Does The Curly Girl Method Work on Wavy Hair? | One Month Update

I’ve been trying the curly girl method for a full month now, so it’s time to recap on how it went for me. Did my products perform? How did my hair adapt? Does the curly girl method work on wavy hair?! This post is going to be split into two halves, I’ve been doing adding to this post throughout the month as a weekly diary/ update, so we’ll go through how my hair was doing each step of the way. Then the second part will be a full evaluation of my experience and the products.  

For more information about what the curly girl method is, why I’m doing it, and the products I bought to try, check out my curly girl method introduction post from last month.  

READERS: This month has been a ride and the diary update is very long. If you’re interested in trying the CG method yourself, I recommend reading the full post to fully understand the potential issues and positives about it. However, if you have straight hair/ aren’t interested in this method at all for yourself and are just interested in my experience, feel free to skip to the overall evaluation towards the end. The post in its entirety probably isn’t for you. 

Pre-CG  

I started thinking about trying the curly girl method, did my research, bought my products, had to wait for them to arrive, then wait for hair wash day before I could use them. All in that give me somewhere between 10 and 14 days before I tried my products for the first time. I decided I would use that time as a mini-transition before the complete switch.  

In that two week period I: 

• Waited 6 days to wash my hair 
• Started conditioning my roots and leaving it in longer 
• Used less shampoo than normal 
• Didn’t use any of my hair products with any of the banned ingredients in (other than my silicone containing conditioner) 

I thought this would give my hair a little bit longer to adjust to some of the changes I was making and would give me a slight indicator as to how hard it was going to be to manage it while it got used to these new steps.  

Something I wasn’t exactly expecting though? I think my hair got a little bit curlier… 

I have thigh length hair, and the ends get limp. My hair is quite heavy so the body/ volume and curls tend to drop more at the dry ends than they do closer to the root. I’ve always had better curl definition on the areas around my face where my hair is a little bit shorter. But during this period, I’ve noticed a few more curls in the length and tighter curls around my face. These changes are only slight, but I wasn’t expecting to see any difference at all at this stage so I’m quite excited to see what happens when I start my new routine.  

Transition week 

It’s Tuesday and I just washed my hair, I ordered all of my products towards the end of last week so they should be here by my next wash.  

Thursday – my products have arrived and I can’t wash my hair until Tuesday. This is torture.  

Friday – it’s the second hottest day of the year so far. Waiting a week to wash my hair is suddenly seeming a lot less appealing.  

Sunday – I just got my period, which usually makes my hair greasier. Friday was really hot, and I’m suddenly realising that this week is not going to be a great indicator as to how well my hair is going to adjust. On the plus side, it’s day 5 and my hair isn’t looking too bad.  

Monday – Today is being spent curled up in a ball doing tasks like photo editing that I don’t need mental capacity for. My hair is slapped back in a pony. If I didn’t feel like death today, I’d probably have caved and washed it. But maybe it wouldn’t be this greasy if I didn’t feel like death… 

The Curly Girl Method Diary

Week 1 – Heat, hormones and humidity  

Products used: cowash and detangler through the ends 

I’ll only be waiting 5 days to wash my hair this week. I usually wash my hair on a Sunday after my longest run of the week and then either on Wednesday or Thursday after a midweek run. I pick my shortest/ easiest run of the week to do the day before a hair wash day and just leave it usually. The week before last week I swapped my long run with a shorter one and did the long one on Tuesday, which is why Tuesday became wash day. This week I’m putting my schedule back on track and doing my long one on Sunday, so it will be a 5 day wash week. Which probably isn’t a bad idea for week 1 anyway.  

Tuesday

I think I saw more curls coming in as my damp hair dried?? On the plus side, my hair looked clean when it dried. When I was doing my research, I saw some people say theirs still felt/ looked greasy after just cowashing, so I think this is a positive start.  

Thursday 

This is tough. I’m on my period (as you know), it’s warmer than average here in the UK and we’ve had 4 consecutive days where humidity hasn’t dropped below 90%. My friends, my hair is greasy. And I’m running tonight, under normal circumstances, this would be a hair wash day. And it looks like it needs it. Already.  

