As A College Curly...

I really need to save money in any way I can. Books, tuition, food, and transportation (I commute) all add up very quickly so luxury spending has to be cut out. In hair terms, that basically means I need to start using products that are cheap, but will last me a long time so it's not a regular expense. Up until today I was using Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie in my hair, followed by Eco Styler Gel, either with Olive Oil or Argan Oil. But my CES is running low and I really didn't want to spend $10 to replace it.

So I decided to go back to the Conditioner Only Method. The only reason I really stopped doing this method was boredom. I liked the ease of using just one product in my hair to define and moisturize but something about it seemed too easy. I guess I just wondered what my hair would be like if I started using products that are actually meant to be left in hair and made to define curls and whatnot. The results I got were good, but they have their downfalls, just like the COM does.

When I leave nothing but conditioner in my hair, I get very soft, fragrant, and defined hair. All of that is great, but was pretty much impossible to get multiple days out of my hair because of how soft it is. Without the hold of a gel, any hope of second day hair will be pretty much demolished during the night, lol. So that means I have to do my hair every day. Some people don't think it's good to manipulate hair on a daily basis, but it's never given me any problems. I actually like wetting my hair every day. It serves as a reminder that I have been enlightened to the wonderful benefits of water on hair.

When I use a moisturizer/leave in conditioner plus a gel, my hair has better definition than when I use conditioner alone but it's never as soft. And unless the leave in I use is especially fragrant, my hair doesn't really have a smell to it. Or at least not one strong enough for me to smell it. And even though it's easier not doing my hair every single day, I think my hair becomes drier and drier with each passing day without water.

So I'm going to be sticking with COM while I'm in school. I like the feel of my hair better when I use this method and it's cheaper. Rather than pay $10 for an 8oz jar of CES and $5 for a 32oz tub of Eco Styler, I can pay under $3 for a huge bottle of conditioner and have everything I need for my hair in one product. Sounds like a college budget friendly hair routine to me!