A Wavy Girl's Thoughts on Curl Training 

The look on your face and tone of your voice when you said "some people just run the Denman brush thru their hair, give it a twist & little shake and bada Bing bada boom, it just spirals on up!", followed by the look on your face when you tried it just really cracked me up for sone reason

I just tried a Denman for the first time the other day on my very loose 2a pattern. I think it did help clump things together and I also got better day 2 results than normal, so going to keep playing around with it - I'm just not very good at sectioning my hair so it got pretty messy in the back. Really enjoyed seeing you try the different techniques!

If nothing else you’ve taught me today that I can take apart my Denman brush and adjust the rows!! I was all Pikachu shocked face 😂

I’ve never had success with the Denman Brush, Finger Coiling, or Finger rolling. My hair likes scrunching too! Plus as a mom with super thick hair I’d be there all day doing those hair techniques! I like your method on wash days! ❤️

I'm a dude. Damaged from bleaching blonde, and also thinning (male pattern baldness). I've been following cgm for 3months. I have 2c-3a hair that goes half way down my Back. The denman brush does not work for me, as my hair is Soo weak it breaks even when untangled. So I just style with a wide tooth comb and products.

I definitely use my Denman brush differently. I have better results coiling my hair off the tip of the brush rather than the handle. When I first started playing with the curly girl method, brush styling my hair really helped "train" it while my damaged hair was growing out. I still use the Denman every once in while. Now that my hair is healthier, though, I usually just do the usual scrunching to save time and effort. I'm too lazy most of the time, lol.

Loved the video! I started curl training my healthy, loose curls and it became curlier about 6-8 months later and then I could begin using the denman brush without it getting stringy. I have recently started doing just a few finger rolls and on the top layer and overall my hair is a lot curlier and defined. I get more volume when I roll over my fingers, not under, and really unwrap the roll with my finger instead of letting it drop. Sometimes the curl falls and then I realized there was too much water so I started doing it on slightly dryer hair and they hold up much better

Courtney I think your hair turned out so flat because you didn't style it away from the scalp, perpendicular to your head. And then you have high density i.e. your hair weighs a lot so you really need to get it off of the roots which you usually achieve by styling upside down. As for my thoughts on curl training I don't think it actually works. A pattern is a pattern is a pattern. It may help with more damaged parts, maybe, to force them into a form looking similar to more healthy clumps and, as they get healthier, make them "remember" their natural state. It may enhance definition, yes, and help with frizz, yes, but eventually a healthy hair will get its clumps by "only" scrunching (which I think takes the least time out of all these techniques). However it is always fun trying new things and finger coiling, rolling and brush styling can be useful with wonky parts (and sure enough there's a lot of those in the beginning of a curly hair journey) but nothing beats a good ol' scrunch imo 🤷 And strong hold products 😉 Thank you for sharing the learning curve 🙏 You are not alone with huffin and puffin through the process resulting in... ok hair, even after all these years. Your hair is gorgeous in any state, up, down, brushed out, styled... I love it!💕

Just wanted to say thank you for explaining everything so well. After chemo my hair is growing back so curly, and I wanted to know how to care for it. Your videos have helped me make the most of my curls. Thank you.

I have been curl training for a more organized and uniform curl pattern. I am doing brush coiling. It looks like I used a 1 in curling iron all over. My curls turn towards my face. I love it so much. No frizz, so pretty, lasts to my next wash day, so many compliments.

I love how my hair is so, so much like yours!!! I felt your pain so much with the denman brush and the shaking hahaha! Thank God, I've found your channel, you life saviour!!! Thank you for your videos! I'd love to see you do the denman brush upside down (if that's actually possible and fun for you!). So curious to see the results!

Try that on waist length hair. That Denman brush can be brutal. 😂 I found that it just stretched my hair out from just the brushing and pulling. I have felt really dense trying to shake that curl into existence after the brush. Now I see that it is just hair type. I do like shaping the front set of pieces with finger curling. It actually matches what my hair used to do on its own. You cracked me up several times on this one.