Saturday

I have never in my life looked quite so repulsive. Wash night can’t come quick enough. I’m very happy the slicked back pony is in right now. No one needs to know it’s grease holding it down. I’ve noticed one BIG change this week. Usually, as I get towards wash day, my curls slowly drop out, especially towards the back of my head. This week the back seems to be getting curlier as it gets greasier and the curls around my face are still there even though they’re a little less defined than they were on wash day. 

 

Week 2 – Pure hope and optimism 

No longer on my period, the UK has cooled and we’ve seen some of that wet stuff fall from the sky, so in terms of conditions, everything is set for me to have a less greasy week. I made the decision some point during the last week that I was going to exclusively use cowash for a month before I entertained the idea of shampoo, just to try and give my hair a reasonable amount of time to adjust. One thing I noticed last week is that my ends got greasier faster than the roots, which never happens. I can only assume that’s from the detangler, so I’m planning on skipping that for just cowash this week and seeing if that makes a difference.  

Sunday 2am

My head is so itchy from the build up that I’m contemplating rescheduling my entire day to be able to wash sooner. I’ve sprayed my head with water to try and ease it. Don’t know if that’s going to work, but it’s worth trying.  

Products used: cowash alone. 

Monday

My curl pattern is definitely improving. I’m getting more body close to the top. More curls are appearing in my less wavy areas. This is definitely working. I’m getting everything I hoped I would from this experience, but I’m also getting everything I hoped I wouldn’t too.  

Okay, I washed my hair about 20 hours ago and some of it is still damp. And some of it is already starting to feel slightly  dirty. Please note I said dirty, not greasy. My hair feels a little bit like I’ve used a wax or gel or… something and I’ve used a bit too much and there’s some residue. Not greasy, but not fresh and clean either. I’m going to hold out as long as I can, but I think I might have to wash my hair midweek this week. And I’ve had a lot of mixed thoughts about this.  

• Naturally Curly said wavy hair can use shampoo as long as you condition before and after. I’m not breaking the curly girl rules if I shampoo. And I bought a shampoo at the beginning of this process, so deep down I must have thought there was a potential need for it.  
• But I know my hair can last a week with just shampoo, I did that to transition.  
• I also know that my hair wasn’t greasy after I cowashed the first time, so that isn’t a huge problem either.  
• I want to give my hair time to transition and don’t want to jump the gun when it comes to using shampoo.  

 

I’ve spent longer than I care to admit thinking about the plan if I gave to wash it. I’m loving the results I’m getting in terms of curls from the cowash. I don’t want to give that up. My initial thought was to alternate weeks, shampoo one, cowash the next. Then I thought that maybe the answer is to use the cowash, then shampoo just the roots, then condition with my curl conditioner? I know that sounds like a longer routine, but if this works and it means I can manage the full week, maybe it’s worth the extra few minutes in the shower? It’s still quicker than washing hair twice a week would be. 

Tuesday 

Forget everything I said yesterday, it looks a lot better now it’s had some fresh air blown into it and it’s been slept on again. My curl pattern still looks great, there’s a little bit of residue there still, but it’s feeling fresher than yesterday. 

Thursday  

A little greasy today but not too bad, not yet itchy. Considering this a win at this point. Running tonight, feel like it’s going to go downhill from there.  

Friday – Fully greasy today. Still not itchy despite the run last night. Not feeling any major urge to wash my hair yet so despite my wobble earlier in the week, I’ll make it until Sunday. This week my curls have dropped today, I think that’s probably because it’s greasy. But I think we’re doing well to make it to day, still have good curls and only now feel greasy.   

Sunday – WASH DAY! Greasy, but not as greasy as it was last week. And I’ve managed the full 7 days whereas last week was only 5, so that’s a huge improvement. And my head still isn’t itchy. PROGRESS. I was examining my hair this morning, as you do…and I noticed that some of the curls that had dropped the other day seem to have come back as my hair gets greasier? Pleasant, I know, but as this journey is all about curls, I thought I should mention it.  

Week 3 – I’m confused 

Products used: I dampened my hair prewash to use my detangling spray to brush before I washed. I thought it might make it easier to work the cowash in. 

