Hey everybody! I haven't done a curly hair post in a while, so I wanted to take some time to get one up today. I didn't do a hair update for week 3 of the curly girl method because I was on vacation for the last week. My hair was all out of wack due to weather and elevation changes and all that stuff, so I decided to skip it. I'm not sure about whether there will be one up for week 4 or not. I am leaving for Vegas soon, so we shall see.
Anyways! I was on Instagram today and I saw that somebody I follow had posted a picture of some sulfate free shampoo and conditoner, and somebody had commented saying she didn't like those products at all because they weighed her hair down. This got me thinking about my own hair and what I experience with my own sulfate-free products. Now, I don't know the girl who commented on the picture, and I don't know anything about her hair. Maybe these products really did weigh her hair down, I can't say for sure. But I would venture to say it was probably not the shampoo and conditioner, but the products she was using to style her hair in conjunction with the sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner. More than likely she uses products with silicones in them. She was trying to wash the products out of her hair with sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner. Well, obviously, that won't work. So she experienced build up, greasy-ness, and hair that was weighed down. I could be wrong, because I don't know this girl. But I'm basing my theory off of the knowledge I have of the Curly Girl Method.
Remember guys, silicones are not water soluble, unless they have the prefix PEG-, for example, PEG-Dimethicone. We can spot silicones in ingredients lists because they have the suffixes -cone, -conol, and -xane. Silicones need sulfates to be washed away. Without those harsh cleansing ingredients to wash silicones away, we will probably experience build up. I'm not saying this is the case all the time for everybody. I don't know everybody's hair. All I'm saying is that there's a science behind this whole Curly Girl method that really makes sense.
I imagine that most people who know I don't often use regular shampoo on my hair think my hair is greasy, gross, dirty, and weighed down.
So here's the ultimate question:
Does the Curly Girl Method make your hair dirty?
Answer: No! I have taken silicones out of my hair's diet. Therefore, I no longer need sulfates. When I co-wash my hair with silicone-free conditioners, my hair rinses clean of the water soluble products that I put in it when I style. Water soluble products, obviously, rinse away with water. I don't need the harsh sulfates to clean my hair anymore. I can rely on the gentle cleansers in my co-wash to clean my hair without stripping it. When I get out of the shower, my hair is perfectly clean.
Once a week, after I swim, or whenever I feel like I need it, I wash my hair with a sulfate-free shampoo to get a bit of a deep cleaning. I used to do the same thing when I wasn't CG, except I used a really harsh, clarifying shampoo that left my hair stripped and dry. Some Curly Girls only use sulfate-free shampoo once a month. Some don't have any routine, and do it whenever they think about it. Some probably never do it at all. My point is that it's entirely up to you. I feel that my hair is quite clean with just a co-wash and a rinse out. I use a sulfate-free shampoo once a week because it's just part of my routine that I feel comfortable sticking with. You decide what you want and what your hair wants. Don't think that CG's have dirty hair, because that isn't the case.
Much love to all you curlies out there! If you would like to get the low-down on the curly method, click here.
Gianna
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