7 Things I Learned Following the Curly Girl Method for 3 Years

It’s been about three years since I started following the Curly Girl Method.

It’s also become a bit of a tradition to mark the occasion with a mini reflection on what I’ve learned about the Curly Girl Method and my hair at this point in my journey.

You can check out my one year reflection here and my two year reflection here.

With that in mind, here are seven more things I’ve learned after following the Curly Girl Method for three years.

Side note: This page does contain affiliate links, which means if you purchase something using the product links on this page, I may get a small commission. This comes at no extra cost to you and helps keep this site running. Thank you!

The deeper you get into it, the easier it gets

It really does get easier and easier the longer I follow the Curly Girl Method.

I’ve indirectly touched on this in last year’s reflection, but I found it to be even more true as this year went on.

My hair is easier than ever to refresh. (You can check out my refresh routine here).

I use so little product, that my hair routine is cheaper than it’s ever been. (Seriously, one large bottle of Biotera gel I bought was in the middle of 2019.)

And overall, I spend even less time on my hair than I did a year ago.

The more I understand my hair, the more confident I get about trying new things

Understanding my hair and how it works has given me the confidence to try new things with my hair that I wasn’t sure I’d ever have the guts to do.

Specifically, cutting and dyeing my own hair.

I kind of thought I might try my hand and cutting my own hair someday. But I wasn’t totally sold on the idea.

Then when the pandemic took going to get a hair cut off the table, I figured I’ve gotten my hair in pretty good shape on my own. I could take a shot cutting it too.

And honestly, it came out really well!

The same holds true with the dye.

I’ll be doing blog posts on how to tackle each of these in the future. (I wanted to do them a few times on my own to make sure I had enough experience and tips to share with you guys.)

However, the Curly Girl Handbook covers both of these topics and I used that as my own jumping off point. So if you don’t want to wait for my post, check out the book!

There will still be some curly girl problems

Yes, even three years in I’ve still got some issues that pop up. The latest has been that my hair was looking a little limp and just a little extra frizzy.

It turned out, I didn’t need as much conditioner as I’ve previously been using. It was weighing my hair down.

If you’ve checked out my Wash Day post, you know I add a little deep conditioner to my hair each wash day. It turns out, my hair doesn’t need this step anymore.

These small problems have popped up enough for me that I also created a Curly Hair Problems Guide this past year.

If you find you’re deeper into the Curly Girl Method and still struggling with some problems and solutions, you might want to check it out!

My hair needs less and less moisture

Semi-related to my last point, I’ve also found my hair needs less moisture across the board.

These days, I’m using less of my in-shower conditioners, less of my leave-in conditioner, and less of my styling cream. I’m also using my t-shirt to take a little more moisture out of my hair after my shower than I have in the past.

I have more patience with my hair when I know it’ll last longer

When I first started the Curly Girl Method, I used to be a little impatient with how long it would take my hair to dry.

At the time, I needed to wet my hair every day to get any kind of quality outcome. I couldn’t argue with the results, so I kept at it, but I’d sometimes get impatient about how long it would take my hair to dry.

Now that I only wash it once or twice a week, I find I’m much more patient with my drying time.

Granted, because my hair needs less moisture, my drying time has cut down some. But it still takes hours, which I’m much more tolerant of.

It may be time to branch out my products

I’ve been using the same general products for the past couple years. Mainly, Cantu Curl Activator Cream, Biotera Gel, and either Kinky Curly’s Not Today or, more recently, Curls Blueberry Bliss.

I’m not looking to abandon these products–they’ve served me well and they still give me good results.

But since my hair is noticeably changing again, I’m starting to wonder how it’ll respond to some different products.

If you follow this blog, you may have noticed there have been more product reviews lately. This is part of the reason.

So with that said, if you’d like to make a suggestion for a product you’d like to see reviewed, you can let me know in the comments!

I can’t make any promises if/when I’ll get to a specific product. It’ll depend on when I can get my hands on it, test it, and that kind of stuff.

But I do want to write about products you want to read about, so I’m totally open to suggestions. (And thanks to those of you who have given me some already!)

I kind of wish I started sooner

I was pretty intimidated by the Curly Girl Method when I first came across it. The whole idea of the transition was enough to scare me off.

Now that I’m this far in and I know how awesome and easy my hair can be, I kind of wish I started this whole curly girl thing sooner.

Because the truth is, if I hated it, there was nothing that said I had to stick with it. But if I liked it (which I obviously did), I could have saved myself some hair struggles.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with where my hair’s at and how I got here. But I can’t help but wish there’d been a little less hesitation on my part in the beginning.

So if you’re at all on the fence about starting the Curly Girl Method, I say, give it a shot. You can bail if you hate it, but if you like it, you’ll get to the good parts a lot sooner.

And if you’re looking for a no stress way to follow the Curly Girl Method, you can check out my No-Stress Guide!

Looking for more guidance on your curly hair journey?

For beginners

If you’re new to curly hair care and looking for some help, you should check out the No-Stress Guide to Curly Hair Care!

After spending two years learning and caring for my curly hair, I wanted to create my own, in-depth guide to help fellow curlies create incredible curls in the easiest way possible. 

It took me a while, but I eventually found an approach that helped me create a curly hair routine that fits into my life in the simplest way possible. And now I want to help you do the same!

For more intermediate/advanced guidance

If you’ve been on your curly hair journey for a while but still have some struggles, check out Curly Hair Problems!

After spending hours scouring the internet looking for solutions to my own curly hair problems, I found myself wishing for an easier, more comprehensive guide to the most common problems.

So that’s what I created!

Curly Hair Problems offers you 78 total solutions to the five most common curly hair care problems, including frizz, curl clumps, limp curls, product issues, and scalp issues.

Sound off: What have you learned by following the curly girl method (for any length of time)? Tell us about it in the comments! Be sure to tell us a little about your hair type too!