The Best Products for Natural Hair BY SHAYNATURAL · DECEMBER 17, 2018 I know I throw a lot of products at you with our Top 5 Friday’s Series, but I think it’s time for me to share with you my favorite, holy grail, ride or die products. Today is the day. These are the best products for natural hair. Grab some wine, coffee, water, or your beverage of choice and a snack and let’s have a chat about some products. My all time favorite topic! I love trying new products and I would consider myself to be a product junkie. I have tried tons of products over my 4 years of being natural, but these products I will be telling you about today have stuck with me throughout my journey and will continue to live in my stash. If I could live with only these products, I would be satisfied and my hair would be healthy, thriving and looking bomb. As I have gotten to know my natural hair over the years, I know what ingredients to look for in my products because of the similar ingredients of my holy grail products. Keep reading to see the similarities. Side note: I think this would be a good exercise for you to do. Go through your stash or think about products you have used that you seem to keep going back to. Take a look at the ingredients list of the products and see if you see any similar ingredients. If you do, then you know to look for products that contain that or those ingredients. This will help you out tremendously when shopping for new products. Moisturizing Shampoos SheaMoisture Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo- 13oz So, when it comes to shampoos, I prefer them to be sulfate-free, moisturizing, cleanses my hair gently, without stripping my hair of its natural oils, with water being the first ingredient. I have tried some other shampoos that I love, but it’s something about these ones. I just keep repurchasing them. Related Article: Top 5 Sulfate-Free & Clarifying Shampoos for Natural Hair I love SheaMoisture products because they are all made with natural and organic ingredients, but they aren’t expensive. I would say they are in the middle range price wise. There are def products that are cheaper and they are also products that are more expensive. I also love SheaMoisture because they are black-owned, cruelty-freeand silicone-free. I’m not 100% silicone- free, but most of my products are. This was the first ever shampoo I fell in love with for my natural hair. I have been using this shampoo and the conditioner since I was transitioning. I don’t know how I forgot to mention it in my Top 5 Sulfate-Free Shampoospost. This shampoo is for dry and damaged hair and is perfect to use if you are currently transitioning. It contains some of my fav ingredients, including shea butter and aloe vera leaf juice. Ingredients: Deionized Water, Decyl Glucoside (Sugar Beets), African Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Argan Oil, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B-5), Rosemary Extract, Sea Kelp Extract, Vitamin E, Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Flower (And) Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) Flower Extract. SheaMoisture Coconut Hibiscus Curling Shampoo- 13oz This shampoo is perfect for thick, curly and kinky hair. It also contains a lot of my fav ingredients: hydrolyzed protein, shea butter, coconut oil and aloe leaf juice. These ingredients are perfect for my high porosity hair. I love this one not only because it contains a lot of my fav ingredients, but also because it is so moisturizing and I can detangle with it. Ingredients: Water, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Sodium Lauroyl Hydrolyzed Silk, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Fruit Juice, Glycol Stearate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*~, Panthenol, Tocopherol, Stearamide Amp, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Melia Azadirachta Seed Oil, Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis Flower Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Caprylyl Glycol, Glycerin (Vegetable), Sodium Phytate, Sodium Benzoate, Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend) Clarifying Shampoo SheaMoisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Shampoo- 16.3oz Another SheaMoisture shampoo for the win! This one is awesome because it clarifies my hair, but it is still moisturizing. Clarifying is like a detox for your hair. It gets rid of everything. This one is my holy grail because it doesn’t strip my hair, but my hair gets squeaky clean. It is also my fav because it contains apple cider vinegar, which helps regulate the pH balance of your hair. It also contains a lot of my fav ingredients besides apple cider vinegar: hydrolyzed protein, shea butter, aloe leaf juice and peppermint. Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter (Certified Organic Ingredient) (Fair Trade Ingredient), Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend), Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Mauritia Flexuosa Fruit Oil, Tocopherol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice (Certified Organic Ingloe redient), Vinegar, Acetyl Tetropeptide-3, Niacin, Dextran, Trifolium Pratense (Clover) Flower Extract, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol, Butylene Glycol, Caramel, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Extract, Keratin. Conditioners Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner- 13oz Sticking with the Raw Shea Butter Line from SheaMoisture, this conditioner is said to detangle, moisturize, repair and restore lifeless dry, damaged and over-processed hair. I chose this one as my holy grail because I like to use the same shampoo and conditioner from the same product line because they are formulated to work together and is pH balanced if used together. But not only that. I can finger detangle my hair with this and it leaves my hair feeling like butta. It’s thick in consistency and my hair love it some thick up products. This also can be used as a deep conditioner and leave-in. I have used them as both and loved the results. Ingredients: Deionized Water, Butyrospermum Parlii (Shea Butter)*, Argan Oil, Coconut Oil*, Behentrimonium Chloride, Essential Oil Blend, Vegetable Glycerin, Emulsifying Wax, Sea Kelp Extract, Panthenol (Vitamin B-5), Avocado Oil, Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckkle) Flower (And) Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil SheaMoisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Shine Conditioner- 13oz Also, sticking with the Curl & Shine Line, this conditioner contains coconut oil to hydrate and protect hair while reducing shedding. Silk protein to smooth hair and neem oil to control frizz. This one is my holy grail because again, I like to use the same shampoo and conditioner from the same line and it also allows me to finger detangle, leaves my hair extremely soft and manageable and it contains a lot of my go-to ingredients. Again with some similar ingredients: water being the first ingredient is major key, coconut oil, shea butter, jojoba oil, hydrolyzed protein, aloe leaf juice. Ingredients: Water, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*~, Stearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Caprylate, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Panthenol, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil,Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Pg-Propyl Silanetriol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Melia Azadirachta Seed Oil, Sodium Lauroyl Hydrolyzed Silk, Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis Flower Extract, Tocopherol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend) Deep Conditioners/Masques SheaMoisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Treatment Masque- 12oz SheaMoisture is killing the game! If you don’t try nothing else from this list, you have to try this deep conditioner. Talk about moisture for your hair! The name intensive hydration is accurate! SheaMoisture did their thing with this product here! I feel like this masque will work for all hair types, but it is extremely thick. If you don’t like thick products, then you may want to skip this one. This is my holy grail, because as I stated, the moisture it provides my hair is unlike any other product. This is def a product I can’t live without. It lives in my stash and I reach for it (and the other 2 that I’m going to mention) quite often. It is perfect for my dry, thick and coarse hair. Related Article: Top 5 Moisturizing Deep Conditioners for Natural Hair This masque contains my favs coconut oil, shea butter and hydrolyzed protein. Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*+, Glycerin (Vegetable), Stearyl Alcohol, Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend), Behentrimonium Chloride, Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein Trichilia Emetica (Mafura) Seed Oil, Honey, Adansonia Digitata (Baobab) Seed Oil, Cetrimonium Chloride, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Ficus Carica (Fig) Extract, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Tocopheryl Acetate, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol. This product is also awesome because 10% of the sales from this product, and any other product from this line, go to women-led businesses, to support communities that supply ingredients for their products. Read more here. Mielle Organics Babassu Oil And Mint Deep Conditioner- 8oz Off the SheaMoisture train, for now anyway. I fell in love with this deep conditioner the first time I used it. I love the tingling feeling it gives my scalp because of the peppermint oil, which is perfect to stimulate and promote hair growth. This is my holy grail not only because of the way it makes my scalp feel, but also because it is pH balanced, it is lightweight and it makes my hair soft and manageable. Related Posts: Top 5 Products That Contains Essential Oils to Promote Natural Hair Growth But guess what, it doesn’t contain any of the ingredients that my hair loves. That’s why it’s good to experiment, but keep receipts.