Nurturing Your Natural Hair (and Wallet) By Narrowing Down Product Choices
Last updated on August 5th, 2024 at 08:14 pm
When you first go natural, what’s the first thing that may come to mind? Id’s say it’s something ing like, “How do I nurture my hair in it’s natural state so that it thrives, grows and maintains length?” (or something like that). Using less hair products is a first step you can make toward that nurturing.
It’s so easy to become a product junkie (PJ) when you are first starting your natural hair journey. The problem with becoming a PJ is it doesn’t exactly allow you to nurture your hair and it can certainly rob your pocketbook!
While I’ve been natural for many years, it took many of those years going through trial and error before I really learned how to care for my hair (sans the flat iron).
Over Spending on Natural Hair Products
I spent so much money when I first learned to care for my natural hair that it was alarming. I realized I had to reign in my spending. What good was it to have thriving natural hair but no place to live because you spent your rent money? Ok maybe not that bad but you get the point.
Figuring out what works and doesn’t work for your natural hair needs to be done quick, fast and in a hurry. Forget what everybody else says works. You need to discover what works for YOUR hair.
Keep a natural hair journal
*Available on Amazon*
Test no more than one product at a time. Try to limit incorporating new products into your regimen until you have spent at least 90 days with it (oh wait. that’s Steve Harvey’s No Cookie Rule). OK. How about two weeks?
Record how your hair feels on day 1, 2 and 3 after product use. Sometimes a product will give you the bomb results on day 1 but by day 2 your hair is drier than the Sahara Desert.
Using a natural hair journal will help you keep track of it all.
Choosing Hair Products Wisely
If you’re an au naturale girl (and not the Dark and Lovely kind….no pun), don’t even bother looking at products containing ingredients you’re uncomfortable using. Why waste time?
If you’re following the Tightly Curly Method or the Curly Girl Method, then you won’t need to worry about choosing a shampoo. Go straight for the conditioners and remember, test test test. No more than 1 at a time. You may get lucky on the first try. I say if your hair loves it, stick with it.
The same goes for stylers, although it may take some time to discover, if you try products individually within a specific type, you’ll find what works MUCH faster. Here are the types:
– Gel stylers
– Cream stylers
– Butter based stylers
– Water based stylers
Stick with what works
If you find your hair does well with a butter based styler, stick with it. No need to launch out into uncharted territory to try a gel based styler, only to discover your lovely strands are now pissed at you.
Having natural hair should be about freedom. Freedom to rock your hair the way you want to when you want to. That may include rockin’ twist outs, braid outs or wash ‘n gos’.
You want your hairstyles to look as fierce as they possibly can with little trial and error episodes. Using less hair products while nailing down your hair’s beloved products is an important part of nurturing your natural hair.
Simple and informative tips! It is a good advice that we should stick to one product at a time and not to go for experimentation by trying all products at the same time.