One of my sisters had expressed an interest in finding out if her hair was naturally wavy. In fact, that’s part of what inspired my other blog post How To Test If Your Hair Is Wavy (before starting the curly girl method).
However, instead of just showing her how to test if her hair was wavy, I decided to have her try my exact routine. I realized that if I taught her my exact routine, that we could make a blog post showing others how the routine does not make the curls.
Does The Curly Girl Method Turn Straight Hair Curly?
The curly girl method does not turn straight hair curly. It only produces waves or curls on hair that is naturally textured. If someone has truly straight hair, the curly girl method will not make their hair wavy or curly.
Let’s jump in to some of the more specific misconceptions.
Do curly girl approved products make straight hair curly?
Curly girl approved products do not make straight hair curly. The products are designed for curly hair, but if used on straight hair, the hair would remain straight.
This one, we don’t need my experiment with my sister to determine. If I use curly girl approved shampoo and conditioner, but no gel or mousse and I brush my hair? It’s pretty straight! The picture below shows my hair with curly girl approved products and brushing.
Nope. The products definitely don’t create curls!
Does scrunching create curls in straight hair?
Scrunching straight hair doesn’t create waves. Scrunching helps curls to clump and spring up, only. If scrunching created waves or curls then anyone who scrunched their hair would get the same results. Scrunching results vary greatly based on each person’s natural hair pattern.
This is perhaps the most common misconception I hear. I’ve heard it a lot in response to the TikTok trend. People say “Of course if you scrunch your hair it’s and then let it dry it’s going to be curly. It’s not natural though!” I understand why these seem logical.
If you were to get your hair wet, then lay down on the floor, have someone make a zig-zag with one clump of hair and you didn’t move until it dried – then yes, you would have created a zig-zag hair pattern artificially. Many people assume that scrunching is doing that same thing.
The reason why scrunching is different is because it’s not creating each bend in the hair, the way that forcing a zig-zag pattern would be. It’s just squeezing hair, and letting it wave up or curl up in the size and tightness it naturally is prone to doing. Some will scrunch and get very loose waves.
Others will scrunch and get tight curls. When I scrunch, I get fairly thick swoopy waves. If someone with pin-straight hair scrunched their hair, it would still dry straight because it wouldn’t curl up when scrunched. Similarly, when people with different types of textured hair scrunch their hair, it gives them a different result.
Here is what my sisters hair looks like after scrunching exactly the way I showed her that I scrunch my hair.
If I were to make up a description for her pattern, I’d call it wiggly waves. Her hair wiggles back and forth in a wavy pattern.
Here is what my clumps look like after scrunching:
While my hair is wavy as well, my clumps don’t look much like her “wiggly waves” do they? If I were to make up a term for mine I’d call them swoopy waves. They’re thicker pieces, and they circle around more than my sisters do. The difference in our results with scrunching shows the difference in our curl pattern.
Her wet waves are primarily 2A more subtle waves, while mine are a tighter pattern with deeper “swoops” almost making full loops in some cases, a mix of 2B and 2C.
Yet, we did the same thing – we scrunched our hair in the same way, at the same part of our routine. The reason hers turned out differently than mine is because scruching isn’t what creates our waves. If scrunching did create the patterns, we’d get the same pattern from scrunching.
Another reason how you can tell that scrunching doesn’t create waves, is how your hair pattern can’t be “fixed” with scrunching. I can see in the shower (or after the shower) that some of my curl clumps aren’t as tight as others. In fact, I have some smaller pieces that are straight or very nearly straight.
If scrunching created waves, I could just scrunch those clumps, right? Yet, if I take just that curl clump and squish it as tight as I can? It still won’t make it curl up much at all, and certainly not as tight as some of my other clumps. That section of my hair simply is not as tightly textured as the rest of my hair.
That’s the same reason why the parts that do make full twists, do so by just scrunching them. They are just naturally tighter textured than the rest of my waves.
Does the curly girl method routine create curls in straight hair?
