a towel about a year ago as well, becase I read somewhere that it’s less harsh on your hair than a regular terry cloth towel.
Then, during lockdown, I started “training” my hair to last longer between washes. I went from washing every 2-3 days, to every 5-6 days.
So really, all that’s changed in the last 6 weeks is the products I use, a few tweaks to my routine, and the addition of a few new techniques.
Protein vs Moisture
When I got my hair cut, the day after trying my first experiment with Curly Girl Method, my hairdresser really struggled to untangle my hair. He’d comb it out, and two seconds later it would be all caught up again.
He recommended a protein treatment, so I popped into Boots afterwards and spent about half an hour wandering around trying to figure out what the heck a protein treatment looked like.
Basically, hair products can (mostly) be split into two categories: moisturising, and protein based. Your hair needs a good balance of both, and everyone’s ‘balance’ will look completely different.
What works for me, may or may not work for you. This is why Curly Girl Method is a slow process. It’s not a magic instant formula, because you have to experiment, and figure out your own routine.
It’s not just about the products themselves, but about how much you use, how often you use them, the order in which you use them, and the techniques you use to apply them (insert mind-blowing confusion emoji)
FURTHER READING ON PROTEIN VS MOISTURE:
- Protein Moisture Balance by Curly Cailin
This All Sounds Very Expensive and Also Confusing
The good news is, it’s less confusing than it sounds, and only as expensive as you want it to be.
Start by just switching up your hairwash techniques. I didn’t want to waste my perfectly useable non-CG friendly products by throwing them away, so for the first week, I started just by combing through my usual conditioner in the shower, learning how to plop, and researching Wavy Girl techniques and UK-available products.
A week later, I bought a CG-approved shampoo and conditioner, as well as a protein mask. And finally, four weeks after starting, I decided to introduce a curl cream.
Go slow, and try not to get caught up in the whirl of buying new products for the sake of it, especially when you’re just starting to learn about your hair.
I bought a rather pricey, coconut-based shampoo and conditioner at first. And then went home and researched some more and realised that actually they were going to be faaaaar too heavy for my hair. So I returned it unopened, and thankfully got a refund.
But yeah. Don’t rush. Research. Read reviews, and also try and find reviews from various hair types to get more of a rounded idea on whether it will work for you.
The Products I Use
Shampoo and conditioner
I currently swear by Faith in Nature‘s Lavender & Geranium low-sulfate shampoo and silicone-free conditioner.
Faith in Nature are a natural, vegan, cruelty-free brand, who make all their products right here in the UK. You can even buy a huge 5 litre tub of most of their products, if you want to reduce your plastic wastage; and they have products for all different hair types, including fragrance-free, oily and dry/damaged.
SIDE NOTE: Depending on your wave or curl type, you may not need shampoo at all. The term “co-wash” means using conditioner to wash your scalp. It’s worth trying, to see how you get on. However, I found I get too much build up at the roots, so it just wasn’t the right fit for my fine hair.
HAIR MASK
After a bit of research, I bought the Maui Anti-Breakage Agave Hair Strengthening Mask.
I’ve actually only used this twice so far (I should probably do it more often to be honest, but I always forget), and I got REALLY great results from it. Would definitely recommend.
CURL CREAM
I only started using Cantu Moisturising Curl Activator Cream two weeks ago, and it’s been a bit of a learning curve. It’s a protein product, and quite a heavy one, so I’m still figuring out how it fits into my routine. At the moment, it’s the last step of my wash, and I scrunch it in while my hair is soaking.
Again, it’s a little pricey, but it’s a sizeable bottle and I only use a literal pea-sized amount in each wash, so it’s going to last me for aaages.
GEL OR MOUSSE?
I’m considering introducing a mousse next month, but personally haven’t tried any “holding” products yet.
Again, different textures require different things. I kinda just wanted to see what my loose waves would do naturally if they were left to their own devices.
However, if you have more defined waves or actual curls, you’ll probably want to look into mixing a gel into your routine much sooner, to help stop frizz and “set” your wave pattern.
HOT TIP: IsItCG is a great resource for checking product ingredient lists.
FURTHER READING: Mousse vs Gel: How To Choose The Styler for Your Fine Hair by Naturally Curly
Water: My Magic Ingredient
Yep, water. Regular H20 from the tap. It’s my favouritest, cheapest, and most magical hair-transforming product.
I feel like maybe I’m an idiot for never realising to be honest.
I’ve had a “rule” in my head for yeaaars, that said it was best to squeeze out as much water as possible from your hair before applying conditioner. I think maybe I read somewhere that water would dilute the conditioner so it wouldn’t work as well? I literally don’t know.
But wherever it came from: it’s wrong. SO wrong.
Water hydrates. We know this. It’s a basic cardinal rule of nature. My hair is no different than my skin or my internal organs: it needs water.
