I find curly girl method hair routine posts to be some of the most helpful curly girl posts out there, which is a big reason why I want to share my own curly hair routine.
I created this routine by reading and learning about other curly girls’ hair routines and trying, combining and modifying their techniques until I had a hair routine that gave me curls I love!
So today, I’m going to walk you through my curly girl method hair routine!
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!
Co-wash/Wash
The first step in my curly hair routine is to wash my hair.
I wash or co-wash my hair every day.
Ideally, you shouldn’t need to co-wash every day, but I’ve yet to find a refresh routine that works for my hair (and I’ve tried several). I just get the best result when I start my day with some kind of wash.
(UPDATE! I’ve found a refresh routine that works for me! You can check it out here!)
First, I get my hair good and wet. Then take about a quarter size amount of conditioner/sulfate free shampoo.
I spread it evenly over my fingers, then massage it into my scalp.
Once the product is worked in, I flip my hair upside down and massage some more.
I’ve had issues with product and conditioner build up on my scalp, so I use this inexpensive scalp/shampoo brush to get my scalp good and clean.
I also rinse upside down with the brush to make sure I get all the conditioner/shampoo off my scalp (but if your scalp comes clean enough with just your fingers, you can skip this).
Currently, I’m using Suave Essentials Tropical Coconut conditioner as a co-wash and Cantu Sulfate-free shampoo as my shampoo.
Condition
Next, it’s time to apply
In this case, I follow the method recommended in The Curly Girl Handbook. First, I take about a palmful of conditioner.
Then I gently spread it over my hair like I’m icing a cake, doing my best to avoid the scalp.
Once my hair is coated, I start to work the conditioner through my hair and detangle as I go. I pay special attention to the nape of my neck, which tends to have extra tangles.
I usually need more conditioner about halfway through–the goal is to get your hair saturated so your fingers slide through with very little resistance. I’ve often seen it described that your hair should feel like seaweed.
I found this to be a good guide in the beginning when my hair was really dry, but as it got healthier, that much conditioner was way too much for me.
Now I shoot for hair that’s covered in conditioner and easily detangles, but isn’t necessarily dripping with conditioner. Play around with it and see what works best for your hair.
Once my hair is completely detangled, I flip my head upside, cup my curls in my palms, and squish my hair (full of conditioner) up towards my scalp. (AKA squish to
This encourages the hair’s natural curl pattern.
Then I leave the conditioner in my hair for the rest of my shower.
Currently, I’m finding Tresseme’s Botanique conditioner is giving me great results.
Rinse out completely
At the end of my shower, I rinse my conditioner out completely.
I used to leave some conditioner in my hair, but
If I don’t rinse out, I end up with conditioner build up on my scalp that flakes off throughout the day. It’s gross and uncomfortable!
But if you’re giving this routine a try and you find that your scalp-avoiding skills are stronger than mine, you can skip this step and just leave some conditioner in your hair (though it will likely take some trial and error to figure out how much to leave in).
I use cold water to rinse out (with my body out of the spray) to seal the hair cuticle and lock in moisture.
Leave-in
The next step in my curly hair routine is to style!
I apply all my styling products as soon as I get out of the shower.
Since I rinsed all the conditioner out of my hair, my first styling product is a leave-in conditioner. ( But if you left some conditioner in your hair, you can jump to the cream).
I flip my hair upside down, and I leave my head like this until all of my products are applied.
First, before I add anything, I gently run my hands over my hair in a downward motion to brush off excess water.
Next, I squirt about a little more than a quarter size amount of conditioner in my hands.
I coat my hands in conditioner then spread the conditioner over my hair using the praying
Then I cup my curls and scrunch up toward my scalp to encourage the curl pattern.
I’ve found regular conditioners make the best leave-ins in small amounts
Cream
I’ve always needed a hair cream to help my hair stay moisturized throughout the day. My absolute favorite has been Not Your Mother’s Curl Talk Defining Cream. (Check out my review of this cream here!)
With my head still tipped forward, I section my hair into two sections, then squeeze out a fingertip amount of curl cream (you really don’t need much).
I spread the product evenly over my hands, then use the praying
If your hair needs extra help curling or if you like a tighter curl, you can scrunch here. I like my hair to curl a little looser, so I don’t scrunch until after I put gel in.
Gel
My current favorite gel is Biotera’s Styling Defining Gel, (but I used harder hold gels earlier in my Curly Girl process and they worked fine!)
My hair is still tipped forward
I squirt a palmful of gel into one hand. (I’m writing this with the Biotera gel in mind. You may need more or less if you’re using a different gel).
I spread the gel evenly between both hands, then use the praying
Then I (again) cup my curls in my hands and scrunch to the scalp to encourage the curl.
Drying
Next, I tip
I tend to have halo/surface frizz, so I take another half a palmful of gel, spread it between my hands, and gently coat the surface of my hair.