Sunday

I washed my hair fairly late after my run, so I wasn’t planning on starting this week’s update until tomorrow morning. BUT I have a problem. My hair is still 50% damp/ 50% wet, but I just looked at it on my way to bed and it’s… straight. I mean, obviously not 100% straight. That would be weird. But there are no curls at all. It’s looking very 2a. I’ve never seen my hair this straight without heat or when it’s soaking wet. Hoping it sorts itself out as it fully dries and I look like myself by morning? 

Monday 

It’s still damp so I’m not going to complain too much just yet, but it’s still kinda 2a/ 2b rather than my usual 2b/ 2c. A couple of curls and more waves have appeared overnight but it’s still straighter than my natural hair usually is, even before trying this method. I’m so confused. I washed my hair with the cowash last night doing everything correctly. I’ve seen such good progress every week so far and this week it’s looking straighter than my usual hair??? WHAT is happening right now? I’m going to wait until it’s fully dry then evaluate properly, but I think I might wash my hair with actual shampoo.  

It’s dry, although it still feels wet because there’s so much residue in it. My scalp is itchy. And it looks greasy. It’s been less than 24 hours.  

Monday night 

I know this sounds ridiculous, but it’s been at the back of my mind all day wondering what possibly went wrong this week when my curls looked so nice last Monday. Then I realised as I was serving up dinner, my scalp is itchy. It didn’t itch at all last week. The week before I wanted to claw my scalp off. The thing in common? The detangler spray. When I used that in week one, the lengths of my hair got greasy before my roots and my scalp was unbelievably itchy. Week two, my hair looked great, there was a little bit of residue, but I was comfortable for a full 7 days. I didn’t think the detangler would matter because I was about to wash it out, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. Maybe there was some left on my brush? 

I’m still going to wash my hair tomorrow because there’s no way I can leave it in its current state, but I think I’m going to use cowash alone again and see what happens. Even if there’s some residue, there’s only 5 days until Sunday/ wash day – I’ll be fine.  

Week 3.5 – New starts and refresh 

New wash equates to a new subcategory, right? 

Products used: cowash alone. 

Wednesday

Right, I washed my hair with cowash alone yesterday. I have more curls today than I did Sunday/ Monday. But I also still have that greasy residue. The detangler was definitely the cause of the lack of curls so that’s been pushed to one side for now, but this newfound greasiness is an issue.  

My hair looked great post wash last week. This week, I could be a different person. If this was simply due to build up, I would have thought week 2 would have looked worse than week 1, but week 2 was SO much better than week 1? This Sunday marks the start of week 4, so I’m going to plod on with my cowash and hope for the best before re-evaluation day. There’s not long left… 

Sunday AM 

Long time no speak, my hair has been hella greasy since we last spoke and my curls this week have been equally disappointing. I saw a friend on Friday night, my hair was slapped back in a pony and it was still noticeably greasy enough for her to ask if it was wet or greasy. Thankfully she read the first post so didn’t require an explanation as to why I didn’t even bother to wash my hair to see her for the first time in 6 months… 

Week 4: More realisations  

Products used: cowash alone 

Sunday night 

As you guys know, the huge amount of grease AND lack of curls hit me like a tonne of bricks last week after the great progress I saw in week two. And I’ve spent most of the week questioning why, and I’ve had some thoughts: 

Week one I was on my period and got gross and greasy quickly, week three I was ovulating. Could this be hormonal? 

Wash day week two, I’d just finished a 10 mile run and crawled upstairs into the shower like a broken shell of a woman. I wasn’t thinking and wanted my shower to be over as soon as possible and I rinsed my hair with hot water. My cowash bottle said to rinse with cool water, and that’s what I’ve done every other week. But week two blessed me with beautiful hair on Monday morning. I’m rinsing with warm tonight.  

LATE Sunday night 

As always, it’s still a bit wet so the proper update is coming tomorrow morning, but my before bed hair check is already looking like Monday morning’s curl status is going to be more promising than last week. And it feels a bit cleaner too. But it’s still too soon to give a proper verdict on that.  

Monday 

I have curls, yay! It also looks greasy already. Yay. 

Tuesday 

Less than 48 hours and we’re already back to the slapped back pony.  

Wednesday night

I just ran my fingers through my hair and it’s sticking together. As in clumps. And remember in the early days when I sprayed my hair with water to try and make it less itchy? We’re there again.  