Thanks for the demo and for keeping time. Seems do able now!

I'm just a scruncher. Seems like so much work to get good at coiling.

*shaking hair clump intensifies* 😂 watching your videos always make me laugh! I’ll have to try these techniques

Before I heard about the Denman brush, I would just use a wide-tooth comb. No snags! It doesn't have the nice pull that the Denman brush has, that's what I use now. But a comb might work for people with longer or thicker hair who get snags.

I've been watching your channel since beginning curly hair journey in May 2020. I have 2b, 2c and some 3a curls around my head. I have shorter hair, just above my shoulders and some layering so that may be why this works for me without snagging. I've found styling to work best for me on soaked hair, like you, using my wet brush upside down after applying leave-in (detangling first using the Wet Brush too, with my rinse out conditioner on my hair) I then immediately use one of these brushes: a 5, 7 or 9 row denman, or my curlkeeper paddle brush, or a denman D38 paddle while brushing through hair upside down like I did the Wet Brush. I scrunch in adding water over my handed to clump curls then add my gel, scrunch more adding water over hands as needed to clump without wet frizz. I usually wet plop x 5 mins, micro-plopping then diffuse. If I use any brushes after applying gel my clumps get stringy. Your method of brushing on soaking hair upside down then scrunching gives me the best curl clumps💞

I have 2c hair on the top of my head. While I have 2a - 2b hair on the back of my head. No matter how much I finger coil my back hair, it does not get curlier. But when I finger curl my top hair, it can get to a 3a curl. I definitely agree with what you said.

I use a wide tooth comb to get out the tangles, then the Denman brush when applying my products, it does take a few times to get the hang of it and it use to take a very long time but I like the definition in my curls with it. I have 2c/3b hair, We're all made differently, all different types of hair, just do what works best for your hair...enjoy your videos! I've learned so much about hair products and hair health. Thanks. :)

I think it also depends on how far along in your curl journey you are. I have wavy hair and curl training greatly impacted my hair. It gave the clumps more uniformity and since then, I’ve gotten spirals.

This is so true with me too！We type 2 girls really can't whip our waves into curls. Also you can try twisting your wrist instead of wrap your hair around the handle.

If you follow up the denman brush with some micro plopping, and add some gel about halfway through diffusing, the curls will stay in place. Plus you can do much larger sections.

Cool! Thank You for sharing

Oh this makes me so happy, I'm not alone! 😆 I have used the Denman Brush twice now on my fine, low-medium density, 2a-2c hair, I'm currently transitioning and I felt so awkward! I mean the struggle bus was so real that first time! The second time was better, but it's fun to see I wasn't the only one that really struggled to use it! Most the videos out there make it look so simple, I thought I was just very uncoordinated 😆

