Dive into the Curly Girl Method Part 1

The vocabulary was strange and my head was spinning, but there was so much enthusiasm that I had to go shopping. After some detective work, I grabbed products classified as suitable from the shops (picture above) and I was able to start. Washing with a new kind of shampoo that stripped the hair of various remnants of old habits. After that, washing with conditioner (yup, you read that right), spray, shaping foam, gel and everything else to continue. Finally, tie a t-shirt around your hair. After hours and hours of waiting for it to dry tadaa!! Unbelievable but true, something had already happened to my hair as a result of the first steps. Cheers to my friend right away, and so we continued the curling journey together.

The very beginning went well - I thought - except that it didn't. I thought I got there easily, but after a while it hit me: GO!! Hair looked and felt horrible. As if there was a mixture of fat and potato flour on the head, hii yök. I researched and read more and found out that it was not at all strange to be a cow head for the first few weeks, maybe even longer. Hey, I don't agree! I delved deeper into things and found information about the porosity of the hair and how the hair can behave differently just because of that. I learned that for low-pore hair, which mine seemed to have at the time, a sulfate-free mild shampoo before the conditioner can work better than washing with conditioner, so I used it and from then on I was able to enjoy shiny hair where the curls gradually became curlier and curlier.

Let's take a moment back. What is used and what is not?

I'll open it up.

• Sulfates (those foaming agents)
• Certain drying alcohols (you definitely don't want dry hair)
• Waxes (disgustingly layered)
• Hairspray (horrible amount of drying alcohol)
• Silicones (shine and combability but at what cost)
• Synthetic hair dyes (drying)
• Tight brushes and combs (hey, if you have any kind of flexibility, you know what they do)
• Hair dryers that blow heat (whoops, my curls are shaking these days just thinking about it)
• Straightening iron (at worst hours of work using hot, not good)
• Terry towel (absorbs moisture too effectively)
• Cotton pillowcase (rubs your hair beautifully to make it fluffy)

The hair care products that you may be used to are like a double-edged sword, they take something away from your hair, but as if by magic, in the next moment they make them shine like the sun and feel silky smooth. I saw this with "all my friends", but if you have naturally flexible hair, your hair is naturally drier and those products do anything but good. In the long run, you may have had the same thing happen to me, by chance, sometimes a good hair day, but mostly in the winter it's electric and limp, in the summer it's fluffy fluff that goes wild from the humidity. Totally out of control anyway.

By leaving the products containing the substances listed above out of your routine, by changing the pillowcase to a satin one and the hair towel to a microfiber or t-shirt (anti-fluff!), dense brushes and combs to sparse and gentle ones (if at all), dryers that blow dry even the eyeballs to gentle diffuser dryers that blow cool, you are already a professional ! At least this is the case in practice, the reality is perhaps a little different and learning takes time.

You may experience the first "where have I got my head" moment when you look at the back texts of your product selection in your bathroom. Despair can creep into your mind when you just happen to find a bottle that doesn't contain prohibited ingredients. And hey, what are all those forbidden things, a freezing sea of ​​ingredients that you can't even read, let alone understand what's good and what's bad. Another place of anxiety can be reading online articles, joining Facebook groups and other social media pages and publications on the subject just because before you get to the bottom of it, additional information can be a pain. The third feeling of strangulation is perhaps when you wonder when you will do everything required, find the right products and learn how to use them. I understand your pain and I can assure you that you are not alone. Fortunately, there are people who already understand us, with all kinds of curls, waves, ethnicities, languages, and attempts, mistakes, and successes. You will get through a lot of things more easily if you start the background work before you start. You know what I'm talking about if you didn't.

Now you can wipe the sweat cranberries for your part anyway, you won't lose everything old (and you can learn everything new) and even if it feels like that, I'll tell you what will replace it next.

• Products for your use that lack many ingredients that stress and dry the hair and scalp
• At its best, wonderful simplicity and relaxation for hair care (ah, so true!)
• Your self back (i.e. the one who was hidden under the fleece, fluff, hemp, sackcloth and/or straightened hair)
• Comparative support
• Friends
• Shiny, healthy waves or curls
• Very likely a new attitude towards yourself and your hair
• With little effort, a natural approach to hair care if you so desire
• New words for your vocabulary at Roppakaupa (a brain teaser is never a bad thing) and nice accessories for your hair routine

If you're also like many other Curly Girls, you get the so-called cg fever, when the grass always feels greener in the next and the next in a brick-and-mortar or online store where you can find products suitable for the method

As an after-disease of fever, there is also a chronic lightening of the wallet due to the previous one

You are responsible for these yourself. As you know, there is no actual support group around the issue (yet).

In my future texts, however, I will share things related to the method, so not the "over there" stuff. I will focus on the beginning of the method, vocabulary, etc. in more detail in the next post, stay tuned.

Maria