Your natural hair develops a mind of its own; it goes through phases of loving products and then rejecting them like a 4-year-old with veggies.
At some phase of the natural hair journey, product junky(ism”> is par for the course of being a full-time natural. However, suffering from product junky(ism”> can be a helpful and harmful situation for your hair. You might be thinking why?
How being a product junky helps
First, it’s an opportunity to explore new products. Sometimes we walk through our natural hair journey committed to one and only one brand of products. Being a product junky is an opportunity to explore new things that will work for your hair, especially when cocktailing. It also allows you find products that may take your hair to the next level, such as a gel-like product for extra hold or a conditioner with an exceptional amount of slip.
Tales from a self-proclaimed product junky…
Based on the number of bottles in my closet, I may be considered a product junky. From my own experience of going natural five times over, cocktailing different products has never benefited the health of my hair. Going through the process of trying different combinations to achieve the perfect twist out, braid out, or flexi rod set can leave damage in the strands of the hair. Because so many different products have anywhere from one to six different ingredients, they may not work well with what your hair likes. Those ingredients may also not blend well with your favorite conditioner. The fact of the matter is that products that are not formulated to blend well can leave trauma on the hair.
During one of many times, I was blindly buying products simply because I saw that my favorite YouTuber at the time had tried them. I thought, I must have all these products! After many weeks of using them in various capacities, I noticed that my hair was different in the sense that it no longer had the light reflective, bouncy, coily appearance that it once had.
After spending a great amount of time thinking of solutions, I found myself trying to solve the problem with more products that promised to add more shine, moisture, and balance to my hair for added health. However, the plot thickened; my problem became far worse to the degree of excessive breakage. After realizing nothing was working, a good friend of mine said these simplistic–yet life changing–words to me, “Less is more.” From then on, I minimized the number of products that I use on my head.The moral of the story is that product junk(ism”> can lead from one unhealthy hair result to a series of damaging problems for your hair. At times, we may think that the solution is in finding another product; however, this practice turns into a vicious cycle of continuing damage to the point of needing a mini chop. My best advice is to choose your product selection based on the needs of your hair and the ingredients that work best for it. Fight the temptation to try it all; save your hair and your money.
