My Curly Hair Products
Thursday, April 21, 2016
I have wanted to do this post for so long and I’m so glad I’m
finally getting round to writing it. I know I could just write part now then
part another day but I always feel the need to just write my posts all in one
for some reason. Weird and annoying (especially when I want to post more!!!!)
but I’ll get better at just writing whenever I want to!
Instead of this just being a post on simply hair products I use, I wanted to add a little bit about my hair and the history of
what my hair has been through. I feel like everyone has had that phase where
they’ve done something with their hair and looked back at photos and thought
“wow what the fuck was I thinking?!”. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Up until I was 10-11, starting year 7, I had done nothing to my
hair. Never had it straightened (maybe once or twice when I was younger but
nothing permanent), never dyed it, I’d never even had it cut properly. I’d had
it in a protective style of 4 plaits for my whole life! Now, when I was younger
this wasn’t a problem, sure I got teased a fair bit because it was an unusual
look around where I live and people hadn’t really seen it on anyone else
before. Things now are a lot more diverse.
Starting year 7 was a big thing (for
anyone outside the UK, year 7 is the start of secondary school when you’re
10/11 years old) and I knew for a fact I didn’t want my 4 plaits when I
started. So I went and got it permanently straightened. I believe it was around
£250-£300 and at the time it was the best thing to ever happen to me, no lie. I
was finally able to brush my hair myself and just feel like everyone else, as
small a thing as it may seem, brushing my hair was amazing to me haha.
The first time I had my hair straightened, it was straight, but
not insanely straight or as straight as I can get it now. I couldn’t go in rain
or humidity without looking like a huge frizz ball (which is normal really and
I still can’t now when my hair is straight). So yeah, it was still pretty
frizzy but I didn’t really care back then in all honest, just looking back at
photos I can tell it was very frizzy.
The end of year 8, I was around 12/13, I had it straightened
again. This time it went VERY straight and was absolutely amazing, I believe I
had a different treatment the second time around but I honestly cannot remember
what they were called at all ahah. Anyway, all was good and well after the
second time, I absolutely adored my hair. I’d wash it around 1-2 times a week
because I did still need to keep the natural oils in my hair and washing it
more would just completely ruin my hair (as if it wasn’t already lol).
It was only in July 2015 I realised the damage I had been doing to
my hair. Straightening and drying it pin straight 1-2 times a week was
completely destroying my hair, just sizzling it away. Don’t get me wrong, I
LOVE having my hair straight, I feel so good and could just take endless
amounts of selfies.
I also dyed my hair red in 2014(I think) and then a few other times after that, I had black hair then brown then an even lighter brown. All neutral colours but still wasn't the best thing for my hair.
It’s actually social media that opened my eyes to my
natural hair. Since I was little I had never cared for it. But the last year or
so, society has become so much more diverse, I see POC on twitter embracing
their curls, loving the colour of their skin, their religion and heritage and
wondered, why the fuck am I not doing that? I wasn’t trying to be like anybody
else, yet I kinda was. I wanted to be like those girls. I wanted to be proud of
my skin and my gorgeous curls. So I went on a straight hair strike (cool lil
name I just came up with) (okay not so cool). I stopped using heat on my hair
almost completely, I still used the hair dryer and straightened it sometimes –
but when I say sometimes I mean once a month kind of. I did tons of research on
products for black hair and what’s best to use and not use. Even now, I only
really straighten my hair if I’m going out to an occasion or something.
It’s been trial and error trying out new products. Some products
felt like I poured a fryer over my head (super oily and greasy), whereas others made me feel like a
goddess! Which brings me to the whole point of this post. I’m going to give some
lil reviews on products I use now and why/how they work best for my hair!
Cantu Argain Oil Leave in Conditioning Repair Cream
Before the start of this year, I had never heard of Cantu. After
following some fellow bloggers on twitter and reading their posts, I was
recommended by Kristina to try out Cantu. It’s pretty inexpensive so I thought
I might as well try it and LORD am I happy that I did!! Honest to God, Cantu
have some of THE best products I have ever tried. I apply this repair cream
when I’m fresh out the shower and my hair is clean and damp. It applies
beautifully to my hair and smells absolutely insane (tropical, coconuts, as if
you’re on a beach). This cream has helped me hair SO much, my ends are still
kind of split (that’s because I need a haircut oops) but in terms of the condition
of my hair, this has helped unreal amounts. My hair is strong, moisturised and
healthy all thanks to Cantu products.
