Catering for Curly Girlies using the Curly Girl Method in your salon

What is the Curly Girl method?

The Curly Girl Method originated from Lorraine Massey’s trending book, ‘Curly Girl: The Handbook’, a best selling book that includes top tips on products, styling and how to look after curly hair. With 42.3k followers on Instagram and 2 trending books about the hair, her method is definitely going to be useful to know about for your curly haired clients.

The successful hair regime instructs followers to stop using damaging products, like heated styling tools and shampoos, on the hair and scalp by using leave-in conditioners, lo-poo’s (sulphate & silicone free shampoo) and gels. It is a much healthier way of treating the hair and can be adapted to suit all hair types.

How does the Curly Girl Method work?

The Curly Girl method, also known as the ‘no poo’ method, has been very effective for many clients as it allows the hair to retain all of its natural oils. Constantly using heat or damaging shampoos on the hair can strip out the natural oils, leaving hair dry, brittle and damaged. This method influences curly girlies to start using sulfate-free shampoos, moisturisers, styling gels and gentle cleansing ingredients, by doing this it will be adding more moisture to the hair, allowing it to look curlier, healthier and bouncier. Whether your client has straight hair, curly hair or wavy hair, you can adapt this method to suit your client and to improve the condition of the hair.

Curly Girl Step- By- Step Guide:

Cleansing, Conditioning and Styling are the 3 most important steps within the regime to follow, and are all dependant on your clients natural curl pattern.

1. Cleanse - Cut out shampoo and cleanse your hair and scalp with a gentle conditioner like the Osmo Deep Moisture Conditioner, using your fingers to massage this into the scalp.

When cleansing wavy hair, in salon, wash the hair with a gentle conditioner and then rinse, after you’ve done this, shampoo the hair, preferably with a sulfate- free shampoo, and rinse again. Cleansing curly hair is slightly different, use only conditioner and rinse. And when cleansing coily hair, because of how tight the curls are, instead of using shampoo or conditioner all you need to do is wet the hair.

2. Conditioning - You will need to section the hair and cover with conditioner.

Conditioning wavy hair is simple, using a gentle conditioner like Matrix Biolage Cleansing Conditioner for Curly Hair, separate the hair and smooth over the hair until it is all covered, then rinse this out, but you don’t need to fully rinse it all out, it is good for the hair if you leave a layer on the hair. With curly hair, you’ll need to rinse out the conditioner, the curlier your hair the more you need to rinse. When conditioning coily hair, you need to add a gentle conditioner and wrap the hair up in a towel, quickly blow dry with a hairdryer or diffuser on the cool setting and rinse.

3. Styling your hair - scrunching the hair to style it is less damaging than using heated styling tools and harsh products on the hair.

Styling the hair using this regime is easy, quick and convenient. When styling wavy hair you need to rub an oil like Matrix Oil Wonders Shaping Cream in between your palms and scrunch or twist the hair, this allows the curls to remain in the hair, without the use of heat. Styling curly hair is also very simple, to add volume to curly hair just flip the hair forwards and scrunch upwards. However, styling coily hair is completely up to you, just try and avoid using heat. If you need to brush through the hair then a wide tooth comb is recommended, this detangles the hair and prevents any further breakage.

Additionally some coily hair clients may prefer to use the Denman D3 brush and gel to define their curls. To do this you need to wet the hair, either washing or using a spray bottle to spray it, using a silicone free conditioner like the L’Oreal Serie Expert Nutrifier Glycerol Conditioner, cover the hair all over. Then brush the hair in individual sections in a curling motion with the Denman D3 brush. Using a gel like the L’Oreal Tecni Art Fix Move Gel, apply to the hair, lightly scrunching from the ends upwards. This method is very simple and all you need to do now is allow the hair to dry.

How can this benefit you and your clients?

As the curly hair trend grows it is important that you, as a hairdresser, keep up to date with the newest methods and techniques to cater for these clients and their hair types. It assures your clients that you understand and want the best for their hair as well as ensures they keep coming back to you.

Additionally, having knowledge about the Curly Girl method means that you are going to be able to suggest and up sell the correct products to curly haired clients. Products such as the Matrix Biolage Full Range, which includes Cleansing Conditioners, Leave-in Treatments and Hydrating Shampoos, which are all sulfate, paraben and silicone free, and are also CG (Curly Girl) approved. The Osmo Deep Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner are also great for cleansing and nourishing the hair. Also, suggesting that clients can use brushes that are healthier and better for the condition of their hair, like the Denman D3, will be beneficial.