My Hair Care Routine 2023 by watereverysunday (Copyright © 2023)
What makes your day? I can easily say "my hair! ". Unruly, frizzy, dry and lack of shine and the list goes on. On a good hair day, I am confident and happy. On a bad hair day, my hair is just on a top bun to hide away my mane. How about you? I had written a blog on beach hair some years ago (that does feel like million years ago now) which included hair products I loved and could not live without then and how you could wake up like Gieselle Buchen.
The strangest thing is that once my I-can't-live-without products were no longer in my shower nor in this list. Either they were discontinued or no longer worked for me all of sudden or at some point. Letting go wasn't so painful as there were always new ones. Of course, you still need to try them out first but it feels good to know that someone is always continuing to improve or come out of something for your unmet needs.
So shall we look at what's my newfound and current favorite products/brands in my hair care routine? My hair is normal and half curly, gets frizzy on rainy days and a bit dry on sunny days if not conditioned well.
*Disclaimer: We are not affiliated with any product/company/brand/website featured in this blog post other than our own. Products listed in this blog post are tried and tested by the author and personal choices, and listed for recommendation only purposes and does not guarantee the same results by readers' use.
SHAMPOO & CONDITIONERS
THEORIE
Helichrysum & Plum Nourishing Shampoo & Conditioner $25/each
eva-nyc
This brand captured my eyes at the first look but I hesitated and I passed on a couple of times until my first purchase because it had that NYC hip factor in pretty tie-dye and tin packaging but my impression was maybe either too candy-sh(?) or high-tech that could be a hit or miss. A lot of times appearance is deceiving but this one is true to inside out lovely. At first, the package size seems a bit petite but it's rather concentrated and lathers superbly well into air-ish bubbles from just a couple of pumps (for my long hair).
If Lift Off Volume Shampoo adds any volume to my hair isn't so obvious but the active ingredients Linden Bud + Wild Berries scent was (it's grapefruit and floral scents to me, though) and heavenly. The scent was so refreshing that it would be perfect for morning showers. It makes the hair very soft to touch like you don't need conditioner after shampoo. Linden Bud locks moisture and prevents hair from drying out, breakage and splits while antioxidant Wild Berries protect your hairs from free radicals.
MONDAY
RESET & Co-WASH
VERB
Verb Reset 1 Clarifying Shampoo $20
Another name for this shampoo is anti-residue shampoo. Which means you can't have too many good things all the time. Things started to build up like soap scum on your hair and your hairs started to look dull and heavy. We need something else or a special product to clean those build-ups. Otherwise, active ingredients and nutrients will not absorb but just hang around the top of clogged scalp or hair follicles and could harbor bacteria. Verb is known for being a vegan brand and I am not sure how this could be vegan as the product straightforwardly cleans your hair to a squeaky sound and smells like glycerin. I guess this broke my misconception that vegan doesn't mean no synthetic chemicals or just organic Or, no animal products which is standard in vegan diet. But still no BS, just lather and clean - clarify - fresh restart. Thank god, it is color safe.
TPH by taraji
Hustle & Co a rich Co-Wash $9.99
It was a happy incident that I found this product. I prefer washing my hair every other day as you all know that the second day hair looks the best, which is an urban legend(?). Then sweaty working out sessions required daily shower/wash and I started using a co-wash product instead. I used to use Aveda co-wash but it wasn't anything that I loved about other than being co-washing purpose, literally. Then I spotted this product and gave it a try.
Be mindful that this product isn't really shampoo but rather a cream cleanser, almost like a cream cleanser for the face. For some people, this product could be too creamy or heavily scented. But as said, it is a cream per se and does not lather. However, this product gives me the most lovely second day hair with staying curling power, right off the bed, smelling like a high maintenance drama queen(?). You might skip your fragrance for the day. Another great thing about this co-wash cream is that there is almost no hair shedding after using it. My shower drain has almost no hairs when compared to my regular shampoo/conditioner washing.
The brand is actually developed for African hairs but it works for any hair type! This co-wash has all in one - moisturize, condition and cleanse and does not need conditioner. This brand has other formula lines that are interesting that I am curious to try out. Also something that differentiate this brand from others are the rubbery bottles with pop up openings. These days I tend to refuse to buy anything without a pump. There were brands that I wanted to love but the packaging failed to deliver a dense or runny formula correctly and that experience prevented me from buying them again. This brand's bottle is weirdly rubbery and squeezable, and it was a bit alien to me but I enjoyed this newness. It also saves it from overdose(?)/use. This little bottle lasts for months!
HAIR GROWTH & RE-GROWTH
SOUTHMOON
Southmoon Hairculture Regrowth Serum with Massage Roller $12.99
Limited time product and quantities
This snake oil kinda product was just one of my clinical trials(?) in my looking for the cure journey and unexpectedly found it. As I wrote in my previous blog, I had lost some of my baby hair over my left front hairline from a salon coloring about 5 years ago. The hair dye must have been harsh and I did notice some heat, stinging over the area and soft baby hair becoming coarse and fried, even looking wiry(!), and the area became pretty hollow and bare. I've tried a lot (a lot!) of products to regrow the hair in that spot - biotin shampoos, herbal supplements, red-light therapy etc... to no avail until this.
