Curly Girl Method Steps

Curly Girl Steps

All products must be sulfate or silicone free. Silicones end in xane, conol, and cone.

This is a link to the method with pictures:
http://www.wikihow.com/Follow-the-Curly-Girl-Method-for-Curly-Hair

Step 1: CLARIFY: Clarify twice with sulfate shampoo for the last time, make sure it is silicone free...save it just in case you accidently use cones.

Step 2: CLEANSE: Do NOT use regular shampoo. Use a CG approved cleanser only: Use a sulfate free shampoo (low poo) if you are extremely oily or a silicone free conditioner to cowash (conditioner washing the scalp, instead of using shampoo.) Cowash with a light conditioner if you are more oily or a thicker more moisturizing one if you are dry, put it on your finger tips, massage the scalp well, then rinse. Just do the scalp, the cleanser will rinse the tips and pull the impurities off of the hair.

Step 3: CONDITION: Use a thicker more moisturizing conditioner (called a rinse out conditioner), let sit while washing the rest of your body, detangle with your fingers or a wide toothed comb only, then rinse out completely or not if hair is drier and curl type is stronger. If you cannot detangle, add more conditioner. You should have slip when you are detangling. I rinse mine out halfway until the point that my hair feels like seaweed still.

Step 4: LEAVE IN: Use leave in conditioner. It can be any conditioner. If you're dry use the moisturizing one, if it's too heavy use the lighter one. Skip this step if you are fine, get weighed down easily or don’t have dry hair. You should have enough leave in to have slip and should be able to rake your ringers through with slip and no resistance. Smooth it on or rake it in.

Step 5: Smooth or rake, and then scrunch stylers into hair: Gel, mousse (I do not like it at all), curl enhancing gel, cream gel, cream or butter. Smooth the products in for a more curly look and rake them in for a more elongated or wavy look.

Step 6: Air dry, plop, or diffuse. Diffusing may give more volume, less frizz, and tighter curls. Plopping may not work on shorter hair types or tighter curl patterns.


Keep it simple in the beginning.

Four steps: cleanse (cowash or low poo), rinse out, leave in, styler (gel or cream or butter.)

Use only one cleanser. Use only one conditioner as a rinse out and the same one as a leave in. Use only on gel/cream.

Example: Suave naturals cowash, thicker rinse out like Tresseme naturals, leave in Tresseme Naturals, and La looks sports gel (or herbal essence totally twisted if you're nervous of hard gel) or Shea Moisture Smoothie if you need a cream if you are a tighter curl pattern.

POROSITY HELPS YOU PICK PRODUCTS:

Use Shea Moisture if you are higher porosity from heat, dye, or bleach damage. Your hair may not look dull and feel rough and dry. You may also just have naturally higher porosity hair.

If you are low porosity you GVP Matrix conditioning balm from Sally’s, As I am, or Kinky Curly. Your hair may look shiny and feel smoother than higher porosity.

Only change on thing at a time, including technique, so you know what's working.

Products
Most sulfate and silicone products are in the natural hair or natural cosmetic/body area of Wa-lmart, Sally's, Target, TJMax, Whole Foods and Marshall’s. You can find them on amazon and Curlmart.com.

Sulfate shampoo to clarify, use twice, then never again, unless you accidently use silicones: Suave naturals is good.

Cowashes: Suave naturals (the cheap one for a dollar, not suave prefessionals), Tresseme naturals (heavier), vo5 (lighter), As I Am cowash

Sulfate free shampoo: Shea moisture retention (moisturizing doesn't strip, lathers but can build up on low porosity hair), eden tea tree or gud to help oily hair transition it’s not CG approved but has a milder sulfate (from Sally's, deeper cleanse, may strip if not careful, only use on roots if used daily)

Rinse out: The thicker, the more moisturizing: Tresseme naturals (light), GVP Matrix biolage conditioning balm (from Sally's, thicker), Shea moisture conditioner (most moisturizing, pick the gold or pink one to start. May build up on low porosity.)

Leave in: High porosity: Shea moisture milk. Low porosity: Kinky Curky Knot Today or As I Am leave in.

Curl enhancing gels/creams: Ecostyler, Flax Seed Gel (home made), Kinky curly Knot Custard (Target), Camille Rose Curl Maker, Shea Moisture Smoothie (better for second day hair, porous hair or curlier hair types), eden curl cream, cantu curl cream.

Gels: La Looks Sports gel (best affordable strong hold), Aussie insta freeze (moderately strong hold), Biosilk rock hard gel (extreme hold), Herbal essence totally twisted (medium hold)

Best all purpose conditioners: Tesseme naturals (cowash, rinse out, leave in), Sauve Naturals Cowash and refresher.

I'm not a fan of mousse anymore like I was, so I don't have a lot to say other than if you want to use it try herbal essence totally twisted. It doesn't give me the hold and curl definition I am looking for. It feels heavier with more product residue.

The more you move up in curl type the dryer the hair, usually, so you need more moisture. Add oils.


