Ingredients to Avoid & Have in Curly hair Products for CG Friendly Routine

In the CG method of taking care of your curly hair, also called as Curly Girl Method, you do not use any product with sulphates & silicones. You also avoid styling gels with alcohol in them. I know it’s not easy getting products for curly hair in India & then avoiding two extremely common ingredients makes it even tougher!

BUT, there are many CG Friendly products available in India now, thanks to Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, Purpelle & others. And newer & newer products keep getting introduced. There are some mentioned in this post – My Favourite Curly Hair Products in India.

If you’re interested in following this method, get in the habit of reading the ingredient labels on the products before buying them. With time, you’ll quickly learn to spot the culprits.

I’ve also collated a long ass list of ingredients from different guides, books & posts online that is given below. You can copy paste the list in a word document & compare the ingredients ( Control + F makes it quicker) whenever you are shopping online.

Categorisation:

Harsh Sulphates: Most common in shampoos, strip natural oils from the hair & makes it dryer & frizzier.
Mid Surfactant – Less drying, recommended instead of Harsh sulphates for cleansing & clarifying.
Bad Silicones– Build up on the hair strand, do not allow further moisture to get in. Not soluble in water. Need sulphates to be remove.
Mild Silicones – Silicones that are not soluble in water but prevent more buildup
Milder Silicone – Silicones that are slightly soluble in water, but will still build up gradually
Safe Silicones – Silicones that are soluble in water. They often have “PEG” or “PPG” added in the beginning
Proteins– Be careful with it, use this only if you hair needs protein treatment. If your hair is normal & does not need proteins, it can make your hair dry, brittle & breakable.
Alcohols– Written safe or avoid. They can often dry out your curls & are commonly added in Gels.

The ones in bold are to be avoided if you are strictly following the CG method. I don’t fully, if you want to know why, you can read this post.

Ingredient List

1. Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate- Harsh Sulphates
2. Ammonium Laureth or Lauryl Sulfate – Harsh Sulphate
3. Ammonium or Sodium Xylenesulfonate – Harsh Sulphate
4. Amodimethicone– Bad Silicones
5. Babassuamidopropyl betaine – Mild Surfactant
6. Behenoxy Dimethicone – Milder Silicone
7. Behenoxy Dimethicone– Bad Silicones
8. Behentrimonium methosulfate – Mild Surfactant
9. Behenyl alcohol- Safe
10. Benzophenone-2, ( or 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) – sunscreen – Safe Silicone
11. Bis-aminopropyl dimethicone– Bad Silicones
12. C30-50 Alcohols- Safe
13. Cetearyl alcohol- Safe
14. Cetearyl Methicone – Bad Sillicone
15. Cetyl alcohol- Safe
16. Cetyl Dimethicone– Bad Silicone
17. Cocamidopropyl Betaine – Mild Surfactant
18. Coco Betaine – Mild Surfactant
19. Cocoamphoacetate – Mild Surfactant
20. Cocoamphodipropionate – Mild Surfactant
21. Collagen – Protein
22. Cyclomethicone- Bad Silicone
23. Cyclopentasiloxane- Bad silicone
24. Denatured alcohol – Avoid
25. Dimethicone – Bad Silicone
26. Dimethicone Copolyol – Safe Silicone
27. Dimethiconol– Bad Silicone
28. Dioctyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate – Harsh Sulphate
29. Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate or Cocoamphodipropionate – Mild Surfactant
30. Disodium lautreth sulfosuccinate – Mild Cleansers
31. Emulsifying Wax- Safe Silicone
32. Ethanol- Avoid
33. Ethyl PEG-15 Cocamine Sulfate – Harsh Sulphate
34. Hydrolyzed Collagen Protein – Protein
35. Hydrolyzed Silk Protein- Protein
36. Hydrolyzed Soy Protein- Protein
37. Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein Hydroxypropyl Polysiloxane– Safe Silicone
38. Isocetyl alcohol- Safe
39. Isopropanol- Avoid
40. Isopropyl alcohol- Avoid
41. Isostearyl alcohol- Safe
42. Keratin Amino Acids- Protein
43. Keratin- Protein
44. Lanolin alcohol- Safe
45. Lauroamphoacetate – Mild Surfactant
46. Lauryl alcohol- Safe
47. Lauryl Methicone Copolyol– Safe Silicone
48. Lauryl PEG/PPG-18/18 Methicone- Safe Silicone
49. Methychloroisothiazolinone – preservative – Safe Silicone
50. Mineral oil (paraffinum liquidum) – Avoid
51. Myristyl alcohol- Safe
52. Natural oils: Avocado oil, Olive oil, Coconut oil, etc.
53. PEG-Dimethicone, or any other ‘cone with “PEG-” suffix- Water Soluble Silicon- Safe Silicone
54. PEG-Hydrogenated Castor Oil – Safe Silicone
55. Petrolatum- Avoid
56. Phenyl trimethicone– Bad Silicones
57. Propanol- Avoid
58. Propyl alcohol- Avoid
59. SD alcohol 40- Avoid
60. Silk Amino Acids- Protein
61. Silk Protein- Protein
62. Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate – Harsh Sulphate
63. Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate – Mild Surfactant
64. Sodium Cocoyl Sarcosinate – Harsh Sulphate
65. Sodium Laureth, Myreth, or Lauryl Sulfate – Harsh Sulphate
66. Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate – Harsh Sulphate
67. Sodium Xylenesulfonate- Harsh Sulphates
68. Soy Protein- Protein
69. Stearoxy Dimethicone– Milder Silicone
70. Stearyl alcohol- Safe
71. Stearyl Dimethicone– Bad Silicone
72. TEA-Dodecylbenzenesulfonate – Harsh Sulphate
73. Trimethylsilylamodimethicone – Bad Silicone
74. Waxes: bees wax, candelilla wax, etc. – Avoid
75. Wheat Amino Acids- Protein
76. Wheat Protein- Protein
77. Witch hazel- Avoid

Whew! It’s a long list I know. You can always save the ones in bold if you don’t want such a huge list in a note on your phone. Hope this helps. 🙂

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You can check out my curly hair video tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5sgj8z9pwU&t=2s

Stay Curly, Stay Happy!