The curly girl method doesn’t create curls in straight hair. The curly girl method can help define and “bring out” natural waves or curls. It doesn’t create waves or curls in truly straight hair.
This is also evidenced through the difference in my results and my sisters results. Her results were wavy, because her hair is naturally wavy. However, it doesn’t look very similar at all to my wave pattern, even though she used all the same products that I have used, and all the same methods. The pictures below are her and I after using the following routine:
- Shampoo just the scalp with Not Your Mother’s “pink” shampoo. Rinse out shampoo completely.
- Condition hair with Not Your Mother’s Curl Tak Conditioner, just the strands.
- Scrunch hair with conditioner in it, and clip on head for about 3 minutes to let it penetrate.
- Use wide tooth comb to align hair.
- Rinse out the conditioner completely.
- Squish hair.
- Plop for 10 minutes.
- Apply Aussie instant freeze mousse
- Diffuse upside down for 5 minutes, then diffuse right side up the rest of the way.
If the curly girl method doesn’t make your hair curly, why does it change how hair looks?
This is a really logical question. When looking at people’s before and after curly girl method results, there can be really dramatic differences in the before and the after. So if the curly girl method isn’t making straight hair wavy or curly, then what IS causing the difference, right?
Well, the method IS making a difference in how the hair looks. For me, using gel or mousse makes my waves more defined. Diffusing instead of air drying helps my hair to dry tighter (more wavy) because the water doesn’t have as much of a chance to weigh down my pattern. I think using curly girl approved products has helped make my hair shinier and healthier over time, too.
Those changes ARE caused by the things I do as part of the modified curly girl method. It’s just that the method isn’t creating waves that weren’t naturally in there. If someone else did everything else I’ve done, but had truly straight hair, they wouldn’t get the results that I’ve gotten, or that my sister has gotten. Our results are only possible because of how natural hair properties.
Is the curly girl method manipulating your hair pattern?
Asking what is manipulating your pattern vs what is embracing your natural pattern is really what this conversation boils down to in some cases. It’s not always a black and white issue, either. Some would argue that the curly girl method is manipulating your natural pattern because it would look different if it were straight, or didn’t have gel, or wasn’t diffused.
However, I personally feel that society as a tendency to see straight hair as the norm or the default, and therefore feels that naturally wavy or curly hair care methods are ‘manipulation’ while we don’t see natural straight hair care as manipulation.
For example, I think brushing your hair can be seen as manipulation because it takes my waves and forces them straight. Yet, nobody really sees brushing or combing hair as manipulation – and I think that is because we see straight hair care methods (like regular brushing) as the norm.
I have noticed that people who have hair that naturally dries quickly tend to have a tighter wave pattern when they air dry, vs people who have hair that takes forever to air dry. Therefore, I think you could argue that having your hair stay wet for a long time “manipulates” your hair into a straighter pattern, and that diffusing your hair to remove the water more quickly, helps preserve your natural pattern.
Yet others see diffusing as manipulating, and air drying as not-manipulating. Personally, I think it really can get into semantics that really just shouldn’t matter that much. My opinion is that chemical treatments (perms, chemical straightening) or changing your texture with heat tools (flat iron, hot curlers, curling irons, crimpers, etc) are clearly manipulating your hair pattern.
Those would change the hair pattern of anyone who uses them. I don’t see non-chemical treatments (shampoo, conditioner, creams, leave-ins, gel, mousse) or routines (scrunching, squish to condish, even finger-coiling) as manipulation because they wouldn’t dramatically change the results of everyone who uses them.
If you’re new to learning about wavy hair, check out my blog post directory. It lists all of my posts by title so you can find more content to help answer your questions.
Hi there,
What does ‘plop’ mean?
Best wishes,
Jane
Hi Jane – thanks for the question, it inspired me to do a blog post explaining it and showing a step by step tutorial with photos to help show how it works.
https://wavyhaircare.com/how-to-plop-your-wavy-hair-step-by-step-guide-with-photos/
Hello! I think my hair is naturally wavy. I tried this method but think I did something wrong because some areas turned out pretty wavy, especially by my scalp, but some places turned out like it looked 80’s crimped or frizzed. Do I really not have wavy hair or did I not use enough mouse or dried it wrong.