Styling:

The basics: Leave in and gel or just leave in if you are curlier

Type 2 Waives
Fine wavies:
LEG- L-liquid (water), E-Curl enhancer, and harder gel
LOG- L-Leave in/liquid, O-Oil, G-Gel (add just a couple drops of a light oil like joboba or sunflower if you are very dry)

Porous or curly wavies:
LEG- L-liquid (water), E-Curl enhancer, and harder gel
LOG- L-Leave in/liquid, O-Oil, G-Gel
LOEG- L-leave in/liquid (water), O-oil, E-Curl enhancer, G-hard gel (summer)
LOCG- L-leave in/liquid (water), O-oil, C-Cream, G-hard gel (winter)


Type 3/4 Curlies
Condidtioner only
Leave in and gel
Leave in and oil
LOG- L-Leave in/liquid, O-Oil, G-Gel
LOC-L-leave in/liquid, O-oil, C-cream
LCO- L-Leave in/liquid, C-cream, O-oil (packs in moisture for lower porosity under the oil)
LOCG-L-leave in/liquid, O-oil, C-cream, G-gel (G gives definition) LOC- L-Leave in/liquid, O-oil, C-cream (Lock method to Lock in moisture) LCO- L-Leave in/liquid, C-cream, O-oil (packs in moisture for lower porosity under the oil)
LCOG- L-leave in/liquid, C-cream, O-oil, G-gel (G for definition)

Lock in your moisture with oils over your leave in: joboba, sunflower and grapeseed are lighter options. Coconut is heavier.


Deep conditioning
Use to jump start your transition to silicone and sulfate free. The sulfates dry and strip your hair of all moisture and without the silicone blocking the hair from the moisture in the air, your hair will frizz up to the moisture in the air. When your hair is moisturized it will stay down and not frizz. Lock in your moisture using penetrating oils in you deep conditioner.

Low porosity: Mix GVP conditioning balm, coconut, olive oil and/or sunflower oil and honey (moisture and shine)
High porosity: Mix coconut oil, olive oil, shea moisture retention masque, honey

More add ins: aloe vera juice (moisture), agave (moisture), yogurt (protein)

Add a shower cap or walmart bag, add heat if you want (good for low porosity), leave in at least 20 min. but best at least an hour or longer if you can avoid hydral fatigue.

You may have to low poo the oils out of your hair after deep conditioning.


Technique:

No towel drying, use t-shirts or a micro fiber towel. Towels suck the moisture out of your curls and create frizz. Curls need moisture. The towel creates friction and frizz. No brushes.

Apply products when hair is soaking wet, unless you are a finer type. If so, dry the hair first, then add stylers so you don’t get weighed down. Tilt head over for more body on top. Rake product with fingers for more of a wavy look, smooth products over hair with your hands like you are praying for a more curly look. Then scrunch all stylers into hair. After stylers are in scrunch water out of hair gently with a t-shirt or microfiber towel. Stop if it begins to frizz. If your hair has no slip and snags when raking and feels dry, add more leave in. If it’s frizzing, wet add more leave in, water, or gel. Frizzing wet hair could also be build up. If the hair isn’t clumping, add more leave in, gel or curl enhancer. If the hair is weighed down and not curling up when wet, it’s weighed down and something is too heavy in the technique. If it doesn’t set, right it, it won’t look right.

Plop to soak water out of hair and decrease dry time and create volume on top, plop for just 5-15 minutes if you get weird curls. Put a microfiber towel inside the t-shirt to absorb more water faster. Change t-shirts after the first one is damp to absorb even more water out. Can sleep in a plop if you don't get wonky curls when you plop. It may not work on very tight curls or short hairstyles.

Don't touch hair while it's drying!!! Use a diffuser and pixie diffuse just air dry. Once gel cast starts to form, push diffuser into hair for more body flip head over for more volume on top.

No brushing hair! Comb only with a very wide toothed comb or finger comb when conditioner is in wet hair. Finger combing allows best curl formation and is best for preventing breakage.

Pineapple: Go to bed with a loose scrunchy holding your hair on the top front part of your head to wake up to volume on top and intact curls just wet hair with water in a spray bottle and scrunch. Satin pillowcases reduce frizz also. I sleep on it without pineappling sometimes and my hair looks fine. You may have to refresh a little more for second day hair.

Refresh your curls with water, spray gel (mix gel and water in water bottle), conditioner, curl cream or a combo depending on your hair. A great spray combo is equal parts conditioner, water, and gel. I get frizzy from spraying the hair, so I just wet my hands, then add leave in, oil, and gel as needed. Refresh them in them in the morning, evening or if you style you hair and it didn't work out the way you wanted and it isn't curly and is frizzy.

Trouble shooting
If your curls aren't looking right, you may have not got all the silicone out of your hair. Try another sulfate shampoo and start from step one.

You will be very dry in the beginning from stripping sulfate shampoo and silicone blocking your moisture and may look worse before you look better because CG leaves the hair naked and it is no longer covered up by silicone (it’s synthetic oil and acts like rubber caulking) so you see the hair in its true state. Deep condition a lot. If you have damage, after deep conditioning a lot to restore moisture into your parched stripped hair, you can add protein and do a protein treatment if needed if you have heat, bleaching, or dye damage. Some people are protein sensitive, so be careful and experiment with protein before doing one because too much protein can cause brittle dry hair and breakage.

Also, clarify with sulfate free shampoo once a week or month as needed to remove build up from heavier products. If your hair is frizzing wet, it may be build up.


Have fun and play with it!!!

 Raquel

Sources:
http://www.wikihow.com/Follow-the-Curly-Girl-Method-for-Curly-Hair