Relaxed Heads Read Up - My All-Time Fav Products

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Despite the fact that I am no longer a Relaxed Head, there are some products that I have been able to carry over well, into my new routine and a few brands that served me well when I was relaxed (saved my hair from breakage) that I continue to benefit from. I wanted to share some of the products I still use and the brands I still support as a Natural head.

The first is the Phyto brand. Love, love this brand. Back in college, a hair stylist gave me this amazing cut and applied Phyto's Phytokarite Intensive Treatment Mask. It smelled so nice and left my hair silky, shiny and bouncy so of course I wanted to know what it was. I started using this brand religiously, mainly their intensive conditioning line.
The weekly treatments prevented further breakage and my hair just felt great. When I started working (and could afford them) I branched to their styling products and even tried the brand's relaxer a few times. I liked their line because they were plant-based and developed by an African woman scientist and I thought, if anyone should be empathetic to Black hair, it would be an African woman (who happens to be a scientist). The relaxer was ok, it burned and smelled like all other relaxers so I can't speak for it but other products I have loved by this brand are:

-Phytopolleine (a pre-shampoo oil treatment that I discussed in an earlier post that I still use as a Natural)

-Phyto Ultra Gloss Wax, makes hair super shiny and its plant-based.

-And this:




















Quinoa Oil Moisturizing Balm

Today I use this as an alternative to the shea butter/coconut oil mix I generally apply after a co-wash.
I use this when I plan to apply gel before the next wash. This is because, from my experience, the gels or custards do not react well with shea butter and coconut oil.  This moisturizer smells great and sometimes I have mixed it with castor oil (the clear one) if I just want to apply a light moisturizer (and do not plan to apply gel before the next wash).

Kerastase is another brand I used as a Relaxed Head that I still use today. Kerastase is the high end line for L'Oreal. I  mainly use the deep conditioning treatment except I changed from using the Masquintense when I was relaxed to now using the Oleo-Curl Intense conditioning treatment which  really defines curls.

During my relaxed years I also used Kerastase's Ciment Thermique which is a heat protectant for  blowdrying and I think it really helped (I since gave it to my sister who is Relaxed).

My only negative with Kerastase is how expensive it is. The cost really hinders my using this line more. Of the two though, Phyto remains my favorite because I think they are more dedicated to plant-based development and they have a line targeted for Black hair (both relaxed and natural) called PhytoSpecific. I really respect the fact that they considered how much more nurturing relaxed hair needs and developed a line just to support this type of hair - that still advocate the use of quality plant-based ingredients...and, of course, developed by someone who looks like us!

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