Almost two years ago I started following the Curly Girl Method. Although there are things I don’t like about the method and I don’t follow it strictly, it has definitely changed my hair for the better.
However, before I started the Curly Girl Method, I didn’t really have a hair routine at all. Of course I washed it, and I owned a conditioner for curly hair and a curl cream – but I rarely used these last two. So I have been wondering for a while what would happen if I tried out my old products. Is the improvement in my hair really a result of the Curly Girl Method, or just a result of using products at all? So I decided to use my old shampoo, conditioner and curl cream, and see what would happen.
For this experiment I left my routine as is, I just changed out the products. So I did ‘plop’ my hair in my microfibre turban, I used my usual techniques to apply my products (a combination of raking and scrunching in the products) – but with products full of sulfates and silicones.
The shampoo contains ammonium lauryl sulfate, which is quite a harsh sulfate. For years, it was the only shampoo that made me able to wash every other day instead of every day. Although it is quite harsh, I didn’t really notice the shampoo being too stripping. I definitely would not use this anymore everytime I wash my hair, but it actually seems fine for a clarifying shampoo.
When I used the conditioner, the first thing I noticed is that it feels a little sticky. I am not sure if this is because of the silicones, or because it is past the expiration date – but it still smells fine, so I’m guessing it is the silicones. The conditioner doesn’t give a great slip, but it did make my curls clump together quite nicely. I had a lot less wet frizz than usual, even after rinsing it, which is pretty great. Other than that, I definitely did not feel like the conditioner is doing anything for my hair or moisturizing it in any way.
After getting out of the shower and plopping my hair for 5 to 10 minutes, I applied the curl cream by raking it through my hair and scrunching it in. I then diffused my hair for around 10 minutes, and continued to let it air dry.
At first my hair really seemed to like the curl cream. It was a lot less frizzy than usual. However, after diffusing I noticed the back of my hair was quite dry and frizzy. I sometimes get this as well when I don’t distribute the product properly, so at first I blamed it on that. But when my hair was completely dry, it was extremely frizzy and lacked definition. Because I suspected this was due to the conditioner not doing anything for my hair and not the curl cream, I decided to use the cream again in my usual routine. I then had much better results.
Unfortunately my hair still didn’t do as well on the silicone curl cream as my CG-friendly curl cream: my second and third day hair were a lot frizzier than usual. I did still feel like my hair liked the product though, and it absorbed it quite quickly. Apart from the silicones, the product has some good ingredients too that can work well for curly hair, such as aloe vera.
Based on these results I will still avoid silicones in my conditioner for now, because at least this conditioner doesn’t seem to do much for my hair. But the results of the curl cream are definitely not too bad, and I might try out more styling products with silicones in the future to see how my hair reacts to it. Silicones can actually reduce frizz and add shine, and even add more slip – even though I didn’t really notice that with these products. Still, I really enjoyed trying out these products again, and might even experiment with my curl cream a little more by adding gel or using a little as a refresher.
Len's Cup of Tea 