Oh cool, what hair and skin products do you make?
Have you tried organic products? How would you say they compare to products you make?
WARNING: Long post.. LOL
Anyway, basically I started off by making modifications to existing products that
used to be effective for my 4b/c hair type, but had undergone a formula change and weren't anymore..
So it'll be anything from shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner and other finishing products like creams and oils..
I started doing this primarily because I saw how traditional methods I was using to take care of my hair wasn't working and it made my scalp issues worse. The Blue Magic myth is just as pervasive and culture-deep as the one about Black skin not needing sunblock. Seriously. We have a lot of harmful shit to unlearn as a people.
I used to use Shea Moisture stuff, but when they were bought out by another company, they changed the formula to the point where it no longer worked for ethnic hair types and it was as if they dropped us after we made it popular and started catering to non ethnic hair types almost exclusively like the other big brands out there. After a few other privately and Black owned brands fell the same way, it was frustrating and started feeling like we couldn't have a brand that just dealt with our ethnic hair and if we did, eventually White women would "discover" it and then complain about it, and the next thing you know, that popular brand either caters to them like the 90%+ of other major brands out there, and once they do so, they no longer work for our hair anymore.. and eventually, the brand ends up being discontinued.. or shuttered immediately after takeover. And this is because, after these women got what they wanted, they lost interest and moved on.. it honestly feels like a feature not a bug at this point.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat. (no pun intended..)
Biologically speaking hair is hair, but one size doesn't fit all. Fine, straight type 1-2a (as in super straight to slightly wavy) hair that White women typically have, would be heavily weighed down by the stuff used by those with type 4b/c ethnic hair like myself. This is also why Black hair does not get lice, as I mentioned over in the lice thread a while back..
Which was the primary issue White women had when they decided to try it for themselves after seeing how popular we made it when we used it in our hair care routines.
They complained that it was too heavy for their hair and when the brand owner sold the company the first thing they did was remove the heavier stuff like coconut oil and shea butter, etc., that worked for ethnic hair to make themselves more appealing to White women, thusly becoming yet another Pantene, or any other brand that basically catered to White women, while also ignoring the fact that ethnic hair existed. The ethnic formula they released was basically the same as the regular watered down version, but it was just in a brown bottle and the commercials featured more Black and Brown women with diverse hair, but the formula was exactly the same since my hair and scalp reacted the same to both.
Also it was so full of perfume that it made my eyes water when I washed and conditioned my hair with it. And the SLS and alcohol in it made it super dry and brittle too. This was actually what caused a lot of Black women to make their own hair stuff too and this was the reason behind Shea Moisture being as popular as it was.. to the extent that White women ended up "discovering" it. They got tired of the brands they trusted and supported, becoming yet another Pantene.
So eventually, I started doing this with everything. Even though Shea Moisture did eventually come to their senses and start bringing back the formulas that worked with ethnic hair.. and no longer look at it as a one size fits all thing like most major shampoo brands do, it is now at the point where I do it regardless and my scalp issues were resolved..
And regarding organic, are we talking about the certified products like Dr. Bronner's soaps or the brand Organix (or OGX?) Either way, yes I have heard of them and I use their shampoos and conditioners but not their oils. I have learned that OGX uses petrolatum which seems to be a liquid soluable form of petroleum.. I used to use their oil sprays as a L.C.O.S. finisher on a wash day. And some days if I am in a hurry, I will just use a equal parts mixture of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint, Tea Tree and Eucalyptus Castille soaps, add in my oil blend and just wash with that usually use as a prewash before I use my shampoo and hacked conditioner, but in a hurry I will just use the soap mix, and hacked conditioner and then I follow up with my rice water rinse mix (inositol in fermented rice water is excellent for hair and scalp health and growth) and the rest of my L.C.O.S. routine.. and my hair grows like a weed whenever I do this. I mean like an inch every month instead of 3/4 in. like usual..
