New Do

So, as (almost) everyone knows, I've been natural for a year and a half. It has been one of the most time consuming things I've ever gone through in terms of my hair. But I figured it was for the best, and since I don't eat like I should, the least I could do is treat my hair and body to some good loving.

Regardless, every few months I try a new line of products to see what will work best with my hair. Unfortunately, I have really dry hair and scalp. So for a while, I've been using products from the Shea Moisture line, which people die for on the natural hair blogosphere. The only products I had been using from the line was the Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo and the African Black Soap Conditioner. The conditioner really did help my scalp and the shampoo smelled great and brought my curls out, while making my hair soft.

Still, I realized that my hair needs something to keep it moisturized throughout the week. So I was in Family Dollar and saw African Pride had a new line of Olive Oil products called Olive Miracle. Now, I've been trying to avoid products with mineral oils, parabens, and petroleum. What did ya know? Olive Miracle products didn't have any of that!...or so I thought (I couldn't even read half of the ingredients). Hopeful and impressed by the price, I bought the moisturizer lotion, the growth oil, and the creme, hoping to make my hair and scalp less dry. But then, the worst of the worst started happening...

My hair started knotting and breaking off! That hadn't happened to me in a while, even with the dry hair and inexperience at the natural lifestyle. I read reviews for Olive Miracle products online and a lot of people complained about how heavy and oily the products were. I did find the moisturizer to just sit on my hair, but I figured it was all good since my hair looked shinier than normal.

Saddened, I went back to Target and bought the Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque and Restorative Conditioner. Despite terrible reviews about the Masque, I tried it anyway. I used it as a deep conditioning rinse out by adding natural honey and olive oil. It worked alright, but after I used it by itself to lay my edges down and it was soooo soft. I think for now on, I'm going to do what regimen I saw recommended: put the Masque on after washing/co-washing at night and just leave it in and see the results in the morning. I also add some olive oil to the conditioner and use a bit of that daily to retain the moisture, and spray Black Soap Elixir on my scalp for dryness and dandruff. Hopefully this won't let me down. Either way, in just a few days I noticed a difference in my hair texture and it's not coming out or weakening with every touch. :)

Still, I'm not sure if my hair was breaking off because I haven't gotten it trimmed since February or because it hated the Olive Miracle products. I'm getting a trim Friday so we shall see if that helps. I'll let ya know in a couple weeks if the Shea Moisture products are still helping too :)