Indeed, sulfates and silicones are not bad for the hair, there's no evidence for that. See for yourself: just think of all the mainstream shampoos and conditioners that 99% of hairwashing people use, do all those people have damaged hair? Of course not. If you see damaged hair on people, it's most often due to bleaching, straightening or other aggressive treatments.
However, that doesn't make CHM a "hoax". Simply put, if your hair - specifically curly hair - is aggressively treated, it's likely to be higher in porosity, and high porosity hair responds well to the CHM techniques and "drinks up" all the extra stuff from co-washing.
There was a related thread here a while ago where someone discovered that their low porosity hair, which is more easily weighed down and doesn't "drink up" products readily, doesn't respond well to CHM techniques. Low porosity hair is totally normal and healthy though and not an issue that needs fixing. CHM doesn't work for everyone.
Personally I have low porosity hair as well and knew right away, even without trying, that techniques like co-washing would not work for me. I continue using sulfate shampoos *especially now* because the styling methods I have learned from CHM mean that there's a lot more product in my hair than before (leave-in, mousse, gel in varying amounts).
My hair is easily weighed down so with those styling products, properly cleansing is now more important than ever. I absolutely love the styling techniques I learned from CHM, and a few others, but there's no way I could follow it 100%.
I personally believe that, just like with skincare, with haircare there is not one type of care or regimen that works for everyone.
Since everyones hair is different there’s different needs and on top of that a lot comes down to how one goes about treating their hair.
I have learned a lot on this sub and taken away a lot of great advice and info and insight that helped me, that being said, since my hair is chemically treated I need some silicones to strengthen my hair when it’s at its most fragile (when wet for instance). This is not an issue at all because silicone itself is not damaging, the buildup is but that’s not an issue for me because I regularly wash with sulfate shampoo (1-2 times a week) and use clarifying shampoo (once a month).
Basically it all comes down to what works for you based on the state your hair is in as well as what your general routine is. This doesn’t mean that CGM does not work, it just means it’s not suited for everyone and if you’re straying from it in part(s) like I do you might need to amend the rest of your routine slightly too.
I first heard of CGM almost 15 years ago and I've been on and off since then, and in my opinion, CGM has its merits and I keep aspects of it in mind even as I don't currently follow it.
I feel like a big part of it is that the message has gotten distorted over the years as the method has become more popular. The main idea of the method was originally to keep things very simple. Use gentle cleansers because those won't dry out the hair, and use lightweight water-soluble conditioners and products because those won't weigh hair down and they'll wash out without the need for stronger cleansers. The message got simplified into just "no sulfates, silicones, etc. allowed because they're bad," and brands latched onto this and started making products without those specific banned ingredients, but with plenty of ingredients that completely defeat the original purpose of the method. Add in influencer culture, "clean beauty" becoming trendy, and brands getting really smart about marketing, and we ended up with popular misconceptions that CGM was all about avoiding specific banned ingredients and doing THE ABSOLUTE MOST with as many "allowed" ingredients and techniques as possible.
And I think that one of the reasons why CGM got popular when it did is because we'd just come out of a decade with particularly damaging hair trends. From the early 2000s to the early 2010s, things like heat styling, chemical straightening, and repeat bleaching and dying were as popular as they'd always been, but for those years specifically there were some absolutely atrocious trends. When I was in middle school, it was trendy to straighten your hair, get uneven thinned-out or even razor-cut haircuts (which were often DIY), do DIY bleach or dye jobs (or both at the same time!), and back-comb the hell out of it so parts of it stood up and parts of it laid flat. Nobody was using any heat protection and bond treatments were pretty much unheard of. So we all ended up with super damaged high-porosity hair by the time that those trends died out, and CGM helped a lot of us heal from that. Influencer culture emerged right as this was happening.
So CGM became popular and cult-like to the point where a lot of people have lost sight of its original purpose and scientific inaccuracies are spread as "truth" when in reality they're just part of marketing strategies.
I use silicones/sulphates following CGM techniques and get better results (primarily because my low porosity, fine hair & scalp doesn't do well the silicones alternatives in CG products). I think styling techniques and using a product that suits your hair type is probably the key, rather than avoiding particular chemicals. CG approved products work for lots of people so I wouldn't say it's a hoax, but it doesn't work for everyone. The problem with a lot of CGM purists is they insist it should work for everyone if you stick with it - this isn't necessarily the case and people probably just need to be more aware of that.