Anyway, it is a LOT of work to maintain natural hair.. and it is super expensive, so I had often relaxed mine so that the texture would be easier to maintain and also (much like many Black women to avoid hair discrimination and harassment.. it is still legal in many states here and the racist and ignorant comments about ethnic hair from White people in these spaces or them treating us like a side-show freak, or complaining about how often we change our hair don't help either since hair discrimination is still legal in most of this country, but the tide seems to be slowly changing on that too.)
I don't use Shea butter as a sealant, it is too heavy and that is why I melt it and use it in the oil blend I make for this. As a sealant, I use the Aussie heat protecting serum for when i blow dry and flat iron for the last step. But anyway, when I used the OGX oil spray, even with my oil mix, I noticed that my hair was feeling heavy no matter what I did, and it felt as oily and weighed down as it did when I was using passed down staples like Ultra Sheen and Blue Magic (though Sulfer 8 was used in my brother's hair.)
But with that, I noticed that my seborreic dermatitis was coming back after it had been gone for years since I was using natural oils and not scented vaseline like Blue Magic. When this happened, I started adding the same essential oils to it that helped my hair before. And what happened was that the natural oils and the essential oils had separated and they mixed with the natural oils and floated on top of this thick white almost gelatinous slime.
I mistakenly thought it was something important so I tried to reintegrate them by heating and mixing it which seemed to have worked, but then I still had scalp issues and the oil ended up separating from the white blobby stuff again.. so I said fuck it. And decided to use a coffee filter to strain out the white stuff from the oil and when I touched the white stuff, it actually felt like softened vaseline that was in between being solid and liquid in texture. So after playing around with it for like an hour (I am still a big kid at heart) I figured that this was the stuff that brought back my scalp issues.
Once I figured this out, I went and got some organic coconut oil and shea butter, and melted it so that it became liquid and then I added in some jojoba, vitamin E, avocado and olive oil and I mixed it in and then I added a shit ton more of my essential oil blend that cured my scalp and hair issues.. I mixed all of this up and poured it back into the ogx oil spray bottle and used that, and my scalp and hair issues were once again cleared up.
I don't have any pictures now, but the next time I make a batch, I'll try to take one and update this post with a picture of what happens when it separates when I add the essential oils to ogx oil spray.. then again there might be a youtube video somewhere..
Anyway, I have also done this with face wash, body lotions, and even medicinal products like Vicks Vapor Rub. Both during covid and when I was sick for more than half of 2021 thinking that I had a new strain of covid (despite extreme isolation for safety,) I ended up using that stuff under my nose so I coukd breath easier under my mask. In doing so, I noticed that my nose and upper lip area started to peel.. so what I did was I heated up the entire jar of Vicks and dumped a shit ton of that same essential oil blend as well as a a lot of vitamin e oil and jojoba oil and I mixed it in and used it when it resolidified.
It turned out to be more effective at keeping my airways open both in the house and when traveling.. and once again the dermatitis issues on my face were resolved. The balm I hacked was so much more effective that I made an oil based on the same thing and out it in a roller bottle so that I could use it in my nose under the mask and then it would then be activated from my breathing in it, kind of like a humidifier effect, and I carry both that and a small jar of the nasal balm in my TSA bag and my purse.
Anyway, funny enough, when my airways had been opened in my old apartment, from using the Vicks mix. That was when I first smelled the mold in my apartment. And suddenly everything made sense about why I was often so much sicker inside my apartment than I had been when I left. I initially thought it was just seasonal allergies but they immediately disappeared when I left and came back as I was making my way through the building to my apartment.
I also use essential oils in the pet safe cleaners I make using diluted Dr. Bronner's soap. But ill add in the oils that I know repel certain bugs and they are safer to use than chemical sprays are where my cat is concerned.
Even though I use essential oils in my stuff, and it has worked, I can't vouch for whether or not they are effective for use as medicine.. the closest I had ever come to that was with the Vicks and oil in the roller bottle and also a few drops of my essential oil blend in my neti pot with saline.. so basically sinus related stuff..
I can't vouch for their effectiveness aside from sinuses, skin and hair and cleaning and bug repellent..
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