Being a product junkie is an expensive habit. For the countless testimonies I read about salon visits and relaxers being too expensive, I see many women spending as much or more on natural and curly hair products. Here are three fairly easy ways to avoid being a product junkie.
1. Learn about ingredients
Taking time to research ingredients will save you so much money. Nothing feels worse than realizing your hair has been consistantly dry for the past four months just because your conditioner was full of proteins and your curls happen to be low porosity and protein sensitive. Hair care veterans may feel like this is common sense, but newbies are walking into stores where everyone is trying to sell natural hair products, and they may not have their hair’s best interest in mind.
2. Avoid length obsession
Although most women are transitioning to being chemically free in order to gain healthy hair, length retention is also on their minds. Constantly viewing (stalking”> natural hair blogs, Tumblr pages and Fotkis of naturals that have been in the game for almost ten years is the quickest way to become self-conscious of your own curls. Drooling over someone else’s hair only leads to curiosity about their regimen. Genetics, diet, exercise and stress levels are all key factors in hair growth.
Length retention is determined by the level of moisture, manipulation and hair life cycle. Your health and maintenance may be perfectly fine, but you may be in denial about your growth rate. Everyone’s hair does not grow the average .5in. per month. You may be apart of the population whose hair grows at 1/4in. per month versus .5/in. per month. I know about it because I went through such denial. You have to be realistic about your own hair and accept that scooping up every topical hair growth aid on the market will not change your hair growth rate. They can only help you to retain length.
3. Find a protective style
Protective styles will discourage daily manipulation of your hair. When your hair is down you are bound to experiment more. Perfect example: “What?! Mahogany Curls said the Let’s Jam Custard is thebomb.com?! Well, since I need to figure out what to do with this shrunken wash and go, I might as well drive down the street and help myself to a bottle.” The longer my hair is up, the longer it takes me to use products. Even though I get antsy when I see a new product review in my YouTube subscriptions, I know I need to finish the new 10 ounce moisturizer I just purchased last week.
Final Thoughts
Healthy hair does not have to be high maintenance, and some ladies who make their own products are examples of how you can achieve healthy hair without breaking the bank. If you are not up to concocting your own products, when you find your stock running low, be sure to take advantage of sales like CurlMart’s 20% off site-wide sale going on now. Then you can get the products that have really worked for you and steer clear of buying up every new product you see.