Courtney: I love that you put yourself out there and try new and sometimes uncomfortable things on your channel. I have been following you since fairly early in my "curly girl" journey and have learned a ton from you. We have different hair textures. You have fine, low porosity wavy hair. I, on the other hand, have baby fine, medium to high porosity, very curly AND wavy hair. I believe there's still a lot we can all learn from each other. So, with that in mind, I'll share my curl training story and routine in the hopes that it might help some other person out there on their curl journey. When I first started on this journey, I tried curl clumping (I didn't seem to get my curls to clump in anything other than pencil-thin curls that were wonky and I didn't have the patience to keep scrunching, like you do), finger-twisting (again, not very good at it and it didn't really make my curls clump together better), finger-rolling (HA!! that was a laugh a minute) and finally found the brush method. I tweaked it and used the Perfect Hair Care Brush or the Wet Brush vs. the Denman brush. My hair just doesn't like being styled with the Denman brush. I found that I could, most of the time. get my curls to go into larger curl clumps with this method, which was my goal. Problem?? (1) Amount of time it takes to do; and (2) It doesn't seem to last or refresh too well. (my curls want to revert back to pencil-thin messes). After months of styling my hair that way, I got fed up with it and went back to your upside-down, clumping method in the shower. OMG!!! My curls came out bigger and springier and prettier and just lovely!! The curls have lasted for a few days with little to no refreshing. Oh, and I also used the 3 layered gel method. So, my new routine is this: (1) wash, (2) condition (3) rinse in slightly cooler water upside down (4) spray leave-in and work through with my hands; (5) use 3 pumps of my normal curl cream and work through with my hands (6) brush with the Perfect Hair Care Brush to distribute everything evenly (7) scrunch a little (8) use a dollop of light hold gel and work through with my hands (9) brush to distribute evenly (10) scrunch (11) use a dollop of medium hold gel and repeat (12) use a dollop of strong hold gel and repeat (13) scrunch until it feels like there is no more product left sitting on top of my hair (trust me takes only about a minute before I'm done) (14) carefully scrunch my curl clumps using the perfect hair care towel in order to get the excess water out (15) plop in a microfiber turban towel for a while (16) diffuse about 5-10 minutes and finish air-drying I know that sounds like a lot to do, but it didn't take me as long as clipping my hair up in sections and then running the Perfect Hair Care brush through it and then diffusing for-frigging-ever. That takes some time and I didn't think it was worth the time. Who knew I was curl training my hair? Apparently, I was while I was using the brush method all those months. Now, I'm doing your scrunch method and moving on with my life. And if I don't have to do much refreshing on the subsequent days?? I'm all the more happy spending a little extra time and gels on wash days. Oh, and BTW, I'm one of those people that runs the brush through my hair and it curls, but I however IT wants to, not how I want it to. My hair is much curlier hair than yours, so that's to be expected. And I, too, put my hair up in a pineapple/messy bun 7 days a week. In fact, if I'm home, it's up. So be it. Doing that preserves my hair better. Don't ask me why or how. Any way, I hope that this can help someone else struggling with training their curls. Sheri

Great video! I was thinking about buying a denman brush and now I will probably not. I started ~CGM 2 months ago and my routine with styling and diffusing takes 1.5 hrs. I need to get that shorter before I go back to the office lol. My hair doesn't clump well together yet, hopefully that will change with time...

I'm old so I just use the old finger curl/pin curl method from back in the day. And luckily my hair just needs it on the top. But Courtney is my go to girl since I'm new to the curly girl method for my wavy curly hair. PS I never pineapple my hair at night! I pull it back loosely into a low ponytail with a silky scrunchie. The pineapple method pulled my hair straight. (My hair is very long.) Counterproductive to trying to get deep waves for me. ❤️

Not on topic but ur shirt makes ur eyes stand out and they match! So pretty!!! ♥️

I have a perm so my hair isn’t naturally curly, but when I permed it to be 2a-2c, the denman brush did absolutely nothing for me. Now that I’m 2c-3a it works wonders at making my curls into ringlets rather than frizzy zigzags!

I tried curl training using the Denman brush and decided that if I could go 4-5 days between washes it would probably be worth it. However as a wavy girl with a pretty oily scalp, I just wash my hair too often. Scrunch and pulse it is! I have been known to finger coil and pin a couple of the straight pieces around my face to help them out though!

I'm cackling. Thank you for this. I was driving myself crazy trying to understand how (the @!(*@() to finger curl and brush curl. My hair is verrrrrrry similar to yours, more of a fine S wave. I'm going to just go ahead and embrace the fact that scrunching upside down works way better for me than right side up. The look on your face is going to make me laugh forever. You honestly just helped me realize I can accept my hair exactly as it is and do what works.

I should really try this! Also can you please try the mender from botanika beauty? It is a protein treatment.

I have the perfect haircare and the Denman brush and I've tried to brush style my hair with the perfect haircare brush and it comes out okay, but I prefer to use the Denman because of the way it makes the curl clumps so smooth and its easier to brush coil if you want.

