You have probably heard of the Curly Girl Method. Where curly hair goes from undefined and dull to lively curls. It sounds almost too good to be true, but all it takes is just healthy products and a gentle hair routine. But where do you start? And what does the method consist of?
WHAT IS THE CURLY GIRL METHOD?
The Curly Girl Method, created by author Lorraine Massey, is a hair care approach that focuses on nourishing curls and avoiding damaging practices. This consists of a series of recommended dos and don’ts about the use of harsh shampoos and excessive heat styling. The Curly Girl Method emphasizes cleansing, conditioning, and styling curls in a natural manner.
This technique has proven to revitalize naturally curly hair, bringing back its curl, volume, and shine. The success of the Curly Girl Method can be attributed to its specific set of rules. In this blog post, we review the main advantages and disadvantages of the rules in this method and provide advice on how to face the challenges that many people experience in relation to the method.
HOW TO START THE CURLY GIRL METHOD?
There are, in fact, several things that you may not realize you should avoid and similar things that you can use to your advantage. Below we list the most important do’s and don’ts.
1. AVOID FREQUENT HAIR WASHES WITH SHAMPOOS FILLED WITH SILICONE AND (HARSH) SULFATES
One of the most important, and perhaps most difficult things is to avoid many weekly hair washes. It is especially difficult if you use a shampoo with silicone and lots of harsh sulfates. This is one of the biggest don’ts in the method. When you use a shampoo or conditioner with silicone, it works in such a way that the silicone settles as a layer on the outside of the hair strands. It results in the dirt, grime, and remnants of styling products sticking to the hair strands which weigh down the curls. At the same time, silicone prevents good, nourishing ingredients and moisture from penetrating the hair, making the curls dry and tight. In addition, the silicone also affects the scalp, which over time will have difficulty breathing and can eventually lead to hair loss.
Another don’t in the method is (harsh) sulfates. Sulphate is found in shampoos because it is an agent that effectively cleanses the hair by dissolving grease and dirt. A shampoo that cleanses the hair is a necessity, but it can be difficult when you should avoid shampoos with sulfates. This leads us to the first challenge of the method. Fortunately, all sulfates are not the same. The problem only arises if your shampoo contains the wrong harsh sulfates. Harsh sulfates cause direct damage to every single hair follicle, cause dry and irritated scalp and remove the natural fats that keep our scalp healthy and well.
An irritated scalp is a challenge that many people experience after following the Curly Girl Method for some time. This is simply because the scalp doesn’t get cleaned properly which, as mentioned earlier, can lead to hair loss. Consequently, we do not recommend using shampoo completely without sulfates.
There are sulfates that you can safely add to your hair without it weighing down the curls! Hair care that contains a small number of gentle sulfates is, therefore, a necessity and is also beneficial for maintaining a natural balance in hair and scalp. As mentioned above, we do not recommend that you completely exclude sulfate from your hair care routine.
We have developed our natural shampoo and conditioner called Wake Up Curls, which contains a gentle amount of mild sulfate, ensuring that your hair and scalp are left clean and well-groomed.
Wake Up Curls Shampoo contains Sodium Coco-Sulfate, which is one of the mildest sulfates. Coco sulfate is extracted from fatty acids in coconut oil and is a gentle alternative to common and harsh sulfates such as Sodium Lauryl Sulphate and Sodium Laureth Sulphate.
2. AVOID BRUSHING IN DRY HAIR
If your hair is dry you should avoid brushing it as much as possible. However, if you feel the need to, you can do it in the shower, while your hair is conditioned. This reduces the chance of your hair breaking without changing the elasticity of the curls. Furthermore, your brushing technique can make your curls even more defined, and prevent hair from tangling. Apply Wake Up Curl Cream afterwards and scrunch your hair to gather your curls again.
3. REPLACE THE TOWEL WITH A COTTON T-SHIRT
Our third recommendation is don’t use a traditional towel to dry your hair. The towel not only sucks the water out of the hair but will also cause wear and tear because of the rough fibre material. Traditional towels can even remove the moisture added by haircare products. When the rough fibres enclose the individual strands of hair, the outer layer of the hair (cuticle) is destroyed, resulting in frizzy and undefined curls.
On the contrary, using a cotton T-shirt with gentle and soft fibres ensures that only excess water is absorbed into the T-shirt. This preserves the structure of the curls. Scrunch the hair with your fingers afterwards to define and create a structure for the curls. You can use our Wake Up Curl Cream to give extra structure and hold.
4. AVOID HEAT STYLING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
Like all other hair types, curly hair also gets damaged from styling with heating tools. In case you use a blow dryer, make sure that your hair is supplied with plenty of moisture. You can do this by using our Wake Up Curl Cream.
Additionally, when you blow-dry your hair, you can use a diffuser. The diffuser keeps the curls in shape, creates volume, and most importantly, ensures that the curls are not smoothed out. You can add a few sprays of our Wake Up Curl Spray, for extra texture and definition. All of NATURIGINS’ hair styling products are organic and will help you to achieve the styling aspect of the curly girl method.
Based on the above, we have developed a Wake Up Curls series consisting of four products. All products ensure a healthy hair care routine giving your curls a new life like never before.
We hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks on how to treat your hair.