For root volume, I gently gather the top of my hair together and loosely clip it at the crown of my head with a large claw clip. This helps the roots dry lifted and using a large clip keeps the curls from getting crushed.
I remove clip after about an hour and a half.
I let my hair air dry completely. It typically takes 2-3 hours. While it dries, I get ready for the day, and start working.
Side note: You may have noticed I don’t use a t-shirt or anything to help my hair dry. That’s because I found that with the NYM curl cream, I don’t need to! I don’t know what it is about that cream but once I apply it, it’s like it pulls the moisture in.
My hair’s still wet, but not dripping and it’s somehow lighter.
The only thing I do to get rid of extra water is to brush it off with my hands before I add my leave-in conditioner.
Scrunch Out the Crunch
When my hair is completely dry, I have a gel cast coating my curls. So the last step in my curly hair routine is to get rid of that crunch!
To get rid of this I tip my head forward again and gently scrunch upward toward my scalp to break up the cast. I also gently ruffle my hair at the roots for a little extra volume.
UPDATE! As of 11/7/19, I have an updated wash day routine! You can check it out here!
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: If you try this curly girl method hair routine, how did it work for you? (Be sure to tell us about your hair type). You can also share your routine! Leave it all in the comments!
Hi Meghan, my name is Megan too! I recently discovered the curly girl method, and have already noticed a huge difference in my hair over the least week. I tried your frosting/ praying hands method of applying product instead of raking and scrunching. My curls held in thicker sections of curls, and I had less frizz! I’m still trying different product, and have yet to switch from mousse to gel… Gel scares me, I think it will weigh down my curls. Any suggestions for a lightweight gel that will sill hold my curls? Thanks!
Hey Megan! I’m so glad the curly girl method and the praying hands technique worked for you! Gel scares a lot of people–I was scared of it too. But honestly, if you use it right and let it dry with a cast, then scrunch it out, it’s a game changer! I say this from my own experience and from a friend of mine who recently started the curly girl method. She avoided gel in the beginning too, but when she finally gave it a try, she was amazed at what it did for her hair. My two favorite hard hold gels (which both seemed pretty lightweight to me) are Aussie Instant Freeze and Tresseme Mega Sculpting Gel. My all time favorite gel is the Biotera Defining Gel, but personally, I didn’t like this as much until I was about 9/10 months into the curly girl method and needed less product. And if you want more gel options, here are 25 to try out: https://createyourownreality.co/25-curly-girl-approved-hair-gels/
I hope this helps! Good luck with your curly hair journey! 🙂
Thank you!😊
Hi! Do you have an Instagram and YouTube account I can follow? I am not on Pinterest much.
I don’t. But if you’d like to subscribe to the blog, you can enter your email address on the sidebar and you’ll be notified when there’s a new post! 🙂
Hey Meghan. I’m so excited to try this out! My main question is that extra conditioner tends to leave my hair greasy so I’ve been using argan oil along with my curl cream instead of leave in conditioner. Do you think this would still work?
Hey Gwen! I’ve found when it comes to products it really comes down to what works best for you! So if you’re having success with argan oil over conditioner, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. 🙂 Good luck!
I love this Meghan! Thank you! My hair tends to be dry so I add Biosilk and I really like that.
That’s awesome! Thanks so much for reading and sharing what works for you! 🙂
Your hair is gorgeous!! I bought the nym curl talk cream but returned it becaue its I thought it wasn’t approved. Is it approved??
Thanks so much! As for the cream, it depends on your hair type and what type of curly girl you are. It does have one ingredient that’s a mineral oil, which some find can build up to the point that they’d need a sulfate shampoo to wash it out. I’m more of a handbook curly girl and mineral oil isn’t in the book as an ingredient to avoid (unless I missed it somehow but I don’t remember seeing it when I read the book and I couldn’t find it went I went back through looking for it). So I’m pretty sure this is an ingredient that the internet has decided isn’t CG approved because of the potential need for a sulfate shampoo. However, I haven’t had a problem getting my hair to come clean with a sulfate free shampoo, which is why I use and recommend it. But honestly, it hasn’t been working as well for me lately. It could be the summer weather or my hair evolving, but I’ve been playing around with some new products. When I settle on something a new fav, I’ll be sure to update things here! 🙂
Absolutely love your version of this method. The Decatur method uses lots of tiny clips for volume but I really want perfect hair with no work involved lol so your large claw clip is genius. I’m currently using renpure products but I may have to try the Shea moisture line. I’m checking out all your posts! Love your hair by the way!
Thanks so much for reading! <3
This may be a stupid question but here goes. I want to start the curly girl method and have done a lot of reading and researching. I don’t have all approved products just yet but plan on getting them tomorrow. My question is what are you supposed to do on non-wash days for your hair? I read a lot and i found that people usually only wash every 4-5 days maybe even longer. So when you go to shower your body what do you do with your hair in the shower? Do you condition it but done wash? Or do you just wet it and restyle? I’m just confused about this part. Some insight would be appreciated!
