Hair Routine

One of the things I get asked about the most is my hair, is it natural? How do I style it? What does CG mean? FYI it means the Curly Girl method. Today I'll go through a brief run of my morning hair routine and answer all the questions, and another day I'll do an in depth post covering the basics of the Curly Girl method.

First up, yeah the curls are natural but the colour is not. I wash and style it using aspects of the Curly Girl method, which in a nutshell means cutting out sulphates and silicones and using conditioner only to wash your hair. This may leave straight hair a bit greasy or lanky, but for curly hair it works really well as curls crave moisture and shampoo can really dry them out.

I've been CG for about two years now and I've seen massive improvements in both the health and the growth rate of my hair. Before I never knew how to manage curls so I just straightened it everyday. This made it dry and damaged and it really took forever to dry and straighten in the morning. One day I just got sick of it, I figured if I just embraced the way it looks naturally I would save so much time and travelling would be so much easier. I started looking online for curl care tips and found so many people talking about something called CG and how great their hair was after trying it. A few hours and a lot of B&A pictures later I was converted and went to get some products.

The bones of CG is cutting out sulphates and silicones and washing hair with conditioner alone. You can use a sulphate free shampoo if you like as well (known as low-poo), but it isn't encouraged for everyday use. I use my low-poo around once a month just to make sure my hair isn't getting weighed down. I use the Naked Bounce Curl Defining Shampoo as it is easy to find in Boots and relatively cheap. I find that on the days I use this my hair does frizz up a lot more, another reason to keep use to a minimum really.

My everyday silicone-free conditioner is the Tresemme Naturals, again very easy to find on the high street. With this I use a small amount first and rub it into my scalp as if it were shampoo, then rinse this out and use a larger amount over the lengths of my hair. Once this is on, I use a wide-toothed comb to brush out any tangles and then leave it on while I do the rest of my showering, rinsing it out is the last thing I do in the shower each day. I've tried a few other silicone free conditioners, but this is my favourite, plus the huge bottle is really handy seen as I go through conditioner so quickly these days!

Out if the shower, the first thing I do is to scrunch dry my hair a little with an old t-shirt. As this is a smooth material it keeps the curl strands intact without pulling at them like the little threads on a towel would do. I put on a tiny amount of sillicone-free leave in conditioner, I use the Naked Little Miracle, and then brush it into position. This is the last time my hair gets brushed until it's next wash, straight haired people always seem to think this is disgusting, but it just isn't worth brushing. It would tangle and damage the strands, as well as ruining the curl pattern you've worked so hard to form, and trust me on this, it would look so so so much worse if it was brushed when dry.

One it's in position I can put some product on to hold the strands in place, silicone-free of course. Recently I've been using the Boots Essentials Curl Creme. £1.69 folks, £1.69. I split my hair into two sections and coat each one straight down with product spread over my palms, and then use the residue to scrunch strands up to my roots and pump a few times at the top. This ensures each strand is covered in product and will stay in place when drying. There are two different methods I use for drying. Most of the time, I just let it air dry after this point making sure not to touch it until it's fully dry, or it it's freezing or I'm in a hurry I'll use a diffuser on a cool setting to hurry the process up. It's really important at this point not to touch it until it's fully dry, at which point I repeat the scrunch-and-pump technique to break up the product and leave the curls soft and free. If it's touched a lot while drying, the product can't hold the curl formation in place to dry and it frizzes up badly. I also run my fingers through the roots just to lift them away from my scalp. After this it's done! Soft, frizz-free curls without anywhere near the effort of drying and straightening. I have saved so much time in the mornings since starting this.

Once a week I like to deep condition my hair to keep it nice and healthy. For this I use another, cheaper silicone free conditioner, currently the Garnier Ultimate Blends. I wet my hair under the shower and then apply this all over, brushing it through and then covering it with a shower cap. I then use my hair dryer on a low setting to apply heat all over my head and let it soak in for around 20 minutes. I then rinse out and wash and style as normal. This makes my hair so much softer and shinier so it's important to do regularly.

There we go! Sorry about the actual essay I've written there, but if you have any questions about CG or curly hair then just let me know in the comments below!

Jen x