My New Crew: My New Hair Routine

Check out close-ups of my new hair products, lol....

I seriously have never been so excited to get hair products in my life. Why was I so freaking happy? Because I did research. The best thing about the internet and blogs in particular is that it allows people to connect and get advice from other people- just like them. I web-surfed my bum off the other day figuring out what products to get, what to make my routine. I checked out many blogs and forums and I looked at peoples before and after pictures- I respected/reverenced more the girls who had broken short hair before and long thick full "you must got some indian in you" hair afterwards. And I also kept in mind which products and brands have worked best for me in the past (patene and mizani).

I had my list, yes list and headed to my favorite beauty supply store- the one where the asian owners are nice and have smartly hired amiable black women as staff (there's two chicks, they give advice and have tried alot of the products - weaves and all). Anyway so I go there pick up some things, then I go to another- the really big one that was like product heaven for someone on a mission to find particular products. I that one I found the main ones I was looking for, like the Elasta QPR. Oh, and I stopped at Walgreen in between to pick one product as well (the Neutrogena Triple Moisture).

And this is what I came home with (minus the Patene and Mizani- I already had those). I spent about $40 bucks, but it was cool- I was more than happy to.

1. Shampoo- Creme of Nature Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo
They say shampoo strips our hair (people of color) from its much needed moisture, so a moisturizing shampoo is a MUST, some people don't even use shampoos, instead they use a cheap conditioner as their shampoo (like Suave). I think I had planned on getting the detangling shampoo, but just ended up with this one instead.

2. Conditioner- AtOne Reconstructer Conditioner

3. Deep Conditioner- Elasta QP DPR-11 Deep Penetrating Reconstructor
Everyone swears by this stuff, so I HAD to get it--- it works so WELL, my hair was left SO soft after using it.

4. Deep Conditioner- Creme of Nature Nurturing and Strengthening Treatment
This came free with the Creme of Nature shampoo, yes that BIG jar came free, so it was a fluke that I purchased, but I later found out that one of the girl bloggers with great hair uses it, she actually replaced the Elasta DPR with this one....

5. Deep Conditioner- Patene Pro-V Relaxed and Natural Deep Conditioning Mask
I just so happened to see this when I was contemplating on whether or not to by more patene pro-v. It was so pretty-looking (the jar was) and most of them were gone, so went 'what the heck' and picked it up.

6. Leave-In Conditioner- Elasta QP Leave-In H2

7. Leave-In Conditioner- Neutrogena Triple Moisture Silk-Touch Leave-In Creme

8. Oil- Kemi Oyl

This one chick on a hair forum, with a bunch of pictures of her hair says this is the one oil she couldn't leave without. So I decided to buy it... first I couldn't find it, but it ended up being on the check-out counter.... 3 bucks for a tiny bottle of oil, its a bit pricey, but I've used it on my hair the past two days and it seems (only seems) to help my hair grow a bit and it keeps the hair nicely quenched.

My Shampoos and Conditioners:

My Deep Conditioners and Leave-Ins:

UPDATE: I am no longer using creme of nature. It is still a good product, but patene pro-v and mizani have the best shampoos. Also, shampoos are not that good for colored-american (black) hair, so its best to use a really good moisturizing shampoo when you do decide to shampoo.