Oh What a Gem!: One Year of Finding My Curls Using the Curly Girl Method

Hi all! It's been a million years (well really 2.5, but who's counting?) since I've written anything on here. Thanks to anyone who's been on here in my absence and to all who may read this. I've missed this, but it's definitely gone on the back burner with a second kid who coincidentally turns 2 this month. What are the odds? Yep, I totally got pregnant and then just basically got tired and then busy. But it's time to start giving you all some updates on my life again.

One major discovery that I had was that I have naturally wavy bordering on curly hair. I remember as a kid that I had mushroom hair. Please tell me I'm not the only one! It would be combed and straight and nice and poofy. Even if I did that, I remember times my parents would look at me and tell me to go and put it in a ponytail to get it under control. They meant well, they really did. But the shampooing and combing it basically took out any natural curl and left me with a nice poofball. By the time I was 10ish I learned the art of French braids and that was a Godsend! By 12 I was pretty regularly blowdrying it, and sometimes even curling it with a curling iron after that. Anyone else have this childhood? Just me? Oh if only we knew what to do with my hair! All of that work, and I had waves just waiting to be discovered.

Oh the joys of teenage hair!

By college I had this down. I never really let my hair airdry anymore, so I basically forgot that I had this poofy hair. I just washed and dried it, and curled it every 2 days and bam, done. I always had that one cowlick that wasn't cooperative, but we all have that right? When I could spend the time, I really did love my hair. It was shiny and held a curl so well!

Enter in a Facebook post at age 36 on a mom's group regarding caring for a curly-haired kid when you've got straight hair. One of the mom's on there mentioned that she'd recently discovered the Curly Girl Method for her daughter and it was making a world of difference. I was curious. What was this? It turns out there was even a book, The Curly Girl Handbook by Lorraine Massey. I read the reviews on Amazon and discovered many a story that sounded like my hair history. I was intrigued. Since having kids, the ability to do my "normal" routine was much more limited, and my hair poof was returning. I could tell that I had some wave to my hair, but clearly my normal products and just air drying were not giving me hair I could really take in public. Yes, I'll show you a picture.

This is a fresh haircut that a sweet stylist did to try to accentuate my natural wave. This was pretty much the best I could get and I loved it. I thought I was really on to something with this cut. Yeah, of course without her doing it, it just poofed immediately.

But, this did give me hope that the Curly Girl Method just might reveal something that I'd never discovered before. It did not disappoint. I devoured the book, bought the products I thought were right and jumped in. I could feel the difference immediately. I was hooked, and I haven't looked back. I won't be able to go into all of the details here, and it takes time and effort to learn this and embrace your natural hair. I got the book in January 2018 and started my journey in February. It's been a year now. I've made a lot of mistakes, but I don't regret it at all.

The book is quick and easy to read, and once you do that, hop on to Instagram and follow the #curlygirlmethod and a few key curlfriends. The top curl stylist that I have seen and would recommend you all follow is Evan Joseph. He keeps it simple, which I love. He's also a stylist and sees curly hair day in and day out, so he knows firsthand what effect certain products will have. There is a ton of noise out there on the topic with a lot of misinformation. I would trust his product recommendations over anyone else. Yes, it'll be expensive stuff, but if you get a good basic set of 2 or 3 products, that's all you'll need. I promise.

The key tips I've picked up are:

1. Drop the shampoo. Use a cleansing conditioner. Yep, I promise you that your scalp and hair will be clean. Shampoo just dries out your hair. There are very few that will really clean your hair, but I use AG Naturals Boost Conditioner to cleanse my scalp and detangle and condition my hair. Hit up Youtube and check out the application tips on how to Cowash. It's not your same old shampoo technique. Use those fingertips and give that scalp a nice 3 minute massaging scrub.

2. Step away from the combs and brushes. Use you're fingers to detangle. And stop brushing it, ever. Brushing and combing pull the hair which will break the delicate curl pattern. If you have a weak curl pattern like me, just the daily use of a brush will be enough to make you think you have straight hair.

3. Squish to Condish. This is exactly what it sounds like. You squish your conditioner up and into your hair. If you're a visual learner, check out this cute Youtube Video.

4. Use a palm full, 4-6 pumps, of a good gel. Squish and pulse that in. Let it harden as it dries. Really. Let it get all 90's crunchy. This is called a gel cast. It will protect that curl pattern. You won't have to stay in the 90's though. Once it's dry, you get to gently break that cast open and reveal soft gorgeous curls or waves.

Here are the key takeaways I've learned this year from this new method.

-It'll feel very weird at first. You've done you're hair one way your whole life. This will take time to feel normal.

-Your hair may look a lot worse before it gets better. This is a normal transition period. It will get better though if you give it time. I mean a lot better. My hair is still changing and getting better. When you get discouraged, hop on Instagram and check out progress photos from your curlfriends. It'll give you hope that you hair will get better too. I'll leave you with a few progress photos below from my year.

-I thought this would save me loads of time. It doesn't. I have gotten to the point where I only really wash my hair twice a week, and that's where I'm saving the time. But on an actual wash day, yeah, it still takes a long time.

-There are a ton of people on Youtube and Instagram that will show you products. Don't fall into the trap. Find a great product line that you love, stick with it and rock it. If you check out Evan Joseph's recommendations and get something from that, you'll never have to shampoo or clarify your hair again because nothing will build up on your hair. If you stray, you'll get build up and you'll have to shampoo.

-Use the Youtubers and Instragammers to learn how to apply your rockin' products. They have really great application videos and techniques. They will teach you everything from how to wash and condition to how to protect your curls at night and refresh it in the morning.

I finally feel like the real me. This sounds so stupid and vapid and shallow. I don't mean it to be that way. It's just that I never really understood my hair, nor did anyone else that worked on it. It's very strange to make it to 36 and realize what I've had really growing out of the top of my head all of these years, and it's not what we all thought it was. I have a sister with very very curly hair. No one could ever have shampooed and combed that into straight hair. I was always a little envious of her gorgeous spirals. I'm just so excited that I have some waves that I am ok taking out of the house now. :)

Now for a few photos to show you the journey my hair has been on this year. I will not inundate you with all of the photos, but this will give you a small sampling of the progress.