Q&A - questions and answers

Mariia blogs on Sumilayi's blog about curly hair methods, care, products and experiences, sharing her best tips.

Regardless of whether you are at the beginning of your curling journey or have been working on the subject for some time or even longer, it is quite impossible to avoid question marks. There are just as many types of wave and curl days as there are .. well days, so there's plenty of topics for questions!

Just when you've had time to think that you've managed to surf a decent wave (or curl), some strangeness lurks on the next washing day and messes everything up. Or there is more, less, more humidity, ions, electricity, dust, SOMETHING in the air, and besides, the curl gurus you follow have come up with a new method or product combo to make your hair happy and you can't help but test it, and besides, just the week before, 123 new CG products were launched, at least ten of which have to try it. And as a cherry on top of the cake; the local store has added satin towels to its selection, but were they microfiber pillowcases?!

Phew!

So let's take a moment to answer some questions.

Q: How long does it have to be CG for the hair to be ok and I can just wash it and that's it?

A: There is no such time limit in this matter! Naturally flexible and curly hair always lives its own life in a certain way, and although you can make it easier to care for over time and with increasing understanding, it can still behave differently in different places, at different times of washing, at different times of the year. However, nothing and no one prevents you from being Wash&Go, which means that all investment related to the topic is entirely up to you.

Q: How is it possible that conditioner can be used to wash hair?

A: The conditioner is used for washing in a very different way than what you are used to with shampoo. The shampoo contains detergents, surfactants that sort of strip the hair, removing grease and dirt from it. Unfortunately, for naturally curly hair prone to dryness, this means an eternal cycle where the hair remains dry after washing, a lot of e.g. silicone-containing conditioner is put into it, which relaxes the hair and makes it greasy again quite quickly.

Silicone-free, alcohol-free conditioners that are used in the cg method for washing are based more on mechanical cleaning, i.e. the washer's fingers do the work. When the conditioner is emulsified together with water (i.e. the two are mixed/combined), cleaning is achieved by massaging the base of the hair with your fingers. You should spend five minutes on this, because otherwise there may be a problem with the information.

Q: I tried washing with conditioner, but my hair feels really soft

A: Are you in the early stages of your journey? Many times in the beginning, when you haven't really gotten your hair to understand the change and you don't know what, when and how to do it yourself, conditioner washing can be challenging to implement. For me, with low porosity hair, a gentle shampoo according to the method worked much better at first. Even if your conditioner is too thick and caring, it may not work as well for washing. So you should choose a lighter product for washing and a slightly thicker product for treatment. Try washing with conditioner again every now and then and learn to do it carefully. One day you might be pleasantly surprised. Nowadays, I would do really well with just a conditioner, but due to laziness, the washing interval gets longer from time to time, so I "have to" brush a little dirt from the scalp with shampoo.

Photo: February 2019 before I started using low-poo shampoo. The hair was heavy, greasy and frizzy from washing with conditioner and using too many products!

Q: How do I know which different techniques work for my own hair?

A: There are indeed a lot of techniques and all the time someone comes up with a new twist to the existing ones. Find out what your own hair is like using different tips as much as possible (porosity, dryness, protein tolerance, density, condition...) and then you will also find out more easily which techniques might work for you. For example, if your hair is dry and frizzes easily, you can benefit from the "praying hands" technique when applying the products so you don't break the shape of the waves/curls, or if your hair is low-pore and wavy, you should try the "bowl method" in the conditioner phase ( Bowl method) or squeezing the conditioner (squish) to get as much moisture as possible into the hair.

By experimenting, you will find your own techniques that work. Your technique can also be "I don't really use any techniques."

Q: How do I find suitable products in the product jungle?

A: Well, there are several approaches to this. You can start with inexpensive market products and use them to find out what your hair is like and what it needs. You can also immediately invest in a couple of high-quality products and hope that they suit your hair. Here, of course, the risk of disappointment is greater if it happens that the whole thing stops being interesting after a while or the products are completely wrong. (They can happen when your hair has changed, so stick to it anyway!) If natural cosmetics and ecology are your thing, choose a few from there. Whatever idea you start with, try to keep it simple! If you have 20 different jars in your bathroom and you use them all right away, it's really challenging to start figuring out what works and what doesn't if something needs to be clarified comes up! Even if you've been using the method for a long time and suddenly your hair doesn't feel good anymore, it's much easier if you use fewer products. Therefore, at least limit the products you use when facing challenges to a minimum for the duration of the investigation.

