As the Curls Tumble

Well... now for the reasoning behind the Curly Girl method.  Is it really that different?  Oh yes, as you will soon see. :)

Since many people don't understand frizz, let me explain it like this.  Your hair is wet.  It is curly and beautiful!  Great start, right?  Then it dries.  The curls fall flat, and it morphs into a bunch of frizz!  *Pause for dramatic effect*  What happened?  Frizz is just a curl waiting to happen.
Your hair is a porous surface.  It absorbs everything that you put on it.  When it is not hydrated enough the hair reaches out searching for moisture creating... frizz!  This also explains why your hair is more frizzy when is is humid.  When your hair is well hydrated, it doesn't need more moisture, so it stays where you put it (most of the time). :)  It's that simple.

Here are some of the rules in following the Curly Girl method.  I'll try to explain them so they will make sense.

1. You should only use sulfate-free shampoos/cleansers.  Sulfates are the same detergents that are found in body wash, dish soap and laundry detergent.  It is the last thing that you want to put in your hair.  Sulfates strip your hair of its natural oils and hydration causing frizz.  People are addicted to lather.  The shampoo that I use is a Deva product.  They call it No-poo.  It is an all natural product that does not lather, but contains certain organic extracts that cleanse the hair.  This, I believe, is the most important step.

2. You should hyper condition your hair.  Frizz is just a curl waiting to happen.  It is hair desperately in need of moisture.  "Once curly hair fibers are sufficiently hydrated with conditioner, they hold onto the moisture they need, and the frizz disappears," says Massey the author of Curly Girl.  The conditioner fills the porous surface of curly hair, and smooths the surface so that light can reflect off of it.  Leave some or all of the conditioner in your hair rather than rinsing.  (Typically the tighter the curl, the more conditioner you'll need.) 
Will this make your hair greasy?  I have had this question asked me a lot.  When you shampoo your hair it overly strips the oil off your scalp.  This causes it to make more oil, causing it to be greasy.  On a person with curly hair, the amount of oil made naturally by your scalp will be absorbed into your hair.  I never rinse out any conditioner, and my hair is never greasy. 
I use a Deva silicone-free conditioner.  This is another all-natural organic product, and it smells amazing. :) It doesn't contain silicone because although silicone does make your hair shiny; it also blocks the pours in your hair which keeps your hair from absorbing conditioner.  Think about it; silicone is the same thing that they use in rubber and tires.  Why would you want to put that in your hair? 

3. You should never brush or comb your hair.  Brushing and combing your hair breaks apart your delicate curls, causing frizz.   If you look at a healthy curly girl's hair you will see that her hair is grouped into something we call curl families.  In other words each curl is actually a group of hairs that are all curling the same direction.  When you comb your hair, you break apart these curl families which causes frizz.  "Instead of combing your hair, drench wet hair with conditioner in the shower and gently comb it with your fingers," says Massey.  You tend to be much gentler on your hair when you are using your fingers anyway.

I hope that wasn't an overload of information!  Those are the three most important rules for a curly girl.  I follow all of these, all the time, with no exceptions.  I will post up some more later when I have time.  :)