Present Hair Product and Tool Raves

I’ve been searching for staple and holy grail natural hair products for years, and I have to admit that sometimes I’ve been premature in my assessment. I’ve been too quick to declare “I’m done! I’ve found my staples. I won’t be trialing anything else. I won’t be changing up my techniques or regimen or products.”

Four+ years in, I’m learning to relax: It’s GREAT to find staples and be consistent with them, but I’ve decided to abandon this rule/goal I was trying to put on myself to figure out how to never trial another new product. I love . . . in fact ADORE . . . all the products below. However, I’m still going to see if that new DevaCurl Super Stretch Coconut Elongator works for me, and that’s okay. 🙂

That said, below are my current raves! Feel free to share yours, comment on mine, or ask any questions you might have. Many blessings!

For My “Long Wash Day” (Scalp Exfoliation, Chelating, Protein Treating, Deep Conditioning)

Every six weeks or so, I like to do a “long wash day” during which I

• chelate my hair (do a deep cleansing, to include removing minerals and product build-up),
• exfoliate my scalp, and
• give my hair a true protein treatment followed up by a moisturizing deep conditioning treatment.

For this process, I have been EXTREMELY impressed with the performance of the products above. Extremely. The products are:

• Komaza Care Pona Hair and Scalp Treatment (exfoliant),
• Malibu C Hard Water Chelating Shampoo,
• Komaza Care Protein Hair Strengthener (best in class, in my opinion),
• tgin Honey Miracle Hair Mask, and
• Shea Moisture Manuka Honey . . . Hair Masque.

NOTE: I can’t decide which deep conditioner I like better: the tgin Honey Miracle Hair Mask or the Shea Moisture Manuka Honey Masque. The former gives me great conditioning and lasting elongation. The latter gives me enduring moisture. Maybe one day I’ll try to cocktail the two and see what happens. 😀

For a Typical Wash and Style Day

Oh my goodness, just looking at the products pictured above has me thanking my lucky stars that I found them.

The shampoo — Shea Moisture’s African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo

This shampoo holds my hair elongated so that I can finger detangle my hair with it. And it leaves my hair MOISTURIZED and soft after rinse-out. I don’t see a need to search for another shampoo (I will, of course, keep a chelating shampoo on hand as well). I don’t see any other moisturizing shampoo performing too significantly BETTER than the SM ABS shampoo such that I need to spend money looking for it. I can’t say I’ll NEVER trial a new shampoo, but I can say that there is no NEED to, given the performance of this shampoo.

The mask —  The Mane Choice Pink Lemonade & Coconut 5-Minute Reviving Mask

I’m saved from wash day jail!!! With this mask, wash day is no longer necessarily a half-day or whole-day affair. Note: I got this mask from Sally’s after reading these customer reviews of the mask.

This mask has PHENOMENAL slip and is SUPER moisturizing. It makes detangling with the Denman D4 a breeze (I can do my whole head in the shower). And it allows me to deep condition in the shower and be DONE WITH dc-ing. (I never would have tried this mask had it not been mentioned on a major hair forum. I’m glad the poster mentioned it! The 5 minutes got me.)

Now, I don’t MIND using this mask for 30-45 minutes . . . but I don’t have to. The freedom this brings is FANTASTIC. Another mask that performs similarly on my hair is Shea Moisture’s High Porosity Moisture Correct Masque. Five minutes is all that is needed, though you can go longer if you like. Naturalistas all over the world, rejoice with me! LOL!

The stylers: Shea Moisture’s Manuka Honey Leave-in under Bronner Brothers Firm Hold Curling Gel

I’ve discussed this duo many times before at my blog, so I won’t go into much more detail. I’ll just note that the ingredients are safe(r), the hold is SUPER DUPER DUPER strong so that I can get days and days out of my wash and go, and the strong hold PREVENTS single strand knots if I shingle the gel on (otherwise, the cement-level hold can yield knots if I only smooth on the gel via the “praying hands” method). Also, every now and then if I’m a little too heavy-handed with this gel, I’ll get a little bit of of dust-like snowing on day one. It’s a very insignificant amount, though. Lastly, it is VERY important to use only a little bit of leave-in under the gel so as not to interfere with the performance of the gel.

All that said, this duo is BOMB, BOMB, BOMB on my hair.

I’m going to try DevaCurl’s Super Stretch Coconut Elongator as well as Soultanicals new clumping custard under their new Supa Hold gel . . . but I won’t be sad if both are a fail because the SM Manuka Honey leave-in under the BB gel does me MORE than right. 😀 If you have found your staple or holy grail stylers, you know what I’m saying and how I’m feeling! 😀

Overnight Style Preservation: The Hair Sock ROCKS!!!

Get you a hair sock. Just get one. Just do it. Mine came from Walgreen’s, but I’m sure they are available elsewhere.

The hair sock has CHANGED MY LIFE. My hairstyles are COMPLETELY preserved, and it takes like 1 minute to put the hair sock on. I leave it near my bed and don it just before sleep. Simple. Done.

I can wear it over slightly damp hair to keep my curls from getting messed up (too stretched or smashed), and I can wear it on completely dried, styled hair to preserve my hair for the next day.

Get one.

Photos of My Remaining Raves

So as of late, in addition to the products mentioned above, I’ve pretty much been sticking to the products pictured below. They include:

• CurlyProverbz DIY Ayurvedic Hair Growth Scalp Massage Oil (see YouTube for the recipe)
• Shea Moisture’s High Porosity Moisture Correct Masque (it makes a fantastic leave-in and brings INSTANT moisture — phenomenal)
• Jakeala’s (from Etsy.com) Amla Shea Hair Parfait (an amazing, ayurvedic whipped shea butter)
• The Mane Choice Ancient Egyptian split end treatment
• Jane Carters Curls To Go Shine One Curl Elixir (smells SO, SO good and gives HIGH shine)
• Biosilk Rock Hard Gelee (to tame frizz at my crown)

That’s it! This is what I’m ever reaching for at the moment. How about you?