How to Build your staple hair products?

EN (English)

Building your staple hair products

When starting your natural hair journey, even for beginners, there is already a lot of things (tools and basic products) to buy. Hence, you generally don't want to spend too much money on store-bought product you don't even know yet if they are going to work well on your hair.

So, where to start?
Full wash day with recommended DIYs and/or recommended affordable store-bought products is certainly the first way to go and gradually you figure out what best works for you. Once you have your goto DIYs and your staple affordable products, then you start incorporating more expensive recommended store-bought products little by little and you figure out if they work for your hair compared to your already preferred products (DIYs, affordable products). This comparison will help you to decide whether to introduce them as staples into your hair routine and also prevent you from spending unecessary money.

Trying new products isn't bad when your are not trying too many at the same time. The real question is whether you're going to repurchase or recommend these products? 

How do you know a given product isn't really working?
Your hair shouldn't be feeling dry, crispy, hard, too mushy, difficult to detangle, breaking off much more just after using a product. If it is the case, then it means you shouldn't be using this product on a regular basis (like sulfate shampoo, protein shampoo, protein treatment, too much strenghtening treatment). Moreover, if you don't really need that product for your hair health then you can simply stop using it.

How do you know a product or a combo of products is good for your hair on a regular basis?
Just after using it, your hair is soft, easy to detangle and style, your curls are more defined. Moreover, if your hair keeps these properties for several days after using the product or the combo of products then it should definitely be a staple. Note that some products or combo of products can keep your hair moisturize for almost a whole week. You should try to figure out what are these products or combo for your hair. The ideal is to have 2 or 3 different products for each category (oils/butters, cleanser/shampoo, conditioner, deep treatments, leave-in, styling cream, gel) in order to avoid your hair to get used to a given product and then to stop reacting to it. It is a long trial and error process, isn't it?

Here are the criteria I use to select a hair product line :
Can I do my full wash day with them? Can I find them easily? What's the average price of a product? Are the first 5 ingredients clean? Are their overall ingredients more or less clean? How my hair feels after using them (just after using them, the day after the wash day, several days after the wash day)?
How many products of the line fonction on my hair or on another member of my family's hair?

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My different types of wash day :
1. Full wash day with a mixture of DIYs (pre-poo, cleanser/shampoo, deep treatment) and store-bought products (leave-in, water-based styling cream) : my hair stays moisturize for almost a whole week
2. Full wash day with store-bought products : my hair stays moisturize for almost a whole week
3. Full wash day with DIYs : I have to re-moisturize my hair more often  

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Products lines I use on a regular base, ranked according to their price : 

1. Garnier Whole Blends "Avocado Oil and Shea Butter" - cheap
2. Cantu "for Natural Hair" - affordable

3. Activilong "Actiforce" (I don't use their shampoo because it is too harsch for my liking) - affordable

4. Creme of Nature Argan oil  

5. As I Am, the original version (dark/deep-brown color)
6. Curls blueberry bliss (yellow color) 

7. Camille Rose, the original version (pink color) 

8. Mielle Organics (deep red color line, mongongo oil, pomegranate) 

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Body Products lines I use on a regular base, ranked according to their price :
 

 

Cleanser for Face, Body, Hair 

Clay ready to use (Cattier Paris)

Scrub (Gommage)

8 tbsp of fine Salt 

1 tbsp of Castor oil

1 tbsp of Grapeseed oil 

 

Shower Cleansers

1. Cadum surgras "Shea Butter" 
2. Le Petit Marseillais surgras "Shea Butter and Aloe Vera"
3. So Bio Etic surgras "Shea Butter"
4. Rogé Cavaillès surgras

Skin Moisturizers

1. So Bio Etic Lait Corps Hydratant "Aloe Vera and Shea Butter"
2. Grape Seeds Oil + Castor Oil
3. Shea Butter (especially during winter time mostly for -heels- feet, hands, knees, elbows and lips)
4. Avène Lip Balm -Baume à lèvres-
5. Laroche Posay Lipikar Milk -Lait-   
6. Laroche Posay Lipikar Balm -Baume- (especially during winter time)

Bonus - Baby Products

1. Calcial Lining -Liniment oléo-calcaire- (buttocks)
2. Bepanthen Pomade (buttocks)
3. Physiological serum (nose, ears, eyes) 

4. CALMOSINE Digestion Bio (for colic)

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