Hair On The Brain reader Jill requested that I do a post on tips for curly haired girls based on Anne Hathaway‘s inspirational natural curls in Love & Other Drugs. Jill wrote that while she loves her own curls, sometimes they’re hard to manage. She thinks that a lot of curly girls out there end up straightening their hair because they just don’t know how to properly care for their gorgeous curls. I totally agree that there’s a lack of good information out there for girls with curls. The majority of today’s hair information & inspiration is skewed toward straight hair. So thanks to Jill for reminding me to cover this topic more frequently on HOTB!
First up, let’s discuss the famous “Curly Girl Method”, made popular by Lorraine Massey, author of Curly Girl. This technique is also known as the “no-poo” method. (Maybe that’s how Taylor gets her curls so spirally?) This method helps curly girls dealing with dry, damaged, frizzy, hair by repairing moisture and working with your natural hair texture. There is an adjustment period while your hair gets over the shock that you’re no longer using sulfates to cleanse, but the end result can be soft, shiny, beautiful hair. (Take note wavy & straight haired girls: Many of these tips can be incorporated into all hair routines to improve hairs’ health.)
Cut & Clarify – Before you embark on the curly girl method, get your hair trimmed to remove split ends. Find an experienced stylist who knows about curly hair. Also, before you start, clarify with a non-sulfate shampoo to remove any silicones.
Ditch Your Brush – For untangling hair use ONLY your fingers or a wide-tooth comb. And untangle your hair when it is wet, never dry. Toss your brush and any small-toothed comb–they will just create frizz.
Condition Only: Step 1 – Most shampoos contain sulfates, which are harsh and damaging for curly hair. Toss your shampoo and do COC (conditioner only cleanse) instead. Here’s how: Wet your hair and apply a large amount of conditioner to your entire scalp (only at this point). Massage conditioner in with the tips of your fingers. Rub conditioner into your scalp using the pads (not nails) of your fingers. This rubbing action is what breaks up the dirt and oil, so take your time with this step. Then thoroughly rinse your scalp, still massaging with your fingertips.
How often you COC your scalp depends on how oily or dry it is. Some do it once a week, some everyday, but be careful about build-up. Also, be sure to avoid silicones in your hair products, because this will counteract your efforts. If your hair is not digging the COC, try gentle shampoos that contain mild cleansers instead of sulfates, (i.e. cocamidopropyl betaine or coco betaine), which can be used occasionally or more often for wavier hair types.
Condition Only: Step 2 – After you have cleansed the scalp area, you can distribute conditioner throughout all of your hair and untangle. To untangle, use your hands or a wide-toothed comb. Start with the bottom
sections and gradually move upwards. Once it is untangled, let the conditioner sit in your hair for five minutes or more for extra moisture. At this point you can also part your hair. Then do a final rinse with cool/cold water to decrease frizz and add shine. You don’t have to rinse every bit of conditioner out, leave a bit on to make untangling easier, especially at dry sections, like the ends. At this point you can gently run your fingers though your hair, but do not comb after this point.
COC Product Recommendations: Wen is the most famous line of cleansing conditioner. I’ve tried Wen Pomegranate Cleansing Conditioner and it was my favorite, but Wen Sweet Almond Mint is also really awesome. The Wen Cleansing Conditioners smell amazing and really get the cleansing job done without leaving buildup. My hair is smooth and shiny afterward. The only downside is that when I do this method, I go through a lot of product because and Wen products are pricey. A lot of people who do COC use cheap (but effective) drugstore conditioners, especially Suave or VO5.
Styling Products – For curlier hair girls, it is best to apply product when your hair is soaking wet. Wait five minutes or so if you have medium to wavy curly hair. A typical curly girl method for product application is to first apply a leave-in cream styling aid or conditioner to decrease frizz and then follow with a gel for hold and definition. Emulsify the product between your hands and then rake it into your hair by sections. Finger shape your curls by cupping your hair in the palm of your hands and scrunch in an upward motion and/or twisting individual curls around a finger. Gently scrunch dry your hair with a regular t-shirt or a micro-fiber towel to remove excess moisture. Don’t use terrycloth towel because it will actually make your hair frizzier. Wait a few minutes so your hair can take shape.
