3rd Time's the Charm When Trying New Products!

*HANDS UP* If you constantly become frustrated when you try a new "holy grail" product for natural hair and find that it doesn't work for you. *raises hand*

This happens to many of us often and are frustration causes us to 1) put the product in a place of "no return" lol 2) give it away 3) throw it away, all while looking at it in disgust lol

I am guilty of this, but have recently learned that 3rd time truly is the charm when it comes to trying products! Think back to your science fair days. In school, we're taught to try everything 3 times in order to account for any errors. If you try something once, something may have gone wrong and it's not an accurate representation.

This is the SAME thing when it comes to trying products! As I began to think about why so many products weren't working for me, I started to see what may of skewed my initial results. Below are some of my fails, along with other reasons why you may not see the best results! If you've seen any of my recent posts or tweets, you'll notice that I may get a product and not do a review on it for 2-3 weeks. This is because I try and use it a plethora of times before giving my honest opinion. Using it once and responding wouldn't be fair to you all because I wouldn't have a true and accurate perspective on how the product(s) worked with my hair.

• Trying them on "dirty" hair (not freshly washed)When you try a product on hair that has not been freshly washed, product build up or reactions with product already applied can cause the new product not to work.
  
• Trying too many new products at the same timeIf you buy 3 products and try all 3 at the same time, how can you trace the results back to one product?
  
• Mixing product lines
  There's a reason that companies make a whole LINE of products lol. The lines are made to be self-sufficient. I've noticed that I've gotten the best results when I used ALL of the Shea Moisture products from the Coconut & Hibiscus line and/or Jane Carter Solution. This is not to say that you can't mix product lines further down the line, but if you truly want to see how your hair reacts to the new product that you're buying, you have to do it in isolation; most commonly by just using that line. The producer of those products specifically made each product to work with each other.
  
• Not following the instructions on the label *smh, i know lol*
  LOL as a teacher, I always get frustrated when I give directions and a child doesn't follow them, because I know that 20 minutes later, they will raise their hand and are confused because they aren't on the same page as the rest of the class, or because their assignment looks nothing like everyone elses. -_- Same thing with products! If it says, "For best results, rinse with cold water", don't rinse with hot water and then get mad when your hair responds crazily. lol. YOU DIDN'T FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!
  
• Not using the product for intended useGranted, many of us have found different ways to use products to make them work for us. For example, I'll take a conditioner and mix it with water to use to refresh my curls throughout the week. BUT, during the initial use, if a product says LEAVE-IN CONDITIONER and you wash it out... -_- You probably won't get the results you expect because you didn't use it as it was intended to be. There are some products out there, like in Shea Moisture, that will tell you on the label that they can double as a leave-in conditioner or a rinse-out conditioner, BUT they will TELL YOU! lol. 

NOTE: If after trying the product 3 times, you have noticed that you had the same dull results each time. It's time to 1) throw it away 2) give it away 3) research/experiment with other ways to use it. Maybe the conditioner would serve better as a leave-in, or the DC works better as a curl definer, etc. However, try at your own risk! Companies can't be held liable if you decide to use the conditioner as feet lotion and have an allergic reaction O_o lol

CONCLUSION:
When trying a new product, try it 3 times on freshly washed hair, read AND follow the directions, and don't use other products in the midst of trying it. (There are exceptions, so if you are confused by what I mean, feel free to post a question here, tweet me, or post it on the FB page!)