I have learned I'm good with a scrunch and pulse because like you my curls are looser and they clump when wet so yes I'm good on just flipping my hair over and scrunching away!!

I have less dense wavy hair, but my texture really varies between fine/coarse, and I struggle with curl clumping. The top sections are wavy and don't want to clump, so they benefit from upside-down scrunch styling (although they still get wonky at the roots!), while the lower sections are curlier and benefit from brush styling. I just need to figure out the perfect styling combo!

I use some brush styling but it's when I have my head flipped over. I don't do it that princely. What I mostly use the brush for is to smooth my waves aka decrease frizz and add definition.

My back hair is 2a and does not curl while the rest of my head is 2c and can get to 3a if I finger coil. My back hair is so flat!!! I’ll give that brush curling method a try.

I do agree using the Denman brush takes a little more time. I have been doing it for a while and it gets faster with time. My curls do get stretched out though and go almost straight with time, but my second day hair has been looking really good. I do have really fine hair, but I found when I fluff the roots upside down, it helps with volume.

LOVE Your videos! Can you do a video on the curl enhancing smoothie from Shea moisture please 🙏. I saw your video on the brand but I think the smoothie is actually a great product when used out of the brand

Curl training for the bottom 2/3rds of my hair has helped and now it can just be scrunched. My top layer had more damage and has gone completely white so it still doesn't want to clump properly no matter how much water is used, but these curl training methods help, does hurt the volume but I like the definition over a stringy top layer. My styling does take awhile and after 1.5 years I am still not fast at it, oh well.

When I finger roll (especially the front sections) I pin them up to counter the water weight you mentioned. It makes a big difference for me.

Your hair looks pretty similar to mine on some days lol my hair does what it wants

This video just made me even less inclined to try any of these methods. I was curious, but also my hair is frizzy(both while wet and dry, if I don't use some sort of frizz control product or oil) and the curls range in thickness. They "clump" in smaller sections in the back and towards the top of my head, there's some small ones throughout the middle and close to my face on the bottom while the rest is large or medium.

I use a denman brush. It did train my curls and bending over and scrunching is out of the question due to my health

The way you section your hair when you brush style really makes a difference in the finished look. Because you went half and half down the middle for this experiment, that definitely contributed to the lack of volume.

My hair is pretty long and very much on the swavy curly train, so styling upside down is very tricky for me! I actually do exactly what you did in this video and style it parted down the middle, and then when it's dry flip it to one side, and it gives me the perfect amount of volume!

I'm laughing at the comment, tell the hair where to go. That is too funny girl.

i would love to see you review the barrel brush from Scrunch It. the handle on that brush is meant to be used in making curls, and gets the curls right to the root . let us know!? :)

I'm now almost 2 months into doing the cgm, originally started this just to get my hair healthier again after having thyroid issues a few years ago and losing a lot of my hair. I already had fine thin hair as it was and that just made it even thinner. I have 2b 2c hair and it wants to do really small clumps that curl around each other. I've tried both finger coiling and a brush simular to the Denman (off brand) and neither worked, they just went straight when I tried them (I now think I might have been going the wrong direction with them). The funny thing is when I just decided to use it as a brush on my wet hair and just brush out my hair with it. It really curled up to tighter curls but still small clumps. Lol it could also be me still transitioning too. This made me want to try it again though and try it the opposite direction to see if I can get better results. Thank you for mentioning about going with the curl pattern instead of the opposite as I honestly didn't think about that!!!

I have never had success with the denman brush. I have also never seen the way you rolled it onto the handle before. Mainly I just take sections and twist in the direction of the curl until it is fully twisted then gently scrunch upside down. I get nice ringlets but my crown is still straight. I liked finger rolling but it took longer with my density and my rolls often had to be redone because of the way they came out. After doing these techniques once a week for a year or so I noticed that my hair would go back to ringlets even after brushing. You can also carefully brush each curl in the direction of the ringlet if brushing helps your hair. It helps me smooth down the frizz on days 3/4/5.

