Wavy Hair Care

Easiest Curly Girl Method Routine For Beginners With Wavy Hair

August 29, 2021 by Emily Evert Smith 2 Comments

Easiest Wavy Hair Routine

When you are first looking to start the curly girl method, it’s easy to get overwhelmed! I am over 3 years in now, and I still feel overwhelmed watching some people’s haircare routines. I don’t want to use 5+ products, I don’t want to be doing my hair for 2 hours on wash day, I don’t want to rotate through different products each wash day, etc.

I’m not happy with how my hair looks if I just wash, condition and air dry, though. I really enjoy using techniques that embrace my waves well, but the amount of time and money that I’m willing to invest is not endless.

I often see people say that they’re interested in trying the curly girl method or some other form of naturally wavy hair care, but they feel overwhelmed or like it’s too much work. I thought I’d share a recommended easy curly girl method beginners routine for wavy hair.

The goal with this is to provide enough products and routine to help you embrace your wavy hair, without it being overwhelming or time-consuming. I think this would an ideal curly girl method beginners routine, but it also could work for people who have some experience but are just looking for a lower maintenance routine.

Can The Curly Girl Method Be Low Maintenance?

Bond Builders For Damaged Wavy Hair

March 4, 2023 by Emily Evert Smith 2 Comments

Can You Really Repair Hair Bonds Damaged by Bleaching or Dyeing?

There are several types of hair bonds that can be broken. The ones broken during the process of bleaching hair or dyeing hair are primarily disulfide bonds, which are a type of covalent bonds. Those disulfide bonds cannot be fully repaired with any technology that we currently have.

The cosmetic chemists on the Beauty Brain podcast say bond builders like Olaplex and wellaplex do more conditioning than bond rebuilding. Covalent bonds or disulfide bonds are the ones damaged when hair is dyed. “It’s literally impossible to fully restore disfulfide bonds”. Hair repair products may rebuild hydrogen bonds or electrostatic bonding.

Episode 216 on bond building explains how Olaplex has a patent that claims they rebuild disulfide bonds, but patents aren’t evidence of effective peer-reviewed science.

What percentage of hair bonds are damaged while bleaching hair?

Typically 15-25% of bonds are damaged while bleaching hair, but it can be up to 45% in cases where “severe” bleaching is being done.

This is a quote from from Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair by Clarence R. Robbins.

“Robbins and Kelly [5] have shown that 15–25% of the disulfide bonds in human hair are degraded during “normal” bleaching, however, as much as 45% of the cystine bonds may be broken during severe “in practice” bleaching. This latter amount of damage may occur while frosting hair, or while bleaching hair from black or brown-black to light blond”

What Type Of Hair Bonds are Damaged by Bleaching?

Wavy Hair Stats Quiz – Easily Figure Out Your Wavy Hair Type

February 23, 2023 by Emily Evert Smith Leave a Comment

One of my more popular posts is How To Determine Your Wavy Hair Type. It goes over density, porosity and thickness. To make testing your hair as easy as possible, I made these little quizzes! Leave a comment letting me know what you think.

Hair Type Test - Porosity

When your hair is dry and free of styling products, use a mister to mist your hair.

What do you see?

Which of the following have you done to the hair on your head?

Select all that apply.

Your porosity is likely:

Hair Type Test - Density

Make a part in your hair.

What do you see?

Make a ponytail with the hairtie an inch away from your scalp.

What is the circumference of your ponytail against your scalp?

Your density is likely:

Hair Type Test - Strand Thickness

Place a strand of hair between two fingers and close your eyes. Rub your fingers together. Can you feel that strand without seeing it?

Compare a single strand of your hair to sewing thread.

Your strand thickness is likely:

Curly Girl Method Basics

August 12, 2022 by Emily Evert Smith Leave a Comment

What you need to start the curly girl method

A clarifying shampoo to use for your reset wash. This should have a sulfate cleanser, but should not include silicones.
A sulfate-free shampoo (aka low-poo) or a cowash.
A silicone-free conditioner.
A silicone-free gel.

If you want an easy way to check if a product you’re considering purchasing meets the curly girl method standards, you can try sites like IsItCG, CurlsBot or CurlScan.

The basic steps of the curly girl method

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