Curly Girl Method Questions Answered – Part II
Help! I’ve been trying the Curly Girl Method for a couple weeks and my hair looks greasy. Does that mean this isn’t for me?
No worries. It’s pretty normal for your hair to look worse before it looks better. But this probably does mean you need try a few different products. Not every co-wash conditioner is the same, just like not every head of hair is the same. You need to try out a few products to find what works best for you. Worse comes to worse, wash your hair and then begin again.
But seriously, do you really never, ever, wash your hair? (This is a favorite question of my students.)
No, but I do it very rarely and I never wash my whole head of hair. If my hair is really bad, maybe after an intense workout or a lazy weekend, I will use about a nickel-sized dollop on only my hairline. I massage the shampoo into the hair just along the scalp and never push it through the rest of my hair.
The only other time I will wash my hair is the rare occasion (once every two-three months) when I wash it all with a purple shampoo to take the brassy color out of my blonde coloring.
What products do you use?
I’ve written two posts on this, so I won’t spend too much time rehashing that. Right now I’m using Burt’s Bees shampoo when needed as well as Deva Curl conditioner, and Wen conditioner. The Wen I also use as a leave-in conditioner, applying a little to the ends as soon as I step out of the shower. Read the full post on Curly Girl Method Approved Products.
What about hair color? Can I keep coloring my hair and use the method?
Well, a lot of people say using harmful hair color on your curls is bad news. I agree, to a certain extent. The box dyes wreak havoc on your hair. It dries out the ends and makes it feel like straw. Now, I use salon-quality color on only my roots to keep the rest of it strong. Then every once every 6 months I go and get professional highlights put in to help the colors blend, etc… Now that I care for my hair I won’t use the box dyes anymore.
Did this make your hair curlier?
Honestly, that is a little difficult to answer. It’s a lot longer now than it was a year ago, and length weighs hair down. But it certainly curls easier. It looks less frizzy. It needs to be washed less. It looks better for a longer period of time between washing, even after sleeping on it. It looks and feels healthier. So there are a lot of benefits to this method, even if it didn’t create more curls. I do know a lot of people have seen curlier results.
Isn’t this an expensive way to take care of your hair?
The products are expensive, well some of them are, but no I don’t think it’s an expensive method. You need to wash your hair less often, which means you go through a lot less product. Once your hair is repaired you need to use less conditioner with each cleansing as well. The way I see it too, having good healthy hair is worth spending a little money. The beginning is always the costliest time because you might need to test a number of products to find the one that works best for you.
What if I still want to shampoo my hair? Can I use some of this method and not all of it?
Sure. Not ready to give up your shampoo routine, that could work. Although not ideal, because shampoo dries out your hair, you could keep shampooing but up your conditioning routine. It’s all about the moisture. Condition, condition, condition! So shampoo your hair if you really want to, but add twice as much conditioner to your routine as you ever have before.
Curly Girl Method Questions Answered – Part II is a post from: ModlyChic
