

10 Natural Hair Products To Add To Your Routine
My first and main priority when it comes to my hair is always hair health. When I'm shopping or testing new products it has to cater to my hair type and texture, moisturize, and use beneficial ingredients that either build my overall hair strength or promote a healthy scalp. Promising to define or elongate my curls is cool, but it's simply not enough for me.
Lately, I've been trying new products from both mainstream and startup brands to add to my collection, especially during the warmer weather. I noticed a few differences in my summer hair routine in comparison to the rest of the year. During the summer, I have to:
- Wash my hair way more frequently to avoid build-up and to just clean my sweaty scalp.
- Keep my hair moisturized.
- Protect my hair from the sun.
- Condition my hair very often.
- Use more oils.
Basically, I had to establish a routine and have the right products to properly care for my hair. If you're looking for ways to improve your summertime hair care, here are some natural hair products to add to your routine before the summer is over.
Aunt Jackie's Curl La La Defining Curl Custard
Amazon
Although it's labeled as a curl defining custard, the formula adds a ton of moisture and shine to your strands regardless of your hair type. It's kind of like an all-in-one hair cream and leave-in conditioner. It's paraben- and sulfate-free and enriched with olive oil and shea butter that will leave your curls juicy and refreshed for a few days.
Moisture Love’s Now & Forever Leave-in Conditioning Serum
This is a brand new product to me and girl, it's staying in my collection. I've never used a leave-in conditioning serum before but it definitely made detangling less time-consuming and a less dreadful process. The plant-based product is very runny which makes it easier to travel through your strands. Whether you apply it to damp or dry hair, it immediately softens and moisturizes your hair, making it easier to comb through.
Pro tip: You can also use this on your roots and ends while it's in a protective style.
Oils
Oil is pretty much the GOAT product for hair, skin, and nails, so of course, it was going to find its way on this list. Oils are essential to my summer routine for two main reasons. One, it helps seal in moisture. After I apply a condition to my hair, I seal it with either tea tree or jojoba oil (castor oil is cool too, but depending on the style, it can be too thick for some). Secondly, I use it to protect my hair from drying out in the water. Before I go into the pool, I apply oil to every strand on my head. Chlorine will literally strip all the moisture from your hair and oil helps combat that.
Moisturizing Mousse
I tend to give gels a little break in the summer. With the amount of frizz-control that I need, it requires a lot of gel and to be honest, I can't bother with any extra buildup. So instead I use a mousse that not only provides hold but moisture too.
I recommend three different mousses for the summer: Smooth'n Shine Bodifying Mousse with sweet almond oil for protective styles. It adds moisture and shine while keeping flyaway hairs in place for a longer-lasting style and protects your hair from extreme heat conditions. Next, is Design Essentials Almond and Avocado Mousse. It's good for moisturizing, adding shine, and reducing frizz by creating a strong hold. Lastly is Lottabody's Milk & Honey Curl Defining Mousse. This is for the girls who don't want such a strong hold but want to keep the curls in place. It adds shine and body to your curls with a medium hold.
Curlmix Pure Homemade Flaxseed Gel
Curlmix
So I know I said I didn't use gels, but this is the only exception. To be honest, it doesn't even feel like a gel, it feels more like a conditioning cream. The vegan and cruelty-free brand has several different formulas for all of your hair needs: hair growth, hair repair, and hair softening amongst others. The one I recommend is moisture formula. It adds a ton of moisture, especially if you're using it with another cream or custard, but it can also do wonders alone. The best part is, it doesn't leave any flakes or white residue.
Revlon Realistic Strengthening Conditioner And Butter Creme Leave-In Conditioner
Black seed oil has a number of benefits for our hair; it soothes the scalp, eliminates dryness, increases shine, nourishes hair strands, and promotes healthy hair growth. Revlon Realistic Strengthening Conditioner and Revlon Realistic Strengthening Butter Creme Leave-In Conditioner are dedicated to strengthening your hair and stimulating hair growth. I like to use the conditioner as a deep conditioner to bring my hair back to life and follow up with the butter creme for better results.
