How to Determine if a Hair Product is Curly Girl Approved

27 de enero de 2013

How to Determine if a Hair Product is Curly Girl Approved

There are many products out there for curly haired girls (or guys) to choose from, and not all of them are great products. One way to narrow down the list is to read through the ingredients, and see if the product is "curly girl approved." For more information about the curly girl method, see How to Follow the Curly Girl Method for Curly Hair. Read on to learn more about how to pick products that work for this method.

Edit Steps

Avoid sulfates in your shampoos. Sulfates are foaming detergents that are found in many commercial shampoos and dish detergents. They can be drying for curly hair, so choose sulfate free shampoos if you are going to use shampoo. Sulfates contain "sulfate" somewhere in the ingredient name (usually). Also keep in mind that there are some cleansers that are as harsh as sulfates but are not sulfates. Technically, you want to avoid shampoo altogether to retain the most moisture, but if you decide to use a shampoo, avoiding sulfates is best.
- Here is a list of sulfates to avoid:
  - Alkylbenzene sulfonates
  - Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate
  - Ammonium laureth sulfate
  - Ammonium lauryl sulfate
  - Ammonium Xylenesulfonate
  - Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate
  - Sodium cocoyl sarcosinate
  - Sodium laureth sulfate
  - Sodium lauryl sulfate
  - Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
  - Sodium myreth sulfate
  - Sodium Xylenesulfonate
  - TEA-dodecylbenzenesulfonate
  - Ethyl PEG-15 cocamine sulfate
  - Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate
- Here is a list of gentle cleansers to look for:
  - Cocamidopropyl betaine
  - Coco betaine
  - Cocoamphoacetate
  - Cocoamphodipropionate
  - Disodium cocoamphodiacetate
  - Disodium cocoamphodipropionate
  - Lauroamphoacetate
  - Sodium cocoyl isethionate
  - behentrimonium methosulfate
  - disodium lautreth sulfosuccinate
  - babassuamidopropyl betaine

Avoid silicones, waxes, non-natural oils, or any other non-soluble ingredients in your conditioners and any styling products. This is key to making sure your products do not build up on your hair. Without shampoo, many of the following ingredients will build up in your hair over time. Remember that a silicone is any ingredient that ends with the suffixes -one, -conol, or -xane. Waxes are easily identified because they have "wax" in the ingredient name (usually).

What's floating around in your hair products?
- Here is a list of silicones to avoid:
  - Dimethicone
  - Bisaminopropyl dimethicone
  - Cetearyl methicone
  - Cetyl Dimethicone
  - Cyclopentasiloxane
  - Stearoxy Dimethicone
  - Stearyl Dimethicone
  - Trimethylsilylamodimethicone
  - Amodimethicone
  - Dimethicone
  - Dimethiconol
  - Behenoxy Dimethicone
  - Phenyl trimethicone
- Here is a list of waxes and non-natural oils to avoid:
  - Castor oil
  - Mineral oil (parrifidium liquidium)
  - Petrolatum
  - Waxes: bees wax, candelia wax, etc.
- Here's a list of ingredients that look like silicones, or are water soluble silicones. These are exceptions that are OK:
  - Lauryl methicone copolyol (water soluble)
  - Lauryl PEG/PPG-18/18 Methicone
  - Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein Hydroxypropyl Polysiloxane (water soluble)
  - Dimethicone Copolyol (water soluble)
  - PEG-Dimethicone, or any other 'cone with "PEG-" suffix (water soluble)
  - Emulsifying Wax
  - PEG-Hydrogenated Castor Oil
  - Natural oils: Avocado oil, Olive oil, Coconut oil, etc.
  - Benzophenone-2, ( or 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) - sunscreen
  - Methychloroisothiazolinone - preservative
  - Methylisothiazolinone - preservative

Avoid drying alcohols, if at all possible, in your conditioners and stylers. Drying alcohols are commonly found in conditioners, leave in conditioners, gels, mousses, and hairsprays as fillers. For products that you are going to rinse out, this is not as big of a deal, but for products that are going to sit in your hair all day, or for several days, they should not contain drying alcohols. There are also moisturizing or fatty alcohols however, that sound similar, so be sure not to confuse those with drying alcohols.

Isopropyl alcohol is a common hair product ingredient that shouldn't go in your hair.
- Here is a list of drying alcohols to avoid:
  - Denatured alcohol
  - SD alcohol 40
  - Witch hazel
  - Isopropanol
  - Ethanol
  - SD alcohol
  - Propanol
  - Propyl alcohol
  - Isopropyl alcohol
- Here is a list of moisturizing alcohols to look for:
  - Behenyl alcohol
  - Cetearyl alcohol
  - Cetyl alcohol
  - Isocetyl alcohol
  - Isostearyl alcohol
  - Lauryl alcohol
  - Myristyl alcohol
  - Stearyl alcohol
  - C30-50 Alcohols
  - Lanolin alcohol

Consider the effect proteins in your hair products may have on your hair. Most hair needs some amount of protein in its diet, especially damaged hair. However, normal hair, or protein sensitive hair does not need large doses of protein all the time. If your hair feels stiff, frizzy, and dry, then your hair is getting to much protein.

Your hair needs protein, just like your body.
- Here is a list of proteins that you can avoid or look for, depending on your hair type:
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed casein
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed collagen
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed hair keratin
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed keratin
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed rice protein
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed silk
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed soy protein
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed wheat protein
  - Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl silk amino acids
  - Cocoyl hydrolyzed collagen
  - Cocoyl hydrolyzed keratin
  - Hydrolyzed keratin
  - Hydrolyzed oat flour
  - Hydrolyzed silk
  - Hydrolyzed silk protein
  - Hydrolyzed soy protein
  - Hydrolyzed wheat protein
  - Hydrolyzed wheat protein
  - Keratin
  - Potassium cocoyl hydrolyzed collagen
  - TEA-cocoyl hydrolyzed collagen
  - TEA-cocoyl hydrolyzed soy protein

Write down the rules for identifying curly girl products on a piece of paper and keep it with you when you go hair product shopping. Remember, sulfates are ingredients that contain "sulfate" or "sulfonate"; silicones end in -one, -conol, or -xane but PEG modified silicones are acceptable; waxes contain the word "wax"; and drying alcohols often contain propyl, prop, eth, or denatured in the name. Have fun shopping!

Go shopping and practice identifying CG products. After a while it will become second nature––like searching for allergies on a food ingredients list.

Edit Video

Edit Tips

It can seem like a daunting tasks to learn all of the ingredient names. Take it slowly, section by section, and feel free to print out the lists for checking while you're looking at products.

If you slip up and accidentally use a styler or conditioner that is not completely water-soluble, you do not have to start over with a sulfate shampoo. Just use a sulfate-free shampoo and it should remove any silicones.^[1]

Edit Warnings

This is not a comprehensive list of hair product ingredients. If you are unsure about an ingredient, just type in "ingredient name here water soluble" into a search engine, and you will be able to find informational pages that tell you whether the ingredient is water soluble (aka CG approved) or not.