How to get the absolute best out of your curly hair and UK product guide- where to get your CG friendly silicone free and sulphate free products from British supermarkets and drugstores. Updated for 2020.

This post has been a long time in the making. It’s taken years of experimentation to finally feel like I have control over my hair. My hair is wavy but not curly in that fetching Sarah Jessica Parker way, more like some wool that that the cat played with then sat on. For many years I just wore a bun or for special occasions I would straighten the life out of my curls. Not any more, I’ve figured out how to make my curly hair a lovely feature. With bouncy textured hair being so fashionable, now is the time to embrace your inner curly girl.

I wanted to catalogue all the curl friendly products that you can get hold of easily in the UK when you’re doing your normal shop. Stuff that you see everyday but might not know is suitable for curly hair. The clues are all in the ingredient list, but if you don’t feel like reading the backs of lots of bottles, I’ve done the hard work for you. 

Contents

1. The curly girl technique
2. Ingredients to avoid
3. Curly girl friendly shampoos from UK supermarkets
4. Silicone free and sulphate free conditioners from UK supermarkets
5. CG friendly deep conditioners from from UK supermarkets and drugstores
6. Silicone and sulphate free styling products from UK supermarkets and drugstores
7. Curly girl friendly products from drugstores (Boots and Superdrug)
8. CG friendly online finds
9. My favourite products

How to Make the Most of your Natural Curl- The Techniques

Even if you just have a bit of a wave these tips will definitely work to bring out the best in your hair. So, I’ve taken all of my inspiration from The Curly Girl Method, which is a way of gently caring for hair and choosing products to make the most of curls. Check out the site, there’s a lot of information to take in.

For those in the know, my hair is thick and coarse with a 2b/c curl pattern. It might help you to figure out your curl pattern so you can search for YouTubers and Instagrammers with a similar hair type to get tips. I used the principles for a few months and  after tweaking the products and techniques, I’ve figured out precisely what to do to get shiny defined curls. It really only takes minutes to employ the techniques once you get the swing of things-

1. Chuck these products– anything that contains sulphates, silicone, alcohol, waxes and paraffin. This isn’t easy. I’ve spent hours in Sainsbury’s poring over labels. Most of the Curly Girl information on the internet is aimed at Americans so I’ve had to figure things out myself largely. It involved googling lots of chemicals. Hardcore Curly Girl Method recommends cutting out perfumes as well, which would really limit your options. The next chapter of this post contains a list of all the curl safe products that you can easily find in the UK.
2. Do one last clarifying wash– This step is necessary to strip out all the build up of oils waxes and silicones from your hair before you can begin. The shampoo doesn’t need to be anything special, it just has to contain sulphates- Sodium Laureth Sulphate or Sodium Laryl Sulphate, you probably have some in the house.
3. Only wash your hair when needs be- The longer you leave your hair between shampooing, the better. Of course you may shower every day and get your hair wet, but resist temptation to lather up on the daily. Use conditioner instead. I have two conditioners in my shower and one sulphate free shampoo. One deep conditioner for days I need to shampoo and a lighter daily conditioner. This conditioner only technique is called co-wash, you basically wash your hair with conditioner. To make the most of your hair, wash largely with conditioner and shampoo infrequently (say once a week) with a sulphate free shampoo.
4. Don’t brush– I haven’t brushed my hair in years. I comb the conditioner through my hair with my fingers to get rid of knots, but that’s it. You could use a wide toothed comb to tease out tangles.
5. Rinse– This is where I made my tweaks that really took my curls to the next level. When you’re done in the shower and your hair is still full of conditioner step aside, turn the shower to cool and rinse your hair with your head tipped upside down. You can leave a little bit of conditioner in your hair to serve as a leave-in. Once you have finished, turn the shower off squeeze some of the water out and don’t move…
6. Styling product– Find your holy grail product that has just the right amount of hold for you (see below for recs) and keep it in the shower. With sopping wet hair and your head still upside down, grab a small blob of product and scrunch it into my wet wet hair, at the same time squeezing water out. Squeeze in product and squeeze out the water.
7. Don’t use a towel, for the love of god– Towel drying curly hair is not a great idea, it fluffs it right up. You’re best off plopping or using a microfibre hair cap, they’re fab.
8. The curls must be left to dry without disturbing them in any way-  If you you live in a warm country this is no problem. I don’t happen to live in a warm country so I just do my hair thing as early as physically possible and let nature take its course. Sometimes I do a gentle diffuse on a low energy setting to speed things up. There are steamers and drying caps you can get to steam hair you really need your curls to look right.
9. Once your hair is dry- If it feels crunchy once it’s dry, give it a squeeze to break up the dried product. If it’s a bit frizzy get some product in your palms and scrunch it or twiddle particular coils.

