Squish to Condish

[-Fern]

I know this isn't a new method or idea, but it has suddenly been popping up a lot for me lately, so I thought I would make a post for the Squish to Condish method for encouraging waves and curls. It is a bit different than scrunching, and this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMW0ZsYXAjE) gives a pretty good overview of how to actually do it.

Please feel free to post additional videos, your own experiences, questions, pictures, etc!

[-Fern]

The weirdest thing to me (and I think she mentions it in the video) was that the sound of the squishing actually changes significantly!

I tried this last night and woke up with really awesomely defined curl clumps, but I forgot to take a photo and had to brush them out to bun up for work. :/ Will definitely be doing it again this weekend, though!

[julee]

Just tried this last night also! Curls were a bit misshapen when I woke up but defined with little frizz. So to refresh them I just scrunched again with a little conditioner and water.

So far I think this method has been the most successful for me to style my hair curly.

[01]

I'll be trying this during next wash... *lurking*

[lapushka]

I heard about this method for the first time on whirls & curls' channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDi0OvYSgSA

[Anya15]

I tried this for the first time recently and it gave me so much bounce and definition! The result is in my profile photo. :)

[01]

Pretty waves, anou!

[julee]

I tried this for the first time recently and it gave me so much bounce and definition! The result is in my profile photo. :)


anou, I have to say thank you, it was your blog post that inspired me to research and try this method! :flower: I hadn't heard of it before.

[hufflepug]

I will have to try this next wash :)

[lithostoic]

I like it a lot too! My hair is only 1c but it seemed so much more hydrated. I'm doing that every time I cowash now.

[sumidha]

I am not super well versed in CG type methods, would someone who knows more enlighten me- is the amount of product she uses similar to the amount of product used in other CG inspired routines? I only skimmed the second video, but I swear she puts close to two cups of product in her hair all together, for about BSL length hair? :confused:

(I'm not criticizing at all, I'm curious if my experiments with using CG methods would have given better results if I had used more product.)

[littlestarface]

So should us wavys have the same routine as a curly girl?

[LongCurlyTress]

On LHC-- Curly Hair Liz's scrunching routine... LOVE her hair!! cool music too!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBWAmnxcOd4

[lapushka]

So should us wavys have the same routine as a curly girl?

I often watch curly girls and have adapted a few of the methods, like the LOC method (with less product) and the rinse-out oil method (with less product). So... basically the same yes, but less product? Definitely!

[meteor]

Squish to Condish worked for me too, back when I tried it (my hair was probably waist-hip long?), but I have too much length and not enough patience for long, involved wash routines now. :oops:

I don't know the exact mechanism behind how this works though.
I think S2C helps condition more intensely, maybe helping conditioning ingredients penetrate and stick better? :hmm: Possibly thanks to big amounts of product used and maybe thanks to extra massaging, more thorough spreading and the emulsifying action of squishing conditioner with cationic surfactants with water before rinsing it? :hmm:

Also, the way I noticed deep conditioning tends to be done in salons is with very thorough strand-by-strand application and usually adding water at the end to massage it in and emulsify... And I do notice a difference from extra massaging with conditioner and water... but such routines are pretty time-consuming.

[Arctic]

Yes, time consuming was the first thought on me too :D

(crawls back under the rock)

[sumidha]

So should us wavys have the same routine as a curly girl?

Depends on whether you want to maximize your waves or not. CG will help you get the most curl out of your wave pattern, I think. :)

[littlestarface]

I think im too lazy for CG method, theres so much bending over and moving your hands up and down, I dont think I can cope with so much.

[summergame]

For me it did not work good enough. I tried it yesterday and it feels greasy. The waves that I have from it are already gone today and I used a gel when it was towel dry.

[Horrorpops]

Ooh this is pretty cool, I might try this. I've tried scrunching while drying but without product my hair just looked frizzy, may have to go out and buy some sort of gel or lotion for curl setting. :o

[Crystawni]

Thanks to anou's gorgeous pic the other day, I've tried it twice now, and all I got were limp waves. I think my hair is a nutter and prefers heaps of nothing. Too much (or even a touch) of anything and it rebels with bleh. :wail: It wants to be naked! :flasher: :o

[Anya15]

Crystawni you have fine hair, perhaps that's why?

[lapushka]

I think im too lazy for CG method, theres so much bending over and moving your hands up and down, I dont think I can cope with so much.

Where do you get that the CG method is bending over that much? :?: I mean, where does it say that? That's the first I've heard of it. You choose to do it in any position you prefer. You can probably scrunch product in upright as well, from both sides.

