Q: Would you ever consider doing an “ingredient review”? For example, ingredients that you love, hate, what to clear up misconceptions about, look for in products, or that have specfic uses regarding your own hair?
A: No, because ingredients I love may not work for other people, and it’s not like a review where I can tell people that the product may work better for them if they are seeking xyz from a product (because the purpose of an ingredient is not as flexible as a product, they are usually added to a product for a specific purpose). A lot of the time…it’s as simple as, “My hair loves x, but hates y. I’m not sure why.” Hair is bratty, and you’ll never know what your hair really needs unless you experiment with different things. Sincerely, I want people to become more autonomous with their hair and notice trends in their hair’s performance for themselves. It is not difficult to do an ingredients search and find what ingredients are meant to do or notice similar ingredients lists in products you love or hate. As I played with products at the beginning of my hair journey, I noticed that products with certain ingredients were always the ones I was adding to my HG list, and I began comparing formulations to see what they had in common. Now, when I select products, I usually pick ones that have a similar formulation (unless I am just picking stuff on a whim or because I really want to try it). I cannot stress it enough – people need to learn their own hair. There are several posts on my blog and across the internet that talk about ingredients (I know I have them on aloe vera and glycerin). I cannot tell people what to look for in products outside of the basic categories of water (for me), a moisturizer (in addition to water), sealer, protein (if you need it), cleanser (if applicable), etc. Please remember that I am not a chemist of any kind, I just love hair and learning about it. I encourage others to do the same.
xoxo
questfortheperfectcurl.com 
…and just because one product with a specific ingredient works for your hair doesn’t mean all products with that ingredient will work. For me a lot of times it depends on how much of a specific ingredient is in the product. If a product has beeswax as the 4th ingredient, I will have to pass, If its No. 8, it may work for me.
Yep, you’re totally right! Formulation is very important as well.
i’ve been natural for 3 yrs now & i i just started using all natural products, now i have to figure out which of those are what my hair likes, LOL, whew. I am so lazy when it comes to my hair but slowly but surely i’m changing……everything u said makes pefect sense. i never thought to compare the ingredients of products that my hair loves to those it doesn’t, duh…..thanks for the advice =) and to loulou, too. I’m going to find me a few good books to read, i love reading!
My fave books are Thank God I’m Natural, Grow It!, and The Curly Girl Handbook.
agreed. esp since some people will only look at your hair pattern and make comparisons based on that alone. and then blame you because a certain product didn’t work on their hair in the way they expected.
Whatever do you mean, that NEVER happens!
Great answer, people need to notice their own hair patterns in response to whatever products they use and do some google searches, or invest in good hair books. 🙂