I like trying new hair products from time to time. Sticking to your tried and tested staples is safer. But, sometimes you just want to try something new. Maybe your ‘Holy Grail’ was discontinued or perhaps you’re hearing rave reviews about a new gel and want to see what the hype is all about. Or, maybe your hair needs have changed and you need to come up with a whole new routine.

Whether you’re an experienced curly or a newbie, at the end of the day, you have two primary goals:

• To find hair products that work for your hair
• To use them in the way that’s best for your hair

Always remember that what works for someone else’s hair may not necessarily work for your hair, and it’s possible to have setbacks even years into your hair journey if you’re not careful.

Consider Your Texture

Whether it be products or techniques is to consider your hair health, density, length, porosity, color, and texture before diving head first.

Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can look for products targeted for your specific hair type and needs. Something also to consider, just because you see someone with similar texture as yours using products you think may work for you, in reality it may not, and their hair may be in a healthier state than yours.

Clarify

Often times if you’re trying a new product after using a combo of different products, the residual build-up from previous styles can affect your results with the new product. Clarifying is a good way to give your curls a clean slate. You don’t want your results skewed.

Read Ingredients

Don’t always trust labels. Check the ingredient list. It’s very easy to believe what you see on the front label without ever turning the product around to study the ingredients. Many manufacturers put just a tiny drop of the ingredient so they can proudly boast about it on the front or in ads. This is called making “Label Claim” formulas or is a type of marketing ploy.

Read Reviews

Lots of other people have already tried the products you’re interested in and shared their opinion online.

Try Samples

Ok, so all the reviews are good and you really, really, really want to try that gel. But, it’s not exactly cheap, and you’d like to take it for a test drive first.

Tip- You need to use a product for at least two or three weeks before you can see a difference or not. Your hair needs time to get used to them. You can always increase the frequency later on.

Do A Patch Test

Now that you have your sample, don’t  slather the product all over your hair or scalp just yet. If it contains something that doesn’t agree with your hair or scalp you may end up enduring another week of bad hair or an irritated scalp before wash day. Apply a small amount on a tiny area, like your wrist, and watch what happens for the next 24 hours. Nothing happening? All is well.

Try One New Product At A Time

You’ve got new products or went a bit overboard and came home with a big haul. Just don’t use them all at once.

If you introduced several products in your routine the very same day, how are you going to know which one is the culprit?

But, if you only try one product at a time and it doesn’t agree with your hair, you’ll know immediately and can stop using it.

Don’t Try New Products Before Important Events

Testing a new product just before a big event is never a good idea. It’s much safer to try new products a couple of weeks or month before the big event. That way, if something bad happens your hair will have plenty of time to recover.