Figuring out what products work for your hair

One of the hardest things to figure out during your healthy hair journey is what works for you hair. While some people may luck out and figure out their "go to" products early on, many others take months or even years to truly master their product combination. Here are a few tips to consider when trying to figure out what products work for your hair.

 

1) Avoid trying multiple products at once. Doing so will only confuse you when it comes time to figure out what does and doesn't work for your hair. If your hair feels dry now but you changed your shampoo, conditioner, and moisturizer, how will you know which one is the culprit? The best thing to do is to change only one product in a given week. This allows you to compare if the state of your hair has changed for the better, worse, or remains unchanged with the new addition.

2) Pay attention to what your hair is telling you. At each step of your hair regimen, pay attention to how your hair feels. If your hair felt soft up until you put that conditioner in or your hair got tangled when  you put the shampoo in, or it stayed soft & moisturized for days after using that new moisturizer, then that should tell you how your hair is reacting to that product. Also, it is important for you to learn about your hair in general. Is it dense or fine, thick or thin, porous or not, damaged or healthy, protein hungry or moisture hungry, etc? This is helpful to know because it may help to point you towards a certain product line that caters to porous hair & thus has a lower pH in their products (ie: Joico) or one that specifies that it's for fine hair, etc.

3) Read ingredients & take notes. Pay attention to what products your hair responds to both favorably and unfavorably. Take note of the ingredients in each and note trends. By doing that, you may start to notice that your hair reacts poorly to products with X ingredient or that your hair tends to love products with Y ingredient, making it easier for you to choose what products to try or not try.

4) Take product tips from hair cousins. These are people who have the same hair qualities in density, strand thickness, porosity, reaction to products and environmental factors, etc. These can be people who you know in real life or people on hair forums, fotki, or youtube. Though there is no guarantee that what works for them will work for you, it is more likely that you'd have better luck with asking them versus someone else who does not share similar hair qualities.  Just because Sue is black & natural, doesn't mean that the products that work well for her thick, dense, low porosity hair hair that thrives with oil based products, loves silicones, and butters, will work for your fine, thin, overly porous hair. But if Ashley also has fine, thin, overly porous hair that also seems to frizz easily, does well with henna and with light protein, seems to hate shea butter & glycerine based products, but thrives with water based products just like your hair, well then maybe you should be more inclined to try the products (and even hair care practices) that she has found suitable for her.

5) Don't become a product junkie. It's easy to spend tons of money on products because of all of the youtube or forum raves, or because this person and that person swear that it's the best product. What happens is that you quickly begin to accumulate tons of products and waste hundreds of dollars,  although you've found several that worked well for you. Rather than wasting money and time by doing this, remain focused on figuring out what works for your hair and be systematic in your approach to trying products by applying some of the previously mentioned tips. That way, even if you're initially a product junkie (which is not atypical early on in your journey),  at least there is a method to the madness. Likewise, if you find something early on that works fine, keep it in the rotation. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

6) Look for product samples when you can. Some lines allow you to purchase sample size products which helps to save some money and prevents you from collecting liters of products that you realize that your hair hates. Also, some hair forums have product exchange opportunities where you can swap hair products with someone else at no cost or buy  half used product that didn't work for someone. Take advantage of sales and promotional codes to try new products. Or get them for cheaper at places like Marshalls and Ross. All of these things can help you save money while trying to find your holy grail products.

7) Break up product lines. Contrary to what some believe, just because you use the shampoo of a particular brand doesn't mean you must use the conditioner and moisturizer from that company as well. In fact, it is not unheard of for a company to have great conditioners and poor shampoos, and vice versa. Let go of the " I have to use all of the Organics products" mentality and instead, mix and match to figure out what hair products from what companies work for you.

 

With these tips, you'll be on your way to finding the products that work for you in no time.

 

 

Happy Growing!

 

B