I tried the Denman brush after watching a Manes by Mel video a while back. I have fine hair so she showed me how to remove every other row to produce larger clumps. Trouble is that I kinda got it stuck in my hair. After I got it out and used it, the extra work didn't seem to be worth it. I have been using your technique and wash my hair upside down in the shower and also apply my products in there with a soaking wet head. The scrunching from that technique produce a far better result and seem to allow my hair to be itself and is far more curly.

Is it possible to start to train your hair to be more curly, if I also want to be able to blow out my hair and keep it styled with the sharkflex styler for a few days a week?

I have wavy long hair and I've tried finger rolling and it didn't work for me, it looked little curlier at first but after a couple of minutes it turned very loose waves.. I liked scrunshing result more... And I have never tried the denman brush.

I really think your hair would look amazing parted in the middle with curtain bangs.😃

So have you ever thought of trying to do the no poo method challenge? That's something that I'm trying to do at the moment and it seems to be working well, just having a hard time getting definition. I hate using all the chemicals in hair products. Just curious if you ever thought of trying it.

I never brush style my hair with hold in it. It never works if there is any hold in my hair. I also finger roll the front of my hair and have switched to denman detangling brush for the rest of my hair and it styles nicely. :)

Can you link some videos with the best recommended styling routine for people with fine and low/very low density hair. I have 2b/(2c) waves. I also have mostly low porosity. The ends are low to medium porosity. I have short to medium length hair. I have tried so many styling techniques but the results is not great. I have not yet had succes with mousse. Gel seems to work better. My primary concerns are flat, heavy and see through hair. ❤ love your videos.

2a up top and 2c underneath, medium density and thickness, bleached...fwiw in the shower, I pull my leave-in'd hair as I brush it -- using a Denman type brush as an intense detangler, really, like I was curling present-wrapping ribbon -- then scrunch and wet and gel and scrunch, that order, right side up. Plop until the tshirt falls off and diffuse if I'm lucky enough to have time. It's a nice middle ground between finger coiling and absolute fluffball.

Your hair looks exactly like mine.. I’d even say my hair is more wavy than that. I need to carry on with curling my hair. It drives me crazy when it’s not styled, but my hair takes sooooooo long…

I tried the rolling, but saw someone rolling it up rather than under. So that is what I did. Wasn’t too impressed on my 2b waves!

I want to try the denman so bad but I don’t think my hair would do anything but straighten & frizz... Had anyone tried w the wet brush- shine brush? Might attempt it first...

Does low porosity hair hold the water longer and high porosity hair dry faster? When I put my hair in a microfiber hair towel itKs dry in 5 minutes.

I have mostly 2A-C, very few 3A. The curl training is doing nothing for my mostly waves. If anything, it seems to be stretching the spirals more than making them tighter. The best hair days I've had was from good 'ol scrunching. Sure - some of them have that strange straight edge "C" look to them, but honestly I'm just over the time and effort I'm putting in when finger coiling or rolling.

I actually like the finger coiling side more :D

My 86 yr old grandmother still finger rolls her “waves/curls”, pins them overnight. I’ve seen this done my whole life, think id do it? haha nope, but late 30s I’m now starting the process of embracing my waves. And trying to learn to care for them before I totally ruin my daughters beautiful 3A/B curls 😭😭😭 Like mine.

Coolest thing I tried was kinda finger twisting it.

I get the best results brush styling.

the picture you show at the beginning when you say with styling this is what it looks like - blue shirt photo - is that from an eposide? Which one? Your hair looks phenomenal there

middle part is cute on you! i’ve been trying to transition to middle part and it’s definitely weird at first but i’m starting to love it and it’s a fun switch up from my normal look!

I’m hoping mine will look like yours when you plop and diffuse.

