Tinaciouslee

I’ve always dreamed of having shiny, pin-straight hair so from college up to 2022-ish, I was straightening my hair at the salon. The process used to take 5 hours but now, it’s down to 2 hours.

This was a yearly thing for me because I have the thickest, most unruly tresses. It’s always humid here in the tropics too so you can imagine what this does to my already frizzy hair!

So yeah, I was doing this fairly regularly until I chose the wrong salon and they freakin burned my locks. It became a rubbery, fried mess and nothing can be done to restore it but to grow it all out.

It took a good two years to grow my hair back. I was getting trims every 3-5 months to remove the damaged parts – this was the final trim.

And because my hair isn’t chemically treated during this time, my natural waves showed.

The funny thing about pregnancy – and they don’t tell you much about it – is it can change your hair – along with your shoe size. My hair has was slightly wavy in my youth but now, it’s borderline curly. It doesn’t show in the image above but it gets curlier and bigger as the day wears on.

After inflicting so much damage to my hair, especially the last treatment, I was torn between straightening it again or just embracing the curls, man.

SO. I decided to temporarily embrace the curls.

I must admit, I have been chemically treating my hair for such a long time, I don’t actually know what my natural hair looks like until recently. So that was interesting. The hubs like the hair too.

Of course, I bought some products to manage my hair. I was actually testing multiple leave-in conditioner/styling products but I will only be writing about one.

Why? Because it’s the best one of all – and it was really freakin cheap too.

I was trawling Shopee for hair care products and reviews then came across Zen Nutrient’s Leave-in Conditioner from their “Curls” range. I ordered one after reading all the glowing reviews and it’s SO GOOD.

• It’s sulfate, paraben, protein, and silicone free
• It hydrates the tresses
• Leaves hair smelling fresh
• It gives soft definition to curls
• It’s not greasy, it holds the curls – doesn’t make the hair crunchy like 90s hair gel
• It doesn’t irritate my scalp or cause dandruff

The product is a thick cream. I apply two coin-sized amount on damp hair, carefully avoiding getting it on my scalp. Then I scrunch up the ends and leave my hair to air dry. I get great results every time.

Most situations, the product can hold my curls – but it’s not perfect.

My hair has a life of its own and on extra humid days, it turns… unwieldy. During these times, the only thing that can tame it is to get a proper blow dry or tie it back. Not the product’s fault at all. And for only PHP200+ for a big tube of the stuff, this is a steal!

That said, I’m not swearing off chemical treatments completely. In fact, I’m thisclose to straightening my hair again because untreated hair is a lot of work.

The only thing that’s stopping me, besides finding time to book a salon sesh, is it kinda made me wary about treatments in general. I am toying with the idea of dying my hair instead – I wasn’t allowed to color my hair for 2 years because of the chemical damage!