A good conditioner is just there to help trap the water in your hair strand. (And yes, I’m definitely oversimplifying the science, but again: not a scientist or hair expert. Sorry!)
Most of the time, when I’m combing out my hair in the shower and it feels rough and hard to untangle, it’s not more conditioner I need: it’s more water.
It really is like magic. I actually use less conditioner now than I used to, and my hair has never looked or felt better.
My Curly Girl Wash Routine
OK so as mentioned previously, I’m a Lazy Hair Girl. My goal is to get my hair as healthy and beautiful as possible, with the most absolute minimum effort.
There are so many other things I could probably try, and products I could use, to make it Extra Wavy, but basically: I can’t be bothered. So here’s what I do:
1. WATER – I start by seriously wetting my hair – which takes longer than you’d think. My concept of “wet hair” has definitely changed since starting this!
2. SHAMPOO – Once it’s absolutely soaking, I lather a 50p sized amount of shampoo into the roots, and use the pads of my fingers to give myself a scalp massage. Really dig in and get all the dirt and grease out. Rinse.
3. CONDITIONER – After rinsing out the shampoo, I flip my head upside down, and add more water, especially at the roots. Then I pour out a 50p sized amount of conditioner, and apply to the midlengths and ends of my hair.
I comb through (upside down) with a Tangle Teezer. To be honest, I should probably use a wide-tooth comb, but my tangles tend to be so small that a regular comb just doesn’t catch them all, so TT it is. I start by combing at the ends, and work my way up the strands, gently working through any knots and tangles so as not to rip my hair out.
I’ll add more water as I detangle. Sometimes I do also need a bit more conditioner, but usually it’s just more water (especially on the roots).
Once all the snags are smoothed out, I add more water and a tiny bit more conditioner until my hair feels slippery (I aim for seaweed texture). Then I twist it up on my head while I wash/shave/exfoliate.
Then I flip it upside down again and rinse out the conditioner, using the pads of my fingers to check that none of it got into my roots.
4. CURL CREAM – By this point, my hair is soaking, completely hydrated, and naturally separating into ‘clumps’. I squeeze out a pea-size amount of Cantu Curl Activator Cream, rub it between my hands, and then cup the ends of my hair, gently squishing the clumps up towards my roots (but without touching them)
5. SCRUNCH – I continue using my hands to carefully scrunch my ‘clumps’, to remove as much excess water as I can, while also evenly distributing the cream.
6. PLOP – ‘Plopping’ is a basically just a specific way of wrapping your wet or damp hair in a tshirt to help “set” the waves or curls. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it does for me. I use an old (and clean) long sleeved cotton tshirt, and let it “set” for anything from thirty minutes (if I’m in a rush) to an hour or two (if I’m working from the sofa).
7. AIR DRY – Some people like to diffuse their hair on a cool setting, but as mentioned earlier, my hair is reaaally long and I have zero patience. So I just undo the tshirt, and shake it out. I’m careful not to catch my fingers and pull out any of the waves.
The general rule is to not touch your waves/curls until it’s dry, to reduce frizz. However, I find I have to move things around a bit, just so I can see properly!
For volume, I will flip my hair to the opposite side of where I want my parting, and let it dry 80% that way before flipping it back to how I actually want to wear it.
“Bad Hair Days”
First of all, my definition of “bad hair days”has changed.
Before, when I was aiming for straight hair, frizz would be “bad”. Now, I actually don’t mind a bit of frizz, because it adds volume to my waves. A Bad Hair Day for me now usually means dry, strawlike hair, with no clear shaping.
When I tried using the curling cream for the first time, I also attempted an overnight plop. One (or both!) of these things didn’t work, and my hair felt lank, with hard stringy waves, and totally flat, slightly greasy-looking roots. Not cute.
But you just pile it on your head in a bun, learn the lesson, and move on to the next wash.
The next day, I did a clarifying wash with Method washing up liquid*** to remove the product pileup, then I followed that up with a moisturising deep condition.
*** [[Yep, washing up liquid. Some people get real snobby about it, but a) I only use it once every 4 months or so, and b) it works a TREAT. With the added bonus of d) it doesn’t cost £££££ like most clarifying shampoos do… Just make sure you do a really good conditioning afterwards.]]
I made sure to properly rinse out all the conditioner, then tried a smaller amount of the protein curl cream, and plopped for half an hour only. That was a GREAT hair day!
Swings and roundabouts, baby. You just gotta roll with it.
In Conclusion
It’s not for everyone, but following the Curly Girl Method rules works for me.
My hair feels the healthiest, and looks the shiniest it’s ever been. My routine doesn’t take any more time, effort or money than it did before. And I’ve no idea where the natural beachy waves have magically appeared from (my grandma was very confused ?), but I adore them.
So if it’s something you’re interested in trying: go for it. Worst case scenario: it’s not for you and you just go back to what you were happily doing before. ?
Apparently most people have at least some sort of wave in their hair, so chances are you will too!
