2014 is almost over! What are your Product/Method Winners and Losers

[Smiley79]

As the year comes to a close, which products or hair care methods are winning for your hair and and you plan on KEEPING? And which products or methods are GETTING THE BOOT!

This question is helping me to narrow down what products I actually need and eventually curb my PJism.

 

[Smiley79]

Winners/Keepers
-Oyin Hair Dew (yearly winner in my book)
-Aphogee Curlific Texture Treatment
-JBCO
-Steaming my hair
-Stop getting sew ins- this has been a win for me
-Shea Moisture Purification Masque- WIN! WIN! WIN!


Losers
Henna
-Cantu line ( I really liked these products but lately it hasnt been doing the most for my hair so now I'm open to see other products; the curling smoothie which I loved it just too greasy for me now)
-Shea Moisture Curling Smoothie-smh
-Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque

 

[Prettymetty]

Winners: Keracare shampoo and Humecto, Alter Ego conditioner, aloe vera juice, Hello Hydration, Chi Silk Infusion, Dominican blowouts, washing in braids

Losers: aloe vera gel (too flaky), wigging it for 6-8 weeks at a time, detangling dry hair, combs with small teeth, salon trims

 

[Pompous Blue]

WINNERS
Pinkecube's Maximum Hydration Method (HANDS DOWN the best for my hair)
Continued use of henna and ayurvedic powders
Hello Curly Gel (By the former maker of the original Uncle Funky's Daughter Curly Magic. The recipe seems to be the same. Hope she manages to stay in business.)
Ouidad Curl Recovery Melt-down Extreme mask. Moisturizes very well and only need half the amount I use for other conditioners.
Honey's Handmade (formerly Happy Nappy Honey) Honey Nut Pomade, Knot in My Fro Joe, Sugar Hibiscus DC, Mowrah & Murumuru butter, Curl cream. These products are some of the best for my hair. But may have to drop her because of extremely slow shipping. Had no problem in the fall but I'm still waiting on an order I placed Oct. 3rd. She has good sales, though.)



LOSERS -
I long since used up the products that did not work for my hair. So, I know this list will be short.

Oyin Handmade whipped shea butter. Good for the body; not for my hair.
Oyin Handmade Shine and Define. Does not hold very well.

I may come back and add to this list.

 

[krissyhair]

The best method for me is one that everyone can do. I ditched the Denman brush for detangling and went to exclusive finger combing. It gives me the least possible amount of breakage.

 

[NaturallyATLPCH]

Winners: Ditching shampoo and cleansing with mud
Shea Moisture Purification Mask
Coloring my hair
Cutting my hair
APB (leave ins, creams, oils)
Smooth Naturals (Whip)
Curl Junkie Curl Rehab
Jessicurl DC as a DC, leave in, and moisturizer/styler
Jessicurl Spiralicious
Shea Moisture Curl and Style Milk
Darcy's Pumpkinseed Condish
Oyin Hair Dew
SheScentIt Okra Reconstructor
Paddle Brush
Wash n go's

Losers:
Shampoo
Anything with Peppermint oil in it
SheScentIt Curl Moist
Finger Detangling (my hair is too dense and the shed hair was intertwining on itself and causing breakage)

It's been a relatively good year so far. My hair agrees with a lot.

 

[Smiley79]

Loser
Not shampooing

 

[YaniraNaturally]

Winner:
Kinky Curly
Finger-combing
4 braids with KCKT and a little gel gives me a PERFECT braid-out.
Air-drying!

Loser
Devacurl conditioner and gel for a braid-out. The results are a defined flaky mess.

Clearly I'm not a PJ

 

[reeko43]

Winners - Bobeam ACV and bentonite clay shampoo bar
OYIN Hair Dew
Shea Moisture jbco mask and leave in
Shea Moisture manuka honey mask
Modified MHM method
Finding all my now staples on the ground

Losers - Bobeam Condish
Darcys deep conditioning mask

 

[ikandi87]

Winners:
- joining LHCF, my hair has flourished so much in these last 5 or 6 months bc of it
- M&S, mainly the sealing, im retaining so much growth
- PS and low manipulation, used to do it for convenience but my hair loves to be left alone
- paying attention to ingredients
- JBCO! MY EVERYTHING! ! !
- the exchange thread, man oh man the goodies ive scored!!! Thanx ladies!

Losers:
- anything with shea butter as its first ingredient
- finger combing, just no!

