I’ve always labored over my hair. Sometimes I loathed it. Sometimes I love it. Thankfully, I’ve found a way to keep the latter happening more often. And the reaction I often get to my telling people how is…
“You don’t wash your hair?”
I smile indulgently. “I wash my hair… just not with shampoo.”
I ditched shampoo about nine years ago, when I first heard about the Curly Girl routine. I was twelve years old and had never liked my curly hair. When I was little, I had adorable blonde ringlets. When I was old enough to hold a brush, I had a mane that exulted in frizzing–and causing me to fume. I longed to possess the long, straight hair of the storybook princesses (this was the pre-Brave era). Alas, I was stuck with my mother’s thick hair and my father’s unruly curls. Thickness and curls proved to be an impossible combination. For most of my childhood, I shampooed, brushed-out, and pony-tailed my curls. But my stubborn mane refused to transform into the silky beauty of which I dreamed. In fact, my hair continued to drive me to tears by frizzing.
My curly girl journey truly began when I stumbled upon Got Curl (and, by extension, Kindred Grace aka the YLCF). I read with wide eyes about the curly care routine and poured over the success stories of curly girls who had gone before.
If they could do it, why couldn’t I?
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According to Massey, the author of the Curly Girl handbook, shampoo, made up of harsh ingredients (such as sodium laurel sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, and sodium laureth sulfate) dries out curls by stripping them of the natural oils they require in order to be beautiful. Vigorously washing with shampoo as I was doing was causing the very frizz I hated so much!
I had always thought my curls were out to ruin every dream of beauty I dared to have, but it turned out that shampoo was the cause of all my hair woes. All of those years I had been trying to care for my hair, I had been stripping it of the life-giving (and frizz-preventing) oils it so desperately needed by washing it with shampoo. My curls were the victim, not the villain.
Ready to try anything to release the beautiful locks I just might have, I decided to try the curly girl method. I bought the book Curly Girl, and for three weeks I tried this radical hair care routine. I declared the shampoo bottle off-limits and used only conditioner to wash my hair. I avoided the hairdryer and opted to allow my curls to air-dry. I tossed my hairbrush.
After those three weeks, I was amazed at how curly my hair had become. To my delight, not only was it curlier, it felt cleaner and softer.
And frizz?
What frizz?!
To my delight, with the curly-girl method, I found that I possessed lovely curly hair hidden beneath what had formerly been a mass of thick straw. I vowed never to subject my hair to shampoo again. All that my curls need to be beautiful is the permanent banishment of the shampoo bottle and a little TLC.
My Curly Hair Care Foundation
- Forget the shampoo
- Forsake the hairbrush
- Forbid the use of the blow-dryer
- Form a close relationship with conditioner
My Curly Hair Regimen
The Night Before
- When I first step under the shower, I allow the water to rinse my curls.
- I gently distribute a generous amount of conditioner, massaging it into my scalp. This is the “cleansing stage.”
- Next I repeat step 2, only I finger-comb the conditioner throughout my curls. I let the conditioner soak for about five minutes, then I lightly rinse with cold water (which lowers the frizz factor) for 10-15 seconds, leaving a bit of conditioner in my hair.
- I “scrunch-dry” with a towel.
- I use approximately a tablespoon of conditioner and finger-comb it through my hair to separate my curls.
- I then squirt some mousse into my palm and thoroughly scrunch my curls (scrunching the top layer last). I love Motions Light Styling Foam.
- I try to avoid touching my hair while it dries.
- I shake my fully-dry curls to give them more volume, then go about my day with my curls healthy and happy.
The Next Morning
- I wake up and avoid looking in the mirror at my bed-head. I head straight for the bathroom, spritz my curls with water and give them a generous dose of Motions Nourish Leave-In Conditioner.
- I decide how I’m going to style my hair, arrange, and use Motions Light Hold Working Spritz to tame the flyaways that summer brings. (It’s a little sticky for my taste, but isn’t nearly as harsh as the hairsprays I’ve tried.)
Extras
- I like to take about a tablespoon of brown sugar and mix it with conditioner to make a scalp exfoliator for when I feel like my hair needs a little extra TLC.
- For those summer days when I’ve been working in the yard or swimming in the pool, I mix about a tablespoon of lemon juice with conditioner and apply during the “cleansing” stage. (I use extra conditioner after that because lemon juice can strip.)
- When I feel like my hair is drier than normal, I work into my curls a combination of a quarter cup of olive oil and conditioner.
About Rachelle Rea
Rachelle is an author and editor who would much rather shop for books than for clothes (this must be why malls were invented). Her favorite accessories are a smile and a scarf. Her debut novel releases next year.
HI Rachelle!
Love the post. I am also doing the curly girl method.
I have been at it for a month. Lots of trial and error.
Your post gives day 1 and day 2. I basically do the same but I use gel rather than mousse and I just use my tresemme conditioner mixed with water as my leave in the next morning. I usually do not add any more gel on day 2.
So you get 2 days out of it and then you co wash again?
