Are waves/curls possible without the curly girl method?

[Emila]

Hi lovely longhair folks,

In the past I did the curly girl method. I don't want to do that again. Putting mousse or gel in my hair tangled my hair too much. I ended up breaking off so much hair in the shower trying to detangle. The curly girl advice I tended to get was to cut my hair shorter or later it, which I did't want to do lol. I've now decided to prioritise length and minimising hair tangling and breakage over waves.

But I'm still trying to figure out if I can have the best of both worlds somehow.

Please share your tips for waves or curls that are also compatible with minimising tangling/breakage and prioritising length?

Please and thank you :)

[LydiaStauffer]

I think we have similar hair types! when my hair was a bit longer, collarbone-ish, I was able to somewhat emphasize my waves and reduce frizz by detangling my dry hair before washing, then washing and conditioning normally, scrunching a few drops of light weight oil into the lengths while my hair is still soaking wet, and then only using a tshirt with scrunching motions and plopping to dry my hair. definitely wayyy less defined than GC gave me, but seemed to be a decent middle ground.

[Arciela]

I am wondering the same! I used to just have to use Yes to Carrots conditioner and my hair was great, but sadly they changed the formula then discontinued it. After that, no conditioner comes close, and the longer my hair gets the more its weighed down, so I am at a loss as well.

Davines io is what I often use and when I do its nice and all, but yeah, its not wurly at all anymore :(

[rosenester]

I find mousse & gel to give me worse tangles as well. I stick with curl cream followed by serum/oil.

I find a water refresh with no added product brings back my natural texture, with a fair amount of product already there from wash day.

Homemade flax seed gel worked well for me, and clumped my waves and decreased tangles (too lazy to make it for a long while though). I added aloe & essential oils for scent to mine.

I usually brush out my waves on day 2, and cream products work for me, if I get frizz when detangling I add a little oil and throw it in a cinnamon bun and rock bun waves instead.

[shelomit]

I think I do some things that are CGM-esque (lots of CO, prioritizing moisture), but my hair has never been able to tolerate leave-ins either. For me it's not so much that they contribute to tangling/breakage, but that they overwhelm/weigh down my hair immediately and kind of beat the curl out of it instead of keeping it in place.

When I want to style my hair curly I wash it as usual (Aussie conditioner), rinse very thoroughly, squeeze out the bulk of the moisture, separate the locks by hand, and let them dry loose. Once they're dry the texture holds pretty well, but it's a challenge to go about my day with my hair drying and not to accidentally bash the texture out of it : P

[spidermom]

I used to get pretty good waves curls by thoroughly brushing and combing before washing, messing my hair around as little as possible while washing, combing conditioner through in the shower, then wrapping an absorbent towel around my shoulders or putting on an absorbent robe, scrunching leave-in of choice, and leaving my hair to dry while hanging over my body. Of course this could only be done when I was going to be relatively inactive while my hair dried, like sitting to use the computer or watching a movie. It would really come out pretty, though. This was when we lived in Washington.

Now that we live in Ohio, my hair has very little wave or curl to encourage. I don't know why it has changed texture so much.

[lapushka]

The only thing I do that's considered curly girl is the styling part. That's it. And I'm fine. I mean, nothing, not even "curly girl" is going to give you texture that you haven't got! So, I think that's where a lot of folks go wrong. Just wishing. Wishing, you know? And they think this method is going to just magically do it for them. Nope. I gave up on "miracles" a long time ago.

I just simply wash with regular (sulfate) shampoo, condition well, and then do the LOC/LCO method for styling. Lately I just use tons of mousse and a gel on top. I scrunch in the product with a very fluffy microfiber towel (that I still had somewhere, lo and behold LOL).

I airdry for a couple hours, then all I still have to do is diffuse-dry for about 5 minutes (no more). And it's dry!

[Maiden Fair]

I don't get great waves all of the time (although part of that is living in a suuuuper dry atmosphere), but what I do that seems to encourage my natural pattern is: while shampooing, separating it in two and bringing both halves to the front, then washing it with as little movement of the lengths as possible. When I go to rinse it out, I turn more to the side/front under the stream of water and tilt my head to let that half of the hair dangle free, then cup it loosely up in my hands (scrunching movement, but super loose) and hold it that way as I rinse. Repeat for the other side. After I'm done rinsing and ready to get out, I scrunch it a number of times to get water out, then I flip my head over (slowly, so as not to create tangles), get out of the shower, scrunch it with a t-shirt to remove as much more water as possible and then plop it into another (dry) t-shirt. I leave that on for somewhere between a half hour and an hour, then take it down, scrunch it gently once or twice, and try to move it as little as possible while it air dries.

