Does anyone here follow the curly girl method of hair care?

I've been following the CG method for over 10 years, and I'm sorry to say but the amount of misinformation on this thread is quite a bit. The CG method (Curly Girl Method) all started from this book " Curly Girl The Handbook" by Lorraine Massey that was first published in 2002. I found it when my hair turned from stick straight to wavy when I hit menopause and I had no idea how to care for it. It's still a great book for general information and it's in it's 2nd printing now. 

I'd like to clear up some of the misinformation first:

Only wash your hair with conditioner-never use shampoo again.  False. Back when the book was first published that's all they had. For some girls this works. For others like me (I have thin hair strands and wavy hair) forget it! It weighs down my hair and it makes it a greasy mess. Nowadays there are a ton of CG approved-that means shampoo with no sulfates or silicones that you can use instead. These are really gentle shampoos for wavy/curly hair that clean well and don't strip your hair. 

Only wash your hair every 7 days. False. Wash your hair when it's dirty. With a CG approved shampoo that's gentle you don't have to worry. Once you've been doing this for a long time you're time between washes will increase. I do what's called a "refresh" between wash days to maintain my waves. Curly girls all have their own favorite refresh routines. Some will use a bit of conditioner and a lot of water in a spray bottle. I use distilled water and a few drops of essential lavender oil in a spray bottle. 

Those are the ones I can think of from the thread. So how do you do the Curly Girl method?  Realize that anyone can post anything on the internet. Here are two very good sources for correct information. Naturallycurly.com is an excellent source of information. When you get there take the texture quiz. It will help you "type" your hair. For instance I'm a 2C-2 means wavy, C means the most wavy, I have thin hair strands (that means they get weighed down easily if I use certain products) with low porosity (the scales on each hair strand lay flat)-the most healthy, and I have high density (a lot of hair on my head). Don't let this confuse you. It's just a bunch of facts about your hair. It will come in handy later so just write it down somewhere. The second very good source is a facebook group I'm part of called Curly Girls!-Support Group for Curly/Wavy/Natural Healthy Hair. We have a lot of newbies on this facebook group but a lot of experienced people too. It's a friendly group. 

The CG method is easy. Basically what you do is look for ALL hair products that are made without sulfates and silicones. That means even your shampoos, conditioners and styling products. Everything. Those of you who end up with heavy hair strands, and high porosity might do well with a CG approved cowashing conditioners. Those are conditioners that are made specifically for cowashing-washing your hair with conditioner.  One that is very popular is called As I am and it's sold at Sally's. Those will hair like mine-thin hair strands and low porosity will do much better with a CG approved shampoo. CG approved just means it meets all of the criteria-no sulfates or silicones. Don't get confused by the terms lo-poo, no-poo and cleanser. No poo is no shampoo. And lo poo and cleanser mean the same thing as CG approved shampoo. These are all terms the line Deva products made up-CG approved shampoo is CG approved shampoo. And to start with you only need 4 products. Shampoo, conditioner, and gel. Oh, and also deep conditioner. That will be very important in the beginning. 

Here is the WHY behind the method. Sulfates dry out you hair as you shampoo it. Silicones in conditioners coat each hair strand in a plastic like coating so the good ingredients in the conditioner and any other conditioners you try to add can't get into your hair strands where it needs to get to be effective. That plastic coating adds a shine to your hair so you think your hair looks good but as this process is repeated over and over your hair gets more and more unhealthy. Add blow drying every day and worse a heat tool to straighten hair and you've got more damage as time goes on. 

To get started in this method you first have to get the silicones out of your hair. You do this by washing first with a sulfate shampoo-that is the only thing strong enough to get rid of the silicones. You follow that immediately with a deep conditioner. Most are designed to stay on your head for 30 minutes. I cover my head with a clear processing cap (these are sold at drugstores in a pack) and sit in front of the TV during that time. My favorite deep conditioner is made by Jessicurl and it's called Deep Treatment. It's not available in stores but you can get samples of all of her products at jessicurl.com This is my favorite line. You can also order her products from Amazon and she offers free shipping on the 15th of the month. You don't have to use this line at first. There are lots of choices including drug store options. If you have hair like mine stay away from Shea Moisture and Cantu-they are much too heavy. A lot of girls like Not Your Mother's Natural line that is available at Target. Make sure it has the word Natural in it. Anyway, so once you rinse out the deep conditioner you add your styling product (gel) that has no silicone in it. Start slow and simple with just those products and you can add more (like a curl booster if you are a wavy girl) once you know those products are working for you. 

When you get out of the shower instead of reaching for a towel to dry your hair I wrap my hair in a very soft long sleeved t-shirt. Lots of girls use microfiber towels but I've found even these increase the frizz for me. I use a method called "plopping" when I step out of the shower. You can see a video of this on naturallycurly.com I keep my hair up in a plop for 5-10 minutes. It's meant to "set" your waves/curls not to dry your hair. I air dry my hair because I don't want to use any heat on my hair, although a lot of girls diffuse their hair by drying it with a diffuser. I tried that but again more frizz for me. If I air dry I don't get any frizz. 

I hope this helps and I really hope I didn't come across all mean and authoritative. I certainly didn't mean to! I like helping people and this is a subject I'm very familiar with. 

      Thanks Michym and you are right. Labels sometimes won't say straight out sulfate or silicone. Sometimes they are tricky to read. There is a website called curlsbot.com that is an ingredients analyzer. Also naturallycurly.com has a shop that sells curly hair products but they aren't all CG approved which makes it even harder. If you ever have a question about a product joining the Facebook group I suggested is a great way to find out if it is CG approved. You can post your question there and folks there will give you an answer. Post a photo of the back of the product with the ingredients list-that helps a lot, and the name of the product. 

Michym is also right when she said what works for one curly/wavy head may not work for another. We are all different. Once you have your products it's trail and error for awhile to see what works best for you. That's why I think it makes the most sense to start with just shampoo, conditioner, gel and deep conditioner. You can add different styling products when you know that those are working for you. 

I do! I have 2c 3a curls.  I wash my hair every three or 4 days.  I use either a shampoo that has no sulfates or parabens occasionally, most times I use a CG approved conditioner to cleanse my hair.  It really does do the job.  I use a apple Cider vinegar rinse once a week, my hair loves it! While still in the shower with dripping hair I use a leave in conditioner and  gel.  I use a method called praying hands to put on.  I then scrunch my hair with a t shirt and let it dry naturally.  It takes hours to dry but it really helps my curls not frizz.  A lot of people find out that their hair is actually curlier than they think once they start treating it right.  Curly hair tends to be very dry and typical ways of caring for it can dry it out.  I belong to a cg method facebook group.  Lots of good info and I go to  Deva curl specialist for hair cuts.

On days I don't wash my hair I do  a refresh where i spray my hair with water and some leave in conditioner and gel let it dry and i'm good to go.
Tina

I have an old silk scarf I’m going to make into a pillowcase. Until then I’ve wrap my little buckwheat pillow with a silky slip. Not perfect but better than the stiff cotton one I had before.