I know about CG, now I want to be a CG!

So last blog post was explaining what CG is. This one will help you become CG if you want to be.

The first thing you have to do is do one last sulfate wash. This will get all the silicones out of your hair and give you clean hair to work with. Once you do your last sulfate wash, it's time for your first conditioner wash or cowash.

Cowash

Cowashing is washing your hair with conditioner. You need to find a light, silicone free conditioner. The most popular choices on nc.com seem to be the Suave Natural and the VO5 lines. My fave is Suave coconut or green apple, VO5 seems to be to light for me. Wavies may love it though. There are lots of other options but these seem to be the easiest to find and the cheapest.

Wet your hair and use a puddle of conditioner to scrub your scalp with your fingertips, no nails. The amount of conditioner will vary depending on your hair and how much you have or how hydrated it is. Your hair may soak it all up so if you need more use it. I use 2-3 puddles most days. Scrub, scrub, scrub. Scrub until your arms are tired. I scrub the bottom of my scalp right side up and the top of my scalp upside down for better access. Do whatever works best for you, just scrub your entire scalp. When your arms are tired, rinse. But guess what you get to do while you rinse? Scrub! This is going to get all the dirt and oils out without using shampoo!

Condition

After you have cowashed, you want to condition. This works just like conditioning before except your conditioner won't have silicones in it. You want to use a thicker, more moisturizing conditioner. I love GVP Conditioning Balm from Sally's and Yes to Carrots from Target but there are soo many options. I'll go over my favorite products in the next post or two. Now is the time to detangle too. Remember, we already talked about only detangling under conditioner supervision ?!? Once the conditioner is on your hair you can use your fingers or a wide tooth comb to detangle. I find that this also helps to distribute the conditioner around every strand of my hair. Let the conditioner set to get as much moisture as possible, while you finish up the rest of your shower, then rinse. You can either rinse fully or partially (leaving some in to act as your leave in), play with it. I rinse fully most of the time.

Styling

This is where personal preference and hair type really come into play. If you are a wavy you may need a stronger hold then if you have tight curls. Watch for those silicones when you pick something. I like to get the travel sizes from Walmart or Target when I'm just trying a product out for the first time. I'm going to tell you about what I do. You can try different methods and amounts of products and find the routine that works best for you.

Right out of the shower I flip my head upside down and run a wide tooth comb through my hair. After I'm sure the tangles are out I grab my leave in and apply some all over. I finger comb my leave in in but you can scrunch it in or not use one. My hair behaves best with a leave in though. After my leave in, I scrunch in my frizz control. I'm in love with the generic Walmart brand KY Jelly for this. It has the same ingredients as the more expensive frizz control stuff and you can get it around town. Most of the frizz stuff you find in the stores isn't CG friendly. I use about a pea sized dollop each for my head leaning to the right side, head leaning to the left side, and upside down. Repeat with my gel. Current love is Herbal Essence Totally Twisted Gel. After my gel I scrunch out the water with my t-shirt and either plop (I'll talk about that later) or just air dry and go.