Plastic Free Curly Girl Method

One of the more difficult routines I've found to make plastic free is my curly girl hair routine! As anyone who follows the Curly Girl Method knows it's hard enough to find products that work for your hair, never mind finding products that are plastic free as well. 

Believe me when I say that I've tried a lot in the name of zero waste from DIY products, to beer rinses to scouring the web for zero waste hair care products! And now in the name of Plastic Free July I will share with you my current plastic free Curly Girl hair routine.

1. Shampoo and Conditioner
I shared my current plan on my shampoo and conditioner in my Zero Waste Shower Routine but I bought Plaine Products Shampoo and conditioner last July and still - I repeat - still have not used it all up yet. But when I do my plan is to get the shampoo & conditioner bottles refilled at the refill van I frequent because the prices are a little cheaper and walking to the farmer's market = less emissions than shipping bottles back and forth!

I shampoo and conditioner about twice a week which is probably what's helped my bottles last me a year at this point!

2. After washing my hair I use my scrunch it brush to help form curl clumps - not entirely plastic free but letting you know what I do! Plus while the brush does have some plastic on it, it's the kind of thing you use forever so I don't feel bad about using it. 

3. Leave-In Conditioner
While I use the scrunch it brush on my hair I apply my DIY leave-in conditioner (check out my blog post for the full instructions on how to make) as I go to not dry out my hair! ​​

4. Gel
Here I have a few options, I either use my DIY homemade oatmeal gel or the flaxseed gel from A Simple Planet. Either works great for me!

Other than that I let it air dry or diffuse the roots for about 10 minutes just depending on time and then it air dries the rest of the way. 

A few totally optional steps here as well: ​

4. Oil
When I'm going somewhere I like to scrunch out the gel cast with a little bit of rose hip oil to help with the frizzing. I take 2-3 drops and rub them into my hand and then scrunch out one side of my hair, then I add one more drop and repeat on the other side.

5. Protein Treatments
So far the favorite protein treatment I tried was the beer rinse but when I do it again I'm going to do it before shampoo! I also tried and liked doing a rice rinse, which can truly be zero waste if you're eating rice in your meals too :) 

So far this is what I've found works great for me and my hair but everyone is different and it definitely takes some experimenting to find what works. 

Let me know in the comments what your plastic free curly girl routine is!