I’ve been following the Curly Girl Method for about 15 years now, so as it’s gained popularity in the last year or so (like wild cold water swimming, it ain’t new) I thought I’d detail my fave (UK) products.
I have fine hair which soaks up moisture easily (high porosity). It’s coloured because I started going grey about 23 (so unfair!).
I’m a wavy rather than a kinky-curly or coily. No, I don’t know my number (3C?); I’ve tried to work it out from the book and websites, but in the end I don’t get it.
I tried co-washing (washing with conditioner) and it just didn’t feel clean or look good, so I use no-sulphate shampoos and the occasional clarify (buildup strip) with a ‘normal’ shampoo.
I like the LOC method – leave-in conditioner, oil, curl cream. Just works for me. No silicones is key; you gotta go all in or nothing here.
Praying hands, squish to condish (ace), plopping – look ’em up. Rainwater rinses and ACV rinses if I can be bothered. Natural drying or gentle diffuse.
That’s the basics, and below are my best basic styling products. You DO NOT need to spend a lot to achieve good results, although it’s so much fun to try loads of things.
A huge tub of Garnier Hair Food lasts ages, and it’s a leave-in as well as a mask. Sometimes I just put this on and nothing else, if I’m not bothered (i.e. lockdown). It’s about £3 a tub I think, and there’s banana too, which smells lovely not icky. Whack it on your soaking clumps.
For a refresh spray I mix this in a spray bottle with water. You can add other stuff like honey, salt, essential oils or fragrance as you like. Much cheaper than anything they sell.
Inecto is as cheap as chips but excellent brand; they do shampoo (sulphate only tho) and conditioner and a nice hair mask tub. This was £1.99 in B&M. One pump for my shoulder-length hair.
Ahhhhh Boots Curl Creme. When I started using this it was 99p a tub. Nothing has changed apart from the price, now about £2.50. For fine wavy girlies it’s perfect. A friend recommended it to me; she gets it sent over to Oz now. Scrunch it in. (I do put it on my roots because otherwise, frizz! This is an example of not following what everyone says to do…).
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