 

[PJaye]

Winners
- Using SSI Avocado Conditioner to detangle prior to shampooing
- DCing with my Bask Whiskey-Yam mixture
- Blue Roze Rhassoul Mask and Chai Hair Tea
- Bask Silk & Honey Latte Milk (great detangler on wet, damp and dry hair)
- PBN Sapote Hair Lotion and Mango Butter
- Tresemme Heat Tamer Spray
- Using Oyin’s Sugar Berries Pomade to stretch my ends
- Bask’s custards and scrubs
- Adding babassu and jojoba to my DCs
- Using SSI Kiwi Kiss and Seyani as body butters


Losers
- Unreasonably high shipping costs
- Miserly sale promotions (anything less than 20% is not a worthwhile discount)
- Bekura Honey Latte Milk (the reformulation sucks)
- Darcy’s products (they no longer work for me)
- Komaza discontinuing their Scalp Conditioner (I loved that stuff, too)
- Bask’s evolution to Bekura with the discontinuance/reformulation of many beloved items
- Not being able to find an effective liquid refresher after many, many trials
- Shea Terra products especially the Mongongo Masque and Moroccan Hair Wash

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

Keeping:
Seasonal regimen(s)
Curl Junkie & Giovanni conditioners
Elucence shampoos
Aphogee 2 step protein treatment
Extra Dark JBCO
Misc straightening/maintenance products

Losers:
*Pre poo'ing
*Any product that's not listed above in my stash that is an oil or conditioner will be used up by pre-pooing. lol

 

[JJamiah]

Loser: Thyroid Disease and Celiac Disease... Mitral Valve Prolapse... all losers...

Winners: Pushing on... trying to grow this hair back.. on that note.. All the lovely Deep conditioners I have in my stash , My niece braiding her aunts bald head, WEN, Dudley's DRC and Ion Hair color..

 

[claud-uk]

Winners:

Ditching weekly poo's and switching to co-washing exclusively. My hair was the same length from Feb. 2013 - July 2014 from trimming 0.5" split ends every.single.month.without.fail. And this was after a 1-2" cut in November 2012.
I switched to cowashing July 2014, and have only had to trim 0.5" in total during the last four months

PS/Low Mani via braiding (with extension hair). 100% retention. Don't know why I didn't do this from the start of my HHJ in Feb. 2012.

Weekly DC and Daily MS' ing. Saved me having to trim any more than I grew each month during my year and a half trimming spree. Thank the Lord I fought the good fight and didn't give up doing what I knew I should be.

neutrLab pH Balanced Cocoa Curl Cleansing Conditioner for cowashing


Losers:

Weekly washing w/poo. Gave me a setback for 1.5 years and I didn't make the connection. Slow bus? I'll take the whole back seat, lol.

.

 

[NefertariBlu]

Good thread.

Winners
Clay washes
Taliah Waajid protective most bodifyer spray.
jbco
qhemet biologics heavy cream (but looking to just change over to making my own or just using the jbco )
Finger combing
water increase
Keeping it simple

Loosers
Shampoo
Combs
hot oil treatment
u part wigs

future experiments
Scalp exfoliation once a week to take over shampooing my scalp. I will be experimenting with sugar scrubs once a week so I can see if it does a good job at cleaning my scalp from build up.

 

[Mingus]

................................

 

[natstar]

Keepers

-protective styles
-APB
-Pura and Lush R&B
-Consistent moisturizing and deep conditioning
-ORS aloe shampoo
-Healthy lifestyle
-Simplicity works
Losers
-Always wearing wash n goes
-color
-overspending on online products. There are a couple vendors who are worth it, but nowadays if the sale ain't right, I won't bite.

 

[CrinkumCrankum]

I like this thread!

 

[soulglo]

winners:
qhemet cocoa detangling ghee
castor oil
shea moisture raw retention shampoo
individual braids
curls passion fruit control paste
frequent protein treatments
organix anti breakage serum
squeeze bottle to dilute shampoo
shea moisture manuka conditioner

on the fence:
karen's body beautiful leave in
jane carter leave in spray
having fro out
oyin's juices and berries

losers:
any eden body works product
kinky twists as a protective style (looks good but leads to tangling and robbing hair of moisture)
weave
using a rat tail comb to comb small sections

 

[mz.rae]

Losers:
Getting any type of box braids or twists, for some reason ever time I take them down my hair seems shorter and thinner.

 

[Anaisin]

^THIS.

