Recommend Hair Products

@Thief of hearts

i'm sure what I did to offend you.  anything i say is of my own experience,i can't speak on anyone else's behalf.  my problem stems from the fact that without any knowledge of how to deal with their hair, most black women have been led to believe that anything 'unnatural' is better.  there isn't any other race in this world that feels cursed in this way.  i think anything we do should be an option, not a compulsion.

@Oyinda
i use carrier bags for treatments too!

@Tatase 
that's how my hair looked when I transitioned!  the only thing I wonder is do you get a lot of breakage? a lot of people who treat hair that's part relaxed, part natural in the same way find it breaks at the point between two textures.

@FL Gator

sorry I missed your question.  I'm glad someone was on here to alert me, thank god for the NL police  .
*i wash my hair with a shampoo bar I buy online from a ghanaian lady in the UK where I live www.akuawood.co.uk .  if i can't find/afford that, i use dr bronner's castille soap http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/LS.htm
*i condition with aubrey organic conditioner, sometime with pure mayonnaise.  sometimes I add yogurt or olive oil, but these extras rarely happen these days. http://www.aubreyorganicsuk.co.uk/ .  its not cheap, but lasts (for me) a very long time.
*i use either shea butter, castor oil or a blend of the two with aloe vera gel and any other ingredients I have about. 

i've found natural/natural based products, with no silicones, parabens or petro-chemicals work best for me.   a lot of 'black' products are full of these ingredients with add a false shine, but i find they strangle my hair and make it hard.  i'd rather have fluffy, soft hair than shiny, greasy hair.

I didn't really explain much, sorry- silicones aren't bad in themselves, more that I try to use mild shampoos (Sulfate free) which do not remove silicones, leading to build up.  I'm sure they are actually good for relaxed hair as they coat the strand (I believe).  They're in so many conditioners, so they can be quite hard to avoid.

I also use baking soda in my shampoo once in a while to remove all build up, and if my hair's feeling tangly I use a heavily diluted apple cider vinegar to rinse my hair. Sounds weird, but it makes my hair extremely smooth. 

As far as parabens, they're supposed to be carcinogenic.  I'm not greatly bothered by them, but they tend to not to appear in the products I use anyway. 

Too much ramblings.

good to know.  i'm new to NL, spotted the thread, put in my opinion and more questions were asked.  i'm not sure how its off topic to state my opinion that most products won't produce magical results and that a change of method is possibly advisable.

I used to do oil rinsing with evoo but I recently happened on the dilute apple cider vinegar rinses and I do them too and vastly prefer them, the oil rinsing made the hair a little limp but the ACV definitely helps give a smoother finish and I think helps with breakage too especially for pple like me who are relaxed which can make hair alkaline and more prone to breakage, I think the ACV also neutralizes the hair or something (maybe I'm making that up but it makes sense to me and I think I saw it somewhere and I do notice less breakage).

As for shampooing I go periods where I try to avoid the sulfates (SLS in particular) too mostly because they definitely contribute to that straw super dry and frizzy look for me, so I like the Body Shop's Honey shampoo for chemically-treated/damaged hair or for claryfying  I use Nexxus Aloe Rid which is also sulphate free. The only problem I have with sulphate-free shampoos is that they don't lather as well as the ones with the SLS. So you tend to use more of them in my opinion than you do with regular SLS shampoo. Do you find that baking soda helps with that?

Tatase

Most moisturizer shampoo without SLS

http://beautyofnewyork.com/shopping/product_view.php?itemCode=0IW4300107KX0345

green and red label of creme of nature (old formula), the new formula is the orange crap with SLS and other nonsense.

It's discontinued(in favor for the orange one  ) but I and many others get it from this site.

Hope that helps.

@Lita:
Wait are you using the Baking Soda to clarify. I mean I guess what I'm asking is: what does the Baking Soda do? And do you use it everytime you wash?

@ThiefOfHearts:

I used to get the CON detangling shampoo too till they turned it into the orange and yellow bottle. I didn't even know you could still get it. Thanks for letting me know. I'll go back to it once my Honey Shampoo is finished. Much as I love the Body Shop one, the CON is definitely cheaper and I used to really like it.

