Every curly girl knows how versatile textured hair is. Methods that work on one girl might not work for another. Due to the varying hair types in our community, research has become a big part of buying product. Researching and buying a product only to find out it won’t work on your hair is really discouraging.
There are many factors aside from the product itself to consider. Some of these include:
- if your hair is high, medium or low porosity
- how it responds to heavy versus thin products
- humidity/weather
- sleeping habits (whether you protect your hair at night)
If you’re convinced that the problem is the product itself, then don’t give up yet. Remember that there are many ways to apply a product and use it. You might love raking product in, but maybe that application method isn’t best for your newest addition. Or maybe you’re a fan of styling brushes (like the Denman brush), but it could be that that method won’t work on your new product.
90% of the time, when I use a new product, I hate the results. I give it a few shots and try every application method out until I find the perfect one. On top of that, not all products work well with different products. It takes a few wash days of testing out different application techniques with different products before I discover the perfect way to wear it.
Before switching to only natural products, I would occasionally find that even after several washdays of testing out different application techniques, the product still wouldn’t work on me. In those cases, I would discard the product. However, ever since switching to these products, this stopped happening to me.
Even with wearing only natural products, sometimes the results aren’t great the first time. As long as I keep trying different techniques, I eventually find the right one.
Example
I recently used a spray product that was highly hyped about. I was so excited to use it. Sadly, it didn’t do much for my hair and I really didn’t see what the hype was about. I felt like it just disappeared and was never enough to coat my thick and heavy layers.
After playing around with it, I tried spraying it into my hands first. I then rubbed the product in my hands to coat them evenly and scrunched it into my hair. I found this worked way more effectively since I could be much more targeted with the product.
Now, I understand the hype behind this product and absolutely love it! It’s lighter consistency works really well on my hair as a refresh product or to layer with other products. It’s unique consistency adds a lot of value to my collection.
Common application techniques
- Raking
- Scrunching
- Praying hands (pressing the product into your hair)
- Styling brush (like the Denman brush)
- Styling on soaking wet hair
- Styling on damp hair (not soaking)
- Styling on dry hair (typically only for refresh)
- L.O.C. (liquid, oil, cream)
The moral of the story is different products work drastically differently based off the application method you use. Even further, just because one application method works great on you with a certain product, it doesn’t mean that same application method will work for every product. Give it a few tries before giving up.
You never know – the product you’re doubting might end up being your new go-to!