I usually try to go longer but not having much luck.!
I hate to thouroughly wet my hair because it can take up to 6 hours to air dry!
Any ideas suggestions?
Hi Terri! Thanks for stopping by! Actually, I wash my hair every day because there’s just so much of it. Since I wash it at night, it dries while I sleep (but I hear ya about it taking so long to dry!).
🙂
I’m extremely encouraged to implement the curly girl routine! 🙂
I just want to know how long it’ll take to get those beautiful curls.
Also, my hair isn’t exactly curly. It’s rather bushy and wavy. Will the curly girl routine help me get those curls? My hair is curly only when it’s wet. It gets very bushy and wavy as and when it dries (and now i know why that happens.. the wretched comb!!)
Please let me know if this routine works for my hair type too.
Shravya, I hope you try it with fantastic results! Bushy and wavy definitely describes my hair before curly girl (or whenever I break out the brush just to braid it). 🙂
I quit using shampoo over a year ago. I use L’Oreal cleansing conditioner and Aussie Deeeep Conditioner. When I feel like I’m getting a build up of oil and dirt on my hair I use baking soda for a cleanser. After using these techniques for so long I have the best curls of my life! To anyone debating this system, do not doubt the no shampoo rule.
Ah, the baking soda. Yes, I use that sometimes, too (not as often as the olive oil treatment, which my hair seems to love). Gives a whole new meaning to squeaky clean! 🙂
Oh . . . I’m encouraged by this! I’m officially on Day 4 of trying the Curly Girl method and am frustrated by how my curls just aren’t showing up the way I want them to. It seems like my hair is pretty well hydrated, so I’m not conditioning it every day, but . . . I just hope I can last the full three weeks without a comb. No shampoo and no blow-“fryer” = fine. It’s my combs and brushes I’m addicted to!
So glad you were encouraged, Hannah! As far as making it for that first two weeks (so hard), you can do it! 🙂
So conditioner actually CLEANS hair by itself?
I think the way Massey explains it in the Curly GIrl book is roughly…the action of scrubbing your scalp with that conditioner cleans without stripping (as some of the chemicals in shampoo can do). Let’s see if I can find that quote… *rummages*
“With your fingertips and this bit of conditioner you’re going to cleanse your scalp, loosening any residue that’s accumulated. Believe me, the conditioner and the stimulation from your fingers will work as well as shampoo…friction is a time-tested method of cleaning (think of a washing machine churning), and it will remove everything that needs to be removed without harming your hair or scalp.” Lorraine Massey, The Curly Girl Handbook (first edition), page 31
Does that work with a coconut oil scalp treatment too? I have a lot of trouble washing it out (read: lots of shampoo). I do have a shampoo without sulfates, as I found out that was what gave me scalp eczema.
Thanks for the tips! Love your curls 🙂
I have wavy hair so I don’t use to much conditioner either, but sometimes I put in a mixture of coconut oil and olive oil because I’ve heard that coconut oil is the only oil that actually penetrates your hair shaft, and at times my hair gets really dry.
I’m still figuring out how to not have my hair look greasy afterwards 🙂 Pouring a tea (sage, thyme, rosemary) on it afterwards seems to help 🙂
Still trial and error here though.
Oh, Naomi, I feel your pain. I like to do olive oil treatments every once in a blue moon (usually when I’m off on that random Saturday or something) and it’s always a bit of a trial to get all that oil rinsed out afterwards. 🙂 I usually just wash it with brown/white sugar, but a tea sounds great!
Love the tea idea, thanks!!
You. can. do. it. Rachel! 🙂 Using only conditioner will definitely help with dryness. And have you considered a leave-in conditioner (like the Motions I mention above)? Soooo silky.
Hmm, I’ll have to try coconut oil! 🙂
This is awesome Rachelle!! 😀 Thank you for all yoru curly girl tips and advice. *whew* I need to take the plunge and try this… *puts on brave face* 😉 Right now I love my curly hair, I don’t use any product but for shampoo and conditioner, but my hair is SO DRY and my scalp could use some TLC itself. :/ I’ve heard coconut oil works for this but still haven’t been brave enough to try it. *bites finger nails* Haha. 😀
Jennifer, I *do* use a lot of conditioner, don’t I? 😉 It kind of shocked me when I typed it out and realized, whoa, I use about a whole bottle in just two weeks!
Thanks!
I’m curious… what kind of conditioner do you use?
I like Tresemme’s Moisture Rich. It’s really light, but is exactly as it says. 🙂
Thanks for replying!
Love this! I started the Curly Girl routine a couple of years ago and my hair is *much* curlier and prettier than it was when I was using shampoo every day. I have a cross between wavy and curly, so I don’t even use much conditioner (like, no where near as much as you) because it weighs my hair down too much. It was a little trial and error at first to find the right conditioner and the right amount, but I think I’ve finally figured it out. Thanks for the lemon juice tip. I’ll try that sometime. I did do the brown sugar thing a lot during the winter because the dry heat inside made my scalp feel a little itchy. Great post, and great hair!