Hey guys!
Today we are talking all about hair! I have been going back and forth with myself trying to decide if I should chop my hair off again and I have officially decided that I will keep it…for now. I originally decided to grow my hair out last fall when I found out that I was pregnant. I thought it would be pretty cool to let my hair grows as the baby grows. (Doesn’t that sound so cute lol) I wish I had thought this idea out a little more because it wasn’t until recently that it dawned on me that I had actually never seen my hair in its natural state nor did I know how to actually take care of my hair. I have always had a perm for as long as I could remember. This immediately sparked some panic but then my husband encouraged me to do some research and find some products that I would like to try out. At first, I resisted the idea because I didn’t want to do any research but after days (really weeks…actually months) of looking at my dry, frizzy, uncombed hair, I decided it was either time to chop it off or find something to help maintain my hair. I started with YouTube which was extremely helpful.
Hair and Porosity
I learned that in order to properly maintain your hair, you first had to know what you were working with. One of the key factors to maintain healthy hair was knowing your hair’s porosity. This would dictate what type of products and techniques would best suit your hair. You can figure out your hairs porosity at home rather quickly and easily. Fill a glass with room temperature water, take a strand of your hair, and place it in the water. If you water floats, you have low porosity hair. If your hair sinks, you have high porosity hair. If your hair stays in the middle, you have normal porosity. I will link the video I watched so you all can learn about the three types and what they mean. As for me, I have low porosity hair and this means that it is very difficult for moisture to get into my hair. This would explain why my hair is ALWAYSSSSS so dry. I mean dryyyy dryyyyyyy no matter what I do or add to it. So I wasn’t shocked at all by this result. For my hair type, the best thing to do is add heat when conditioning. This will allow the hair shafts to open up so that moisture can get in. From other videos and internet searches I learned that moisture starts in the shower, so I tried to pick a shampoo and conditioner that would help soften, strengthen, and quench my dry hair. The hair fact that stuck out to me the most during my research was that oils do NOT moisturize your hair. I found this fact so funny because there have been times (as a kid) where I would load my hair up with grease and wonder why it was still dry. Grease and oils act as a sealant to help keep the moisture in….they don’t actually add in any moisture. While your hair (or may hair at least) needs help with moisture, loading up on the coconut oil doesn’t really help if it’s already dry. The best thing to do is shampoo, condition, leave in condition, and then add the oil (of your choice) to help keep everything in.
Products I Decided On
These are all of the products I used. I placed the products in the order I used them just in case one of you guys wanted to use the products exactly how I used them.
I actually did not pick out this shampoo at first. I initially wanted the shampoo that matches the conditioner that I bought but it wasn’t available at my local target. I decided on this one simply because it was available but it was a good choice. It smells amazing and I noticed a huge difference in my hair immediately after rinsing. It was a lot softer and more manageable. Since it had been a while since I combed my hair… I added this into my hair, lathered it up and used a wide tooth comb and combed it out in sections.
Claims: This shampoo is for weak hair. It is supposed to cleanse but also moisturize. The shampoo is sulfate free and contains castor and black seed oil.
I chose this shampoo because it says it’s for very dry hair. I used this immediately after shampooing. I added this in and combed it through the same way I had done the shampoo. I don’t think combing through your hair twice is super necessary but I wanted to make sure that my hair was a knot free as possible. Each time I used this wide tooth comb. This smelled great but I don’t think the formula was anything groundbreaking. I will continue to use it but I expected my hair to be much softer after using it. The softness didn’t really seem to change much after using this but I will give it a few more try’s just to see how it does over time.
Claims: This conditioner is for very dry hair. Adds deep moisture. Contains coconut milk, coconut oil, mango butter, and murumuru butter.
Strengthen and Restore Leave-In Conditioner
After washing, conditioning, and towel drying my hair, I added in this leave in conditioner to my damp hair. This just added in another layer of moisture to my hair.
After adding in the leave in conditioner, I sectioned my hair off into small sections using a rat tail comb and I added a small amount of coconut oil to my hair to seal in all of the moisture that I just added in. This step is supposed to keep your hair from drying out as quickly as it normally would if that barrier were not there.
I went back in to those small sections that I created and added the custard in section by section. Immediately after added the custard to a section I would make a two strand twist to the section. I grew up calling a two strand twist a plat (any one else? lol) but I guess two strand twist is the more technical term. To keep the twists sealed at the end I would grab a small amount of the twist and shout cream and add it to the end of my hair. I would then curl the end of my hair with my finger. Once I had done this to all of the sections of my hair, I added some twist and shout cream to each of my two strand twists and put on my bonnet to protect my hair.
As of now (June 22nd) I have not taken my twists out. I do plan on keeping the twists in for a few days and then taking them out to see how well my hair coils. Please keep in mind that this is the VERY first time that I have used these products so I can’t really do a review on them just yet. Once I have used them for a while, I will review them and if I decided to change things up (add in a new product or take out one) I will let you guys know about them once I do my actual review. So far though, I really like the products that I chose and I felt like they did (for the most part) add some softness to my hair. Hopefully in about a month or so I will be able to give you guys a full review.
For now, let me know what natural hair products you are loving. Comment down below to tell me all about them! I am still on the hunt for a deep conditioner that is almond and avocado free. If you guys know of one please let me know 🙂
-XO, Elle
