Need suggestions of products...HELP!!!

Hello my fellow curly divas,
I am a new natural in the need of some serious guidance! I did the big
chop on Monday and I absolutely love it! No more creamy crack for me!!!!
I decided to began the transition from relaxed to natural at the end of
my first year at UVA, this past May 2010. I headed back to summer school in the beginning of June and soon
after a month of struggling with making my hair look good, juggling
schoolwork and running (love my workouts!) I decided it was time to say
goodbye to the relaxed ends so I big chopped on July 7 and have never
looked back! However, I really do need some guidance! After the big chop
I food my hair texture to be very curly and I think I have some places
on the sides where my hair is more tightly coiled curls. I need
some help with products. In terms of the type of products I usually use,
I'm a natural/organic girl. The hair products that I bought when i
decided to go natural are:
Organix coconut shampoo and conditioner,

cantu shea butter leave in,
olive oil(which I mix with water to seal)
and currently I'm using some Mizani Moisturizing Hairdress as a leave-in
before I open up my Cantu. However, my hair has felt very itchy since
probably a day after my big chop. My cousin who went natural about 6
months ago suggested that I wash my hair with shampoo and see if that
got rid of the itch (I had been cowashing everyday because of my daily
runs), but it didn't help. When I wash my hair with Organix it doesn't
feel squeaky clean like my hair used to when I used organic shampoo.
It's really upsetting as well because my hair also feels dry to me
although people ensure me that it's not. I did not originally buy
products like Giovanni because when I first decided to go natural I had
not done the research that I have now and most natural blogs encouraged
newbies to not focus on spending extra money to buy organic products
before you see how your hair takes to certain things. honestly, I wish I
had bought products like Giovanni and Aubrey organics maybe that would
have made a difference in how my hair feels right now:( People suggest
so many different types of products that it was a little overwhelming!
Also i feel like I'm messing up my curl pattern, my hair was much more
curly after my big chop than it is now;I feel like my hair looks frizzy
(Could the hairdress be to thick for my twa?). I'm really frustrated, I
hate not having good products or what I need. SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE!

Also I bought HE Hello Hydration conditioner this weekend which I will be using in the morning to cowash with now

In terms of the frizziness, what are you doing to your hair after you shampoo and condition it? Meaning are you letting it air dry or sitting under a dryer. If letting it airdry are you touching it. One way to control frizziness is to keep your hands away! Or its possible that your hair doesn't like what you're using.

As a new natural, your hair just just went through a big change and you need to give it time to adapt to this change. And that includes a little trial and error. I think its awesome that we have different forums and things that we can share what's working for us and get advice from other naturals, but remember what works for 1 person may not work for you. So be patient, its going to be okay [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] . You just have to work with your hair to determine what it likes.

Just make sure you're keeping your hair moisturized, moisturized and moisturized. Determine a regimen and stick to it and then integrate products into that regimen. And you may have to play around with products. I went through a lot of products before getting what works for my hair and sometimes I still try different products if I see someone else say it works great for them.

So I'm not sure if I even answered your question (sometime I ramble on and on) but I hope it helps.

Ms._ONatural, this may not be of any help to you but being natural is a trial and error experiment in the beginning. Us curly girls can offer you our opinions on products but when it all boils down, what works for one may not work for the next. Reading all of the different product reviews can be confusing also because you could be missing out on great products just because someone told you not to bother (i.e. Giovanni and Aubrey Organics). I can't tell you what you need to do but I would re-evaluate the products and techniques I have been using on my hair. If hair is dry and the products currently in use aren't helping, you might want to discontinue because they might actually do more harm than help.

There is a number of issues you and your hair could be going through. I never big chopped ( I was a looong transitioner) but many that did the BC have also talked about the extreme dryness of their hair afterwards; so this could just be a normal phase. Something else could be that your moisture to protein balance is out of whack or you may be experiencing porosity issues. If it is a porosity issue, many products are out here to help correct it like Porosity Control. There are also articles on the web with scientific research support that go more in depth about the latter two issues. I learned a lot from thenaturalhaven.blogspot ( I think that's correct). I was having issues with dry, brittle hair even though I would deep condition so I did a protein treatment and that helped me; despite the fact that that many people are protein sensitive and it would make you want to stray away from products that contained such.

I know you may have heard or read this statement before and may think it is cliché but you really have to listen to your hair and figure out what it needs. I hope I haven't added to your confusion.

RissyCurls and CheneyRochon,

Thank you so much for the advice and help!! After using HE Hydration today my hair is much better!!! It still kinda gets this tingly/itchy feeling when it is drying (I only hair dry) but after it gets completely dry it is much better!!! CheneyRochon I will try to keep my hands out my hair (it's so hard though!)! Thanks for the advice from you both!!!