Beginners Guide “How to CGM”

By Chloe Metzger

Nov 29, 2021

The Curly Girl Method—officially founded by hairstylist and curl expert Lorraine Massey, who
wrote Curly Girl: The Handbook—is quite literally a guide to getting really excellent hair using
(and avoiding!) specific products and styling techniques. Curly Girl Method in general is the
same by figuring out the best cocktail of ingredients and application methods for your exact
hair type you can find out your hair type here, you’ll be able to ramp up your natural wave, curl,
or coil pattern while reducing frizz, dryness, and breakage.
The whole goal of CGM is to get healthier, fuller, more defined hair essentially, seeing
the max potential of what your hair can really do—which means you have to have a pretty
distinct wave or curl pattern to start with (like, at least 2a/2b waves).
 In reality, CGM is mainly about cutting out the stuff that messes with your curls (i.e., anything
drying or harsh), and then adding in things that heal, hydrate, and enhance (i.e., moisturizers, proteins,
and gentle cleansers). So here are some of the “don’ts” and products to avoid.

❌ AVOID 

 Shampoo (WHAT! Don’t freak—you can’t use traditional  shampoos, the kind that strip the hell
out of your hair. More on this below)
 Heat tools (like flat-irons, curling irons, etc., though the occasional diffuser on low heat is okay)
 Sulfates (i.e., harsh detergents usually found in shampoo that strip your hair of moisture and
lead to dry, straw-like hair)
 Silicones (i.e., polymers found in 90 percent of conditioning and styling products that coat your
hair to give it a smooth, shiny look. Most silicones don’t dissolve in water and can only be
removed with sulfates…which aren’t allowed in the Curly Girl Method. Without sulfates,
silicones will build up on your curls, leaving them lank, dry, flat, and greasy. Consider them the
#1 enemy of CGM; you can read more about silicones here, if you want)
 Waxes and mineral oils (just like silicones, most waxes and mineral oils require sulfates to
remove, which means they’ll build up on your hair)
 Towel-drying your hair (towels rough up your hair cuticle and lead to frizz and tangles. Most
curly peeps like to plop their hair, but more on how you can dry your hair below)
 Alcohols (although not all alcohols are bad, most can degrade your hair cuticle, and are almost
always found in aerosol sprays, like canned hairspray and dry shampoo. Thus, welcome to the
world of alcohol-free dry shampoo and alcohol-free hairspray)

Once you’ve done your initial reset wash, you’ve got two CGM-approved cleansers to keep your hair
clean on the regular: sulfate-free shampoos or cleansing conditioners.

✔Sulfate-free shampoos

 What: Also called “low-poo,” as in low-shampoo; contain gentle detergents to break down scalp
oils and buildup, without stripping hair.
 Best for: Thin waves and flat curls that get greasy and oily super fast.
 Note: Some sulfate-free cleansers are still a bit drying, which you can tell by the way your hair
feels right after you rinse it out. If your hair feels squeaky instead of slippery, the cleanser is too
harsh. If you don’t wanna waste money, try mixing a few squirts of conditioner in with the
shampoo to soften it.

✔Cleansing conditioners

 What: Also called “co-washes” or “no-poo” and are essentially lightweight conditioners used as
shampoo. Most curl types (and all coil types) don’t benefit from a ton of detergent—they only
need water, moisture, and a thorough scalp massage (like, you should be massaging your co-
wash into your roots for at least  60 seconds straight) to get clean.
 Best for: All coil types and most drier curl types.
 Note: Most CGM guides will tell you to start with a cleansing conditioner—instead of a sulfate-
free shampoo—regardless of your hair type, since people are often surprised by how well their
hair (and scalp) adjusts to them after a month.
How to do CGM Method

 STEP 0: Final “reset” wash

Wash your hair with a sulfate-filled clarifying shampoo to remove all silicone buildup. Repeat
this step any time you accidentally use a product with silicone or wax.
 STEP 1: Co-wash/cleanse
Wash your hair with a CGM-approved cleansing conditioner or sulfate-free shampoo, massaging
your scalp for at least  60 seconds (this matters! Count!) with your fingertips or a shampoo
brush. Rinse out.
 STEP 2: Condition
Squish a large handful of CGM-approved conditioner (helpful visual here) through the bottom
half of your hair until it feels “slimy”—i.e., fully saturated and coated—then  detangle with your
fingers or a large-tooth comb. Rinse out most (but not all) of the conditioner.
 STEP 3: Style
You can apply your styling products a dozen different ways (more on that below), but most
methods involve layering and squishing them into your wet hair. For beginners, start with a
CGM-approved gel; scrunch a palmful (more than feels normal) into your sopping wet hair from
roots to tips.
 STEP 4: Dry
Either plop your hair for 5-15 minutes, or gently cup and scrunch the excess water from your
hair with a cotton T-shirt or microfiber towel. Air-dry (don’t touch!) or diffuse your hair on low.
Once your hair is 100 percent dry, gently scrunch your hair with your hands to get rid of the
crunchy gel coating.

