It Just Goes to Show That...

...The only real expert on your hair is you.

I know this probably is common sense for some, but for me it has become a new relevation, my new mantra.

I have been natural for over a year now, and I honestly thought that I had a real handle on my hair and on hair in general. I've never considered myself an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt pretty confident in recommending products for a person's hair, simply because these products worked so well for me.

After the last few days, however, I am finding that suggesting a product to someone else without knowing their texture and porosity is like a doctor recommending a drug to his/her patient without knowing their symptoms.

I also thought that if someone's hair "looked" like mine and a product worked for them, then it had to work for me too. Ummmm, no. This is not the case at all.

My hair is coarse and has low porosity. This means the diameter of my hair strands are thick and wiry. The low porosity means that the scales on my individual strands of hair lie relatively flat making it difficult for moisture to get in or escape .

This is one of the reasons that some oils on my hair do not seem to work well. They sit on top of my hair rather that working themselves in. This in turn seems to "suffocate" my hair causing it to frizz and get hard and overly dry.

From my search to find ideal products, I was looking at other ladies with what looked to be similar hair as mine. Most of these products are heavy with oils, glycerin, and other ingredients that work well on their hair, but unfortunately not mine. Hence, the enormous jungle of barely used products I have sitting in my bathroom as I type this now.

Don't get me wrong, many of the products I've used worked wonderfully at first, but after a few tries something happens. In my case, it's that odd looking frizz I spoke of in my previous post. The frizz that makes my hair look damaged and bent, rather than healthy and natural looking. Or hair that is hard, and when I say hard, I mean rough and akin to having a heavy gel in it - even when I have not applied gel:0?. As a side effect, I then have to plaster on gel to make it look presentable, making it even harder:0(.

So let this be a lesson you;0) - and especially to me:0). You need to know your hair, and I mean not just the hair type - 2a, 3c, 4a, etc. - I'm talking about knowing your texture and knowing your porosity. And while you're at it, you might want to know your hair's elasticity as well. All these things play a roll in how successful your hair growth and care will be. This isn't information I'm making up on my own, others have advised it ad nauseam, but for some reason - I'm just getting it now *slaps forehead*.

And be open to "continuing education", I know I am. This whole hair thing is a journey, a constant work in progress.

The last thing I want to mention here is this: Just because someone has hair that appears to be similar to yours (i.e. hair type), and they love a particular product does not mean it will work well for you. It's not just about curl type or how someone's hair looks - there are other factors at play as I mentioned above. If you want to save yourself time and frustration and money, first learn about your hair - then, if you're so inclined, look to others whose hair has the same qualities for ideas on good products.

I'm trying to save ya'll some money here:). This was a hard lesson for me. I've got soooo many products, spent soooo much money, and now I will have to find a new home for them. I'll never get back what I paid for them on the swap - but at least I might get something - but still *pouts*. On top of that - I've still got lots more experimenting to do - which means spending more money:0/ - hopefully the swap board will help me with that, but man...*sigh*.

This time though, I'm coming at this more prepared and more strategic - I'm coming at this with more knowledge. I hope you'll do the same:0).

Ciao!!