There are many of us and there are no wrong ways to purchase products. Each in their own style.

Picture: for a while there were a lot of products (by my standards) in my own bathroom! Little by little, a large number of completely unsuitable products were eliminated. A few products are currently in use.

Q: I think about nature and I don't want to play around with water and chemicals. Do I have to abandon the method?

A: Absolutely not! There are countless options for hair care with the method! There is no need to flush the water under any circumstances, its consumption is in no way related to the method, but it may be something you see, for example, in some curling videos where washing routines are filmed under the shower.

As a water consumption meter, using myself as an example: I wash my hair approximately every five to six days and do it separately from the rest of my showering. Water is used for wetting the hair, rinsing out the shampoo and squeezing the conditioner (either using a bowl or opening the faucet a little if necessary) and rinsing. The tap is closed at intervals. I hardly ever use tap water to wash myself, because I can do it in a beach sauna and pond water + biodegradable soap (spring-summer-autumn).

The "lotration" of the substances is also entirely up to you. At the very least, you really need a couple of products that could very well be ecological.

Q: Can I ever brush my hair again? How about using a straightening iron?

A: Brushing with abrasive brushes or dense combs is not recommended, but that does not mean that they should be abandoned completely, but rather that you should choose tools that are gentler on the hair. There are many types of suitable brushes and combs and you can use them depending on your hair either when your hair is wet or has a mask/conditioner on it or even when your hair is dry. Suitable brushes have soft bristles and combs with few spikes. When using them, however, it is good to think about how to use them, i.e. brush gently and always from the bottom up, not scraping from the base to the top.

With the straightening iron, I would think about it in terms of the condition of the hair. Have you already been using the method for a while and your hair has clearly "revived?" In this case, you rarely do damage by straightening, but if instead your hair is dry and damaged, I would stick to using a straightener. Of course, it is not part of Lorraine Massey's original method (any more than any kind of brushes). Again, it's up to you how you want to follow the method, i.e. whether you follow the method or a "customized" method. Personally, at least more adapted, because many of my methods are not part of the original method, although they are good for my hair.

Pictures: a few brushes that I myself use; Sumilayi's scalp massage brush and another one that I usually use when washing. "Behairful brush", black brush also used when washing. there is also one more - "wetbrush", which I also use mostly for dry hair (no picture).

Q: I do a lot of sports and sweat. How can I connect it with the case method? I don't have time to do all the "measures" every time.

A: There is absolutely no need to do all the steps every time. If your hair is short, you can of course wash it after sports, but sweat is not the kind of dirt that needs to be brushed off, so rinsing is really enough, and if you use care products, just apply them normally, without bowls, sloshing or anything else.

If your hair is long, think about whether you could let the sweat dry and just use a care product to free the curls and/or keep the hair in place for the next wash? However, if you decide to use the same words as for the short ones; glory to simplicity! Treatments according to a longer formula when there is more time.

You should remember that the method is primarily aimed at the well-being of the hair, not an effort to get into the hair contest.

Q: I can't find suitable products in our village store

A: It can be challenging! However, the wonderful world of the Internet will save you if you don't want to go to larger stores physically. There are no matter how many domestic and foreign online stores there are, and by choosing domestic ones in particular, you save on postage costs. There are often a lot of user experiences about the products, so you don't have to buy a pig in a sack (at least not always).

Q: How do I know if my hair needs protein?

A: A few things that help determine the need: Is your hair processed, dry and breaks easily? I wouldn't recommend any protein products until you get moisture into your hair. It may be that a proper cut to remove the worst dry, possibly damaged hair would be good. Or at least plenty of caring, moisturizing products and hair masks regularly.

Is your hair in good condition but the curls don't stay and your hair feels limp and a bit like "lumpy"? You probably need protein. Quite often, hair with high porosity benefits from more regular use of protein, and hair with low porosity from less. If I think about my own hair (low porosity), I very rarely need protein and even then very carefully. I have confused the balance several times, thinking that my hair needs protein, when in fact it was an inappropriate ingredient that had caused my hair to become unbalanced (dry and lifeless and rough)

General tip: when the hair is balanced, it is flexible, the curl stays in its shape and the hair does not significantly frizz (however, there is almost always some!). When stretching, the hair stretches a bit and then recovers. If they have too much protein, they break easily and are dry, hard and rough. (In other words, moisturize) If there is too much moisture in them, they feel really lumpy, especially when wet, they stretch a lot before breaking, they may become frizzy. (More protein)

Picture: I thought I needed protein, although it was something else entirely. So, as a result of a misunderstanding, here are the protein hairs (which I can do on my hair very easily!)