@ oyinda

I do the ACV rinse at the last stage after I finished washing and deep conditioning etc as my final rinse. (Some people do it right after shampooing b4 conditioning but because to me I think since the ACV smooths the cuticle of the hair, it might make absorbing conditioner more difficult). My mixture is 3 Tablespoons of ACV to 1 cup of water. So you can multiply that depending on how much water you're using. Some people do another rinse with plain water after the ACV rinse but I don't. Don't worry your hair won't smell vinegary once its dry.

Personally I don't use it to clarify even though I'm sure it takes care of build up too (to really get rid of build up I use Nexxus Aloe Rid like I said or at a pinch I might use an SLS shampoo like Suave which really strips the ish out of the hair). For me ACV rinses reduce tangling, make the hair look smoother and shinier (because it closes the cuticle), and that's why I do it. Also it returns the hair to its normal acidic state which means the hair is less stressed and less likely to break.

@thief of hearts
what is porosity in relation to hair? does hair become more porous, and if so, what are the disadvantages? i too used to love the creme of nature shampoo, but it seemed to coat my hair. not necessarily a problem in itself, but my hair's best when its really clear of all residue.  used to be a really good, widely available buy, shame they changed the formula.

@ Oyinda
i do the same as Tatase- dilute by the same amount, but i tend to rinse it briefly out of my hair, and then apply conditioner.  it makes such a difference as far as tangles in my hair.  i'm not sure that it does clarify, though a lot of people use it for that purpose.

@ all, so do u just pour the acv mix onto your hair to rinse, or do u scrub your scalp in the process (since it's supposed to remove buildup)?

thief of hearts THANK YOU OH!!

so lita. . . if my hair uis not natural it wont grow abi? na wa oh. im not interested in carrying afro around town or struggling with comb every morning. Ive had enough of that in my childhood thnks i know enough people who have thier hair 'natural' and its always last minute hair straightening when its time for parties or the permanent afro look. thank you very much.

i know natural is beautifull but i also do know that variety is the spice of life. So please please stop recommending wierd sites for all those african american power black bullshit. imagine someone writing a blog bout how relaxing your hair invites the devil into you or some rubbish like that. i dont need afro hair to make me natural i dont fix nails too so there! recommend your product and move on. sheesh!

wash your hair more often waterworks and dont use too many products at once, it smothers the follicles from growing

Name the type of products you use.

@ waterworks,
Castor oil (yes the laxative kind they sell in pharmacies) makes your hair (appear and feel) thicker and helps growth (along with other good hair practices*) and its one of the few oils that is ok to use on the scalp. I used it for a while and my hair really grew and was thicker but then I stopped out of laziness and random reasons. Now I'm back to it again, though.

You only need to use a little each time you moisturize your hair i.e. use it sparingly i.e. don't saturate your hair with it, if not it'll weigh your hair down. Use your hair moisturizer first, then take a little castor oil, rub it between your palms and smooth it down your hair, focusing on the ends and the relaxed parts (although its fine to use it on the "due" parts and the scalp too).

*By the way good hair practices include things such as washing your hair more often, not being rough with wet hair, not relaxing your hair too often (every 8+ weeks is good but if that's too big an interval for you don't relax your hair more frequently than every 6 weeks), if you use gel stop or at least don't be combing you gelled hair because that breaks hair etc etc

@Tatase/Waterworks

when i used to relax, i could never leave it is long as eight weeks, or i would get breakage (at the line where the new hair and the permed hair met).  as long as you're only relaxing only new growth, and not blowdrying (i used to roller set and then wrap at night) or doing anything else too stressful, i reckon it should be fine.

I usually relax around 12-14 weeks. I started that this year

what relaxer do you use, Tatase

Which do you prefer of the 3?

Doesnt No Lye dry out your hair?

I used to use Motions now Im on Mizani Butter Blends which is good for me cos it doesnt make my hair bones straight which I dont need seeing that I have fine strands

I use Aphogee 2 min or Joico K-Pak protein right after the relaxer is rinsed off, helps build up what the relaxer broke down.

Fine strands suck.  Oh well. could be worse I guess.