Hello 🙂
When your hair dried, was it crunchy/crispy/stiff feeling all over or only at the roots? If it didn’t feel stiff all over when it first dried, then I would take that as a sign that you need to use more mousse. This post may help some with figuring out if you got a gel (or mousse) cast. https://wavyhaircare.com/what-is-a-hair-cast-or-gel-cast-how-to-create-one/
For me, if I don’t get a cast on part of my hair then that part will stay sort of fluffy or poofy and won’t look like defined waves.
It’s less likely, but the other possibility that comes to mind would be a difference in damage. Damaged hair often doesn’t curl up as well. It’s fairly common to see people start trying to embrace their waves and they’ll get good results at the top and mid section, but the ends will be straight and sort of stringy looking? And that’s when the ends of their hair have a lot of damage. To some degree it’s normal for the ends of our hair to be the most damaged just because they have been exposed to the world the longest, they get the least amount of moisture/oil from our scalp, etc. If you’ve used a flat iron or curling iron on your hair regularly, the ends have been exposed to heat more times than the hair at the roots. Or if you dye your hair, then the ends of your hair have been dyed more times than the hair closer to your scalp, etc.
This is such a great post! So glad I came across you on Reddit! Going to be following along!
I’m a fellow wavy, 2A like your sister’s hair when wet and dry – on a good hair day I can get my wet 2A waves to stay.. if not then it’s usually a 1C but the low humidity atm seems to make my hair just straight! Anywoo just wanted to say thank you for sharing this post. I wanted to write something similar on my blog and will be linking up to you. Xx
Oh that’s cool! Yeah the dryness of winter can be tough.
Thank you so much for posting this! I was recently reading a Facebook thread in a curly hair group where someone posted asking if scrunching and diffusing to get their waves and curls to come out was considered manipulating it. I was shocked and horrified by the cruel answers accusing her of not actually having curly hair and began to doubt my own hair. My hair, with no help, dries straight but flipped up at awkward angles, extremely frizzy and very tangled. I also have very thick, coarse heavy hair that weighs itself down and takes forever to dry. If I apply some gel to sipping wet hair though and then follow the CGM routine and take the time to scrunch and diffuse my hair turns soft and has 2B all the way up to 3A curls throughout. It does relax some over time but again my hair is heavy. Thanks again for sharing! This helped me so much.
Sorry other people had you doubting yourself! Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course but I think in a lot of cases people are misinformed. I think a lot of people with curly (type 3) hair really just don’t understand how wavy hair is often more fragile/delicate and requires more care and support to uphold its texture than curly hair does…but that doesn’t mean it is straight. Many really believe that if you took anyone with straight looking hair, plopped it, scrunched it and used gel that they would appear to have wavy hair afterwards, which just isn’t true.
Not true at all! I watched the video you posted about the girl with straight hair who tried to the CGM with her sister. Mine wouldn’t look gorgeous after that routine with no time in the diffuser but it would certainly have defined waves. Reading your blog has really helped me be more confident and excited about my hair. 🥰
Hi Emily, great read! My only question would be that, wouldn’t the time difference (how long you’ve done it vs your sister) make a difference in the results? So for the experiment, your sister tried the routine for the first time whereas you might’ve been doing it for months/years already? Unless of course if your attached pictures were taken when you were just starting the CGM. Doesn’t the CGM help you get a more defined texture the more you do it? Thanks!
Great question! My curl pattern has certainly gotten tighter (or at least tighter-looking) over time. Mine has gotten tigther when I have cut length off so I think mine has gotten tighter due to being lighter, using lighter products, and getting healthier. My hair has a lot more shine to it now than it used to, and I think that is because it is healthier and that contributes to it being curlier, too. That does happen to many people who follow the curly girl method. It definitely doesn’t happen to everyone, though. There are plenty of people who don’t see their hair get curlier with the curly girl method. I think it may depend on whether or not your hair is damaged or weighed down when you start? I think if it’s not damaged or weighed down to start with, then it’s unlikely to get curlier over time.