[Crystawni]

Yeah, it could be why, anou. It's so delicate and fine, I find it hard to S & D because what looks like a split is actually two or three hairs having a party together. Gah. I would love to have my waves all full and luscious like yours turned out (without resorting to bun waves or sock curls). Mine barely get their curve up--they prefer to coil a bit tighter underneath, with big coils on top that turn to mush as soon as the humidity has its way.

[Kake]

It worked well for me today on 2nd day hair. I just used conditioner and water. I normally struggle with messy looking 2nd day hair, so I'm happy. I'm very interested in how it will be next time I wash my hair. Thanks Fern, the video you linked was good!

[Obsidian]

doesn't detangling/brushing/whatever undo all the squishing? I can't quite understand how this helps curls.

[Kake]

doesn't detangling/brushing/whatever undo all the squishing? I can't quite understand how this helps curls.

Yeah it would disrupt the curl. But CG method advocates no brushing or combing as that disrupts the curl. I don't comb when I'm wearing my hair curly and it works fine for me. Detangling isn't an issue for me, so I'm not sure, but I think CG encourages detangling in the shower, so that would be before the squishing bit.

[littlestarface]

Where do you get that the CG method is bending over that much? :?: I mean, where does it say that? That's the first I've heard of it. You choose to do it in any position you prefer. You can probably scrunch product in upright as well, from both sides.

In the video :rolleyes:

[Obsidian]

Yeah it would disrupt the curl. But CG method advocates no brushing or combing as that disrupts the curl. I don't comb when I'm wearing my hair curly and it works fine for me. Detangling isn't an issue for me, so I'm not sure, but I think CG encourages detangling in the shower, so that would be before the squishing bit.

ok, another stupid question. For those of you who use the CG method, if you don't brush, how do you define your part? Don't you find tangles when you take your towel off your head? Doesn't matter when I detangle/brush, as soon as the towel comes off, I have bad tangles at the top of my head. Could be because I'm a shorty, could be because that hair is straighter.

Even though my scalp hates conditioner, I decided to try squishing and plopping. I did use a towel instead of a t-shirt to plop, I can't get a shirt to stay on my head. I'll try a t-shirt again here in awhile, letting the towel soak up most of the wet first.

[Anya15]

I detangle in the shower and after joining LHC my hair hardly has any tangles :P

[SparrowWings]

I am not super well versed in CG type methods, would someone who knows more enlighten me- is the amount of product she uses similar to the amount of product used in other CG inspired routines? I only skimmed the second video, but I swear she puts close to two cups of product in her hair all together, for about BSL length hair? :confused:

(I'm not criticizing at all, I'm curious if my experiments with using CG methods would have given better results if I had used more product.)
I'm curious about this as well. I'm definitely on the straighter end, so doubt this applies to me overly much, but it'd still be an interesting reference point if I ever experiment in this direction!

[Kake]

ok, another stupid question. For those of you who use the CG method, if you don't brush, how do you define your part? Don't you find tangles when you take your towel off your head? Doesn't matter when I detangle/brush, as soon as the towel comes off, I have bad tangles at the top of my head. Could be because I'm a shorty, could be because that hair is straighter.

Even though my scalp hates conditioner, I decided to try squishing and plopping. I did use a towel instead of a t-shirt to plop, I can't get a shirt to stay on my head. I'll try a t-shirt again here in awhile, letting the towel soak up most of the wet first.

I don't plop. I'm trying to think what I do do. I bend over and apply product, scrunch a bit and lift my head upright. Then gently shake my hair and my part is mostly right. I might have to help it a bit, but that is just by using my fingers and repositioning strands here and there. I never have my hair piled on my head.

IMO squish to condish is just a little bit of a CG modification. YMMV, but our hair seems similar texture wise, and I am not quite APL yet, so we are not too different length wise either. I like CG, but just recently I have felt my hair looks too messy (it's longer than I've had it before) so I hope I continue to like the squish method. I hope this is useful to you Obsidian

[Kake]

I am not super well versed in CG type methods, would someone who knows more enlighten me- is the amount of product she uses similar to the amount of product used in other CG inspired routines? I only skimmed the second video, but I swear she puts close to two cups of product in her hair all together, for about BSL length hair? :confused:

(I'm not criticizing at all, I'm curious if my experiments with using CG methods would have given better results if I had used more product.)

I use a lot of product. I didn't particularly notice how much the polished curl used, but maybe that's because it didn't seem strange to me. For me it's a frizz thing though, not a curl formation thing.

