Products! Products! Products! Do your research ladies and gents:-) Knowledge is power! Educate yourself on the ingredients of the products you put in your hair. This is the only way you will know FOR YOURSELF what works for your hair and what doesn’t.
Here’s a little bit of info for you to start with, think about, and put into use……Below is a simple list for you to start educating yourself. Google these keywords if you don’t already know what they are:
1. pH balance (also look at google images to see a pH balance chart)
2. Sulfate
3. Parabens
4. Alcohol in hair products
5. What is baking soda used for?
6. What is hair?
BASICS for CHOOSING PRODUCTS
I must admit…..I am not a product junkie, like a lot of my fellow naturalistas. Although I think its nice to try different products, I am generally a one-stop shop type of girl. So once I get it on my “it works for me” list, consider it a working product until I find otherwise. So here’s the scoop on how I choose products. This is simple and effective for me:-)
1. If the first ingredient is not WATER, then put it down and move on down the isle. WATER is your hair’s BEST FRIEND!!!! I choose products that are for dry, color treated, or damaged hair. The pH balance is neutral (pH neutral= water) in these products and will moisturize your hair strand.
Also, you will find that pH balance is VERY important in closing the cuticle of your hair strand once its lifted during washing. Your hair is sorta like a totsi pop…..with a lot of stuff in the middle;-) Water is definitely one of them. Your cuticle (the top layer of your hair strand) lifts when you expose your hair to lukewarm/ warm water, so its important to make sure the cuticle CLOSES after you wash it and condition it. A pH level of 4.5-5.5 will close the cuticle. Or you can use other methods such as:
1. a thick oil such as CASTOR OIL, or OLIVE oil, Other oils work as well, like jajoba oil, apricot oil, coconut oil.
2. Butters coat the strand well and seal in moisture (water) too! Shea butter, almond butter, all the butters! lol! I use shea butter most of the time, mixed with a little jajoba, tea tree, or coconut oil. Yummm. Its so good for my hair;-)
3.. cold water (don’t know the science behind this yet, but hair stylists do this ALL THE TIME! You know, when they rinse your conditioner out with cold water after you’ve sat under the dryer and got a deep condition. Yea, that technique supposedly closes your cuticles. But again, I haven’t studied much about the science behind all of this “cold water rinse” stuff….who knows? It may work for ur hair. Try it!
4. Occasionally I use non-sulfate shampoos because sulfate is used to degrease car engines!!! Yikes! ‘Nuff said….lol Usually they put sulfate in shampoos and soaps so that it will lather up. If you want to strip your hair of the moisture thats in it and then replace it with new moisture from a conditioner, then do you! Just make sure its a really good conditioner that actually moisturizes your hair!! I did that for a long time. Not a big deal for ME. I say try it and see if you like it:-) It really worked well for me when I had a lot of product build up in my hair after a week of putting stuff in it to style it, and I needed to clean my hair. So I stripped it clean with shampoo and then made sure to add a lot of moisture after wards.
5. Certain alcohols are actually good for your hair! Cetearyl alcohol is one of them. Its derived from coconut oil and used in some moisturizers. Thumbs up to cetearyl alcohol. Its a good guy;-) Supposedly not drying to your hair. I normally don’t get too picky about this alcohol thing, but I did recently decide to start using an all natural organic shampoo called Terressential Mud Wash. IM SO EXCITED!!! Yippeeeeeeeee!! ;-) ;-) ;-) lol! This is a random decision I made, not for any particular reason. I wanted to see what it was like. But you can find this information about alcohol in products easily via google:-)
6. Baking soda….I don’t put baking soda in my hair b/c of the fact that it is used for cleaning b/c it absorbs grease and dirt (home cleaning), teeth cleaning, and it has an abrasive form that can’t be good for hair:-/ Yikes
5.. I also use conditioners that are high in protein……protein is a vital component of the hair strand. Giovanni Smooth As Silk has been my staple deep conditioning product. I use it every couple of weeks. (6.99 from The Whole Foods Store)
Welp folks, Im sleepy now…lol my eyes are getting heavy BUT I think I left you with some pretty solid basics for choosing products. These tips should help you navigate through the shampoo/conditioner isles at the beauty supply store~
A post with more detailed information about my updated regimen is coming soon! Stay tuned;-) You’re in for a treat peeps. XOXO Good night…
Jaz
No comments:
Post a Comment