But, if hair gets curlier as it gets healthier then I take that to mean it always ‘wanted’ to be curly but was just too damaged to look that way. I the potential is there all along, or it’s not, still. I don’t think the CGM turns straight hair curly, I think your hair texture is more innate than that.
Hi Emily!
I know this is an older post, but I’m hoping you can still help me out!
Before I got pregnant (got pregnant in 2018, had my son in 2019) I had hair I would describe as a poodle’s ear. To be fair, I had no idea how to care for my tight waves/loose curls as everyone else in my family had stick straight hair, somehow, so that wave/curl pattern was with zero product, washing every other day, and brushing everyday while my hair was dry.
During pregnancy the hormones made my hair stick straight, and even two years after having my son, it’s still stick straight and incredibly greasy, and ZERO volume. I can see my scalp it’s so flat. I’ve noticed my hair is super wavy after I get out of the shower, even without scrunching or squishing or anything, not in huge clumps, but tiny zigzaggy locks of 5-6 individual strands if that makes sense. By the time it dries, it’s stick straight again, and by 24-36 hours, it’s so greasy it’ll stand up if I pick out a piece of it.
I found your blog a few days ago, and decided to get the stuff on your $20 Walmart list. I wasn’t able to find that specific hair mask, but I was able to find a similar hair mask from the same brand, and everything else on the list. I followed your instructions exactly, except that I am about to go to sleep in my plop because it’s late and I don’t know what else to do. I’m afraid that all that effort will be for nothing though, and I will wake up and scrunch my cast and have nothing to show for it.
I will update when I wake up, or when my hair dry, whichever comes second, but do you think I have a chance? I miss my hair, and it’s been seriously affecting my self esteem.
Either way, thank you very much for your content!
With you saying that your hair is wavy when wet, it’s definitely naturally wavy and can remain wavy-looking if you help it along with the right techniques. I’m very confident of that. It’s pretty common for wavy hair to dry straight if products aren’t used. With you saying your hair looked like poodle ears prior to your pregnancy, I’m guessing your hair pattern has changed and is a bit looser now, seems how it behaves differently even though you’re treating it the same way. But if it’s wavy when wet then it still definitely has wavy potential.
For me and I think most people, going to bed on wet hair really just doesn’t work well at all. SO if your results in the morning aren’t wavy or seem messy or anything…don’t feel discouraged. I would sort of explain it as…your hair is wavy when wet, so you want to use gel or mousse to help your hair hold that shape until it’s dry. But your hair has t get 100% dry before it’s touched or has pressure on it, or it will get smushed and won’t succeed at holding that wavy shape. Going to bed basically puts pressure on our hair and can flatten the texture if its still wet. So if you were to sleep on your back, I’d expect the back of your head to be straight/flat, for sure. Or if you’re a side sleeper and go to bed with wet hair, the side you sleep on will probably be really flat. So anyway, in my view going to bed with wet hair just isn’t an option so if your hair takes a long time to air dry, you’d want to use a blow dryer with a diffuser attachment to dry your hair before you go to bed. If you don’t have a diffuser you can buy a really good one for about $25. I love the xtava orchid diffuser, it’s linked in my ‘product recommendations’ page which you can find in my menu bar. If you don’t have a blow dryer you can buy a relatively cheap blow dryer (like a $20 one) that will work with a good diffuser, you do have to watch for what blow dryer you buy with which diffuser though, as not all diffusers fit all blow dryers. If you aren’t open to spending money on a diffuser but you have a blow dryer, you can try to use a strainer/colander instead if you have one of those. If you google ‘how to diffuse your hair with a strainer’ a video should come up showing how that is done.
