Curly Hair Care Routine - Part 1: Cleanse and Condition

Hi all,

As you aren't likely to know unless you've met me in person, I have very curly mixed raced hair. It's taken me a while to learn how to deal with it myself but I'm finally starting to get to grips with it and have recently found some products which work really well for my hair.

Me (and my hair) on the far right in January in NYC.

A problem that a lot of curly girls suffer from is dryness and frizziness and I'm no exception. Over time I have found that the products with sulphates in them (the chemicals that cause lathering in shampoo and body wash), are the source for a lot of the dryness. The Curlygirl method (which can be found here) is what first put me onto this fact and my hair is definitely healthier for not using them.

So now I avoid shampoo, but because I have to use a lot of products to keep my hair looking fresh, I was still struggling with the build up left on my scalp! I managed to find a 100% Aloe Vera Shampoo without any of the nasty stuff, which I use every other hair wash and a cleansing conditioner which I use every hair wash. So these are the two products I start with. 

Fantasia 100% Aloe Shampoo £6 here and Nothing But Cleansing Conditioner £5.99

So using these two products, I'll wash my hair and finger comb to detangle, occasionally I'll use my Tangle Teezer, but only while it's wet otherwise it can tear my hair out.

Next comes the most important part... Conditioner! Nourishing curly hair is so important to combat the dry frizzies! For this I use a very standard product that you can find in most supermarkets, Alberto Balsam honey conditioner which is about £1 I think. Sometimes I will mix this with melted coconut oil

which is a god send for rehydrating curly hair! The one I use is the Parachute pure coconut oil which is really easy to melt - I just stick it under the shower while I'm cleansing my hair.

I also found a great product recently in Primark. An argan oil hair mask for only £4! It's great and I've used it the last 3 times I've done this routine. The instructions say to leave it on for ten minutes but I've wanted a really intensive treatment and so have tried it a couple of different way, both leaving my hair in a shower cap and tying it up in a bun for a few hours and sitting in the beautiful sun we've been having.

As you can see, it's quite a thick formula but I have applied it generously to make sure my hair is fully coated. You apply to clean wet hair and I would definitely recommend this product for how good it is, let alone what good value.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post, where I share my styling routine.