Tips for CGM Method

Simplest Curl Application Method

Scrunching + Upside Down

Scrunching allows you to squish products and moisture into your hair at every step of the
process, encouraging clumps (aka defined curls) and healthy hydration. And if you do it upside down,
you get the added benefit of volume on finer hair types.

Here’s how: After shampooing, flip your head over (bending at the waist), rake all your hair
forward, then squish conditioner into the ends. Rinse your hair by squishing in palmfuls of water, then
squish in palmfuls of gel. The water in your hair will help dilute and distribute the gel, while all the
cupping and scrunching will encourage major curl or wave formation.

Here’s my favorite video showing the squishing mechanism in action on types 2c-3c curls (don’t
get overwhelmed by what she’s saying—she’s basically on level 20, and you’re on level 1. Just focus on
the squishing and scrunching method, and you’ll be fine):

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or
you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
https://youtu.be/Jwtnn4H77bk
If you’ve got tighter coils, like 4a-4c hair, check out this tutorial on squishing in conditioner upside
down, then applying your stylers right-side up to help cut down on tangles and knots:

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or
you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
https://youtu.be/olcmvczpnzQ

Once you’ve applied your products, you can plop your hair (my preferred method), scrunch out
the water with a cotton T-shirt or cotton towel, diffuse it on low heat or let it air-dry if you’re doing
a wash and go.

How to Plop Curly Hair

https://youtu.be/XPm3cseuHX4

How to Scrunch Curly Hair

https://youtu.be/_7AaJQMpFJ4

How to Diffuse Curly Hair

https://youtu.be/SugVG5BR_9Y

What I wish someone had told me at the beginning:

❌ CGM won’t necessarily change your hair

If your natural hair is wavy, it’s going to stay wavy after the Curly Girl Method—just a healthier,
fuller, more defined version of it. CGM can help you enhance  your hair texture, but it won’t change
it. The reason CGM gives some people such drastic results is because it forces you to cut out damaging
habits (heat tools, chemical treatments, coloring, brushing, etc.) and focus on making your hair healthy.
For a lot of people who have been ~abusing~ their hair for decades, CGM can bring back the natural
texture they haven’t seen since their pre-teen years.
❌ Healthy hair will see the smallest transformation

I thought my flat hair would turn into corkscrew curls after a few weeks of doing CGM. Nope.
Before CGM, my hair was already healthy—I never dyed it, I never heat-styled it, and I already used
sulfate-free products. But CGM did teach me that my application technique of 10 years was all wrong
for my curl type. I was raking products (some of which contained both wax and silicone) through semi-
damp hair while standing upright. Perfectly fine styling methods for some curlies, but for me and my
fine, flat curls? Not ideal.

Now, I squish my products through my sopping-wet hair, upside down in the shower, then
immediately plop my hair for 10 minutes, shake it out, then let air-dry. So for me, my biggest change
wasn’t in the health of my hair, but learning the right techniques to help encourage  and create those
tighter curls when I really want them—which was never possible before CGM.

❌ You don’t always need  products

After a few months of obsessively following the Curly Girl Method, I felt tired. I didn’t want  to
do the whole song-and-dance every single shower—I didn’t want to constantly worry about the state of
my hair while I slept, while it dried, while I worked out, etc. And I wish someone had told me that it was
fine to just, like, not do your hair sometimes? That it was fine to have bad-looking hair some days?

It sounds obvious, but when you're in the throes of a good-versus-bad hair mentality, breaking
the “rules” can feel...hard. But I’m here to tell you that it’s FINE. Since quarantine, I rarely use more than
a lightweight curl cream (Seen Curly Cream) unless I’m going somewhere. As long as you’re still using
gentle, moisturizing, CGM-approved products, you can do whatever works best for you and your
lifestyle without undoing all of the work you’ve put in.

If you want to spend eternity on IG, I learned a ton from these curl accounts (FYI, not everyone
follows strict CGM, so double-check product recommendations):

 @Hif3licia
 @Curly.evee
 @Jannelleoshaughnessy
 @Powerdomi
 @Ingecurls
 @Welshiecurlgirl

Chloe Metzger - deputy beauty director at Cosmopolitan, obsessively writing about new makeup launches, the best hair products
(curly girl here; what up), and the skincare formulas that really work for every skin type (follow her on Instagram to see behind-the-scenes pics
of that magazine life).
 How to Do the Curly Girl Method: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Cleanse Step 2: Condition & Detangle

Step 3: Style Step 4: Plop

 Step 5: Repeat

Source: Paulina
Björkbacka (2021) A Step-by-Step Guide to The Curly Girl Method (+Approved Products)