Curly Girl Method [Products]

Hopefully by now you have a good grasp on the CG method. In my lost post CG Method [Styling] I explained how to style, I also mentioned that your products need to be CG approved. Here is a guideline for making sure your products are CG approved.

1. No Shampoo/Sulfates! If you must use shampoo make sure it is sulfate free. There is only one instance where you may use a regular shampoo with sulfates... after using products with silicone. I'll explain why in a minute. Here are some common sulfates:

Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

Ammonium Lareth Sulfate 

Myreth Sulfate

2. No Silicone! Why? Silicone coats the hair, which means none of the good products you use will actually penetrate the hair. Silicone weighs down hair and the effect is a lot more noticeable on curly hair. Deep conditioners won't work well with silicone in your hair. You CAN'T wash out silicone. It is not water soluble. The only way to remove it is by using sulfates. And we all know that sulfates can cause a whole mess of problems for us curly girls. Eventually your hair just gets flat, and dull, and gross. This is probably what happens when your hair gets "immune" to your products. 

3. Recognizing Silicone in your products can be confusing at first, but this should help. Any ingredient ending in -cone is a silicone. Dimethicone is the worst!! Here's a list of commonly used Silicones:

Amodimethicone 
Amodimethicone (and) Trideceth-12 (and) Cetrimonium Chloride
Behenoxy Dimethicone
Cetearyl methicone 
Cetyl Dimethicone 
Cyclomethicone 
Cyclopentasiloxane 
Dimethicone 
Dimethicone Copolyol 
Dimethicone copolyol 9
Dimethiconol 
Stearoxy Dimethicone 
Stearyl Dimethicone 
Trimethylsilylamodimethicone 
Lauryl methicone copolyol 

So if it ends in -cone, leave it alone!

4. Here are some ingredients that you WANT to have in your products.

Emollients: Vegetable, nut and grain oils as well as "butters".

Proteins: Wheat, wheat germ, and soy protein.

Humectants: Panthenol, (vegetable)glycerine, sorbitol.

Moisturizers: Aloe and amino acids.

Those are just some examples.

5. Avoid alcohol in your hair products, it is very drying!

So now you have been armed with knowledge, so you can start your curly girl journey! FYI, here's how my hair looked after one week of my journey!

Rock on Curly Girls!!!