Losers:

As much as I love braids and twists with weave, they thin my hair. If I ever get them again I'll only wear them for 2 weeks max, no more 1 month "protective styles" I retain length but what's the point if my hair is thin? I like fuller looking hair, thick & healthy>>>thin & long

Curls unleashed curlboosting jelly
Miss Jessies jelly soft curls

Both made my hair feel like straw. No matter how soft and detangled my hair is prior, they tangle as soon as it touched my hair. Smh glad I didn't pay full price

Winners: Oyin's Bsp, my favorite product of all time. I'm out of it and scraping the bottom. Getting more for black friday

LCO method
Doing hair in the shower
Jbco

 

[charmtreese]

Winners:

Finger detangling
Two strand twist
JBCO
WEN
Baggie/GHE
Oil rinsing

Losers:

Joico kpak clarifying shampoo (worked on relaxed my hair, too stripping for my natural hair)
Washing hair in the sink
DC overnight with conditioners (itchy scalp)

 

[charmtreese]

Winners - Bobeam ACV and bentonite clay shampoo bar
OYIN Hair Dew
Shea Moisture jbco mask and leave in
Shea Moisture manuka honey mask
Modified MHM method
Finding all my now staples on the ground

Losers - Bobeam Condish
Darcys deep conditioning mask

I like your list, my hair likes a lot of the same things. I've never tried Bobeam...how does it makes your hair feel.

 

[cynd]

Winners:
Rosemary, white thyme, lavender and cedarwood in grapeseed oil (slowly but surely regrowing hair in the bald spot in my crown)
PS/low manipulation (wigging it/wearing celies for weeks at a time)
Moroccan Rhassoul clay (my HG for detangling with minimal hair loss)
DCing with steam
DCing with heat

Losers:
Too many to list

 

[PlainJane]

Still deciding on products so here's some methods I've learned that work for me.

Winners:
Finger combing throughout the week
Deciding to transition
Using conditioners as leave in
Using a baby brush instead of real brush
Hicks edges
I have to do my hair while watching tv or a movie
Trimming
Stretching hair on wash days with Bantu knots

 

[SweetlyCurly]

Winners:

1. Jane carter products (mainly the DCer, curling cream and creamy leave in smoother)
2. Eden Bodyworks Cowash
3. Trader joes TTT shampoo and conditioner
4. Xtreme wetline gel
5. Using curling creams instead of gels

Losers:
1. Anything Soultanicals...lord knows I've given it a chance but haven't had one product I love. Have ended up giving them away

 

[veesweets]

Winners:
Rollersetting
Flat ironing and the stretched braid outs that follow
Joico recovery treatment balm
Silk Dreams vanilla silk
Bee Mine luscious balanced moisturizer
Purabody murumuru milk
Mixing eco styler argan with aloe vera gel
Shampooing weekly
Elucence moisture benefits shampoo and moisture balancing conditioner
BASK palm tapioca
Oyin hair dew and whipped pudding
Silk Dreams mocha bling butter
APB ayurvedic oil


Losers:
Blowdrying

 

[JustSitNBePretty]

I was depressed for most of the year, so I didn't really do that much in terms of experimenting with hair products. I think the only thing major I did was try my hand at yarn braids. I have to think on the winners/losers for this year and come back to this thread to update. Will be eyeing other people's suggestions in the mean time tho.

 

[oneastrocurlie]

Winners (which I'll consider new products I tried this year and are definitely repurchases):
Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex Masque
Shea Moisture Manuka Honey Masque & Shampoo
Redken Color Magnetics Shampoo
J.Monique Naturals Mud Wash
BoBeam Condish
APB Ayurvedic Hair Oil
APB Leave In
SSI Blueberry Cowash
Elucence Moisture Balancing Conditioner
Aphogee Kertain & Green Tea Leave In
Use protein weekly
Cutting my hair
Getting color


Losers:
Eden Bodyworks Curl Pudding or whatever it's called
SSI Tahitian Vanilla Leave In
Trying to use anything but SM Purification Masque to detangle
Having hard water

 

[almond eyes]

Winners:

Co washing daily
Shampooing occasionally when I see build up with Dr. Bonner's Mild Baby unscented
liquid soap or Trader's Joes shampoo
Shaving my hair and starting from scratch
Using warm to very warm water to co wash my hair and letting my hair soak up the
warm water and using my hands to massage my scalp before using the conditioner
Detangling in the shower
Low manipulation styles (wash and go)
Not raking product through my hair