[Obsidian]

My hair is definitely more curly, not sure if its from squishing or plopping. I plan on trying plopping without any conditioner, see if there is a difference. Bad side is without brushing, I look a bit homeless. I have defined clumps surrounded by frizz. My hair feels really weighted down and if I touch it, I can feel the conditioner residue and I rinsed quite a lot out.
I might try aloe gel next time, see if that helps with the frizz.

[-Fern]

Update, and also a commentary on tangles:

The first time I did this, before I got in the shower I brushed my hair with my head inverted (this is actually my normal bedtime ritual anyhow on nights I don't wash my hair). This felt kind of silly, but made doing S2C really easy (thanks for the acronym, meteor! :lol:).

Today, I gave my hair a quick brush in the normal direction before showering, and then inverted my head to do S2C when I was already in the shower.

I had ZERO trouble with tangles the first time--not in the shower, not with finished hair, and not after the curls were dry. Today, I had to spend probably 2 or 3 minutes detangling in the shower and still wound up with a few tangles at the crown of my head... right where it's super-visible, of course. So I think next time I try this, I'm going to start with inverted brushing again. :o

[Obsidian]

My tangles were more towards the ends and were a beast to comb out this evening. I have to clarify tomorrow to get all this conditioner out, I'll try inverted detangling and setting my part before I plop.

[Robi-Bird]

Tried this this afternoon. I have frizz on top of curls. I could probably reduce that with the right leave in but my hair feels sticky even now that it's dry so it's getting rinsed again. Nice curls but no better than when I plop.

[Anya15]

I used very little product btw. The people in the videos probably use 4x the amount I used.

[Simsy]

I like the idea, but the Mop says "no". My hair doesn't tolerate leave in conditioner, so this method tends to leave with a tangled oily mess. I do occasionally wonder if my hair realizes it's curly?

[julee]

When I did this I used a dollar sized amount of conditioner but could have used way less. I detangled in the shower while co washing, then added the 2nd conditioner, finger combed, leaned my head slightly toward so my hair came forward which made it easier to scrunch. I should also note my stats are wrong, I chopped off all my pre LHC hair the other day, leaving me about 2" from waist. Don't think I could have done this with 33" hair.

[lapushka]

In the video :rolleyes:

Yes, true, but this is about a particular method, not the entire regular CG routine. :)

[littlestarface]

Yes, true, but this is about a particular method, not the entire regular CG routine. :)

I said theres alot of bending which there is in the video which she is doing a CG thing to her hair and in other videos of her putting her hair in a shirt shes bending and putting products in shes bending. So im commenting on her doing it. And I just left a comment saying why I wouldnt want to do these routines, im not asking for help or alternatives to not bending. I was just saying how much she bends over that would hurt my back.

[lapushka]

I said theres alot of bending which there is in the video which she is doing a CG thing to her hair and in other videos of her putting her hair in a shirt shes bending and putting products in shes bending. So im commenting on her doing it. And I just left a comment saying why I wouldnt want to do these routines, im not asking for help or alternatives to not bending. I was just saying how much she bends over that would hurt my back.

Squish to condish is by no means a necessary step in the CG routine (and there's not a lot of bending there, should you not want it). It depends on what you want to do. :)

[Beborani]

I did this just once a couple of years ago--did nothing more than what I was already getting with my "quick application, comb it in and go method". This is mostly about maximizing contact of product with hair surface but when you layer a few products something or other will find untouched spots. Keeping the hair wet helps in spreading though she seems to be overdoing it. After the first minute or two it seems like an overkill.

[butterflybutton]

Ooh! This is how I used to condition my hair, I wonder if that's why the wurls used to look nicer?

I'm going to try this again next wash!

[Horrorpops]

Ok so I tried this today and it didn't really do anything for my hair...I was in a little bit of a hurry but still. I might rewatch the video and give this a second chance...

[littlestarface]

Squish to condish is by no means a necessary step in the CG routine (and there's not a lot of bending there, should you not want it). It depends on what you want to do. :)

Never said it was a necessary step.

[molljo]

So, I did this yesterday (WCC) while also doing the same method for styling (leave-in conditioner, curling cream and gel), and honestly my hair looks fantastic. My second-day hair isn't as wavy as yesterday, but I've retained a lot more clumping and wave than I usually do the day after. What I noticed was that adding water with each step helped pull all the clumps back together while scrunching all five(!!) products in. Even in the shower when I scrunched in conditioner normally, lots of hair separated and created half clumps and half basically wet frizz, which only increased with each successive scrunch. So, I think this method could be great for people who experience this problem in particular (and who like wearing their hair down, because it's pretty useless if you plan to just put it up, imo).

