Besides moisture, the one other thing that is talked about a lot when it comes to the Curly Girl / Curly Hair Method is protein. This topic seems to get the blame and the glory in equal measure. So what is the right thing for you?
Hair that loves protein is usually higher porosity, finer texture, has colour/highlights, is dried regularly using heat or a combination of these traits. The more damage that you have will mean your hair needs and likes those proteins to fill in the chips and cracks and help keep that moisture in.
Maybe you notice the build up on a clear shower door or the film in your sinks. Perhaps your white clothes never stay white very long or you see the white residue on glasses after washing them by hand or in the dishwasher. Or maybe your home is serviced by a well which are typically hard water.
With respect to hair, you may notice that your shampoo won’t lather much and you may need to use it twice to effectively clean hair and scalp.
Does hard water affect your natural curls and waves? Yes it does.
In your mind picture a pinecone. The ones laying on the ground with wide open scales would be high porosity, the ones on the tree that are turning brown and not fully open would be normal porosity, and the ones near the top that are still tightly closed would be low porosity.
Your products might not be absorbing well into your lower porosity hair.
So how can you help your low porosity hair get the most out of your routine?
Cowashing is simply washing with a conditioning cleanser or a regular conditioner. A cowash is a specially-designed product contains ingredients to both wash and condition the hair.
Let’s talk about the pros and cons of this original method of cleansing curly and wavy hair.
This week I saw a FB post that followed the advice of Lorraine Massey (creator of the Curly Girl Method / Curly Hair Method) and said the use of oils will just block your hair and cause problems. There was a time that Lorraine encouraged the use of oils and now she does not. But I digress… oils are still being used by many curlies and wavies. Some love them, some do not. At the end of the day your hair (and scalp) will decide if this is for you.
As you experiment and delve further into the Method, it is evident that even if you see and follow someone with hair that looks like yours – what they do may or may not work for you.
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