My Favorite Hair Products: Shampoo + Conditioner.

     One of my blogging goals for 2016 was to start sharing more beauty posts with y'all! I've had several requests to film or photograph a hair tutorial for how I curl my hair. I plan to work on that this summer, after I graduate (and a.) have time to work on non-academic projects and b.) am hopefully living somewhere with a better lighting situation then my depressingly dark dorm room!). 

     In the meantime, I thought it would be fun for the month of February to do a little series for the blog on my favorite hair products! For each Thursday this month, I will be sharing different types of products that I love. And the last week of the month- I'll be sharing a few "misses," or products that I won't be buying again!

     First up for Week One is my shampoo and conditioner! 

    The first thing that you should know about my hair as I start this hair product series... I hate spending money on my hair. Hate it. (This is something I've never quite understood, since it's easy for me to drop lots of money on makeup- ha!) I'll talk more about my hair's history with coloring and other treatments in future posts, but it's now been almost three years since I've done any sort of a treatment on my hair! I keep it long and trim it once, sometimes twice a year. While some of my speciality hair products are a little bit more of splurges, for my shampoo and conditioner I try to keep things as affordable as I can, while still getting what I need from the products!

     The second thing that you should know about my hair, it is extremely oily. I am lucky to have facial skin that isn't too oily or dry... but my body processes excess oil through my hair! I'm not one of those girls who can only was her hair a couple of times a week. I should wash mine everyday for it to look its best. Sometimes with a little dry shampoo and a lot of luck I can get by on second day hair, but it's rare. 

     Because of the amount of oils in my hair, a lot of drugstore brand shampoos don't work for me.  They're designed for people with fine hair, color treated hair, or hair that that is too dry and needs moisture! My hair is neither of those things. It's thick, not colored, and has plenty of natural oils! What I need for my mane to look its best is a clarifying shampoo, or a shampoo to help dry up my hair! Most people that use clarifying shampoos only use them once or twice a week as a supplement to their normal shampoo routine. For me- clarifying shampoo is my only shampoo!

    I use Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo. This is available at Walmart, Target, and just about every drugstore and supermarket in America. It's one of the cheapest shampoos in the whole beauty aisle, and it also does exactly what I need it to do for clarifying. 

    I only use conditioner on the lower half of my hair, and that part of my hair doesn't get as oily as my scalp does. Because of this, I don't use a clarifying conditioner, and instead use one more tailored to my longer hair's needs. I had permed hair three years ago, and my hair has never completely gone back to being pin straight. I use the Suave Professionals Keratin Infused Smoothing Conditioner on the bottom of my hair to help decrease tangles. The straightening and smoothing power of this conditioner definitely works! If I brush my hair while its wet after showering, I notice that it dries with a lot less frizz to it then it used to. 

     Buying both my shampoo and conditioner costs me under $5 usually- Suave products are so affordable! 

    The above shampoo, Pantene Clarifying Shampoo, is actually my shampoo Holy Grail. I have used this off and on for a few years, and always return to it, because it is an excellent clarifying shampoo! This actually works even better on my hair than the Suave one, believe it or not. 

     The reason that I am not using it as much anymore is because sadly this shampoo is almost impossible to find. I was never able to find it at drugstores, and I'm fairly certain that it was a Target exclusive product. My Target here in Charlotte recently stopped carrying it in store. It is still available on the Target website, but in case it disappears altogether I'm trying to train my hair on the Suave shampoo- which is definitely almost as good! 

     Please let me know what you thought of this post! Next Thursday I'll be sharing my favorite dry shampoos and volume product. This post (as well as any future posts in this series) are NOT sponsored in any way- just me sharing some favorite hair products with all of you!


     xoxo Miss ALK