Basically curly hair is like a special snowflake and if you fuss with it, it’ll throw its toys out of the pram and ruin your day. All my hair styling goes on in the shower and after that I just touch wood and hope for the best. Choosing products and techniques that suit your particular curls is a matter of experiment, you might need to play around with things a bit until you find what works for you.

Like I said, there is wealth of resources for American curlies, but it’s harder to find product information elsewhere. So you have to get wise to product labels. The phrase “natural ingredients” means nothing. Choosing products that make the most of curly hair is surprisingly difficult. Cosmetics companies make claims about products making hair bouncy and shiny but unfortunately these are lies and most hair products contain ingredients that are likely to make wavy and curly hair frizzy.

Ingredients To Avoid If You Have Curly Hair-

Sulphates- Seen on ingredients labels as Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, alkyl benzene sulfonate, alkylbenzene sulfonate, ammonium cocoyl sulfate, ammonium cocoyl sulphate, the list goes on. These strip hair of its natural oils and dry it out. It will also strip colour from hair, so if you dye your hair, going sulphate free is a good idea. Sulphates will dry the scalp, so cutting them out will help with persistent irritation.

Silicones- Like dimethicone, are added to hair products because they give products a pleasant slippery feeling, but (especially if you only use sulphate free shampoo) they will build up on the hair cuticles and weigh hair down. Silicones can be recognised in the ingredients list by the endings -cone, -siloxane, -con…

Waxes and non natural oils such as mineral oil, petrolatum and beeswax should be avoided as they will weigh curls down.

Alcohols, (like isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, alcohol denat, propyl alcohol and propranolol) can be very drying and are best avoided. These shouldn’t be confused with moisturising alcohols (like cetearyl alcohol, acetyl, laurel, behenyl, stearyl, myristyl) which are ok.

A full list of good and bad ingredients can be found on CurlyGirlUK FaceBook Group, it’s best to check this list if you’re not sure.

Products Suitable for Curly Hair in UK Shops

My favourite Curly Girl shopping experience in the U.K. is in Savers. There is more choice in Savers than Tescos/Morrisons/Sainsbury etc by far. It’s a one stop shop. You’ll find the odd gem in supermarkets, Tesco has a few.

In terms of shampoos suitable for curly hair, Savers is the only UK high street shop that does a cheap sulphate free shampoo. Savers is sooo cheap! In the supermarkets, it’s really only baby shampoo to choose from. This is fine as long as you don’t mind smelling like a baby (I have to admit I quite like the smell, v. comforting). Conditioner and styling products are slightly easier.

Aldi did do some conditioners suitable for daily conditioning and cowashing but at the moment it looks like they’ve been discontinued. Lidl has literally nothing to choose from. Tesco and Boots have some fab bargains for styling products- own brand gels and curl cremes.

Sulphate Free Shampoo from UK Supermarkets

These are few and far between. For example, the Tresemmé Naturals and Botanique range looks promising, but there is only one conditioner that is silicone free but the shampoo contains sulphates. Tresemmé likes putting “0%” on their bottles- you need to pretty much ignore the front label and just read the ingredients. The only sulphate free silicone free shampoos that I could find in UK supermarkets are these-

• Johnson’s Top to Toe Baby Bath £2 for 500mls Available in all UK supermarkets and drugstores
• Johnson’s 2 in 1 Shampoo £2 for 500mls Available from some supermarkets, Savers and Wilkos

  

• Johnson’s Baby Shampoo £2 for 500mls this has had a recent (2019) reformulation and is now curly girl friendly, from all UK supermarkets and drug stores
• Professor Scrubbington Magically Foaming Shampoo and Conditioner £3.99– All natural and totally affordable shampoo from Ocado
• Good Bubble Shampoo £3.50 for 250mls from Sainsbury’s

  

I will update if I ever I come across suitable SLS free shampoos in the supermarket (update, I had another scour of the shelves Jan 2020 and still only the baby shampoos that I listed were suitable). It’s far easier to find sulphate free products online and in drugstores like Savers, Boots and Superdrug.

