When should you give up or when should you stop using a hair product on your curly hair? Some people refuse to accept defeat on a hair product they had high hopes for on and linger over its use while others don’t quite give it a chance after a first failed result on their natural hair. I think we’ve all fallen into one of these situations, if not both, but at what point do you decide it’s time to move on and possibly avoid damaging your tresses?
The reality is, there are thousands of hair products in the market you won’t try and, among the ones you will, many will fall short on your expectations. However, before you dismiss a hair product because it fails to control your frizzy hair or doesn’t give your curls enough hold, it is important you check how multi-purposeful it can be in your hair routine.
Luckily, many products will fall into this category when put to the test. Therefore, unless your results are evidently damaging to your hair, make sure you curly hair product can serve a different purpose than the one it is intended to or that it can be combined with others to give you the results you want. Don’t throw your money down the drain easily!
Assuming you have done this, when can you stop using a product on your natural hair? Well, let’s have a look.
#1| Dry Hair
A sign of alarm should ring when a product leaves your hair dry even after several product combinations and homemade hacks to improve it. With curly hair, moisture is everything. If a product can’t increase or maintain your hair moisture, it should at least not be able to decrease your hair moisture.
The risk of having your hair damaged with breakage or split ends compares nothing to a little bit of frizz, especially when you consider the road to recovery.
#2| Ingredients
The industry has made big advances in this area, some good and others not so good for coily hair. The nature of naturally curly hair determines our hair is unable to hold on to moisture as easily as straight or straighter hair types. This is because the natural oil (sebum) that coats our hair is unable to travel the full length our tresses because of its loops, therefore, facilitating moisture release and leaving it unprotected.
Unfortunately, many naturals have found that certain ingredients in their hair products, such as sulphates or alcohols, are drying out their hair. So if your product’s ingredients are leaving you to handle with dry hair you better move on to another one.
However, if you don’t know exactly what products take moisture from your hair you can start by reading this post. Next, if you need some guidance, you can read how you can build a hair regimen that works for you and download the PDF, just click the image below.
#3| No Slip
If there’s one thing every curly girl needs in their products is slip. Yes, slip! We need our products to glide, slide or slither or any other related term when in contact with our hair. Having curly hair can easily translate into tangled voluminous hair and if a product is not able to melt these with relative ease it can make your hair difficult to manage and it can quickly forecast a long and stressful wash day.
For tips on how to improve your wash day, you can read 4 Tips For A Smarter Natural Hair Wash Day.
#4| Flakes or Itchiness
Some products will champion in their ability to combine well with other, however, other will be a complete disgrace. While some people can use only one product to style their hair, others are not so minimal and need to layer at least two products and many, like me, are heavy-handed.
If a product can’t be combined with others without flaking or causing you itchiness you have a real problem that can’t be solved other than to discontinue its use. Having said this, if you suffer from an itchy scalp whenever you use a product it can be that you are having an allergic reaction to a specific ingredient in the product even if it’s a natural ingredient. If this is the case, you need to discover what this ingredient is.
#5| Scent
For some people, the scent of a product can be a real deal breaker, something they can’t overcome even if a product does all it should be doing. If a scent can’t be ignored or disguised when mixed with others at the risk of completely changing its effectiveness or functionality it is best to hit the stores and find a replacement.
#6| Hair Coating
A product that coats your tresses will generally make it look dull. Moreover, if your hair is coated it can look opaque, without any shine and even loose its volume and vibrancy. This product will have ingredients such as insoluble silicones, that over continued use will create hard to remove residue on your hair and shorten your curls potential to star.
The solution would be to clarify your hair more often to remove the build up, however, this can also make your hair dryer as the ingredients in a clarifying shampoo are stronger and more stripping than a regular or sulphate free shampoo. Is this product really worth keeping, given the toll it takes on your hair and extra work it requires?! You decide.
#7| Lone Rider
As hinted out in the beginning of this post, if a product is not giving you what you want and can’t be paired with any other you have, it can easily be forgotten at the back of your cupboard. This doesn’t necessarily mean the product is bad, it just means that it’s not appropriate for your hair.
Therefore, if your curly hair product is not doing what you want, can’t be used with others, is barely touched and nearing the end of its shelf life you better pass it along to a friend if you don’t know what to do with it. She may love you for it! 😉
#8| Job Done
Many products are created and used to address and treat specific hair conditions such as breakage, hair shedding or itchiness and as such, once the problem is solved the product is no longer serving any purpose. Continuing its use can reverse the condition or worsen your hair health. It is best to stop its use and adjust your hair regimen to your current hair condition.
#9| Hair Treatments or Interventions
This may not be a total surprise to many of you, but if you put your hair under some sort of hair treatment or intervention such as applying hair extensions, colouring or doing a keratin hair treatment, your existing hair products may not the best ones to give your hair the TLC it needs to remain healthy and strong.
You will probably need to replace your current products with new or more adequate ones. Products that can offer you hair what it needs given its present conditions. Once the hair’s health is regained you will need to readjust the products in your hair routine.
For help on building a hair regimen, you can read the post “Finally! A Hair Regimen That Works” and download the PDF to help you build yours, you just need to click the image below.
#10| Seasons
The Seasons carry with them weather conditions that can vary greatly between such as very high and low temperatures, the wind, the sun, the cold and frost, the use of air-conditioned and so on. These changes need to be accompanied by hair products that can provide the moisture, nutrition, and protection your hair needs in accordance with the seasons’ weather conditions.
Therefore, you should stop using a hair product on your curly hair whenever it can’t fulfil these needs.
