Whether you are newly natural or a veteran natural, the main goal in choosing hair products should be to find hair products that work for your hair. I’ve had my fair share of products in my seven years of being natural. When it comes to finding natural hair products that work, each person’s hair is different. The only true way for you to determine which products work best is to try the products out on your hair. When I try new products, I have a list of factors that help me decide whether a product is a success or fail.
Cleansers
I love a good shampoo. There are so many different types of shampoos on the market, such as shampoo bars, clarifying shampoos, moisturizing shampoos, and also clays. For me, the most important element in choosing a shampoo is that my hair is left clean and free of residue. I look for shampoos that remove product buildup but don’t leave my hair feeling stripped. I also love shampoos that leave my hair feeling soft with great slip. One of my favorite shampoos to use is Design Essentials Naturals Almond and Avocado Shampoo. It doesn’t leave my hair feeling stripped and the avocado oil helps to soften and moisturize my curls for a faster detangling process.
Conditioners
There are four different types of conditioners: daily conditioner (aka rinse-out conditioner”>, leave-in conditioner, deep conditioner, and a strengthening conditioner (aka protein treatment”>. When it comes to choosing a conditioner for my hair, I am very picky. You don’t have to use them all in your hair regimen. I like to use a deep conditioner and a leave-in on every wash day. A good deep conditioner must have great slip and leave my hair very moisturized and soft. Also, I don’t like for my deep conditioners to just sit on top of my hair. Leave-in conditioners must make my hair soft and easy to detangle after use. Right now I am in love with TGIN Honey Miracle Hair Mask for my moisturizing deep conditioner. This deep conditioner is one of the best that I have tried for moisture. It leaves my strands soft and manageable. I use Mielle Organics Babassu Oil and Mint Deep Conditioner as my strengthening conditioner. It invigorates your scalp and also gives my hair some major slip, leaving it easy to detangle. For my leave-in I like to use Jane Carter Revitalizing Leave In, because it’s lightweight and penetrates into my hair strands, leaving them moisturized.
Moisturizers
The job of a moisturizer is to keep your hair from becoming dry and breaking. When looking for a hair moisturizer, it needs to easily absorb and make my hair softer after use. I like to use TGIN Butter Cream Daily Moisturizer in my regimen. This lightweight moisturizer leaves my low porosity hair very moisturized without sitting on top of my hair.
Oils
I love using various oils on my natural hair because of their different benefits. I love to use grapeseed oil because it’s super light and it also it helps strengthen the hair follicles. When choosing oils for my natural hair, I look for oils that leave my hair soft and also oils that help keep my dandruff and dry scalp issues at bay.Two of my favorite oils are grapeseed oil and sweet almond oil, because they are very lightweight.
Styling Products
There are lots of hair styling products to choose from, such as curl definers, gels, and styling creams. Depending on the use of the stylers I choose, they must give good curl definition, not leave any white residue, cocktail well with other products, and not leave my hair hard or crunchy. There are three stylers I am loving right now. EDENBodyworks Coconut Shea Curl Defining Crème has an amazing ability to create defined styles, Camille Rose Naturals Curl Maker has reliable hold without crunch, and CURLS Blueberry Bliss Twist N Shout Cream leaves my styles soft and popping with moisture. I use all three of these products when I do twist-outs, braid-outs, and even rod sets.
How do you determine if a product is a success or fail?
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