Sulphate Free and Silicone Free Conditioner for Cowash from UK Supermarkets

It is easier by far to find Curly Girl safe Conditioner than shampoo at the supermarket.

• Tresemmé Perfectly Undone Weightless Silicone-Free Conditioner 500ml £5.49 This might have been discontinued. Tresemmé Botanique says 0% silicone on the front sticker but there are silicones on the ingredients list.
• Tesco Own Brand Extracts Conditioner (not the shampoo) 80p for 500ml They do a few fragrances- blueberry, apple, tropical, coconut and raspberry.

  

• Garnier- Ultimate Blends Sleek Restorer and Colour Illuminator, Hair Food Coconut and Banana Conditioner 400ml £4.49 Widely available, Boots, Superdrug, Tescos, Wilkinsons…

  

• L’Oreal Paris Elvive Extraordinary Clay Conditioner 400ml £4.49 (not purely CG friendly- contains isopropyl alcohol, but no silicone) A good one for greasy hair cowashing Widely available, Boots, Superdrug, Tescos, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Wilkinsons…
• Schwarzkopf Gliss Ultimate Volume Conditioner 200ml £2.13 dark blue bottle, Available Ocado, maybe Boots
• Faith in Nature Conditioner £9.99 from Ocado, Oxfam and some Tescos
• Lacura Apple/Coconut Conditioner from Aldi 59p for 400ml. No idea what this is like at 60p. I thought these had been discontinued, there’s no trace of them on the Aldi’s website, but there they are in the shop. I have the photo to prove it-

  

Another good place for suitable products for curly hair is pound shops and bargain shops like Savers and B&M. Savers is my personal favourite for curly girl friendly shampoo and conditioners, there are a few nice products and they’re super cheap. Check out-

• Provoke Touch of Silver Colour Care Conditioner around 99p
• Argan Oil Conditioner around 99p
• XHC Shimmer of Silver Conditioner £2.19 ish for 200mls from Savers
• XHC X-Pel Therapeutic Shampoo, treatment for Dandruff, Psoriasis/Itchy £1.99 for 300ml from Savers
  
• XHC Banana, Ginger, Green Tea, Strawberry Shampoo and Conditioners are all curly girl friendly 99p from Savers

  

• Inecto Pure Coconut Oil Conditioner around 99p for 500mls

Curly Girl Friendly Deep Conditioners UK

• Garnier Ultimate Blends Hair Food Banana, Papay, Aloe Vera and Coconut 3 in 1 Mask Treatment £6.99 from Boots, Superdrug, Tesco and Sainsburys

  

• Superdrug Argan Hair Therapy Pre Shampoo Hair Treatment £3.99 for 150ml (contains a drying alcohol, but is sulphate free and silcone free)

Curly Girl Friendly Hair Styling Products From UK Supermarkets

• Umberto Giannini Curl Jelly Scrunching Jelly £7 for 200ml- This is a gel type styling product in a pink tube, it’s one of my favourites. It’s also vegan. You might find it in the larger Tescos, Boots and Superdrug
• Tesco Own Brand Styling Gel 45p for 300mls!

  

• Wilkinson’s Own Brand Extra Hold Gel 80p for 500mls
• Wilkinson’s Own Brand Firm and Extra Firm Hold Mousse £1 for 300mls
• Wella Shockwave Volume Mousse (this one specifically) £3 for 200mls
• Pantene Pro V Natural and Medium Definition Curl Mousse– £2.95 for 200 mls

  

• Vo5 Styling Gel £3 for 200ml, widely available from Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, Boots…
• Schwarzkopf Got2b Twisted Anti-Frizz Styling Spray £4 for 200ml from Savers, Ocado, Tesco?
• XHC Frizz Free and Fabulous Anti Frizz Serum 99p for 60ml from Savers- A nice one for reducing frizz on dry hair, no silicone feel to it , more like a liquid gel.