How do I figure out which way my curls go naturally? 🤔

You can only ✨enhance✨ your existing pattern, or get your curls looking their best, by using right application/styling technique for your own curls🤗 Anyone that gets drastic changes (IE 2B/2C hair into consistent corkscrews across their head), has to not only have the exact technique for their own hair figured out, but also a lot of hold, and even then their hair has to even be malleable enough to make a drastic change like that. AND even after all of that, it's just going to wash out on the next wash day, assuming it holds beyond day 1 or 2 🤷

How do you get your hair so shiny???

You need more product when you use the Denman brush babe

Just get a perm , then you can have really long curly hair , lots of love Liz xxx

I'm just so concerned with breakage. I have such dry hair and I can't seem to hydrate it. No matter how much I deep condition with hydrating conditioner it doesn't become moisturised enough. My hair just snaps still, it doesn't stretch at all. I don't use a single item with protein in it I made extremely sure to remove any trace of protein, including aloe Vera juice which seemed to be replicating protein in my hair. So... Brushing my hair when wet is a huge no. But I get the best results with a denman brush, so I feel like I'm stuck because scrunching my hair does absolutely nothing on my dry hair. It comes out looking like a huge frizzy mess even when I use microfiber/cotton/nothing on my hair. I literally follow every careful hair technique there is out there to keep it healthy and it still looks horrible no matter what I do. So then I end up with it pulled up in a clip so you can't see it. Finding products in the UK that are all protein/nut/aloe/sulphate/silicone free is basically impossible.

Where did you get your water spray bottle. I can’t find one that sprays that way

Courtney can you please share where you got your spray bottle? Thanks in advance. ❤️💓

Courtney, could you try using the Dyson hair curler/dryer??

Would never wrap my hair around the brush because it gets hung up. Easier just to use it like a rake and shake and then a bit of scrunch. Also I prefer damp styling to wet as it curls better and doesn't get weighed down with the water. Also takes hours and hours to dry. But whatever works for you.

I heard Oway's Sebum balancing hair bath is good for scalp oiliness. I am debating buying it because I have too many products. The scalp acne hurts though and I have those keratin cysts smh

What kind of vitamins do you take for your hair?……..

trying to brush style by brushing with tension and shaking NEVER WORKS for me. I'm glad I'm not alone in that!!!

Your hair is looking very long today! Pretty! Are you trying to grow the length out?

I’m learning to work with my wavy hair, but I do have a question. I haven’t done a blow out in a couple of weeks since my last trim. If I do one every now and then does that ruin everything, or can I still do the occasional straightening with a round brush and blow dryer? I ask because my hairstylist says she has to straighten my hair to finish my cut or so she says. When she did last, she had the dryer so hot and got so close to my scalp. I don’t want to ruin my hair. Help!

How do you tell which direction your waves go? The back of my hair has spiral curls so it's easy but near my face it's more wavy like2a or a slight 2b so it's really hard for me to see what direction they go in. How can I determine this?

What a lesson! Keep using what you have in different ways. Eventually you will discover your own personal way to achieve what you are wanting. Have you tried brushing each section completely up and then use your technique from that extreme angle? The roots might get a lift. Also, can you use root clipping for volume? I know that everything doesn't work for everyone, just a suggestion. Your hair looks great just as it is without products or styling. It also looks great scrunching, or brush styling. Thanks for showing us these techniques!

That is exactly what mine looks like product free I have kinks to.

Tried the finger roll today and I need more practice, lol. Also, my anyone else's hair look and feel greasy after diffusing, asking for me

If tried finger coiling and rolling, neither make my hair look that much better than brush styling to make the effort worth it lol.

😁😁🥰🥰

😁😂❤️🙏

What part of texas you live in?

My hair is on the wavy side but when I don't do anything to it there definitely are some curls

You cannot train your hair to be straight so why would you be able to train your hair to be curly? 😁 You can only make that wash day look better.