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The Ultimate Hair Product Recommendations Post

The Ultimate Hair Product Recommendations Post

A few of you lovely readers have written to me asking for product recommendations for everything from hair gels to flat irons. We are all so individual in our needs and our approaches to hair care, that a product that works wonderfully for me may do nothing for your hair.

Your journey should be an adventure of discovery of your hair’s likes and dislikes and to a certain extent, a journey of self discovery too that lets you bring out qualities that you didn’t even know you possess (a jar of patience anyone?).

That being said, I think there is a fair way to present product recommendations without being biased as to just what works on my own hair and that would be a compilation of top products across all categories based on sales from fellow readers of BHI.

As a general rule products with high re-order rates are usually pretty good. Of course this doesn’t guarantee that they will work for you but it’s a pretty good first point of call when looking for recommendations.

So here are the top products in each category based on popularity.

Shampoos

Clearly we are not all convinced by the sulfate free only message! This makes sense because a lot of us still use lots of silicones and oils which usually require sulfates to properly remove from the hair. Remember, if you give up sulfates you must give up silicones too.




Conditioners This is a combination of both protein and moisturizing conditioners and deep treatments. Naturally conditioners tend to be the most popular products in general but overall sales are pretty evenly spread between many brands which suggests that we are rotating them with each wash pretty evenly. Even so, there are some clear winners.




Leave In Conditioners

Moisturizers and leave-in conditioners can be used interchangeably because they perform the same task of keeping your hair’s moisture levels optimum in between washes. As such they are an important part of your regimen so choose yours with care.

If you have fine hair, avoid heavy moisturizers with lots of oils or heavy butters, they will weight your hair down too much, go for a light leave in instead. And conversely if you have coarse hair, don’t bother with super light leave ins that won’t keep your hair soft for a reasonable amount of time, choose a thicker, heavier product.




Oils Natural oils tend to do better than oil blends as a rule with only a couple of oil blends making it into the top 10. Popularity wise, coconut oil and JCBO are literally neck and neck! Contrary to popular belief, mineral oil on it’s own won’t harm your hair but clearly our savvy readers as a whole tend to prefer natural oils and butters which are absorbed by our hair better.




Curl Enhancers

Curling creams and gels range from quite pricey to very cheap and there doesn’t seem to a consensus as to which are preferred. In fact, the split is pretty much even among the top products with some of us happy to shell out $30 for each jar while some of us are only willing to spend $5!




Protein Treatments Some of us with hair that is either relaxed and very prone to breakage or colored and natural will feel that we occasionally need a hard protein treatment to restore structure and resilience to our strands. Protein treatments are much stronger than protein conditioners so should be used sparingly and with caution. Note: These are what we call ‘hard’ protein treatments. Regular protein conditioners can be found in the conditioners section.




Relaxers

A good quality relaxer can make or break your hair, literally. Many of the top relaxers tend to have conditioning agents that not only make for gentler straightening, but should also be gentler on the sensitive scalps.

While with most of your products you are free to switch between brands as often as you like, with relaxers it is highly recommended that you stick with one brand and strength. This ensures the most consistent results and guards against accidentally over processing.




Hair Growth Aids After oils and conditioners, hair growth aids are the most popular items bought by us black women. I know it can be difficult to get your daily allowance of vitamins and minerals particularly if you rely of fast and convenience foods. Of course it is always advisable to get majority of your nutrition from food but hair growth enhancing vitamins can help fill in the gaps left behind by less than stellar eating.




Heat Protectants

Science isn’t always fun but it’s important to know what works as a heat protectant to keep your strands safe during thermal styling. Hint, you will want something with glycerin for blow drying and a serum during flat ironing.




Flat Irons

They have replaced hot combs as he most popular way to straighten hair and quite right too. Modern flat irons include materials like ceramic and tourmaline which not only smooth your hair better, they condition your hair by infusing it with negative ions. Find out more about picking the right flat iron for you.




Hair Dryers

This is a combined list of bonnet, hard hat, stand, tabletop and regular blow driers. The first four in addition to facilitating your hairstyles to dry faster are essential for helping to deep condition your hair in order to get the most out of your weekly washes.

Blow drying hair on the other hand is the area in your regimen where you are most likely to suffer damage so if you can avoid it, then do so. If you have natural 4 type hair however, there is no substitute for a good blow dry before flat ironing so try to pick a dryer with tourmaline technology as they are the gentlest on your delicate strands.




Styling Tools/Products

These are the ‘must-haves’ for anyone starting a healthy hair journey. From simple products like butterfly clips to help you separate your hair into sections to heat styling gloves, henna and styling serums. Find out what is most popular among our readers.




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