How To: The Curly Girl Method

I've been following the Curly Girl Method (let's just call it the CGM) for about two months now! When I first heard of it, I was skeptical, to say the least. There was no way that washing my hair with conditioner only would actually work. I just KNEW my hair would get greasy and hang funny around my face, and that I would end up with an itchy scalp and smelly hair. I mean really, no shampoo? How does that even work?

Let me just tell you, it worked. My hair has returned to the curl I had pre-straighten-my-hair-everyday-because-blondes-don't-have-curly-hair myth. It's not frizzy, and it's totally manageable. Yeah, I still have bad hair days. Just kidding--I don't. Here's an infographic I found online of different curl types:

When I started doing the CGM, I would say my curl was about a 2b. I had a few ringlets, but they were few and far between. Since doing the CGM my hair has returned to it's original curly, about at 3a/3b. That's amazing!

I encourage all curly girls to use the CGM. And here's how:

Start by washing your hair with a sulfate shampoo. For the LAST. TIME. EVER. After you wash your hair with a sulfate shampoo (which will strip your hair of any parabens left from previous conditioners), throw it out. Never again will you let a sulfate shampoo anywhere near your gorgeous head of curls.

Find a paraben free conditioner. I've used both the As I Am Coconut Co-Wash and Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut--and both work. I prefer the scent of the Coconut Co-Wash, though. It smells amazing!

I co-wash (conditioner wash) my hair every two to three days. The process of co-washing your hair can be involved, but you'll get the hang of it in no time! There are three steps to this method, and trust me, you'll go through a lot of conditioner.

Step 1: Massage the conditioner into your scalp only. Don't worry about your ends right now. Rub it in for about 5 minutes. This will help to loosen any dirt and grease chilling on your scalp, and it will increase blood flow to your scalp which will in turn help with hair growth! After 5 minutes, rinse the conditioner out with as cool of water as you can stand.

Step 2: Load your entire head of hair up with conditioner, from root to tip. Make sure your hair is really saturated with conditioner. At this point, using your fingers (NOT A COMB) gently detangle your hair. Never pull on any knots, just work at them to get the tangles out. And did I mention that you DON'T USE A COMB?? I usually let this sit for a few minutes while I soap up and shave. Then rinse everything out, again with as cool of water as you can stand.

Step 3: Run a bit of conditioner over the ends of your hair and let it sit for a few seconds. Now, I choose to rinse this out a little bit, but I know others either don't rinse it out at all of only slightly rinse it out. The choice is yours. My hair isn't that dry and I feel like it would be too greasy if I left it in, so I rinse it out.

Great! So now that you're all done, you'll want to squeeze the excess water out with a gentle scrunching motion. When you get out of the shower, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT use a normal towel on your hair. That will make you frizzy! I use an old t-shirt to soak out the water. If I have time, I will use the plopping method, otherwise I will just scrunch my hair with the t-shirt. I follow up with a Shea Moisture  curl cream to keep my frizz at bay and really define my curls. After my hair has dried a bit I'll scrunch it a bit more to get rid of any crunchy pieces and help make my hair look a little fuller!

Since I'm still a little knew at this, let me know in the comments below what your favorite products are for the Curly Girl Method!

XOXO,
Lindsay