[lapushka]

So, I did this yesterday (WCC) while also doing the same method for styling (leave-in conditioner, curling cream and gel), and honestly my hair looks fantastic. My second-day hair isn't as wavy as yesterday, but I've retained a lot more clumping and wave than I usually do the day after. What I noticed was that adding water with each step helped pull all the clumps back together while scrunching all five(!!) products in. Even in the shower when I scrunched in conditioner normally, lots of hair separated and created half clumps and half basically wet frizz, which only increased with each successive scrunch. So, I think this method could be great for people who experience this problem in particular (and who like wearing their hair down, because it's pretty useless if you plan to just put it up, imo).

That's great to hear. I love it when it works out!!! :D

[-Fern]

Okay, after my third attempt, I realize that plopping seems to have been the magic step that keeps my curls in large clumps. If I take it down too soon, the clumps fall apart.

My hair does have incredible volume and waves right now, but it's also NOTICEABLY heavier, so I think I'm going to clarify and wait a week before trying S2C again. ^_^

[KittyBird]

I tried this today, along with scrunching the leave-ins in afterwards, and it gave me a much better result than *only* scrunching does. I like it! :D I washed my hair with sulfate free shampoo first, then put conditioner on and combed through under running water, and then I put more conditioner on and squished. I also like that my hair was much less drippy when I got out of the shower.

[Obsidian]

Do any of you who plop have issues with scalp pain from your hair drying in the wrong direction? I didn't like S2C but I do like the results of plopping but dang, my scalp was sore the next day. I can only blame it on my roots drying against their normal direction.

[lapushka]

Do any of you who plop have issues with scalp pain from your hair drying in the wrong direction? I didn't like S2C but I do like the results of plopping but dang, my scalp was sore the next day. I can only blame it on my roots drying against their normal direction.

That's why I stopped plopping my hair. Just not worth it to leave it in longer than 10-15 min.

It's out of my routine.

I now only scrunch, my styling products get scrunched in - that's it.

[vampyyri]

Do you rinse the conditioner out from your hair after squishing it? That girl seemed to use a lot of conditioner, and I'm not sure my hair could take that much product. I miss my waves, they're in there somewhere!

ETA: I found an article (http://dormroomcurly.blogspot.com/2013/12/squish-to-condish-my-new-favorite-way.html) that helped out, I get it now! Going to give this a try tonight!

[ephemeri]

When I do it, I end up leaving a little conditioner in, just to help with moisture. Definitely experiment and see what's best for you! My hair tends to be dry so not squishing/rinsing out all the conditioner is something my hair likes.

[mz_butterfly]

That looked slightly violent. I was mesmerized by the maniacal grabbing of hair :D

I keep wondering why she rinsed (she said she didn't like all the conditioner in her hair) but then she added more. And the water running was making me crazy, it seemed so wasteful.

[Anya15]

I've had to stop doing the s2c method because of the extreme humidity. I've cut conditioner out entirely because my hair was simply over-moisturized and limp. :( Which is a shame, because I liked it...

However, simply air drying without any product/scrunching is also giving me decent results with this humidity, though the waves dont stay as long. (they're gone by the second day.) My profile photo is after s2c and my avatar is a hairtyping picture. s2c pushes me closer to a 2c but my natural hairtype isn't bad either :)

[w0nderland]

I tried this before and I did it horrendously and was left with limp hair, so I tried again yesterday and oh my cow it has made a difference. I would say my hair is 2a, mostly straight ish and puffy, some waves in there somewhere. I did this and I had nice defined waves everywhere. My hair is above APL, so I didn't expect it to work as well as it did but my hair is so smooth today, and there is still some wave going on in there.

I plopped first with a towel, just so I could walk out of my bathroom without looking crazy, then got an old stretchy shirt, half cotton half other stuff and used that. Didn't aid drying all that much but it was on there for about 15-20 minutes and just helped set the wave at my root!
Definitely my go-to from now on!

ETA: I don't use any product after I have conditioned or anything like that, any wave setting/ defining product suggestions would be appreciated please :) :)

[Persiangirl01]

Hi there! Quick question. Would sleeping in a braid disturb the curl pattern I would get from using this method?

How do you curly/wurly ladies sleep with your hair?

Thank you :flower:

[littlestarface]

Hi there! Quick question. Would sleeping in a braid disturb the curl pattern I would get from using this method?

How do you curly/wurly ladies sleep with your hair?

Thank you :flower:

Oh yea anything disturbs the pattern, buns, braids etc. You just have to the next day, wet the hair or mist it and scrunch, it'll bring back some of the wave until your hair starts to get oily of course.

I have to sleep with braids in a sleep cap now.