Broke College Student, New to CurlyNikki

Hi ladies, this is my first day on CN! I am seeking advice and direction on what products to use for my hair. I don't even know what my hair type is. I do know that the curl pattern is always visible. it's kind of wavy with tight curls, a few loose curls, and some parts are rather straight. I have been on my natural hair journey for eight months or so now. after getting it cut, i did a texturizer (my friends told me to) i'm not sure how healthy or beneficial the texturizer is. Please help! Thanks ladies

I am no nay-sayer by any means, but..a good friend of mine got a texturizer on her hair and it damaged her curls. She then had to do another BC. Hopefully, this does not happen to you.

I BC'd 5 months ago and have a TWA. It took a lot of trial and error to determine what works/doesn't work on my hair. So, allow yourself time to try different things and eliminate them (if necessary) as you go if they do not work.

As far as products are concerned, there are so many to choose from it can be overwhelming. I recommend getting the basics first: a shampoo, conditioner, leave-in conditioner, and moisturizer.

Personally, I use black vanilla carols daughter for my shampoo. I only shampoo every 2-3 weeks. There are no other carols daughter products that work for my hair, but the shampoo does well with my pre-oil treatment. I use Garnier Fructris 3-Minute Triple Nutrition Reversal (a lot of words and not necessarily in that order) as my regular conditioner. I love it! Giovanni leave-in conditioner and then shea butter and olive oil as moisturizers. Lastly, I use eco-styler argan oil gel when I want to define my curls.

Again, these are just items that have worked for me. I have had to try out more than a dozen products in order to find a system that works for me right now. There is no telling what I will have to switch to as my hair grows.

Remember, be patient and use the forum. It has saved me countless times.
It does get easier...

Hey girly, I was in the same boat as you just a month ago when I first BC'd. I had no idea wat the heck i was doin or wat products to use or anything. I started out with shampoo, conditioner, a leave in and gel. Maybe a couple weeks ago I bought some shea moisturizing curl enhancing smoothie and my curls are more defined when I use this product. I haven't really been a product junkie like a lot of new naturals..I guess i was jus lucky to get good results with my choices..
I've also been doing a few homeade recipes for a deep conditioner and moisturizer as well..I say jus play around with a few things..learn ur hair. GL!

KamsMa82- Thank you so much for your advice. It didnt seem to damage my hair, but I def don't want to try it again because I'm not sure what will happen and I have been satisfied with my progress now.

As far as products, I really like the garnier fructis sleek and shine line, (I really enjoy the leave in conditioner, serum, and hair milk) I also use the pantene pro-v (treatment for curly hair). these products seem to work for me but I'll probably experiment with the more pricy products as I continue to save money lol!

I appreciate your encouragement and I'm so thankful for this website/forum!

Beautifully_Me wrote:Hey girly, I was in the same boat as you just a month ago when I first BC'd. I had no idea wat the heck i was doin or wat products to use or anything. I started out with shampoo, conditioner, a leave in and gel. Maybe a couple weeks ago I bought some shea moisturizing curl enhancing smoothie and my curls are more defined when I use this product. I haven't really been a product junkie like a lot of new naturals..I guess i was jus lucky to get good results with my choices..
I've also been doing a few homeade recipes for a deep conditioner and moisturizer as well..I say jus play around with a few things..learn ur hair. GL!

Beautifully_Me: thank you so much for the advice, I think its so important to connect with people who can relate! And I have heard a lot of great things about Shea moisturizing products, I need to look into those! and yes I'm happy with garnier fructis for now but I am looking to go even further to find products that strengthen and nourish my hair once i save some money for it lol!

@unapoetabritt Hey lady, I Bc in Aug after moving to a new city, while looking for a new job. The cheapist things that I have found to work on my hair are: Evoo, Coconut oil( organic from whole foods) eco stlyer gel, curls the line found at target and curls mouse that is in a red and silver canister. all of these things are less then 10 bucks Cream of natuer shampoo and condtioner work well also. All of these are under 10 bucks, right now the only things that you can do is play with products, see what works best with your hair, learn what your hair likes and dislikes.
HtH

Im not a vet by far but I am also transitioning and it depends on if you want to use all natural products or some artificial. I use Shea Moisture products at Target and the are around $10 for all natural, H2O for a daily moisturizer with a little bit of my shea moisture coconut and hibiscus conditiong milk not the hair smoothie. Now Ive heard that the smoothie is very moisturizing but doesnt help with curl formation. I will be trying their Raw Shea Butter restorative milk since my hair loves shea and the ingredients in it is FAB. For not so natural, for a moisturizer I use S-curl activator (DONT JUDGE ME, IM NOT PROUD LMAO). My hair loves EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and Shea Butter to be sealed over a moisturizer, coconut is not my friend. If I do choose cocnut it has to be infused coconut my Dabur (w/ lemon, henna, amla, etc). Its cheap and its at your local Indian grocer. BTW I condition w/ Hello Hydration (not so natural but good none the less) even though Im trying out this Wack-A-Doscious Aussie Moist and the shampoo is Giovanni Triple Threat Tea Tree (kinda like a clarify and no poo) and you can get it at target but its cheaper at a health food grocer. I try to keep it as simple as possible. BTW check you rinbox im about to send you something I want you to check out to get more info