You are going to Try a New Hair Product - Part Two - What to Note about Your New Product

I mentioned in Part One of trying something new and trying out a new hair product that its all fair and well doing so and sometimes its all fair and well to give it a bit of thought before doing so. The point is that you try. In this part two section, I think its even more important to give more thought whilst using the product. Why? Well how will you know if its actually worked (okay apart from how your hair looks once you have used it), how will you know unless you have consciously looked and checked and noted what the product has done or has not done.

Some things I look out for or think about or note include the following:
You initially noted the ingredients but now you can verify that those ingredients are indeed present by what they have done to your hair. This is important for your own knowledge of ingredients and building your own confidence in your knowledge but don't shoot a product down if it appears that it may not have what it said it had...it could be that it just does not have enough of the ingredient for YOUR hair. Some products need a bit more time than just the one use. Feel free to add natural products such as natural oils or water to enhance or customize a product to suite what YOUR hair wants it to do or your hair needs (just be careful though as a product is specifically formulated just the way it is so changing that formula may totally change and disintegrate the product - maybe remove some of the product into a separate container to play around with as opposed to adding to the full product bottle/tub). Easy peasy. Also when you use it again change the way you used it or change the method you applied it or change the step at which you applied it - for example maybe you initially applied it to damp hair, maybe try it on dry hair. There are a number of methods you can try before you totally say no this did not work for me. And I'm not saying some products won't tell you straight away that they do not work for you or your hair does not like them, your hair will not like some products straight away in which case discontinue use and hey, that's okay. I am just saying that before you are totally disappointed and feel like it was a waste of money - get the most you possibly can from it. Especially if you knew or were familiar with the ingredients before you bought it, like I mentioned, it could be that there is just not enough or even too much of those ingredients in the products for your own hair.

Another important thing is to note what other products you used with this particular new one. Maybe the combination of the products you used did not work for your hair. Try another way or try it with other products or brands. (some brands specifically formulate their products with certain properties for them to work better together for example shampoos and conditioners from on brand or range may have a specific PH balance suited for them to work together. Learning about PH balance for hair is the next level of hair education)

Tying in with the above, one also needs to ask did the product do what the packaging claimed it will do. The answer could be a simple yes or no or you can try out the ideas mentioned above and then decide yes or no.


Another thing to note is did you discover any other benefits that were not listed on the product and to note what they were. You may discover these as personal to you or even personal to you and a few other reviewers that you had read about their experience. These are good to note and can help you in deciding follow on questions like would you use the product again.

Also note how easy it was to apply the product or how easy or hard it was to use the product and how did it distribute along your hair strands. A nice to know and can also tie in with the ideas mentioned above, maybe changing the way it was applied will help it distribute better and for the hair to get the benefits from the product better (I sometimes leave a conditioner in longer). For example sectioning the hair into smaller parts/sections before applying as opposed to just lumping some on the hair whilst washing etc.

A nice to note is the packaging and product functionality - if it was hard to get it out the bottle maybe dispensing it into another easier to use bottle will help and maybe changing the lid. Maybe the packaging caused the bottle to slip out of your hand, maybe the packaging matches your bathroom deco and looks quite pretty on your bathroom shelf. These are just little extra things to note and please feel free to let the manufacturers of the product know your thoughts,

Lastly - note the scent of the products and if adding your own additional natural ingredients helped enhance the product. We all smell things differently, I am quite sensitive to smell and some scents can actually give me a migraine or headache. So noting such things will help me decide on purchasing again.

So there are various other things to note about a product, but I think the above are basic. How do you track all of this. Why? Well, how will you remember if something was really great the first time or when you added something to it or what will you tell your friends about it and maybe even more important, how will you decide if you will buy the product again.(unless of cause a product just kicks it from the start and its love at first site for your hair)  If like me, you try things all the time, it might be hard to remember, a good way it so keep a hair journal. There is actually a hair journal app which I have had for ages but just recently started using properly. It is simply called Hair Journal and is free on google play and istore.

Go on, enjoy your journey, enhance your knowledge about your hair and better equip yourself not just to help yourself but to also help others and as always listen to your hair.