Plopping – You can decrease the time it takes to dry your hair by “plopping”. Here’s how: Spread an old t-shirt or micro-fiber towel onto a flat surface, bend over at the waist and position your hair in the middle. With your head touching the cloth, drape the back section of cloth over your head. Twist the sides until they form “sausage rolls” and clip or tie them at the base of your neck. After 15-30 minutes remove the cloth. If your hair is frizzy after plopping lightly graze with gel. Plopping works best for medium to long length curly hair.
Drying – Air drying is the easiest and gentlest way to dry your hair. If you must blow dry, use a diffuser to avoid frizz. Only dry your hair partially (about 80%) and air-dry the rest. This is the most difficult rule! Don’t touch your hair while it’s drying or it will make it frizzy.
Adjustment Period – It takes two to six weeks for your hair to adjust to the no shampoo method, so give your hair some time to adjust.
Believe it or not, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to curly hair routines and recommendations. Check out some of these other great resources for my curly girl tips: Naturallycurly.com, Ouidad.com, and Makeupalley.com–the hair board is full of great advice.
Curly Girls: Do you use the no-poo or conditioner only method? And what are your other tips & tricks? Favorite products? Share all you hair secrets in the comments!
This is fantastic! I have natural curls but always had trouble maintaining them, especially with frizz, so I end up straightening my hair instead. Definitely trying this out!
Very good article! Im a curlyhead myself. Although since i’ve done the brazilian keratin treatment i wear it mostly straight.
Btw, don’t you mean for the first clarifying step that it has to be a sulfate shampoo.
Great article. My hair is slightly wavy (the kind of hair that has no defined shape unless I blowdry it straight or apply some product to define and enhance the wave) and though it’s not very fine, it gets easily damaged. That’s the main reason why I started to CO-wash, to see if I could improve the hair’s health by ditching the shampoo, and it makes a huuuuuge difference. I had no adjustment period, my hair is much healthier and soft and doesn’t get oilier than in the shampoo era. I do wash with regular shampoo from time to time to clarify, maybe once or twice a month. The styling curly girl routine is also great, I got some nice wave with it.
I’d recommend CO-washes to everyone, straight haired people as well, who want to improve the hair’s health. Be careful though with the conditionner you choose, a lot of them leave the hair feeling greasy, and you want to get a “clean feeling” similar to the one you achieve with shampoo, only it’s a “moisturized clean” feeling and not the shampooesque “squeaky clean” (I don’t know if I’m making myself clear here :-)).
Gi: What conditioner do you use to do CO wash? Thanks!
Valerie, when I clicked on “Naturallycurly.com” from your article, I was directed to Ouidad’s site, maybe you should check what’s going on?
I have naturally curly hair, but my scalp can’t handle a ‘no poo’ lifestyle. I just make sure I use shampoos that are sulfate-free. I have one by Phyto that I really like. I also use a tiny bit of olive oil on my ends cuz I’m trying to grow my hair out and it keeps my ends from getting too dry.
Aseya: I have that problem too. I do CO wash off and on but I feel like I can never keep up with it for long term. Maybe I just need breaks? I feel like there is a lot of variety in what people do in terms of their routine. Some people say no ‘cones’ EVER and some people say their hair is better with ‘cones’ etc…. I am looking for a good sulfate-free shampoo still, a lot of them seem to dry my hair out, which seems weird. Any recommendation?
gi: Fixed that link! Sorry about that.
Hi nono: Regarding the clarifying shampoo, I think the idea is too get the gunk out of your hair before you start the CO process, so you’re right that a sulfate shampoo is ok here. (Gah, this stuff still gets confusing!) In addition to Neutrogena, I know people use Suave clarifying or Vo5 Kiwi Lime.
Also, you can be an apple cider vinegar rinse, which will help to balance the pH of your hair and remove the buildup.
Mix 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into 1 cup of warm filtered tap water. After you shampoo, rinse your hair with this mixture.
Valerie: I live in Portugal so a lot of products you have are not available here, and vice-versa. Actually, after trying a couple of conditionners that left the hair a tad oily/ stringy, I found a hairmask from a brazilian brand (see it here: http://www.petstars.bg/en/product.php?product=558). Since it’s thick (it’s a mask), I take half a handful, put it in a jar and dilute it with some water before applying. It really cleanses very well leaving the hair moisturized but not oily, I guess because the ingredient list is short and contains no oils (and no cones of course): water, cetearyl alcohol, cetrimonium chloride, vanillia extract, fragrance, propylparaben, citric acid, CI 19.140 (color). It’s also very cheap (about 5 dollars for 1 kg), which is very important because I’m on a budget and since I wash my hair every other day, an expensive product wouldn’t be possible. So it’s all good! I’ve heard wonders about the Vo5 and Suave conditionners for doing CO-washes but I don’t find them here.