Good luck! Feel free to let me know how it goes if you’d like. 🙂
Hi, I know this an old post but I’m 13 and recently my hair has gotten wavy/curly the top is practically straight only a slight wave but then the under side is quite curly (like loose ringlets and tighter waves) but I also have long hair so it does get weighed down. Is my hair wavy/curly? My mom, says I don’t need curly hair products so I was wondering if a cgm routine would work without gel or mousse. And what you would recommend. Sorry for the long post, hope you respond. I love you blogs by the way!
Hi! I was about your age when I noticed that my hair was changing, too. It just took me another 10+ years to figure out how to embrace it! So I think it’s cool that you’re looking into this so young. It’s fairly common for people to have curlier hair underneath than they have on the top layer. From what I’ve read, the sun actually is damaging to our hair, so the outer layer of our hair that is exposed to the sun the most is often the most damaged, while the part that is closer to our neck is often the healthiest/least damaged. So my guess is that’s what you’re seeing in your hair, but I also think it’s possible at your age that your hair is just changing as you get older, so maybe the under layer just has changed earlier, and the top layer will change more in the next year or two.
I wouldn’t say anyone needs to use gel or mousse as it’s all just a styling preference. However, I do think that if your goal is to try to even out your curl pattern to make the straighter parts wavier so it’s all more consistent in shape, then a gel or a mousse is going to be the best way to do that. Shampoo and conditioner don’t make nearly as much of a difference. So if your mom is willing to let you purchase one thing, I would recommend trying a gel or a mousse and not worrying about changing your shampoo or conditioner. If the expense is an issue, I’d recommend LA looks gel because it’s about $2 and the bottle is really big. Or if you wanted to try a mousse, my favorite cheap mousse is Aussie instant freeze mousse, it’s a little under $4 I think.
I have very long hair (down to my belly button). I had curls as a child. I think my hair type is fine 2A. When I do the Curly Girl Method on my hair I get really beautiful almost ring like waves to my hair when wet after scrunching. It makes me really excited. However, as my hair dries the waves become looser. So I cant tell if I have the potential for more natural curly hair/ more drastic waves (maybe its too long or wrong products) or if its strictly type 2 wavy leaning more towards straight hair and I am asking for more than what my hair can do.
Curious about your thoughts on this. I’m so new to this.
My hair will get tighter curls when wet than it can maintain when dry, so I think that’s just how it is for some people. However, if you’re really seeing a dramatic difference, it may be that you need more hold from your styling products? If you haven’t already, I’d try using a really hard hold gel (I’d recommend Harry’s sculpting gel or not your mothers curl talk gel with hard hold which is available only through ulta and has a purple cap. NYM has a medium hold gel that has the same packaging, just without the purple lid, so be careful to get the hard hold one.) Anyway – if you think you haven’t experienced the maximum hold yet, I’d recommend buying one of those two gels and the using enough to get a gel cast and seeing if that holds your hair in a tighter pattern. Or if you haven’t already, diffusing instead of air drying sometimes makes a big difference in maintaining a tighter curl pattern, too.
Hi!
I know this is an old post but I just found your blog! I *think* I am a 2a wavy but I’m not sure. I have done straight hair my entire life, but have always used a straightener to achieve it. I wondered about the possibility of it being wavy when I let it air dry one day and it had some S shaped strands. Have you ever had someone with 1a or 1b hair try the CGM to see what happens?
I tried a simplified version of CGM today and had some waves/loose curls but I’m not sure if it was because I have some texture or I just scrunched kinks into it.
I haven’t personally seen someone with 1A hair try the CGM and show me what happens but I have seen videos on youtube where people with super straight hair try it and their results will still be straight.
My belief is that every person has a range of possibilities that their hair is capable of, and how they treat their hair can help them nudge it towards the straighter end of what their hair is capable of, or towards the curlier end of what their hair is capable of. Brushing hair nudges it towards the straight end of what hair is capable of. Scrunching and using gel nudge it towards the curlier end of what it’s capable of, but those techniques aren’t what “create” a wave or curl pattern, because if the techniques were causing the shape, then anyone who used those techniques would get identical results. The reason the results vary from person to person (or even on the same persons head, from one side to the other or the underside vs the top side, etc) is because of inherent differences in their natural hair.