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[casssita]

Hello! I have just joined, so I wanted to both introduce myself and ask your advice. While I'd never heard of the curly girls method, I have used many of the techniques for several years. I have a few issues with my hair that I haven't been able to reconcile. I was hoping perhaps you had some wisdom to share.

To begin, I suppose its best I explain

Comments

[melyndie]

I think we have similar hair. Mine is rather fine, and I used to have horrible frizzy problems.

Do you leave in any of your conditioner from the shower? The Curly Girl book suggests leaving most--if not all--of the conditioner in and just minimally rinsing at the end of your shower. I do that, and it has worked wonders for decreasing the frizz. I don't add leave-in conditioner. All I do is scrunch with a TINY bit of gel (just two pea-size globs) and the same amount of cholesterol. I have short hair now, but I had past-waist length hair before, and I did a similar routine (although, obviously, with a little more gel/cholesterol).

Also, does your conditioner have -cones? If so, that can really weight down your hair and give it a stringy look.

I actually don't have frizz now, but I have "regrown" all my hair since ditching shampoo several years ago, so that has helped a lot.

[armandii]

I've never heard of using cholesterol on hair. Could you tell me more?

[melyndie]

I have long used LeKair Cholesterol Plus:
http://community.livejournal.com/curlygirls/232952.html

It is intended to be used as a regular deep conditioner (but applied a bit differently), but I find best results when I scrunch just a bit of it in after my shower. It's like lotion for the hair! Some people find the texture too strange to use (it's like a creamy Jello), but it's never bothered me.

Cholesterol is a popular product for African American hair and can be found cheaply (a tub of it for under $2, I believe!) at many Walmarts. If yours has an ethnic hair section, then it likely has cholesterol. Cholesterol is not the gunk that comes out of meat. It actually is made from lamb's wool, I believe.

[armandii]

I'm in the UK so I'll have to do a bit of searching to see if I can find something similar. Thank you.

[hischosenbride]

Have you used the sugar scrub the Curly Girl book recommends using weekly? I have always had trouble with dandruff - especially in the winter - and find using the sugar scrub regularly helps a lot to keep the dandruff under control. (I usually use white sugar, since we don't buy brown sugar, so I'm not sure if the [recommended] brown sugar would work better.)

As for using shampoo... Last month, after being off of shampoo for about 8 months, I tried using a little shampoo, just to try "deep cleaning" my hair. Yuck; I hated the results! My hair was greasier, much fuzzier, and just awful to work with. I will never use normal shampoo (with laurel/laureth sulfates) again. : P

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Exfoliating scrub (Weekly scalp treatment

[casssita]

Is the brown sugar they are asking for your normal brown sugar used for baking? When I tried the mix last time, the sugar just dissolved in the conditioner by the time I got into the shower and could use it, so it didn't do much in the way of exfoliation. Am I doing that right?

[hischosenbride]

Yes, just the normal brown sugar, I think. I also scrub it in with my fingertips/nails, and that helps. It seems to work best if you use it right after mixing it up, though.

[kimana83]

When I first started the CG method, I tried to do it like the book said, but my hair never got out of the greasy stage and my flakes came back full force. Then someone mentioned some rinses, and they basically changed my hair life as I know it. I'm not 100% why this works to not only clean your hair gently but also get rid of flakes, but it does. Here's what I've done for nearly 3 years now