Going Silicone & SLS Free - The Curly Girl Method

I've read several articles recently about the Curly Girl method, which supposedly helps to keep curly hair well moisturised and frizz free. Apparently, the SLS in most shampoos (which is generally a fairly drying ingredient) strips moisture from curly hair, which is in general more dry than other hair types. Primarily, the theory is that by giving up shampoo, and therefore SLS, curls become more moisturised, less frizzy, and more well defined.

Now, the thought of skipping the shampoo makes me shudder - I can't feel properly clean if my hair is greasy. According to followers of the CG method, cutting out conditioners and stylers that contain silicones cuts down on the build up on dirty hair - and hair that's dirty with natural oils only can be washed with conditioner (silicone free, of course).

So, I've taken the plunge - I started off a couple of days ago with a final shampoo (which didn't contain silicone), and today tried out my first "co-wash" (conditioner wash). I applied a silicone free conditioner to my roots and sort of massaged as I would normally do with shampoo. I'll admit, this felt very weird, given the lack of foam. After rinsing thoroughly I applied the same conditioner as I normall would, and rinsed again. After a careful application of (silicone free) stylers, my hair is clean, shiny, and soft.

In the coming weeks I'll continue to steer away from the shampoo and try out a variety of silicone free conditioners in a bid to control my frizzy curly hair - and reporting on it along the way.