Breaking the Curly Girl Method Rules: You Do You

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Right now many are feeling like they don’t even want to deal with their hair, as we push through this ‘illness that shall not be named’ all around the world. Sometimes we just don’t feel like fussing with our hair, and that’s ok.

So what do you do then? People ask me all the time what they should do with their hair if they have to…

  • put it up for work
  • swim
  • wash daily
  • use a harsh/not recommended product for a condition (like a medicated shampoo)
  • [insert other concern]

And I get it. The curly girl method seems to have all these absolute rules that can never be broken.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Delilah with straight hair breaking curly girl method rules
felt like straightening my hair so I did

Can you break the rules?

You can break the rules and do your own thing. In fact, I encourage you to do so after doing the curly girl method for a while.

I view the curly girl method as a set of guidelines, a starting point to getting back to your healthy, natural hair and enhancing what’s already there. But our hair is so different. The same products and techniques will not work for all of us. And sometimes you get bored and want a change. Nothing wrong with that.

So if you ever find yourself asking “Can I….?” The answer is YES! Yes, you can.

Do what you have to do to stay sane, feel good, love your hair, and move along.

Wash your hair daily if you need to.

Put it up for work every day if you have to.

Use the medicated shampoo that your doctor recommended.

Straighten it if you want to (just not often 😉).

It’s ok to modify your routine to make it suit your lifestyle. Just apply what you can. If you have to put it up daily, then don’t fuss much with styling on days you work. Save that for your days off. If you swim daily then you must wash daily. Focus on moisturizing and move on. Nothing you can do in these situations to get around it.

putting hair up following curly girl method
hair up in a bun on days I just don’t care

So on days like these recent ones where many feel like they don’t want to do their hair but they don’t want to fall back on progress, do what you want, it’s going to be okay.

Go ahead and put your hair up into a bun. Wash it, or don’t. Braid it. Let it breathe by not applying any products. We’re all home anyway so no one will see you.

Now I know some people are very black and white, purists so to speak. They follow the rules to a T and never sway. That’s ok too. If that’s you, then you do you. Continue doing what works.

But if you’re struggling, if you hate your hair, if you want to modify it, then just do it and move on. There is no CGM police that’s coming to get you.

Here are some ideas of things you can do, if you feel like doing something:

  • Deep condition
  • Do a protein treatment
  • Go product free
  • Try new styling methods
  • Try a new product
  • Experiment with different product amounts

Although I am not leaving the house, I am still washing every 3-4 days and styling on wash days. I am taking this time to do more self care like face masks, doing my nails, and trying new methods on my hair. It’s the perfect time to experiment, in case it totally bombs, at least you don’t have to leave the house.

I think it’s a great time to wash and just scrunch/style with your leave in conditioner only, no styling products, so that you can assess where your hair is. This is a great way to see that your styling method is more important than the product. If I wasn’t testing products to write some reviews I would do this right now.

So don’t stress about these trivial things. Just do what you gotta do. And I mean always, not just now. You should always have a good balance in life. Don’t take things too seriously.

Check out my other popular posts on curly hair:

curly girl method pdf guide download

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2 Comments

  1. I just left the salon after getting my hair colored- I have greys I’m not ready to accept at age 41! This was the first time in 5 months that my hair has been styled with heat!! The whole time I was panicking inside thinking it was ruining my progress! I’m certain the products used were not CGM approved either!!! THanks for the reassurance that “it will be okay”.

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