Curly Hair Challenge

My sister Kathy and I have been cursed...I mean blessed...with curly hair most of our lives.  Trying to figure out what to do with it has been a lifelong experiment, and so I jumped right on board a few weeks ago when she emailed a quick question to ask, "Are we going to try this?"

What is "this?"  

The 6-Week Curly Hair Challenge

Before pictures (1st, Kathy/2nd, Me)

The idea behind The Curly Hair Challenge focuses on the sulfates in most commercial shampoos.  For curly hair, these ingredients completely strip the natural oils and leave behind dry frizzy lifeless poofballs atop your head.  Eliminate the shampoo and your
hair will quickly begin re-hydrating.  Add some wiser drying and styling methods as well and the result is supposed to be perfectly coiffed locks.  

This is the 6-week plan we're following:

• Get a haircut
• Quit using shampoo all together
• Use a light conditioner to massage the scalp and break up residue/buildup
• Rinse and detangle with your fingers
• Apply deep conditioner following instructions on bottle
• Continue detangling either with fingers or a wide-tooth comb
• Let sit a few minutes then rinse lightly with cool water.  (At this stage my deep conditioner calls for another light conditioning and rinsing)
• Squeeze hair dry while still in shower
• Use a t-shirt or microfiber cloth to continue squeezing water out. Avoid terry cloth towels.
• Apply gel in a scrunching motion (Optional: add a leave-in conditioner before the gel)
• Let hair air dry
• Occasionally turn hair upside down, shake, and scrunch to break up crunchy gel spots and create volume

These are the products we're using:

~Michelle: Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Fortifying Conditioner, Ouidad Deep Treatment, Infusium 23 Leave-In Treatment, Garnier Fructis Curl Shaping Gel

~Kathy: L'Oreal Repairative Smoothing Conditioner, L'Oreal Smoothing Deep Conditioner, L'Oreal Humidity Defying Leave-In Crème, LA Looks MegaHold Gel

And 2 weeks in, here are a few of our observations:

• First, we are in complete agreement that hair gel is disgusting and we hate it.  Kathy is using only a nickel-sized amount for her whole head.  I'm experimenting with a spray gel and like it a little bit better.
• My first wash was the worst, but I'm thinking maybe I forgot to do the final rinse.  My hair felt like sludge!
• We have heard that Week 2 is the worst.  Kathy agrees and is optimistic for better results next week.  For me, my hair is actually feeling more like straw.  I've changed the products I'm using to see if I get better results.
• Neither of us usually washes our hair more than 2-3 times a week.  With this challenge we're feeling like we need to wash it everyday.  Kathy's is more greasy and where mine is usually manageable for a few days, I can't get it to do anything when I wake up in the morning. Also, my face is sometimes as greasy as it was as a teenager, which I'm sure is a result of more greasy hair.

Check back next Monday for our next Curly Hair Challenge update!

Have curly hair and want to join the challenge?  

Email your "before" photo to michelle.wanderingstill@gmail.com and let me know how it's going!

We 're following the steps found at this blog.

Lots of  great additional information available here.