Wavy Hair Care

How to Modify The Curly Girl Method For Wavy Hair

November 8, 2020 by Emily Evert 6 Comments

Does the curly girl method work for wavy hair?

Many people with wavy hair have good results from following the curly girl method. You may find that your hair does better with slight modifications to the curly girl method, though.

I’ve said on this blog before that treating wavy hair like curly hair is going to give better results than treating it like straight hair. I certainly believe that to be true in a general sense. I am much happier with the look and feel of my waves after I started the curly girl method. I believe my hair to be much healthier now, too.

Yet, wavy hair is unique from curly hair in some ways. While I would generally recommend that people with wavy hair try out the curly girl method, I think they may need to make some modifications. Learning your wavy hair type can help you to pinpoint what products and routines will work best for you.

Let me back up a bit though…

Reasons Why The Curly Girl Method Didn’t Work For You

August 2, 2021 by Emily Evert 2 Comments

Something I come across in wavy/curly groups fairly often is a comment similar to this one.

“I tried the curly girl method in the past and it just does not work for my hair. What does that mean? Does my hair need silicones?”

Some people conclude that their hair does need silicones. I am not someone who believes that silicones are the devil, personally. At the same time, it doesn’t make sense to me that anyone’s hair could need silicones.

Silicones are emollients, and emollients are ingredients in products that help create a protective barrier or film on the hair. This helps seal your hair. On their own, emollients are not moisturizing. However, if you use moisturizing products and then also use an emollient, the emollient helps your hair stay moisturized by sealing the moisturizing ingredients into your hair.

Silicones are “manmade” emollients, but there are many other types, too. For example, fatty alcohols are emollients, as are some oils and butters, proteins and hydrolyzed proteins and more.

Dimethicone is often listed as the “worst” silicone, and it is an emollient, but shea butter and argan oil are two examples of emollients that are not seen as “bad” by those who follow the curly girl method, basically just because they’re more natural. The function is the same, though. That’s not to say that all emollients work exactly the same, as they do vary some. So…

Is it possible that my hair needs silicones?

How Often To Wash Wavy Hair With The Curly Girl Method

February 23, 2021 by Emily Evert 5 Comments

There are affiliate links in this post.

I’ve put off this blog post for too long, I’ve gotten multiple emails asking me this one!

How often should I wash my wavy hair?

Most people with wavy hair like washing their hair every 3-4 days, or about twice a week. Washing too much can be drying or stripping, but not washing often enough can make hair feel dirty. Washing about twice a week tends to be a good balance for most with wavy hair.

Once they have adjusted, that is. If you have always washed your hair daily, then jumping to every 3-4 days may feel like too much too fast. I’m not sure where the idea comes from, but many say that you can only wash your hair once a week when following the curly girl method.

I’ve read the official curly girl handbook, and it doesn’t say you can only wash once a week. In fact, the wavy section says 3-4 days. Every 3 to 4 days also seems to be the most common answer I see in wavy hair forums and groups.

On non-wash days, some people do nothing while others choose to refresh their waves. I have a blog post where I tested 8 different methods for refreshing wavy hair to see which ones work best.

Curious about other differences between what is mentioned online about the curly girl method vs what the book really says? I have a whole blog post about the “online” curly girl method vs what the book really says.

Can you wash your hair daily on the curly girl method?

Day 2 Wavy Hair Routine: How To Refresh With Mousse

March 6, 2021 by Emily Evert 9 Comments

There are affiliate links in this post.

I recently updated my 10 mousses compared on my wavy hair blog post to include another mousse. In the past, my go-to solution for day 2 hair has been to get wavy hair to last longer by just getting really hard hold on wash day, to avoid refreshing. With a new mousse that I’ve been using lately (Cake mousse) I’ve found refreshing to give me decent results.

For me, the key to refreshing with mousse without your hair feeling really producty, is using a mousse that is really light so that you can use it on wash day, and add more in to refresh the next day without your hair feeling heavy, “producty”, sticky, weighed down, etc. For me, Cake Mousse has been that mousse!

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