The curly girl method helps you embrace your natural hair
Most women in the sub-continent struggle with frizz or untamed, unruly hair. Waking up or looking like Hagrid after brushing your hair is a sight most women with wavy, curly or kinky hair are all too familiar with. And as if to add insult to injury, most pop culture representations of stylish women present sleek, straight hair with a hint of texture to elevate it to effortless. With the plethora of styling tools and straightening treatments around, it’s hard to embrace the wiry, unpredictability of our tresses. Hence blow-dries and keratin treatments are the norm de rigueur.
But being in a constant battle with your hair is exhausting and it definitely takes an emotional toll on you. Who doesn’t know the joys and woes of good and bad hair days? Hair and skin are important to self-esteem and being dissatisfied with either one can be traumatic. Which is precisely why we at Instep encourage you to cultivate a better relationship with your hair this coming new year.
First things first, it’s important to understand what makes curly hair different, the types of curly hair and what leads to frizz and hair fall. It’ll be a short crash course, we promise! Hair has been categorized from type 1 to 4 with further divisions between each category ranging from A to D. Type 1A hair is super straight while type 4C is the kinkiest of the curl pattern, found abundantly among our African cousins.
Straight hair is shiny and looks healthier because the sebum produced by the scalp is able to travel down the hair lengths to keep them protected, whereas the waves and curls prevent the sebum from reaching the ends, resulting in tangles, dryness and the dreaded frizz.
Now what you need to do first is to understand that the structure of curly hair means that it is prone to damage, it requires more care and moisture than we normally give and has its own set of care instructions that, when followed, show you the true potential of what you have!
Introducing the Curly Girl Method. CGM is detailed, extensive and can sometimes be overwhelming but it restores your hair better than any salon treatment or quick fix you’ve come across. If your hair is wavy, curly, textured and if dealing with it befuddles you, this is your solution.
The method requires you to eschew shampoo for a conditioner only washing strategy. We hear the eww, dear readers, but hear us out. You start your final wash with a sulphate free clarifying shampoo or in simple terms, baby shampoo. Wash your hair as you normally would and once the shampoo has been rinsed out, load up on conditioner. Here’s the tricky bit though - the method requires you to stick to conditioners with no silicones or drying alcohols so you’ll have to do a quick online search and find the chemicals that you should avoid.
Start by working the conditioner into the roots of your hair and massage it in with the pads of your fingertips. The massage matters because you have to use friction and strength as this is what will get rid of the dirt, oil and other build-up. The advice is to massage until your arms feel like they’re about to fall off… try 5-7 minutes! Rinse out the hair using the same friction with a slow stream of water to get the hair squeaky clean!
The next and last step requires you to take the same conditioner, distribute it evenly through-out your hair and then scrunch your hair. The scrunching not only helps the conditioner to be absorbed better but also allows wavy/curly hair to find its natural pattern. Do not wash all the conditioner out and do not go near a normal bathroom towel at all! Use a microfiber towel or a soft t-shirt to ‘plop’ your hair in. Plopping is a technique where you pile the hair on top a flat-lay t-shirt and then wrap the shirt around so that the hair sits on top of the head.
After 5-15 minutes, take off your t-shirt turban, part your hair how you like it and let it dry. The less you touch your hair while it dries, the better and less frizzy it’ll turn out. There’s a whole lot of technicality in the method and various smaller steps that you can incorporate but with two easy steps you can start your journey towards healthier hair.
Some words of caution now. The curly girl method (CGM) is a time consuming and patience involving process. Your hair will go through a transition phase to heal from the years of heat and chemical damage and bad nutrition; bear with it as it has borne your attempts to make it more socially acceptable. Frizz is a result of hair that lacks moisture, as you go further into the method and incorporate deep treatments and regular apple cider vinegar rinses (one part ACV three parts water, applied to the roots and then lengths, massaged in and rinsed out to clean build-up on the scalp – you can read up on it further online) you will notice less frizz, less hair fall and texture that had been waiting to be championed.
On the method shampoos are a divisive point where some vehemently advocate a completely no shampoo policy while others allow everything from clarifying washes once a month to a low-poo (no sulphate, no silicones shampoo) diet for your hair. You can choose where you land on the spectrum but the important thing here is that over-doing shampoos is anathema and the next greatest sin you can commit is to brush your hair – ever!
It sounds strange and consuming and requires effort and research, but once you discover the joys of your natural hair and the potential it has you’ll find every minute you spend on the method worth it.
To find more details regarding the method, search for CGM on Google or YouTube, or CGM Pakistan on Facebook for some super helpful groups that guide you through this wonderful and at times bewildering maze.