About sulfate-free shampoos leaving your hair dry: I once bought a natural, organic shampoo and my hair was like straw. I checked the ingredients and it had alcohol, which i guess was the culprit because everything else seemed ok (of course I’m no cientist, I can’t be sure). To make up for the cleansing effects of the sulfates, I suppose they have to put other things that might be as drying to the hair, though not as bad in terms of health. That’s just my 2 cents.
gi: It really depends on the sulfate-free shampoo, I think. Some of them REALLY suck, I totally agree. And with alcohol, it’s another confusing ingredient because how I understand it, it depends on the type of alcohol–some are drying and some are not, which is actually like silicones. Some are super coating and hard to remove from your hair and therefore totally on the bad list, while others more protect your hair and therefor are not as bad. Confused? Me too and I have seriously read soooo much about this!
I am going to either report back with some sulfate-free shampoos that I keep hearing major raves on, so stay tuned. Not sure if you can get everything in Portugal, but you could order products online, right?
thanx for the cool advice… my curly hair really gives me headache sometimes
Maja: Hope some of it helps with your curls!
You know when you start using a new product and your hair is awesome, awesome enough that you buy the second bottle of it, but then about 4 days into the second bottle your hair looks like crap, and every day is a bad hair day? Well, here’s the genius, yet very un-CG solution. Prell shampoo. Yes, that cheap green shampoo from the drug store that could double as dish soap. It takes out all the build up of products, condition, protein, hard water, and even environmental pollutant. Anywhere from once a week to once every couple months wash your hair with Prell and then condition, style, etc. Use it when you are about to start shopping for a new product because your old one is failing you. Your hair will look like you just came from the salon: clean, fresh, bouncy, full of good volume, smooth. Well, smooth as long as you remembered to condition. A non curly haired hairstylist told me just to use Prell and my hair was literally squeaky clean, it squeaked. Watch out though, Prell is great for removing buildup, and that includes hair color, so use it before a dye-job, or use a semipermenant dye or gloss, some color depositing conditioner, or even a clear gloss to brighten up your color, just don’t clean and then color, it’s not very good for your hair (wait 24-48 hours). Use Prell and keep loving your favorite conditioners and products.
Oh, and my favorite conditioner is Wen. It recommends 30 pumps, but 20 works for a normal day, 30 for deep conditioning, and 2-3 as a leave in…I love it, one product, 3 uses! BTW, my hair is about “arm-pit length” (uh, weird description) so I’m guessing if you have chin length hair half that, and if it’s super short use a third.
I have long and wavy hair. I do not play with my hair a lot and spend very little time on it. The Shielo Hydrate conditioner helps me in that.
After using Shielo’s conditioner my hair is so manageable that I do not have to blow dry my hair even and they are so soft, smooth and silky all day long, Using this conditioner can reduce your visit to a hair salon so often and you can still look beautiful.
Its smell is great too and its long lasting. Shielo has different shampoos and conditioners for different hair types and so everyone can find one suiting their hair needs. It also makes the hair less frizzy and what I do is I do not wash it out completely from my hair. I would definitely recommend thsi conditioner to anyone who wants a quick, easy and affordable solution to make theri hair soft, smooth, silky and manageable.
This helped me a lot, i usually find bad article on curls, but this is indeed a good informing article. Congratulations, too bad you dont have time to write anymore
I have big curls and I love the no-poo method. I haven’t used shampoo in almost a month and I I’m thrilled with it. My hair is so healthy and so curly!
Thanks! very helpful and fun to read
I love the no poo method. I’m on day 10. I have very curly longer hair (mid back) and shampoo were really drying it out. I started with just bs and acv rinse every two to three days, but my hair was feeling dry and gunky. It wasn’t til I used the VO5 kiwi clarifying conditioner (.99 cents btw) as CO wash that I noticed my hair spring to life. It felt soft, clean, and managable. It also smells great. I can’t see myself going back to shampoo anytime soon.