Stop looking for products that (mysteriously) "work"

I frequently observe naturals saying that a product didn't work, or worse, that they can't find any product that works at all. No one ever knows exactly what another person means by this or whether that person even knows themselves. Is product purchasing completely a blind gamble to you? Do you know what you want beforehand or are you basically saying "surprise me" with every purchase? Empowered, knowledgeable product junkies are fine but if you are one of those with an extensive (and expensive!) graveyard of failed products then this is for you! If you don't have healthy hair but you think the path to healthy hair is buying random, potentiality damaging products that make your hair LOOK healthy temporarily but can cause more harm eventually then this is for you as well. If you buy healthy products but your hair still isn't all the way there because you don't know how to use your products in a complete regimen then again, this is for you, keep reading!

Before you buy your next product, STOP!

First, your whole way of thinking about products needs to change. Products (as in those things on store shelves or online with multiple ingredients) aren't something that you MUST put on your hair to MAKE your hair "work" or "look good" or be healthy. Products aren't necessary in order to be natural or to have healthy hair. Stop looking to products to solve all your hair "problems," especially random products that you know nothing about. Healthy hair looks good. If you want moisturized hair with great sheen / shine that retains moisture and definition then the best place to start is with healthy hair. Start with making your hair ACTUALLY healthy rather than desperately relying on the quick fix tricks in some products that make your hair only APPEAR to be healthy. You should recognize that products generally look better when enhancing healthy hair than when propping up dry or damaged hair too. By now you can see the trend and where your focus should be (healthy, healthy, healthy!). If you want hair that looks good and behaves well then you should focus on achieving healthy hair.  This blog is a good place to start :-).

Healthy natural hair is not about Shea Moisture, Wen, Kinky Curly or the clearance rack at the bss. It's about cleansing, conditioning, moisturizing and sealing, ... with the occasional trim, ... the end. All naturals need to do these things but how each person does them depends on their particular hair. Do you know(!) your hair? And no(!), I don't mean curl size! Do you know your strand thickness, porosity and other factors and whether they vary across different sections of your hair? Does your hair get dry easily, tangle easily, shrink a lot, absorb product quickly or with difficulty or too much? Does your hair clump easily, retain moisture, lose definition quickly? Is it naturally frizzy (there's a difference between frizz and normal curl pattern btw, frizz is what your hair does when it isn't in its normal pattern)? So many questions ... and many naturals spend way too little time trying to find and answer these questions for themselves and way too much time in less important endeavours like staring at their strands trying to figure out whether they are 2c or 4b. The more you know your own hair, the more you begin to realize how different and similar different heads of hair can be, whether they look like yours or not. You will be less likely to be swayed, and eventually disappointed, by rave reviews from other naturals. Ask the important questions and note the answers. That's the first step to aware product buying.

Once you understand your hair, the next step is to understand what ingredients do. Even simple things like water or olive oil are hair ingredients with effects on the hair. An ingredient can improve hair health alone or in combination with other ingredients. An ingredient can make the hair "look" better in some way but not actually improve hair health or even damage the hair over time. An ingredient can be highly effective or minimally effective, it can be high quality or poor quality, it can be expensive to purchase or cheap, readily available, or hard to source. An ingredient can be chemically safe or unsafe. Start learning about ingredients and what they do. Read and research ALL of the ingredients in all the products you love or hate or are ok with. Yes, every single one! Too much work? It's not that serious? The alternative is to keep wasting time and money and being easily fooled because you don't know what you're doing, or in this case buying. The alternative is to think you've found products that work but one day find that your hair is just breaking uncontrollably or is very unmanageable due to long term previously-hidden damage. The alternative is to be completely dependent on one set of products and be unable to go even one day without them, and heaven help if one day the company changes the formula or stops producing one of your staples because then you're back to square one! Those alternatives are not appealing, to me at least! Once you know what ingredients do you will be less likely to be swayed from false and exaggerated claims on product labels. What? It's going to give me a particular curl pattern that I don't usually have one with just corn oil and glycerin? I think not! It's going to cure my frizz forever with just shea butter? Nope!

Now you can put the two together. For example, your hair might clump easily but get dry quickly so you might need ingredients that moisturize and seal, then you can say "Hmmm, a film forming humectant like honey with aloe vera juice and a sealant like argan oil would do, let me whip some up or find products with these ingredients." Or maybe your hair holds moisture well but your strands don't easily stay clumped, so maybe some pectin, flaxseeds and avocado oil would be just the thing, and you can go see what's out there. No guess work or frustration or desperation.

Once you really know your hair, you can potentially say stuff like "It's properly moisturized, conditioned and I have low porosity so I don't even need to add products for a while." I'm not making this up, yes you can! Of course without any product your hair may not be as laid or popped, but if healthy is beautiful to you and you've accepted YOUR hair in all its forms then you can let it be naked at times and not always feel the need to coat it in product just for appearances / to keep it looking super defined.

Product and make up.

No product and no makeup.

So that's it! You know your hair and you know your ingredients. You are free! Unplugged from the matrix! Hair products are now forever optional to you! Your hair is healthy because now that you know what ingredients do, you hopefully choose only the best ones to put in your hair. You can look around in any situation and make yourself a cleanser, conditioner, moisturizer and sealer. What? You only have honey, water, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and flaxseeds? No problem! You can make your hair look good with just this for months! You can buy that Camille Rose Naturals Curl Maker or you can buy some pectin and have pretty much identical results! Won't that be nice?? You can get there with proper hair education and knowledge. Try it, go ahead and put in the effort. The benefits are more than worth it!