  

Sulphate Free and Silicone Free Free Haircare from UK Drugstores

Take your search a bit wider from the supermarkets to the drugstores (aka Boots and Superdrug) and there are is a lot more to choose from-

• Kind Natured– Available from Boots. Kind Natured contains no sulphates, no silicone, no parabens, no petrochemicals across their range. It’s also very affordable at around £5 a piece. A good solid CG friendly choice.

  

• Tresemmé Pro Collection Colour ShinePlex Sulphate Free Shampoo £2.49 for 400ml from Boots (contains a drying alcohol)

• Shea Moisture– A wide range of curl friendly products with a slightly bigger price tag- about £11 for a shampoo. Available from Boots

• Bumble and bumble Curl sulphate free shampoo £24 for 250ml

• Cantu– A mid range brand based on Shea Butter for all sort of curls and kinks, from Superdrug.
• Fruity Conditioner in Cherry & Almond and Coconut £2.49 for 535ml from Superdrug. Fruity replaces the discontinued Extracts range, it now only has two types- dry and coloured, they come in a pump bottle.
• Maui Moisture– Silicone and Sulphate free hair care for all hair types, £8.99 each. Available from Amazon (the conditioner contains a drying alcohol, but is silcone free, the shampoos contain a questionable surfactant so are not purely CG friendly).
• Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo and Conditioner– Haircare from the well known creater of the all natural Hot Cloth Polish, a bit pricey at £12, check it out at Amazon.
• Noughty– Shampoos and conditioner range that’s entirely free from nasties, from Superdrug, costing around the £7 mark.
• Twisted Sista– Only the gels are CG friendly, not the shampoo and conditioners.
• Faith in Nature– Sulphate and Silicone Free conditioners costing £9.99. From
• Boots Curl Crème– This is a little wonder with a cult following. £1.99 (!!) for a big old tub, it’s perfect for defying curls, but it doesn’t offer long term moisturisation. It contains isopropyl alcohol, so is not strictly curly girl friendly and could be drying with long term use. Read my review here. I also use the Boots cheaper than cheap hair gel and find it perfectly fine.

Sulphate Free and Silicone Free Haircare Online Finds

A couple of random things that I’ve come across online and liked that fit the curly bill.

• The Good Wash– A Welsh company makes products that are 99% natural and give profits back to charity. Their conditioner is CG friendly and it smells lush £15 for 250mls from TheGoodWash
• Bouclème– A British haircare company with cute packaging and curl friendly principles. Price point- £19 for 300mls from Bouclème
• Rahua– Super expensive (£38 for a conditioner) haircare from the rainforest, for when you fancy a treat. Rahua Is pronounced Ra-Wa.
• Hair is Fabric from Deciem– Here’s a review I did recently on HIF. It’s a broad range of Cleansing conditioners costing around £30 a tube. They’re not all CG friendly but my favourite, Hydration is ok. It makes my hair really soft.

My product line up is Kind Natured Shampoo once or twice a week. I use the Rahua conditioner on the days I shampoo for extra moisture, and the Shea Moisture Weightless Crème Rinse every other day. My styling product of choice is the Cantu Shine and Define Custard, it gives the perfect amount of hold. I also love XHC conditioners and shampoos from Savers, Boots Curl Creme and Gel and Umberto Giannini Curl Jelly.

I hope I have given you some useful inspiration. If you have any movement in your hair then the Curly Girl Method is worth researching. If you don’t have a natural wave but find your hair gets frizzy, or your scalp is dry going Sulphate free might be extremely beneficial. It’s been surprisingly difficult compiling this list, I’ve gone half mad reading ingredients lists.

For more information and curly hair chat check out the Curly Girl UK Reddit group. For a full list of taboo ingredients check this Wikihow.

I think that’s it, phew! If you have any great product tips for managing curly hair in the UK, please let me know in comments. (This post is not sponsored, link may be affiliate, which means that if you click and spend, some money goes back to my blog).