Cantu Cleansing Cream Shampoo
I’ve been using the same shampoo for years, but now they’ve
stopped being made so I was kind of stuck on what I should do. I tend to go for
shampoos without sulphates as I couldn’t use them anyway when my hair was being
straightened. I thought it was best to try out a couple Cantu products to see
how the routine worked out for my hair and what the best products for me were.
This shampoo is also amazing, smells beautiful and cleans my hair SO well, it
feels incredible! It gets super foamy and a little goes a long way – I’m
already on my second bottle! The sizes of these products are SO good though,
you get more than your money’s worth I believe!
Cantu Hydrating Cream Conditioner
I use my Cantu conditioner after I have used my shampoo whilst I’m
in the shower. Once again this product is amazing and goes perfectly with the
shampoo! Again, I’m on my second bottle already! Sometimes when using this, I
allow it to sit on my hair for 5-10 minutes just to allow it to work its magic
even more. The way I apply my conditioner is mostly on my ends then I work
anything left on my hands up my hair to near the roots. I know this isn’t
always the best thing to do but my hair is so dry in some places it’s unreal
and doing this really helps me to restore the moisture and health I need in my
hair!
Cantu Coconut Oil Shine & Hold Mist
This product is heaven sent. The smell. The amount you get. The
application. I love everything about it. First off, I apply this after I’ve
applied the repair cream or in a morning I will slightly dampen my hair and
then apply this. It adds shine to my hair and holds it in place – for extra
hold I add a little bit of the repair cream and then this. Honestly, I can’t
tell you the amount of compliments I have had when I have this in my hair. When
people around me say “something smells really nice” I’ll be like, “ooh what
does it smell like” and they say coconut I immediately know that it’s my hair. I
find a lot of hair products don’t smell that good but this one is absolutely
beautiful and I couldn’t love it anymore.
Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie
This is the most recent product I have bought for my hair, unlike
the Cantu products, I only purchased this rather than shampoo and conditioner
as well. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and it honestly is so
good! It kind of smells like fruit salad chewits, in other words, it smells
REALLY good (if it’s not already obvious, I care a lot about how my products
smell haha). This is a product I also apply when I’m straight out the shower
and my hair is quite damp. I don’t tend to use this and the Cantu repair cream,
I will usually use one or the other. This again works amazingly on my hair and
is definitely something I’ll be repurchasing in the future!
Coconut oil
In previous blog post I have raved on about how much I LOVE
coconut oil and how it’s pretty much good for anything and everything haha. I
don’t actually use it on my face anymore, but when it comes to my hair, it is
amazing! Usually around once a month I will apply a lot of coconut oil to my
hair, put a plastic bag over my hair to keep it hot and leave it for a couple
of hours. This is so simple but works so well. I suffer from a dry scalp and
need as much moisture as I can get so that it doesn’t get too bad, when it
does, it is so flaky it makes me feel so insecure it’s terrible. If anyone has
any products that help them with dry scalp, PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I need as much
help with it as I can get haha. But really, if you’re looking for a cheap,
simple hair treatment, I would definitely try this – it seems to work for me!
So they are all the products that are my absolute favourites and
have been for the last few months! These products have really helped restore
the moisture and strengthen my hair from how damaged it was just under a year
ago. It is in such better condition and I couldn’t be happier that I decided to
start going natural more. I still feel really insecure about my hair sometimes,
especially if people point out that it’s frizzy or if I just don’t feel 100%
comfortable with it. But I’m getting there and have come a long way this last
year in learning to love my curls!
Anyway, that’s it for this post. I really really really hope you
enjoyed it because I LOVED writing it and taking those cute lil photos! I did
actually have the coconut oil on my hair and the sun was shining (good
lighting ayyyyy) so I took the chance haha. I also had a Lush face mask on, I’d
been writing an essay and just needed some TLC away from the stress lol.
Let me know in the comments below your favourite hair care
products or any products you tend to stay away from!
Also, let me know if you enjoyed this post and if you want to see a more in depth hair routine!
Thanks for reading!
Phoebe
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