The hair care world is filled with tons of do’s and don’ts, endless product reviews and bandwagons that will keep you overwhelmed. Throughout my hair journey, bandwagons have come and gone! There have been a few that were pretty enticing and stuck with me, like castor oil challenges for hair growth, and baggying my ends, while others, I’ve completely abandoned (no poo, cayenne pepper and sulfur for hair growth and MSM supplements). As much as I wanted my hair to “like” these trends, my hair became overly dry, my scalp was an itchy mess and my hormones were completely imbalanced due to the MSM supplements. No thanks, lesson learned!
I realized that no matter how hard you want something to work, you cannot ignore the voice of your hair! Believe it or not your hair speaks to you. By listen I mean paying close attention to your hair’s behavior. I have developed a habit of feeling my hair and monitoring it after I’ve tried something new. I ask myself, “Does it feel moist?” “Soft?” “Strengthened?” “Has my breakage minimized or increased?” If I notice my hair is dry, hard, and crispy, regardless of what I do…chances are my hair doesn’t like whatever product or technique I’m using.
So often we get attached to attaining results, but in reality our hair is suffering. My advice is, experiment with products/techniques, assess your hair’s behavior and make a judgment call, but don’t force your hair to like a product, technique or method. It’s like forcing a square peg into a circle—it just doesn’t work.
Rave reviews may convince you, but you have to listen to what your hair is telling you or you may experience setbacks in your journey.
Do you listen to your hair? Or follow the trends? What trends were a complete fail for you?