3 Shampoos I Swear By For Making My Post-Protective-Style Hair Feel Clean and Healthy
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Welcome to In My Head, a monthly column where we break down the latest and greatest natural hair products to hit our doorsteps that actually live up to the hype. This month: shampoos.
An issue that I often run into on wash days — specifically wash days that come after I remove my protective styles — is when I realize after I've already rinsed my hair that there's still a small amount of product residue lingering on my scalp. It's for this reason that I usually have to be particular about the shampoos that I use and how I'm using them, making sure that they're able to banish all of that buildup with at least two lathers while not being too harsh on my coily hair.
I recently removed a head full of box braids that I'd kept in for about five weeks, and thus decided to put a bunch of all-new shampoos that have found their way to my home in the last month to the test. Ahead, I'm taking you through a few formulas that not only got the job done, but also made my hair feel amazing after.
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Miss Jessie's Honey Harmless Gentle Wash
I'll start by saying that shampooing my coily hair often makes me really nervous, in that I often fear my hair will end up a tangled mess once I'm done massaging the product into it. With Miss Jessie's Honey Harmless Gentle Wash ($14), I didn't have to worry about that. This is one of the brand's newest products featured in its Honey lineup, and it's made to gently cleanse the hair — hence the word "harmless" in the name — using honey and humectants, while not tangling or knotting up the hair in the process.
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4C Only Too Clean Shampoo
The 4C Only Too Clean Shampoo ($23) is one of four products initially launched by the brand specifically made for people with 4C hair. The shampoo itself is packaged in a 12-ounce jar — yes, a jar — and is made with aloe-vera leaf and argan oil to make your hair feel extra moisturized and nourished. My favorite thing about the shampoo, other than the amount of product I got for the price, is that it lathered almost instantly and made my hair feel super clean without drying it out or making it feel stripped of any essential moisture.
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The Doux No Scrubs Exfoliating Shampoo
The main thing I like to focus on when removing any protective style is getting rid of product buildup, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well The Doux No Scrubs Exfoliating Shampoo ($13) was able to help me do that. I loved it for two reasons: because of how well its nondrying formula was able to cleanse my hair without stripping it, but also because I could feel the post-braid residue being lifted from my scalp, thanks to the slight tingle from the tea tree oil it's made with.
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