And nonie, once you start, you can't really stop w/the ingredient studies. It has helped me to narrow down why my hair has rejected so many products. All I really pay attention to is the top 3-5 ingredients. But I like your "ignorance is bliss" way about things. It keeps it simple.
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virtuenow I guess I'm lucky because I didn't do any of that. I let guinea pigs who gave reviews on how products worked on them (mostly relaxed ladies I found on LHCF when I was a newbie) make recommendations.
I looked to relaxed ladies for the best conditioners because something told me that if anyone would be looking for the best treatments, it would be them because their hair had gone through some change and needed plenty of TLC. That was my thinking anyway. That's how I came to discover AO GPB and HSR, S Curl, Aussie Deep, TJ Nourish Spa....etc.
I already knew of Nexxus line thanks to my 1990's stylist who saved my jheri curl from a slow death by introducing me to Emergencee and Nexxus line as a whole.
And my hair journey has been one of the easiest and stress-free journeys ever. I never became a PJ and I never concerned myself too much with ingredients. And I've been using the same products in rotation over the years never being swayed by the next wonder that gets posted.
TBH, I think if I worried too much about ingredients, I'd have missed out on a lot of good products trying to stay 100% natural, avoid SLS, mineral oils, cones.
Because I just looked at products as a whole, I've been blessed to find staples for life. My theory is: cakes, cookies, pastries use more or less similar ingredients but do not look or taste the same. And loaf of bread, a cake, a glazed bun and a donut/doughnut can appear to have similar texture but all taste different. In other words, ingredients do not determine what the whole product will be like, so I don't focus too much on them.