Curly Girl Way

rdone

I was wondering if anyone is following the CGW?  I want to start and probably have a weeks worth of shampoo left so want to buy some products now.  Looks like a mind field though and some are very expensive!
Does anyone have any money saving CF/vegan conditioners/creams/gels that they recommend?
I have copious amounts of hair, super thick and about an inch below my shoulders.

Spoonie_Turtle

Garnier Hair Food Masks are silicone-free, vegan, inexpensive if you get them on offer, but not certified cruelty-free
Superdrug did their own Extracts line, but I'm not sure if they still do them (they were ~£1 each for 400ml conditioners)
Love Beauty and Planet if you can get them on a decent offer; I got them from Amazon a while ago at ~£4 each; they are very thick though so last a long time if you put them on wet enough hair to distribute them well (or dilute a bit to help distribution)
Faith in Nature I think meet your requirements and are around that same price when you buy them on offer
Some of the Garnier Ultimate Blends conditioners are silicone-free or contain only water-soluble silicones; off the top of my head that includes the castor+maple argan+cranberry, the brown coconut one, and the rice/oat one - but not certified cruelty-free
Sainsbury's have their own-brand silicone-free conditioner but I can't vouch for whether it's any good

It's a lot easier to find vegan than cruelty-free still. 

You might find some ideas in the more recent pages of this thread: https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=1474&page=133
We had some other threads but I can't find them just yet. I'll post them if I do!

Edit: I'm a barely-wavy and I don't follow CG but I very much use the principles of moisture moisture moisture and wet detangling to preserve texture. There's also the rinse-out oil method that really helps lock moisture in the ends, which is nice and cheap because you can use whatever plant oil you have on hand and usually only need a few drops or a tiny puddle. It's very MSE!

Edit 2: thanks to Drawingaline's post reminding me, it's NOT maple+castor. That one's very coney, IIRC!

Drawingaline

My daughter follows cg. I got all my info from FB groups. They have files with photos of which products are suitable. She uses garnier oat and rice, and the red one with argan oil and cranberry. When we are feeling flush she uses the Noughty range which is vegan and cruelty free.

Unfortunately it will be complete trial and error as to what will suit your hair. My daughter doesn't seem to suit coconut at all. She doesn't use any products. Getting a decent cut is also part of it. We were travelling to a certified curly girl/deva hairdresser, who worked miracles. However she is now 16 and decided that although she liked the haircut (he cut it dry, curl by curl, fascinating to watch) she didn't like the hairdresser. So now she goes to my hairdresser who is excellent in that he listens to my daughter, has done some research on cg and will cowash and leave it to dry naturally. The cut defiantly isn't as good, but my daughter is happy. I have shown her the optimum way to care for her hair, but it's now her choice. So she just cowashes and leaves it to dry. It's still pretty frizzy, but no where near how bad it was before she stopped using shampoo and Brushes!

Good luck. 

rdone

Thanks both!
It was the noughty range that I was looking at but even that seems reasonable to other products that I've looked at.  I use FIN now so will stick with that for my conditioner as I can refill it at a local shop.  It baffles me that something can be vegan and not CF, or the other way around - both are one and the same to me!
I was wondering about hair cuts so thanks for mentioning it @Drawingaline, I'll message mine and see what he says.  They're pretty good at following trends so hopefully it won't be a problem.
Starting this doesn't seem very money saving with all the trial and error

Drawingaline

The people certified to do deva and official curly girl cuts are few, expensive and booked up! But finding a hairdresser you trust is just as important. Lots of people I spoke to used there normal hairdresser who allowed them to take their own products in for cowashing, would cut and leave them to dry and style.

The fb groups are definitely worth a dip into for info, the uk specific one had a map of certified hairdressers, and the files of products they hold are good for shopping. 

The noughty range is good for the budget end of the expensive if that makes sense. My daughter has to buy her own products now so only gets that for Xmas and birthdays as she is tight (money saving 😉) 

skint_chick

You can make your own flaxseed hair gel, or use the Noughty taming cream for styling products. I use Noughty wave hello shampoo and conditioner as I'm wavy curly and washing with conditioner was weighing my fine hair down. If you sign up to their loyalty scheme you get discount codes, if you're on FB there are curly girl groups where people post discount codes too. Garnier that other people have recommended are not cruelty free! There are supermarket own brands under £1 cruelty free you can use - if you're on FB I would recommend joining Curly Girl UK Support Group for advice and tips

Spoonie_Turtle

rdone said:

Thanks both!
It was the noughty range that I was looking at but even that seems reasonable to other products that I've looked at.  I use FIN now so will stick with that for my conditioner as I can refill it at a local shop.  It baffles me that something can be vegan and not CF, or the other way around - both are one and the same to me!

When they say vegan, they simply mean using no animal products or derivatives. Something can be cruelty-free and not vegan, e.g. if they use ethically-sourced honey, beeswax, lanolin, etc.

Many companies no longer test on animals themselves but either their parent companies do, or they fund testing of their finished products in markets that make it a legal obligation, most notably China. [There was one company who got round that by only selling online or something like that, and because they weren't sold in person they were exempt from the requirement.] Then there's PETA certification which is not the same as Leaping Bunny (PETA themselves being subject to controversy, of course) - ultimately it's up to each individual to do the best research they can and go with their conscience, as some may be satisfied that the smaller companies' specific products are fine, whereas others may object due to the parent companies' possible practices.

I've recently read that Suma are CF/ethical, though I can't remember if their conditioners are CG-friendly or not. They're not a brand that is often mentioned so I thought I'd say in case they are any use to you.