Between showers, I never brush it, just detangle with a really wide-toothed horn comb. I've been spritzing it with rosewater and applying a little argan/sunflower oil mix to the ends when I do this to make it easier to comb through; then I also scrunch it just a little after I've combed it to remind the waves what they're supposed to do. XD If I didn't take too long combing and it's still slightly damp from the misting, that bounces it up a little again.

I also sleep with it up in a silk cap. I had a regular one, but my hair is so thick it couldn't hold it all anymore once I passed waist length, so I bought a long one (like this :https://www.rachelsilk.com/Long-Silk-Sleep-nightcap-with-wide-elastic-band-for-Braids-long-hair). I leave my hair loose inside it, although I sometimes put a loose silk hairband around the outside of the cap like a ponytail on top of my head. I started wearing one to avoid the nasty tangles I was getting overnight, but the ends are definitely scrunched against the bottom and I think that helps keep the wave pattern longer too.

I've also been wearing it bunned pretty much all the time, except when it's still damp from washing. I thought at first that would completely destroy the wave but it actually seems to preserve it more for the first few days.

Results: my waves are pretty pronounced the first day and lose a lot of definition when I comb them the next day, since I don't have any product in, but definitely persists in having some stubborn waves throughout by my next hairwashing a week later, and sometimes even a little separation still.

[Bri-Chan]

I think curl cream can help, but it obviously makes the definition last shorter.

I see we have the same hair type, my experince is that after a certain length it's just too heavy no matter what. It still looks better if I manage it as wavy hair tho, even at classic this was better for me.

[Fiore]

Well my routine in the last 5 year has been very similar to the CGM one.
Nevertheless, after pregnancy my hair texture has changed a little bit (I assume this Is also caused by the lenght reached so fare). Recently I decided to go back to my 2010's haircare routine (combing dry hair before sleeping, wear It up or braided most of the time, preferring an oil leave in After shampoo to LOC styling). It's going very well, mostly because now I have wurly hair and before this change I was always fighting against tangles and breakage...

[Greengable]

I am wavy/curly my routine is.
Wash with plants also ghassoul is top
I make my own conditioner but I don't use it if I made the oil prewash
After washing just a drops of vegetable virgin oil
I don't like to be more curly but sometimes it works:
Apply cassia obovata monthly
Make gelatine or flax seeds gel
That's all

[Shimmy]

I used to get pretty good waves curls by thoroughly brushing and combing before washing, messing my hair around as little as possible while washing, combing conditioner through in the shower, then wrapping an absorbent towel around my shoulders or putting on an absorbent robe, scrunching leave-in of choice, and leaving my hair to dry while hanging over my body. Of course this could only be done when I was going to be relatively inactive while my hair dried, like sitting to use the computer or watching a movie. It would really come out pretty, though. This was when we lived in Washington.

Now that we live in Ohio, my hair has very little wave or curl to encourage. I don't know why it has changed texture so much.


Do you think it could possibly be the water quality?

[MusicalSpoons]

You can definitely follow the principles without using leave-ins and stylers. You won't get the same results, but you'll likely get better results than treating it like straight hair. You could literally just try the routine you used before but without the leave-in/styling products, see how it turns out, and go from there.

I have tried a leave-in conditioner once, and I had to rinse it off the next day as I hated the feel. I do also comb my hair between washes (I do a full wash once every 2-4 weeks, it would be matted if I did nothing!) but only once my texture has relaxed and my hair isn't clinging together in clumps any more. I wear it in a bun all the time so how it looks isn't an issue for me (and the bun means it doesn't lose moisture very quickly at all), but I found it was happier with a super moisturising wash routine, combing with conditioner, then leaving it as many days as necessary until it was ready to be detangled slightly. I tend to like to see how my texture naturally turns out but I could start it drying with sort of plopping the lengths :hmm:

Basically … just try things and see what your hair likes!

[vampyyri]

The only thing I really do for my waves is put in a mousse after washing. I was doing the whole cream and gel thing too, but if I go too heavy handed accidently then my hair looks like I never washed it. Less is more for my hair, and it looks just fine :D

ETA: Sometimes I'll add aloe as a light hold gel if I want some extra help to keep my waves more well behaved... but since it's up in a bun more often than not, I've been skipping it :p