I was born with naturally straight, silky, thick hair and, of course, I took that for granted. In between impulsive hair dying and constant heat damage, I ruined my hair and am now trying my hardest to revive it to its original state. Here are some of the products that have helped me in a major way.
- Comb, Don’t Brush
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This was the first change I made to my hair routine and it has changed the game when it came to how frizzy my hair was and how much it was breaking and falling. I found out that since it was straight and knotted so easily, combing through it was a gentler way to untangle it rather than ripping through it with a brush.
- Coconut Oil
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I want to preface this by apologizing to my mom that I never listened to her before. I always hated putting coconut oil in my hair, but my mom would force me. Now it is my favourite product! The coconut oil hydrates my hair from my roots all the way to my ends and also leaves my hair tangle-free and with a healthy shine when it is washed out. I find my hair reacts much better to it than any other product because of the natural aspects of coconut oil. I try to oil my hair once a week and in the winter months when my hair is drier than usual, I oil it twice a week or whenever I know I am going to wash my hair. I prefer to keep my hair oiled overnight, but if I can’t, I leave it in for an hour and then wash it off. You can buy coconut oil at any grocery or drug store and it comes in a liquid or solid form which depends on your preference. A tip I have for anyone looking to try it is to always heat the oil for 10-15 seconds in the microwave and massage it in as best you can.
- Giant Claw Clips
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This is another product that I use in my hair to stop it from being pulled and breaking. With my hair being thick, it can’t be held by a lot of hair ties or scrunchies out there, but I hate when my hair is in my face when I am studying. I also found that I had to tie my hair so tightly to keep it in a ponytail that I would end up getting a headache right away. When I went to undo my hair, I would have strands of it pulled out by the hair ties and it would be horrific and painful. I saw the idea of these claw clips on Tik Tok and decided to try them out. I found it so much easier to put my hair up when it was longer and didn’t find it being pulled or even creasing at all. This mostly comes in handy when I go to work where, as a cashier, I have to put my hair up because I am comfortable for long periods of time as well. The pack I bought came from Amazon at an affordable price and can be found here.
- Olaplex No. 7 Bonding Oil
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I may be the 100th person to rave about this product, but it definitely is worth the hype. While it may be a little on the pricey side, using this oil on my freshly washed, damp hair has shown great results. The product is meant to tame frizz, protect from heat, and leave hair with a shine. For me, it checked all the boxes and a little goes a long way with this product. After being so happy with this product, I want to try out more of the Olaplex line to see how it all compares. This product is sold at Sephora priced at 38 dollars for 30ml and can be found here.
One thing that I have learnt throughout all of this is to stop impulsively changing my hair and to take care of it from the beginning. I also had to take a lot of time to understand what was wrong with my hair before I could begin to fix it. Everybody is different and some things that work for me may not work for all, but these are products that I can say I am glad I use and will continue to use.