Want more stories like this? Sign up for our newsletter here and check out the related reads below:
The Lazy Girl's Guide To Natural Hair
Uncommon (But Totally Natural) Things That Are Great For Hair
This Is Why Your Natural Hair Ain't Growin'
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Freelance writer, content creator, and traveler. She enjoys the beauty of simplicity, a peaceful life, and a big curly fro. Connect with Krissy on social media @iamkrissylewis or check out her blog at www.krissylewis.com.
Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Improve The Look Of Your Under-Eyes With These Top-Rated Eye Masks
If there’s one part of the face that seems to be the most vexing to correct, it’s the under eyes.
This delicate area has a way of being tipped off by our irregular sleep patterns, stress, and the straining that comes from our computers and phone screens. From puffiness to dark circles, it can be irksome to find the right products to soothe our under-eye concerns. Thankfully, there’s one solution that delivers a brighter and more awakened look over time, and that’s under-eye masks and eye patches.
Eye patches are giving our under-eye bags an eviction notice because they can’t hang our glowing faces rent-free. The beauty of these patches is that they are designed to bring your eyes targeted results through concentrated doses of active ingredients directly to the skin under the eyes. Typically made of thin, gel-like material and infused with ingredients like niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, caffeine, and even green teas, these small but mighty patches depuff your puffiness, brighten your dark circles, or tighten fine lines.
While every under-eye differs in its needs, every eye can benefit from an under-eye mask or patch that suits its concerns. And to help, we’ve put together the best under-eye patches to hydrate, soothe, and brighten your eyes.
KNC Beauty All Natural Retinol Infused Eye Mask, 5-Pack
The KNC Beauty All Natural Retinol Infused Eye Mask, 5-Pack, is a retinol-infused, all-natural product designed to rejuvenate your eyes. It promises to provide hydration, smoothness, reduced puffiness, and brightness without the use of chemicals. With ingredients like retinol to refine skin texture and stimulate blood flow and aloe to soothe and reduce redness, it's like getting 8 hours of beauty sleep for your eyes.
Topicals Faded Under Eye Brightening Eye Masks
These cooling hydrogel under-eye masks from Topicals promise to fade the appearance of dark circles and discoloration in just 15 minutes. The set includes six masks and offers benefits that brighten, hydrate, depuff, and cool your under-eye area.
Peter Thomas Roth Potent-C Power Brightening Hydra-Gel Eye Patches
Grab these eye contour gel patches to brighten the eye area and combat signs of aging using a powerful form of vitamin C called THD Ascorbate, which is 50 times more potent than traditional vitamin C.
BeautyBio Bright Eyes Depuffing and Brightening Eye Gels
BeautyBio's Bright Eyes consists of 15 colloidal silver-infused eye gel patches designed to provide instant depuffing, brightening, and revitalization to the delicate eye area within 10 minutes. They also contain natural collagen to help diminish the appearance of fine lines, which we love.
COSRX Advanced Snail Hydrogel Eye Patch
COSRX
These viral hydrogel masks offer moisture and nourishment to rejuvenate tired-looking skin. Their Snail Secretion Filtrate contains "Mucin," an effective moisturizing ingredient that soothes damaged skin and delivers deep hydration, making it suitable for dehydrated and damaged skin types. Your under-eyes will thank you.
Peace Out Puffy Under-Eye Patches
Amazon
Try these caffeine-infused patches to reduce puffiness in the under-eye area. The product features clean, vegan ingredients such as caffeine, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid for deep hydration and moisture delivery.
Dieux Skin Forever Eye Mask Reusable Silicone Gel Eye Pads
The Forever Eye Mask is designed to be the “last eye mask you'll ever need.” This thin, lightweight, and reusable eye patch can hold gels, serums, and creams close to the skin for better absorption, helping your skincare products work more effectively.
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