Every once in a while, I will come up with an idea that I just know will be successful.
Sometimes though, I have ideas that just don’t work out like I originally planned. Like the time I decided to contact multiple well-known natural hair bloggers asking if there was an opportunity to partner with them as we designed our upcoming site. This was prior to Natural Hair Community being built and I was relatively unknown in the natural hair community.
I spent several hours emailing bloggers and contacting people through social media accounts, and very few bloggers replied.
The ones who did reply were very nice, but graciously declined my offer of a partnership.
Luckily though, there are many times that I’ve been right also. It’s important to make sure that you don’t give up on your goal – even when you fail or feel like things aren’t going to work out for you.
One of the things that many naturals have failed at is selecting products that work well for their hair. For some people, it takes years in order to find the “right” set of products that consistently meet your needs.
I’ve often wondered – is there a way to make selecting natural hair products and building a regimen easier?
I have always advocated for new naturals to maintain a natural hair journal. I believe that journals are really helpful as you learn more about your hair and how to care for it.
However, I’m hearing more and more naturals say: “Kenneth, isn’t there an easy way to select the right natural hair products”?
There are hair products for dry, oily, fine, coarse, limp, color-treated and chemically treated hair to name a few.
With all of these options, it’s easy to see why many naturals are simply overwhelmed when trying to choose the best products.
Keep in mind that the needs of your hair will probably change over time – just like the needs of your body changes over time.
When it comes to natural hair care, you must be mostly concerned about the things that you can control and understand how the things that you can’t control affect you. For example, there are non-controllable (external) factors around you potentially causing wear and tear on your hair strands every day. These external factors are things like humidity, extreme temperatures and hard water. Note: This isn’t a complete list of external factors that can impact your hair.
With these external factors consistently changing around you, it may be necessary to adjust your regimen if you notice changes to your hair related to these factors.
With everything that we have discussed, you can clearly see why finding the right products for you may take some time – but what I can do is give you a list of starter products to help you start your journey.
Before you decide on your specific product needs, there are a couple of articles that are recommended reading material – especially if you’re a new natural.
Now, on to your product needs (with a few recommendations to get you started):
Moisturizing Shampoos:
Clarifying Shampoos:
Moisturizing Conditioners:
Protein Conditioners:
Protein Treatments:
- Elucence Extended Moisture Repair
- Hair Mayonnaise by Organic Root Stimulator
- Aphogee Two-step Treatment Protein for Damaged Hair
For more product recommendations, check out some of our additional favorites on our natural hair resource page. And finally, if you’re interested in creating your own home based hair products check out our natural hair recipes page.
About Kenneth Byrd