Thursday

I’m washing my hair today. With shampoo. After going nearly a full month without shampoo and managing the full week without washing my hair more than once, I’m very comfortable saying at this point that the problem is the product/ my wash routine, not my hair needing to adjust. I keep looking back to the success of week 2, and I think for the second part of this journey, I’m going to try the curly girl shampoo method and cowashing alternate weeks and see how that goes.  

Week 4.5 – feeling fresh  

Products used: Noughty Care Taker shampoo, generous amounts of Noughty Wave Hello conditioner. And the Cantu detangler. Yes, the bloody detangler.  

Thursday lunchtime 

I’ve just done my workout and washed my hair. Such a basic everyday nonevent has never felt so monumental. So, I washed with shampoo as planned, and a very generous amount of conditioner, conditioning all the way to the root as Naturally Curly instructed. But the knots in my hair are insane this week. I tried, I really tried. But I had to get the dreaded detangler back out. Maybe this won’t have such a negative result this week because I’ve used actual shampoo.  

My hair isn’t even dry yet and I’m already seeing some week two curls creeping back in as well.  

Week 5 – Trying Again 

Products used: cowash alone 

Monday 

So I washed my hair after my run last night as I have every other week. And it’s greasy, so greasy that I thought it was still wet. This is getting worse as time goes on, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. I speak about week 2 a lot, but that week sticks in my mind every time I look at my curls/ brush my hair etc. The longer I continue with this, the more confused I am by this whole process.  

In terms of curls (that’s why you’re here after all), annoyingly, my curl pattern does look really good. It just looks wet and good.  

Week 5.5 – I give up? 

Products used: Noughty Shampoo & Conditioner (before & after) 

Tuesday 

I’m washing my hair with shampoo. Curly girl style still, but I’m sick of it not feeling clean.  

Thursday 

Two days post wash, bizarrely, my curls look pretty good. My hair looks and feels healthy, fresh and clean. I have better volume. And I still followed the curly girl method.  

Saturday 

One last minute check in, some of my curls have dropped this week but not all, and I’m still not greasy. A teeny tiny bit on the root but nothing worth worrying about. I’ll be washing my hair tomorrow because it’s long run day but I definitely think it could last longer. 

Overall  

I know this post has been a long one, but I think that this was necessary. There have been many days alone this journey where I’ve looked and felt awful, it’s taken a lot of blind faith and optimism to see this through. And I feel like I owe it to anyone who’s reading this, thinking about trying it to give a true reflection of my feelings throughout this process.  

So, does the curly girl method work on wavy hair? That’s complicated. Has my hair been curlier? Undoubtedly. Have the products been too heavy for my hair? Also, undoubtedly. I don’t think sticking with the cowash would have helped me, but I also haven’t given up on it completely. Week two is still on my mind, and I’m still going to try and find a way to work it into my routine. Originally, this was going to be a four week update, and I’m really glad I carried on into week five because that final week gave me a new perspective.  

I’m going to continue following the curly girl method into a second month, mainly using the shampoo and double condition method I outlined earlier. Hopefully, with some added cowash here and there. Now I know my hair can handle the shampoo method, I’m going to shift back to weekly washing. 

As we reached a turning point in that final week, I’ll probably do another update next month. Don’t worry, that one will be shorter than this one, I’ll do weekly updates rather than huge paragraphs every time I look in the mirror. 

Look good, feel good? 

One final disclaimer, this isn’t for everyone. I’ve looked terrible for a large chunk of the last month. One thing that I haven’t mentioned so far is that my hair has looked incredibly thin for a lot of that last month. Not because it usually is thin, nor because it’s been thinning. Because it’s been so greasy that it’s just looked straggly. I have a lot of hair. Volume is my friend, especially on second day, one day of bed head hair. There have been days where it’s been tough to look at myself in the mirror and not look like myself at all. I knew this was likely just a transitional phase and was able to turn a blind eye to the fact I hate wearing my hair up more than anything yet I was wearing a pony 3 days a week. I think if you’re the kind of person that holds any of your value in your appearance, you need to be prepared that this could be mentally challenging for a little while.  

Have you ever tried the curly girl method? Has anything about my curly girl experience shocked you?  

Until next time, 

Sophie 

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