A wavy hair blog sharing tips and tricks for embracing naturally wavy hair.
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Your scalp should not itch while you’re following the curly girl method. An itchy scalp is a sign of some sort of irritation. Don’t just tolerate an itchy scalp, you should be able to find a way to live without the itch!
Sometimes the curly girl method does make people’s hair look straighter, rather than curlier. Adjusting techniques and/or products may make a difference in results.
Many people see the curly girl method as a way of making your hair curlier. So, I occasionally see people post in wavy/curly hair groups sharing that they’re upset because their hair seems to be getting straighter, not curlier.
Some of the techniques used in the curly girl method do result in many people’s hair looking curlier than it used to. For me, getting rid of my hair brush, diffusing my hair instead of air drying, and using gel made a huge difference in the appearance of my waves.
Hair type can really vary a lot. For me, diffusing helps my hair to dry much tighter because the weight of water pulls down my waves. For some others, diffusing somehow makes their hair straighter than if they air dry. Similar things are true with many other wavy/curly hair techniques.
If you find that as your hair gets healthier, it gets straighter, you may have to decide if your goal is curlier hair, or healthier hair.
If you’re new to realizing you have wavy hair, or are new to the curly girl method, you may find yourself trying to learn about a lot of products that you’ve never used before. Prior to starting the curly girl method about 3 years ago, I was treating my hair like straight hair. I didn’t use any products other than shampoo and conditioner.
It took me a while to figure out what some product categories even were. I wasted some money buying products that were pointless, too. For example, I brought some “frizz serum” products because I had frizz. I didn’t know enough about different types of wavy hair products to know whether a “serum” or a gel, or a leave-in, would be the best type of product to purchase for frizz.
I find there to be a lot of benefit in understanding the basics of what different hair products are, and what their main function is, so I thought I’d just explain what different product types are.
A really common question that comes along with asking what different products are, is how to layer them! This certainly depends somewhat on which products you’re using. With wavy hair, often times using fewer product is better.
I wouldn’t recommend using this many products in your wavy hair. Still, I wanted to list them in the normal order so you can look at what you plan to use and figure out what should come first. Of course, just skip over the products that you aren’t choosing to use.
Low-poo is a term used by people who follow the curly girl method. Low poos are sulfate-free shampoos.
The curly girl method believes that sulfate-free shampoos are more gentle than shampoos with sulfates. In other words, they use low poo’s because they are sulfate free, and they believe these to be gentle shampoos.
The purpose of low poo is to clean your scalp and hair, but gently, to avoid stripping your hair or drying it out.
Most people who use low poo would use these on their regular wash days, and then they would use a clarifying shampoo 1-4 times a month to remove build-up.
Another term for sulfate-free shampoo is “low-poo”. Sulfate-free shampoos are just shampoos that do not have sulfates in the ingredients. People who believe in the curly girl method believe that sulfates are harsh, so they opt to use sulfate-free shampoos as they are believed to be gentler cleansers.
The purpose of a sulfate-free shampoo is to cleanse the hair and scalp, but gently.
Most people who use sulfate-free shampoos use these for their regular wash days, and use clarifying shampoos 1-4 time as month to remove build-up.
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When I first was looking to start the curly girl method 3 years ago, I wanted to buy the cheapest curly girl approved products that I could. I’ve always been pretty frugal and I wasn’t sure if this method would even work on my hair. I didn’t want to risk wasting money.
In other blog posts I’ve shared curly girl method starter kits for Target and Walmart. My Walmart curly girl method routine post was specifically focused on being affordable, coming in at under $20. In that post, I went quite cheap while also only including products that I personally really like a lot and have repurchased myself.
This post is aimed at people who really just want the cheapest way to start, period. I want to be transparent in admitting that I don’t love some of the products that are included in this routine.
You won’t see me recommending some of these products in other posts, because some of these products are just really not my favorite. I do think they are all okay, though. Also some of what is included here I really do like a lot and think they’re just a great bargain. I’ll discuss my thoughts on each product below if you’re curious which ones I really love and which I don’t.
This is for people who are looking for the cheapest way to start the curly girl method. I know there are lots of others who like me, don’t want to invest money early on until they grasp the basics. I see people in my wavy/curly groups saying they are in high school or are a broke college student and have really limited funds. I hope this post is helpful to people like that!