A wavy hair blog sharing tips and tricks for embracing naturally wavy hair.
Frizz is what helped me discover that my hair was naturally wavy. My frizz was really severe, to the point where I felt like I couldn’t leave my hair down because people were staring at my frizz.
This was what I considered a good frizz day, at this phase in my life. I have very few photos of me with my hair down for about an 18 month period. Most days it was worse than this and I felt like I had to wear it up.
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Mousse and gel are both good styling product options for wavy hair. Which you want will primarily come down to your style preferences. If you want frizz-free, well-defined waves, try gel on wet hair. If you want big volume, go for mousse on damp hair.
When I first found the curly girl method a few years ago, I thought gel was the go-to styling product that had hold. I didn’t really hear much about mousse at the time. I was following a lot more curly-haired channels than wavy, at the time. It seems like gel is the most common choice for people with curly hair.
In the last year or so as I’ve found a few wavy-specific communities, I’ve noticed mousse is mentioned a lot more than it is in curly circles.
When I started embracing my waves in 2018, I bought LA looks gel. It took a little while to figure out exactly how to best use it. I wasn’t able to get a cast for a while, and once I did get a cast, I realized it improved my results quite a bit.
If you’re new to the idea of a cast, check out my post what is a gel cast and how to get one. I did try mousse once early on, a random old bottle we had laying around in the bathroom that wasn’t CG approved. It didn’t seem to give me any hold at all, my hair turned out terribly and I didn’t bother to try mousse again for a long time.
About a year ago I gave mousse another try…I don’t really even remember why. I’m so glad I did though, because I was able to get a cast with the mousse, and I really liked my results! I have primarily been using mousse ever since then.
In the fall I tested out 10 types of mousse, tracking my results for 3 days each, and did a comparison blog post. Check out my Best Mousse For Wavy Hair post to see it. I did another comparison blog posts, for gels. Check out my best gels for wavy hair blog post to see that. I also have a wavy hair product recommendations post sharing my top favorites of gel and mousse.
I’ve read Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorraine Massey. This is the book that the true curly girl method is based on. I read the book after over 2 years of following “curly girl method” related YouTube channels, forums and groups.
I’ve spent a ton of time in wavy/curly hair platforms online. So…I was really surprised that what the internet calls ‘the curly girl method’ is one thing, and the true curly girl method from the book is something different.
This is particularly relevant to me with this blog, too. I know that most people online have a concept of what the curly girl method is, and use that term when searching for content. So in a sense, it would make sense for me to use the term, too, to help them find me.
Yet…that’s a little strange to do if what I am referring to doesn’t match the real curly girl method. I feel weird about my use of ‘curly girl method’ and thought doing a blog post explaining the different ways “CGM” is used, and what I mean when I use it, will help clear things up.
Just for clarity, what I’m primarily talking about here is using natural products to embrace your natural wavy/curly hair. Not necessarily the super strict version of the curly girl method. Check out my blog post on how the internet taught me that CGM was something different from the true curly girl method. 🙂