Green Hair Care, for Curly Girls on a Budget

Hello to the all the Curly Girls, Guys, Kiddies, and people who love them! We know by now that we can't use typical drugstore products, like widely available, commercial, and typically cheap shampoos and conditioners for our hair type. It strips our hair of moisture and causes frizzies like we've been trekking through a rain forest for two days: in other words, a snarled, tangled mess.

We also know that cleansing conditioners without sulfates are the way to go, but with the best one on the market being produced from top-shelf, organic oils, it's a pricey deal for great hair. If you can afford No-Poo from DevaCare, do it. Do it now. Do it today. Just run out and buy it, curly girl, and don't look back. Thank me with years of great hair pictures on your Facebook profile, or whatever you kids do nowadays. In stores, it retails at around $15.00-$18.00 for 12 oz. of product, but I just did a search, and I found an online retailer selling it for $7.32 without tax or shipping. I can't vouch for it, because I haven't ordered from the site before: http://www.buy.com/prod/devacurl-no-poo-zero-lather-conditioning-cleanser/230761186.html?listingId=239661618.

If you're days away from a payday, or you're currently without a paycheck at all, what can you do? I found a few lower end options that you can buy in stores, for all budgets. My local drugstore chain had an organic brand called Renpure on the shelves that was on sale for around $10.00, but the picture on the 18 oz. bottle of the founders' straight-haired niece did not bode well for me. Experience agreed with my assessment, and I found that his blend did not work for my scalp type and curls. C'est la guerre.

One afternoon at my local Target, I got a cleansing conditioner that smelled like vanilla and also cost only $10, but I can't remember the name of it, just that it was in a cheerful blue bottle. I couldn't find it online, either. Booooo! May your next trip there be more fruitful than mine. Look in the multicultural section, around products like Shea Moisture and Mixed Chicks. Down and out, I had to find something else on the shelf that would work for my hair type. After a lot of searching and scrutinizing of labels, I found a Suave Naturals line that might do the trick, at the bargain price of $2.00.

It's important to remember that commercial conditioners have more than enough cleansing power for your delicate curly hair. You do not have to use shampoo, just work the conditioner through with your fingers, and scrub your scalp well. Rinse a couple of times, still massaging your scalp vigorously and working your hands through your hair, removing loose hair and excess sebum. That's it! I'm back on the same "wash every two days" schedule that I'm on with the pricier organic cleansing conditioners, though my curls are drier and not as defined like they are when I use more specifically targeted organic products for curls. The Suave label does have natural oils listed, along with some more dangerously chemically-sounding derivatives, but it's definitely better than using commercial brands that have harmful sulfates and no organic products or natural oils at all.

Happy Hunting!