Starting your natural hair journey can sometimes just lead us from one creamy crack – the relaxer – to another creamy crack – every natural hair product on the market. Many naturals quickly become what we like to call ‘product junkies’ as they search for the perfect product for their natural hair. When something new hits the streets – or YouTube – they have to try it. The next thing you know, you’re hiding products from your husband in the trunk and opening up secret credit cards. I hope not, but seriously, buying products can become a costly habit. Want to avoid this natural hair pitfall? Here are 5 ways you can avoid becoming a product junkie!

1. Set a price point, and stick to it. The way my back account is set up, I’m not paying more than $15 for any product. Your account might be set up a little different, but that’s none of my business. Either way, giving yourself a price point to stay within can help reduce the amount of products you purchase. Especially if you aren’t even sure it will work for you.

2. Try product lines instead of mixing and matching. Product lines are formulated to work together, and contain similar ingredients. By using products from the same line, it is easier to identify a particular product in the line that isn’t working for you, or even a particular ingredient that may not work for you. When you use products from different lines at the same time and you experience an issue, it is hard to tell which product is causing the issue. It may not be the product itself, but that the ingredients or formulations used by the brands aren’t playing well together.

3. Use samples to test out a product before purchasing it full-sized. Samples are a new naturals dream. As you attend different events, often times samples are provided from many different brands. Depending on the size of the sample, and the length of your hair, this is a great way to try things out before buying them full-sized only to discover you hate it. For those who’ve been natural for some time, samples are just too small to get a real feel for the product. Many brands like EDEN BodyWorks, Karen’s Body Beautiful, and Koils By Nature have come through for us by creating larger sample sizes. Some brands even have sample/travel size products that you can purchase, so you can try more and spend less.

4. Don’t believe the ‘hype’. I don’t care what the gorgeous model on the commercial says while she’s skipping across your TV screen – no styling product can ‘make’ your hair do what the model’s hair is doing if it doesn’t naturally do it already. If you have tightly coiled hair, then that’s what you have. If you have curly ringlets, then that’s what you have. If you’ve tried one curl defining cream, pudding, custard, soufflé, or whatever it might be called – and you still can’t define your curls –  then it’s not the product. It’s your technique. Granted, not every product will work for everyone. But sometimes it’s more about reasonable expectations, and styling technique. This is where seeking the assistance of a professional natural hair stylist can come in to play. They can recommend products and show you techniques on how to use the products.

5. If something works for you, stick to it. If I wasn’t a natural hair blogger, I probably wouldn’t try any more hair products that come out.  I have several product lines that I know work for me, and I’m good. But I try different things to bring you all the tea on what’s out there, and let you see how it worked for me and hopefully if it might work for you. If you have something that works, especially if its an entire product line – you’ve struck gold! Does that mean you can never try anything else? Of course not, but it does alleviate some of the pressure to keep searching for the holy grail product. For some of us, it takes longer to find it, but when you do…oooo baby!

So tell me, are you a product junkie or a recovering product junkie?

Share this post with someone who is a product junkie that needs an intervention!