Curl Products Overload?

By Tenisha Mercer
www.HairNista.Blogspot.com



How many curl products are too much?

Never has there been a time in the natural hair community when there have been sooo many curl products for natural hair. You don't have to look far to find all types of curl creams, mixes and potions. From high-end to low-end, to products that cater to different textures of natural hair -- each promising plump, defined natural curls -- they are all right there at your local store.

It's exhausting! Everytime I go to Target, beauty supply stores or even grocery stores, there's a new curl product, or entire line, sitting right there on the shelf.  It's enough to make a PJ go into product overload. I have no idea if any of these work; I'd be broke, if I did. It's just enough to make a new natural feel a bit overwhelmed.

Remember when naturals had to order the majority of our products online? Those days, thankfully, are gone. And gone are the times when the natural hair community rallied around certain Holy Grail products -- because we had little else! These days, naturals got plenty of hoices if they want curls -- even from manufacturers who paid naturals no never mind just a few short years ago.

Are Naturals Desperate for Curls?

Now, it wouldn't be right if we didn't ask ourselves if naturals have an obsession with curls (some of us do). It's almost as if we are chasing the curl, doing whatever we can to get it. At least, I'd think that way based on all of the curl products on store shelves right now.

Manufacturers probably say all they are doing is following demand; after all, relaxer sales have steadily fallen double digits since 2007. But my worry is that new naturals will think they MUST, MUST, MUST have curls or they won't be successful as naturals.

That's dangerous territory, because while natural black hair hair is very diverse and ranges from the kinkiest of the kinky to the straightest of the straight, not all of us can get our hair to curl. And if new naturals have those kinds of expectations based on their YouTube obsessions or visions of product grandeur, they might be in for a huge disappointment.

Are all of the new curl products for natural hair a good thing or bad thing?