What products to use on my hair?

Hi there everybody. It's been a while since my last post...Yeah I have been busy and didn't have much time to create a new blog post, but I'm back.
While I was still busy to post a new blog I wasn't too busy to keep taking good care of my hair.
Today I'll be posting about what I think is the biggest dilemma for everybody who has hair, not just the ones with natural kinky/curly hair, but also people with naturally fine hair, relaxed hair, waved hair and so on. This is the choice of products to use in your hair.
Since we all know there are gazillions of hair products out there, some are more famous then others, some more expensive and of course some work better then others. But how to know which one to choose?
Sadly I don;t really have the answer to this question, because choosing the right product for your hair is a case of trial and error. But what I will be doing in this post is write about which products I use and how I came to the idea of using these products.

My Old Products
Right after I decided to go naturally and I had my big chop I continued with some of the products I used to use when I still had my Jheri Curl or my relaxed hair.
When I used to have my Jheri Curl my staple brand was Sofn'free. I was especially hooked to the Curl Activator Lotion. After I had my big chop I continued using this product, because it moisturized my hair (at least I thought it did) and it kinda gave me curl definition on my hair.
Another staple brand I used to use, specially on my relaxed hair was Motions. I used relaxer from motions, shampoo, conditioner, leave in and moisturizing lotion. It kinda gave me the effect I wanted on my hair, so I continued using them after my big chop.
Another moisturizer I used to use was the Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion. It was a good moisturizer even though sometimes my hair would get too greasy from it.
I had more products I used every now and then but I won't be mentioning them.
The products I used to use were oke, they were not bad for my hair, but they were not that fantastic either.

Transition to all natural
Everything started with my desire to get my kinky 4A in a more curly way. I started looking on the internet, came across tutorials on YouTube and a whole new world of hair products opened up for me. I was hearing brand names I've never heard before and the most important things about most of these brands was that they were all or mostly natural products, composed of natural ingredients and without chemicals that might damage your hair.
I also discovered some all natural products my mother and grandmother actually used to use in our hair when we were young and after some research I realized how good these products actually are for our hair.
Some of these products are: Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and Aloe Vera Juice. Besides these products I discovered the mighty Shea Butter, and this is a product I think I will never live without again.
So I threw all my old products away, in a matter of speaking, and started my journey of all natural hair care.
Next to these all natural ingredients I found some natural brands I started using too and for an animal lover like me it is a big relief that these brands do not test on animals. These brand are Eco Styler and  Shea Moisture.

So if I had to make a list of the hair products I am using now it will look like this:
1- Staring with the most important of all: H2O. I never realized how important water can be for my hair, actually I always thought too much water would cause hair breakage, not knowing that as long as it's used correctly, water is a daily necessity for our hair. I mean, your body needs water daily, doesn't it? So does your hair.
2- My main moisturizing product is my homemade Shea butter whipped cream, which is a mixture of shea butter as main ingredient, coconut oil, jojoba oil and an perfume oil ( since Shea butter can have a really penetrating smell). Next time I will be making more of this cream I will be adding olive oil and maybe almond oil to the mix. And I will write a blog on how I make this mixture, stay tuned.
3- Next to my homemade Shea butter mix I also use my Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie as a moisturizer. I use this one mostly when I want to do a wash and go and I love the result I get.
4- As from now on my staple gel will be my Eco Styler Olive Oil styling gel. I use this gel to define my curls on a was and go, to slick my edges when need it and every time I want some hold for a style I'm doing. The thing with gels is that you have to use a good sealant or moisturizing agent under it, otherwise your hair will feel crunchy after it dries. I found out that the combination Shea Moisture and the Eco Style Olive Oil gel, works perfectly; I get the definition I want and no crunchiness after it dries.
5- My (leave in) conditioner at the moment is the Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner. I haven't really use it too much, so I can't really say what it does to my hair, but so far I like it.
6- One of the most drastic changes I made in my hair care routine is taking out shampoo and starting using African Black Soap to wash my hair. I've used it like 6 times so far and I love what it does to my hair. With other shampoos my hair would feel stripped and dry, but not with the African Black Soap.

This is in a nutshell what products I use on my hair and how I decided to start using only all natural products or mostly natural brands on my hair.
Like I said before, everybody should know for themselves what product is best for their hair. Choosing the right product is a matter of trial and error and the only way you will find out if a product works is by trying it, since everybody's hair is different.

In my following posts I will elaborate on every one of the natural products I mentioned in this post and put out their pro's and cons next to each other, so stay tuned.