Truth is many of us come to discover the joys of natural hair as students or as newly-earning young women. By virtue of this reality, we don’t have all the money in the world to spend on our hair care, and natural hair can be expensive for several reasons.
Most of the brands that are creating products tailored to the natural hair community are new and have only a few years. As you can imagine, this means that their overheads might be expensive and as such their prices have to be a little inflated to cover costs. Secondly, a good number of popular brands are currently based in the US, so exporting them to the rest of the world can be expensive for international shoppers like myself.
So, how might we minimize the costs of maintaining natural hair?
Stock up on the basics
This is essential. After four years of natural hair care, I have come to realize that all I need in my product stash is a cheapie cleansing shampoo, moisturizing deep conditioner (DC”>, protein deep conditioner, and sealing oil. That is it! I do not need three different types of hair growth oils or four different types of shampoos for each week of the month. I have learned to keep my stash simple and my hair has been a lot happier. It is not weighed down by 16 types of oils or a 27-step wash day process. Keep it simple for the sake of your hair and your sanity!
DIY
Lots of products that naturalistas claim to be at the core of their regimen can easily be duplicated at home. For example, if you would like leave-in conditioner, you can make it yourself.
Here’s a simple recipe:
- fill a 100ml spray bottle halfway with plain water
- add a teaspoon of your deep conditioner
- add half a teaspoon of glycerin, and lastly
- add 1-2 tablespoon of rosewater
There you have it! Your very own leave-in conditioner.
Alternatively, instead of investing in a fancy bottle of elixir, head over to your kitchen and grab some sunflower oil, olive oil, avocado oil, sesame oil, or coconut oil. These products are probably better for your hair, as they do not have artificial additives.
Alternate
Treating your hair to that $50 deep conditioner every week might be too expensive. Instead, take the opportunity to alternate with a cheaper conditioner as a DC one week and your expensive DC then next. Oftentimes cheaper conditioners can still do the same good as more expensive conditioners. At the end of the day, a product’s formulation is what works for our hair not the price tag on it.
Stick to the basics
Remember that at the end of the day the goal of natural hair care is to keep your strands moisturized. That said, what everyone needs is water. A basic regimen includes cleansing, moisturizing, and sealing. So as long as you are faithfully sticking to the process, you should be good to go.
How do you save cash when it comes to your natural hair care? Leave us a note down below, we’d love to know!