Q: I don't know English. Where can I find information in Finnish?

A: The internet is full of e.g. blog posts on the topic, you can find articles about products, general issues and much more. However, the easiest thing is to join the Curly Girl Finland group on Facebook. There is a huge amount of information on everything!! And you are not alone 💖

Q: I have been using the method for a long time and now my hair is somehow strange and nothing seems to work like before

A: Have you checked your porosity lately? Could there have been a change? Has your hair grown so that the old hair (where you started) is no longer there? In this case, it may be that the porosity has changed and with it the needs of the hair.

Have you been to the hairdresser for a long time? Overgrowing the model can create the impression of strange hair if, for example, the hair has a lot of length and weight, so the hair cannot stay curled in the same way as before. Have you researched your products, could there be an ingredient that used to work but your hair no longer likes it at all? Do you put as much effort into your hair now as before? Getting used to the method has, at least in my case, also meant laziness, so of course I can't expect the same end result as with a lot of effort.

Q: My wavy hair has not turned into curls. Am I doing something wrong?

A: I don't think you do. Often, in the early stages, the hair can be in such bad condition that you don't even know what it's really like. You may notice flexibility, even curling, but maybe not more than that. When the hair starts to recover, the truth comes out little by little. For me, this meant that my hair clearly showed the curls that had been there for a long time but were "hidden" with the wrong products and methods. So my hair didn't become curly but came out. If your hair has been wavy somewhere under the wrong habits, it can only be wavy, not curls, when it is repaired. The shape of the hair depends on the shape of the hair follicle. If the sheath is round, the hair is straight. The more oval the sheath, the curlier it is. Only hair condition can be affected by hair care routines. Continue caring for your wavy hair and enjoy your waves!

Photo: before the method, you might have suddenly thought that I had waves, but when you look more closely and think about the behavior of my hair when, for example, wet, it is quite clear that the curls were hidden there.

Q: Do I need a diffuser?

A: You don't. But you might want it 😄😉 So a diffuser is a dryer with a mouth piece that spreads the air over a wider area and where the curls/waves can be collected so that the drying air doesn't blow them around and break the drying hair into fluff. With a diffuser, you also shorten the drying time, which is important especially if your hair is long, thick and low-pore. With the diffuser, you can also make the curls stay tighter than when drying freely because the weight of the water does not pull them down. You can also replace the diffuser with a regular strainer. In it, you can collect the hair section by section to protect it from the blow-dryer.

Picture: drying with a diffuser. It takes me about 40 minutes from start to finish. but often I let it dry freely first and the rest with a diffuser.

Q: How do I get "clumps" in my hair?

A: With persistent care and moisturizing. According to my own experience, when the hair was still very unbalanced and the care routines were only at the practice stage, I didn't really want to get the hair clumps. (It's a funny word, but as uniform wave/curly rods, which are best applied when hair is wet). Little by little, as I continued the routine and also learned to use the brush on wet hair, clumps started to form.

Top photo: clumps caused by the brush (the conditioner is still on the head at this point).

Bottom image: clumps in dry hair

Q: Mariia, have you always had curly hair?

A: It's not. Even the shape of the hair shaft can change over the course of life 😄 I was in trouble with my flexible hair when I was a teenager. A few more swirls and the pain was over. Only as an adult did my hair start to curl (pregnancy had nothing to do with it) and I, the girl, straightened it with a crazy sparkle in my eyes!! At some point, I gave up and switched to an air curler, which smoothed out the frizzy surface - until I stepped into the humid outdoor air. The method came into the picture when I was really bored with my hair. My salvation! It's a pleasure to be here now ❤

Photo: left after, right before

Here are the questions and answers! There will be more of these as you answer the previous ones, they won't end halfway like I said at the beginning.

Now, have a wonderful day!

Stay tuned, something else next time.

Maria ☀️