I've come across a myriad of posts lately about great products and how they helped, benefited and/ or cured the world well, their hair troubles.
I've never been a product junkie, this is perhaps owed to the fact that I live way across the pacific ocean and products are just not readily available. If I was living in the U.S., I'm not sure if my fate would be the same. But I digress.
Back to these miracle products. Needless to say, every now and then I wonder if the claims are true and whether or not they would work for my hair. You see, right now the products in my regimen are down to the bare minimum - oils, shampoo, deep conditioner, and regular conditioner, and a few others. This is due to my efforts to combat dryness. My hair has been thriving under my current (as well as my previous regimens), but sometimes I wonder "could I improve on 'good'"?
This is a very confusing thought as in one breath I know that product junkyism can really cost (your pocket AND your hair). But on the other hand, you will never know if something will help your hair until you try.
If you are like me, here are a few tips to enjoy the best of both worlds:
- Come up with a reasonable number of products to try out per period (say 2 products each month).
- Finish products before you try new ones of a similar category.
- Find a hair "twin" or sister and pay close attention to the products she has tried. *Note that similar hair 'type' alone will not make someone a hair twin, find someone with similar curl pattern, but also similar issues such as high or low porosity, and who has experienced similar problems like dry hair, breakage and so on.
- Try product swaps with others taking the journey to avoid a hit to your bank account.
- Check the ingredients. Sometimes people rave about products and you become interested, and while you may not possess that particular product, you may well have a similar one (ingredients wise) sitting in your stash. This product will allow you to forego this new craze.
How do you prevent yourself from becoming hooked on products?
XOXO,
Abbi
i must admit that i was a product junkie due to my friends at the "youtube school of beauty".
ReplyDeleteany product someone would recommend, i would run out and buy which i soon realized was both a foolish and expensive habit.
i love your tip about finding a hair "twin" and paying close attention to what they do.
this what i ultimately ended up doing and the results have been amazing!
:)
vanessa
ps. i've completed my leibster blog post!
i had a lot of fun completing it!
thanks again for nominating me!
(see blog post here:
http://grace-and-gratitude.blogspot.ca/2013/11/leibster-award.html)
Can I tell you?! Youtube fuels junkyism hahaha
DeleteSame here I take cues from those with similar hair to mine.
My pleasure! I really enjoyed reading your response.
What a great idea! I always think it must cost ppl a lot to go out and buy all this stuff! X
ReplyDeletehttp://hipslikecinders.blogspot.co.uk
Thanks! It does! We've got to draw the line somewhere
Deletexoxo
Yes, it's a real battle avoiding product junkie-ism. Especially when you're constantly reading hair blogs and watching youtube videos, like I am. But you list some great tips. The one I really try to follow is not buying another product to test out until I've finished (and not re-purchased) a hair product. Without this little rule (which I break on occasion), I'm sure I'd be even worse off than I already am. But really, you can only try out so many products at a time and still get a accurate assessment of how your hair responds to it. It's like any science experiment, you've got to keep most of your hair regimen consistent while you're experimenting with a new product.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Abbi!
Excellent point Kim. If the rest of the regimen isn't constant, there is no way to get a true picture of the effects of the variable.
Delete