This is SO not a stupid question! I had the same one when I started! 🙂 You’ve got a couple options. A lot of curly girls “refresh” their hair. There are tons of refresh routines out there, but the gist of it is you keep your hair dry in the shower (either by pulling it up and avoiding the spray or with a shower cap) then after, you do some variation of dampening your hair with a spray bottle and then applying a small amount of products to bring your curls back to life.
However, if you’re like me, in the beginning, your hair may be drier and you may find that do genuinely need (or want) to start with wet hair every day. In that case yes, you can wet it and just condition but don’t wash, or you can just wet it and restyle. If you condition or not will probably depend on how dry your hair is and how it looks best, so it may take some trial and error.
It took me a little over a year to find a refresh routine that worked. I’m still playing around with it. But I’m hoping to have a post on this soon!
I hope this helps!
I’ve heard the brushes are not good for the scalp? Also what would be a go routine to do if I don’t have time to take shower in the morning everyday due to some morning classes?
If you’re talking about the scalp brush, I haven’t come across that, but I know my dry scalp has improved since I started using it to get rid of dead skin. I can’t speak too much to your second question because this is the main routine I use, and I do use it in the morning 95% of the time. However, the other 5% I’ll shower at night and sleep with a harder hold gel, then scrunch it out in the morning. I talk a little more about this in this post about how to sleep with curly hair. 🙂
The application of products in the CG method always confused me. What about all the hair that you don’t put product in by applying this way? like the hair at the very back, nap portion? Especially with shorter hair, I would see this as an issue.
The very back close to the scalp actually doesn’t need as much product because it’s not as exposed. I’ve found that applying with the praying hands technique with my head upside down, then scrunching ensures that all of my hair gets enough product (including the back). I can’t speak for anyone other than myself, but I’ve had zero issues applying product this way. (And that includes when I had short hair.) The nape of my neck has always curled easily and held the curl, as long as I detangle well in the shower. But with that said, this technique doesn’t work for everyone, so you’d have to try it for yourself and see. 🙂
Finally, an actual routine breakdown. I have been looking all over for something like this. Thanks for sharing. I’m just getting started on the CGM. Excited to try your routine and see how it works for me and my hair. 🙂
I’m so glad I had what you’re looking for! I hope it works for you! 🙂
Hi Meghan! I purchased your beginner guide. It is amazing and simple! I appreciate that so much. I’m just having a little trouble in the shower and not sure how to solve. When in the shower after conditioning I detangle, flip my hair over to squish. It’s so tangly again so I work those tangles out then I flip to rinse. Back to tangles, detangle again rinse. Then when I flip to add product it’s all tangly again. Will this get better once my hair is more hydrated. I’ve only been at this 2 weeks. I have no idea what my hair type is except it’s down to the middle of back, fine texture, but there is a lot of it. Tight curls underneath looser curls on top. Any suggestions would be great or just tell me to be patient. Thank you!!
Hey Alexis! I’m so glad you’ve found the guide helpful! As for your question, I do think this will likely get better as time goes on, but here’s something that might help in the meantime. Before you squish, try the praying hands technique if you’re not already–even in the shower with your conditioner. This may help your hair clump a little bit which may help reduce the tangles. If it’s still tangling, you may want to try just tipping your head to the side instead of going upside down. I typically find it’s easier to work with my hair when it’s upside down, which is why I tend to suggest that, but in your case, it could be the flipping that causing the tangles for you. You can try the same techniques with your products.
If this doesn’t work, I do honestly think it will get better over time, but also know that for now, it’s okay to detangle again when your hair is right side up. I’d still suggest initially applying conditioner/products with your hair either upside down or to the side to make sure you get the product evenly distributed, but once you do that and you’re styling, try putting your head right side up and doing a gentle detangle where you need to, then maybe apply a little extra gel with the praying hands technique to the places you detangled to help them clump, then give them a gentle scrunch to help them curl.
I hope this helps!!
Hi Megan,
Thanks so much for all the info, much appreciated! I’m about 6mths into the CGM and am finally learning how to get the best out of my hair after 53 years!
We’re pretty much curl twins and I just wanted to ask what curl type you are?
I’m also an introvert/extrovert so your posts on introverts are very useful to me as well.
Have a lovely day,
Jo
Hey Jo! I’m so happy to hear you’re having success with the cgm! I also really appreciate knowing the blog has been so much help to you. 🙂 To answer your question, I’d say I have 3A/3B curls. Thanks so much for reading!
Hi Meghan,
Thank you for posting your great routine! I am an older curly girl-just discovered at age 66 that my fine, thin, frizzy bottom hair is actually curls screaming to be let loose..:) The steps you follow helped me get my process started and I appreciate your time!
LouAnn
Hey LouAnn! I’m so glad this post was helpful! Thanks so much for reading! 🙂