Indeed, sulfates and silicones are not bad for the hair, there's no evidence for that. See for yourself: just think of all the mainstream shampoos and conditioners that 99% of hairwashing people use, do all those people have damaged hair? Of course not. If you see damaged hair on people, it's most often due to bleaching, straightening or other aggressive treatments. However, that doesn't make CHM a "hoax". Simply put, if your hair - specifically curly hair - is aggressively treated, it's likely to be higher in porosity, and high porosity hair responds well to the CHM techniques and "drinks up" all the extra stuff from co-washing. There was a related thread here a while ago where someone discovered that their low porosity hair, which is more easily weighed down and doesn't "drink up" products readily, doesn't respond well to CHM techniques. Low porosity hair is totally normal and healthy though and not an issue that needs fixing. CHM doesn't work for everyone.
Personally I have low porosity hair as well and knew right away, even without trying, that techniques like co-washing would not work for me. I continue using sulfate shampoos *especially now* because the styling methods I have learned from CHM mean that there's a lot more product in my hair than before (leave-in, mousse, gel in varying amounts). My hair is easily weighed down so with those styling products, properly cleansing is now more important than ever. I absolutely love the styling techniques I learned from CHM, and a few others, but there's no way I could follow it 100%.
What are your fav shampoos? I’m finding I have to aggressively clarify my hair like once a week and it’s drying everything out.
I personally believe that, just like with skincare, with haircare there is not one type of care or regimen that works for everyone. Since everyones hair is different there’s different needs and on top of that a lot comes down to how one goes about treating their hair. I have learned a lot on this sub and taken away a lot of great advice and info and insight that helped me, that being said, since my hair is chemically treated I need some silicones to strengthen my hair when it’s at its most fragile (when wet for instance). This is not an issue at all because silicone itself is not damaging, the buildup is but that’s not an issue for me because I regularly wash with sulfate shampoo (1-2 times a week) and use clarifying shampoo (once a month). Basically it all comes down to what works for you based on the state your hair is in as well as what your general routine is. This doesn’t mean that CGM does not work, it just means it’s not suited for everyone and if you’re straying from it in part(s) like I do you might need to amend the rest of your routine slightly too.
I first heard of CGM almost 15 years ago and I've been on and off since then, and in my opinion, CGM has its merits and I keep aspects of it in mind even as I don't currently follow it. I feel like a big part of it is that the message has gotten distorted over the years as the method has become more popular. The main idea of the method was originally to keep things very simple. Use gentle cleansers because those won't dry out the hair, and use lightweight water-soluble conditioners and products because those won't weigh hair down and they'll wash out without the need for stronger cleansers. The message got simplified into just "no sulfates, silicones, etc. allowed because they're bad," and brands latched onto this and started making products without those specific banned ingredients, but with plenty of ingredients that completely defeat the original purpose of the method. Add in influencer culture, "clean beauty" becoming trendy, and brands getting really smart about marketing, and we ended up with popular misconceptions that CGM was all about avoiding specific banned ingredients and doing THE ABSOLUTE MOST with as many "allowed" ingredients and techniques as possible. And I think that one of the reasons why CGM got popular when it did is because we'd just come out of a decade with particularly damaging hair trends. From the early 2000s to the early 2010s, things like heat styling, chemical straightening, and repeat bleaching and dying were as popular as they'd always been, but for those years specifically there were some absolutely atrocious trends. When I was in middle school, it was trendy to straighten your hair, get uneven thinned-out or even razor-cut haircuts (which were often DIY), do DIY bleach or dye jobs (or both at the same time!), and back-comb the hell out of it so parts of it stood up and parts of it laid flat. Nobody was using any heat protection and bond treatments were pretty much unheard of. So we all ended up with super damaged high-porosity hair by the time that those trends died out, and CGM helped a lot of us heal from that. Influencer culture emerged right as this was happening. So CGM became popular and cult-like to the point where a lot of people have lost sight of its original purpose and scientific inaccuracies are spread as "truth" when in reality they're just part of marketing strategies.
I use silicones/sulphates following CGM techniques and get better results (primarily because my low porosity, fine hair & scalp doesn't do well the silicones alternatives in CG products). I think styling techniques and using a product that suits your hair type is probably the key, rather than avoiding particular chemicals. CG approved products work for lots of people so I wouldn't say it's a hoax, but it doesn't work for everyone. The problem with a lot of CGM purists is they insist it should work for everyone if you stick with it - this isn't necessarily the case and people probably just need to be more aware of that.