I'm New and Need HELP!!!

SO I havent had a perm in 3 months [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] ..... and Im not going to. I dont want to BC till I have more hair...I have the Nubian knots in for 2 days now and will take them down tomorrow. The only products I have are a few of the Miss Jessies product samples I bought. I gave the rest to my sisters who have natural hair and have never ever had a perm ( they are 21, 18 and 16) ok but this is about me. I have no idea what conditioner to use..I see that I shouldnt shampoo, and I have seen some people use the Herbal Essance Hello Hydration conditioner to shampoo their hair. I live in a little town and the only ethinic hair products I can get are at walmart unless I drive 3 hours to Portland or order online. I dont know what to do as far as mositerizers and things that dont have chemicals in them. I put extra virgin olive oil on my scalp today because it was flaking and I know its 100% natrual. I can get pure coconut oil at whole foods but beyond that I am soooooooo lost as far as products. Can someone please help me!?!?!??! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

My bestie just decided to do her BC and she asked me to email her some info in terms of what products she should use, here's some info I sent her. Hope this helps you..

Conditioners and Shampoos
* When buying shampoos and conditioners for natural hair, be on the lookout for labels that say “paraben-free” and “sulfate-free” and any ingredient that ends in “cone” (silicone's are not good for your hair). Also try to stay away from products that contain alcohol because that is drying for the hair. HOWEVER I will say that most hair products contain “cetyl alcohol”, Even the organic ones….for some reason it’s really hard to get away from this ingredient. BUT if you can find something that doesn’t contain it, then get it! Organic or natural products work best for my natural hair. When I pick hair products or even food, if I can’t pronounce the ingredients, then I shouldn’t be buying it. That’s my general rule. Oh and one more thing about labels: when you read the ingredient list, the ingredients are listed in order of most to least. So the first ingredient you see is the base of the product (same as with food labels).

Giovanni- Smooth as Silk Conditioner (THE BEST deep conditioner you'll ever put on your hair. Seriously. This stuff is my staple) and Direct Leave-in Conditioner. I wouldn't recommend the shampoo. It stripped my hair of moisture [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Organic shampoos (Jasons, Aubrey Organics, Karen Body Beautiful)- Shampoos that are paraben-free, sulfate-free, and has ingredients you can pronounce. You can also use black soap to shampoo.

ŸI choose organic or natural shampoos b/c they clean my hair without stripping it of moisture. When you shampoo your natural hair, you want it to feel clean but not stripped or “squeaky” clean.

Moisturizers
Pick a moisturizer/hair lotion that is water based followed. "Seal" in that moisture with some oils. I use a Hair Milk by Karen's Body Beautiful and Komaza Care Shea Butter Hair Lotion (both can be found online). I can not RAVE enough about these two moisturizers...hands down they're the best! Finding a good moisturizer/hair lotion is MUY importante so be sure to look for one asap!

Oils
Once you moisturize with something water based, you want to seal that moisture in with some oil. Natural hair + oil= best friends!

Olive oil- GREAT for your hair.
There are a LOT of good products out there that contain olive oil any way, so why not just use it straight up?! The key is to get Extra Virgin Olive Oil (YES, the kind found in the food section…LOL)

Coconut Oil- It’s one of the lightest of the oils that don’t wear your hair down and it smells DIVINE! It’s a little hard to find- gotta look for it in like whole foods type stores. Key is to get UNREFINED Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. You can also use this to cook too [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Jojoba Oil- Another one of my favs!
Its light, doesn’t weigh the hair down and smells yummy (I make a mix of coconut and jojoba oil and keep it in a squeeze bottle to grease my scalp or seal moisture in my hair. Its great for your skin also)

Other good oils- Lavender,
Vitamin E, Grapeseed, Carrot, Glycerine, Caster oil

Shea Butter- Some people use Raw
Unrefined Shea Butter to seal their hair, I found it to be too heavy for my hair type. And it smells REALLY strong (like its fresh off the tree). I’m not too fond of it raw, but if you find products with shea butter in them as an ingredient, that’s great. Raw Unrefined Shea butter is really good for your skin too.


STAY AWAY from hair products that contain mineral oil and petroleum!

You're welcome hun. Good luck on your natural hair journey....and stick with curlynikki.com this site is AWESOME! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Great advice Chef Lucy!