Active ingredients in this product is Tuber fleece flower (Fo-Ti), Ginger and Pea Shrub. Fo-Ti is a known Chinese herb to increase hair follicles, regrow and prevent greying. Ginger stimulates your scalp and hair follicles. Pea scrub also promotes hair growth and provides nutrients. But what worked in this product was the messaging head roller. It hurts a bit and the area applied looked like wet pets when you bathe them but this seemed to trigger blood circulation over your scalp and open up hair follicles, and helped the absorption of active ingredients and reactivated the hair growth. Just imagine that every spring, farmers have to upturn the hardened soils during winter to provide water and nutrients that it needs for the seeds to germinate.
I only applied 1-2 times a day after shower at night and in the morning over the clean hair. Sometimes just once a day because I really did not have much hope and the damaged area was hollow and dormant for the last 5 years. I pretty much gave up thinking that the damage was permanent.
Then after 2 weeks, I saw something was different. The area started filling up. I did not take before and after photos but I noticed the difference. At about a month mark and by the time I used up the first tube, the area was not only all filled up but the hair of the area returned back to a softer texture like normal baby hair and no longer coarse. I was skeptical that those photos in the advertisement were not real but they were. I could not believe it worked…!
RUSK Sensories
SENSORIES Calm Guarana & Ginger Nourishing Conditioner $12.58
I wasn't not sure where to list this product but since this is one of the products that had my hair grow, both volume and length therefore I am listing under the hair re-growth category. This product was also in my past blog on hair topics and I still recommend it. This product line has Guarana and ginger, both active ingredients stimulate your scalp and hair roots for hair growth/regrowth. Apparently, Guarana (don't be confused with Guava) is an amazonian fruit that its seeds has the highest CAFFEINE amongst any plant. I can't say much on the shampoo as I only used conditioner for some reason and still work on overall hair growth, not at the damaged or targeted spot, though.
My hair stylist would mention that I have more hair whenever I use this product. The conditioner does not give smooth or moisturized hair other than the mentioned effect. But, same thing as vegetables, they are good for you but not necessarily savory. These are readily available at drugstores near you.
Speaking of Guarana with high caffeine use for hair growth, I made a DIY coffee shampoo at some point and will be sharing on how to and my review on its effect in my future blog. It is really easy to make - not using brewed coffee. So stay tuned….
DRY SHAMPOO
Dry shampoo works by somewhat cleaning your dirty hair when you have no time(?), such as absorbing hair oils from your roots so that your hair does not weigh down, smell or grease between washes or in order to prolong your salon styled hair. It also gives the hair lift from the roots to maintain volume, just for another day.
The concept comes from ancient times how people powder their wigs with starch and some scent mixture. But let's wash our hair regularly as this is a temporary remedy. Whatever the reasons are, dry shampoo is handy.
VERB Dry Shampoo $20
To be honest, I just bought these on Verb's vegan brand hype but I have been using Verb Products since I first found them on Amazon in 2020 and I even have some merchs (their shampoo pouch and eco bags are quite cute).
I have tried most of their Shampoo and Conditioners lines - Sea, Ghost, Volume and Reset lines but except Reset I wasn't something that particularly worked for me to repurchase. If I must, volume lines worked for my curly hair. But also the issue was the bottle sizes. The little one is too little for the price and runs out quickly for the value, the big one is too big and I became tired of using it all which cheapens the value overall.
Going back to Dry Shampoo, I am still using a dry shampoo for light hair since I picked up wrong kind but it looks ok on my dark hair. Now it seems the packaging has been updated into prettier pinks. I actually use this on dry hair for both volume and styling, not necessarily for second day hair. The spray is powerful like hair spray but not sticky nor powdery like some other dry shampoos and leaves no white cast. The scent is mild and casually nice.
STYLING
SASHAJUAN
STYLING CREAM $39
This Styling Cream just smells fantastic (maybe scandinavian ocean?) and gives just enough and light styling touch that I need at any given hair moment. I have tubes at home and in my purse. Lightly textured like their ocean silk technology philosophy with two cold water algae – Rhodophycea and Chondrus extracts with minerals, I have been using this forever and still using it everyday. I would say this cream also works like a fragrance for my hair. I used to have other favorite styling products but once I had this, I dropped off all else… Definitely have that Scandinavian and Minimalist effect by the packaging and scents. The hype hasn't left me yet.
FINISH CREAM $36
I got this version when I bought the styling cream that came with this as a bonus. This version has a bit of a greasy feel compared to styling cream and weighs down my hair but this works great on straight hair style, giving it a more smooth finish.
VERB Sea Spray $20
I bought this since I needed a sea salt spray for beach hair waves during summer and spotted this and gave it a try. It did not disappoint me and it is pretty much used up as summer is now over.