In the natural community, there are products and ingredients that get a lot of shine. They are loved by one and all, but I’m here to give the unpopular opinion that they aren’t all that. Here are my top five hair product ingredients that are overrated and that you can afford to take out of your rotation entirely.
Shea Butter
I dislike shea butter. There, I said it, and it felt good! But for the life of me, I can’t get away from it. It seems to be at the top of every ingredient list and used and loved by one and all. It’s thick, sticky, and when it dissolves, becomes oily.
I don’t think I’m the only one who shares this sentiment. There are kinky haired women walking around with oily unresponsive hair, with shea butter as the culprit because they were told that it was the miracle ingredient.
However, if there was ever an argument for casting aside hair typing and focusing more on hair porosity, this is it. It took me one and half years of naturalness to realize that I’m a low porosity natural and shea butter just sits there. So if you aren’t getting results from shea, then consider something lighter like oil, regardless of how tight your kinks are.
Aloe Vera Gel
Like the aforementioned shea butter, I just don’t get the hype. I firmly subscribe to the belief that “out with the old and in with the new,” which is why I don’t understand why aloe vera is still one of the most popular hair product ingredients.
It’s in just about everything, but it really just can’t hold a candle to flax seed gel. By itself, aloe just doesn’t have the hold to set styles like twist and braid outs or lay down edges. Also, if used by itself for curl defining, you would have to use an industrial sized jar to get the job done. Yet aloe continues to steal the spotlight when flax seed gel, which has hold and defines like a dream, gets no attention.
Water
Before you skip over this one and cast it in the pile of, “This makes no darn sense,” just hear me out. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t use water at all. After all, what would we wash our hair with? Instead, I think that many naturals should reduce their water usage — no more spritzing, remoisturising, midweek detangling with water, etc.
They say that the more water we add to our hair, the more moisturized it will be, but all the while we are constantly manipulating our hair. Remember that hair is weakest when wet. Also, water by itself just doesn’t do it for most curlies. If you have to add something on top to finish off the job, then why not just save yourself the trouble and moisturize well from day one and avoid walking around dripping wet throughout the week?
