Question for the curlies 💐

[Flossiebell]

Hi everyone

this is a question for the curlies, specifically those who follow the cg method, albeit loosely in some cases.

basically I used to have curls, lots of waves and curls and spirals. However after a year of really bad treatment (bleach, dye and straightening) my curls have vanished and I now have a frizzy, poofy dry cloud sat on my head with no curls left! 😢

was looking at cg method to try to coax curls back but I cannot seem to use sulfate free shampoo - I’ve tried naked, Jason, kind natured brands and I cannot get on with them because they make me itch and the Jason one - I used it once and got itchy lumps all over my head! I can’t co-wash because if I put conditioner on my scalp it makes my hair fall out.

anyone else have these issues? If so have you managed to find a solution that works? Any advice much appreciated 🙂

[Ylva]

Definitely use sulfates if your scalp is happy that way. You can still make up for the harsh cleansing with conditioner, for example by conditioning twice (CWC or WCC). Just keep it off your scalp and apply the conditioner to your lengths only.

I am not curly per se (just wavy) but I have bleach-damaged lengths (especially the ends are garbage) and double conditioning is a must for me.

[lapushka]

Definitely treat your hair for what it is *now*, which is wavy, not for what you would like it to be (yeah, being that you once had curls, it is hard).

I too can't go sulfate free, least of all CO-wash, because of the SD, seborrheic dermatitis. And so I just use a sulfate. A shampoo is just to cleanse the scalp. The rest is up to conditioners and/or masks, and so I do these things twice (WCC, see signature) to combat the dryness of the shampoo, and it coaches out the wave pretty nicely for me.

Maybe try that.

Listen to your scalp. If it says: no "no sulfates", then you can't ignore that signal or it may lead to problems with the scalp, hair falling out more than it should (when I "abnormally" itch, my hair falls out more). You have to treat the "soil" right. :)

Maybe that would work?

And then style it after washing with the LOC/LCO method (also in signature).

Then gradually see if you can restore some health back in the wave, curl.

[Flossiebell]

Thanks Ylva and Lapushka - think I’ll stick with sulphates, just wanted my curls back but I guess I’ll have to wait and see if they come back. Definitely want to keep my scalp happy. Thanks for stopping me from doing something that could have been disastrous �� ��

[ynne]

If you apply conditioner first, then shampoo on scalp, it can partially protect the lengths as the shampoo runs over them. :) Or you could pre-oil the lengths before washing. Also, for dry hair, I agree with lapushka about some some variation of LOC/LCO, even without the styling product; since it's damaged and probably highly porous, it needs lots of help to hold onto moisture, and leave-in conditioner and oils do that!

[ExpectoPatronum]

I'm a wurly (wavy curly) and I can't use SLS-free shampoo exclusively either. While my hair likes it, my scalp likes a deeper clean from sulfates. I find I can alternate between the two just fine, but I can't exclusively use one or the other. Cowashing was also a disaster for me.

CWC might work out for you if you want to continue using sulfates! I also like to oil my hair before washing which also helps counteract a harsher shampoo. HTH!

[GRU]

Absolutely no reason you can't put conditioner on your length and shampoo on your scalp!

And as everyone else has said, it's all about the moisture when it comes to curls. Moisturizing conditioners, deep treatments, leave-ins, oils, etc.

[hennalonghair]

Absolutely no reason you can't put conditioner on your length and shampoo on your scalp!

And as everyone else has said, it's all about the moisture when it comes to curls. Moisturizing conditioners, deep treatments, leave-ins, oils, etc.

Once again , I’m with GRU on this. Condition the ends from the ears down and comb it starting from the bottom to the top. Leave in while you shampoo the scalp only. Leave in for a few minutes then rinse. You might wish to add some conditioner to the very ends or a good leave in. I add a touch of oil to my ends everyday to prevent them from drying out.

[Hedwig]

I would recommend using a nice cleansing sulfate shampoo and maybe a pre-wash conditioner / deep-conditioning treatment, as well as regular conditioner and a moisturizing leave in product. Back when my curls were bleached, I achieved really great results with Olaplex Nr. 3 and scrunching a hair milk from the Garnier Whole Blends line in my wet hair to bring out the curls. :)

[eyesofsummer]

I’m echoing what others said about conditioning the hair length and then applying a cleanser to the scalp. I primarily stick with the CG method and use conditioner-only washes, but I find that sometimes the hair near my scalp can get very oily and then it is a beast to detangle. The CO washes don’t always seem to remove all of the oil; I know when the area near my scalp feels coated even after a wash that I need to use a different cleanser. Sometimes I use Giovanni’a Tea Tree Triple Treat conditioner in these cases, since I find it to be more cleansing with the tea tree and eucalyptus. Sometimes I use a clarifying conditioner for the CO wash, like the suave green apple one. And sometimes I do use a shampoo (though I mostly stick with SLS/free ones). In any case, CWC is the best way I’ve found to detangle and cleanse my hair. If your scalp seems to like the shampoo you have been using, then I would stick with it. I’m a big fan of leave-in conditioners to help moisturize, too.