So confused

alhj

Hello all. I am in a curly hair conundrum and have found myself confused. I made the switch to DevaCurl over 1 1/2 years ago. Approx 6 months in, I started having some itchy, flaky, weepy skin around my ears. And some redness and irritation around my hairline. I first thought it was a facial product, but after much trial and error I think it’s something in the Deva. Currently, my entire scalp itches and I’m starting to notice dandruff like flakes. I think it’s time to ditch the Deva because I am 99% sure my issues are being caused by it, but I cannot seem to figure out if it’s just one product or all (No-Poo, One and Light Gel).
I decided to start doing some research into what products to use and that’s how I ended up here. I think I’ve read so much that now I’m confused or maybe my itchy scalp is just making my brain fuzzy!
I know I’m 3B and I’m pretty sure I’m high porosity (one of my Deva stylists told me this), though I’m not real sure how you are supposed to know. I have not colored my hair in over 2 years now. I’m young (39) but very gray.
Pre-Deva, I didn’t really have any issues per se with my curls. Right before switching to deva I was using Pantene curl stuff... shampoo, condish, and curl creme. My main issue was I didn’t really like the smell and I had to use a lot of it. Before that I used some sort of gel, I’m pretty sure it was Suave, I just know that once I got to really love it, it was discontinued. I’ve never experienced the silicone stringiness that some people get. Maybe since I’ve never really used a heavy silicone product I just never built up.
So, where do I go now? I’ve been reading around a lot on here and it seems fairly common for people to move on from Deva. I would love to be able to buy my product in Target or Walmart instead of ordering. And I’d love to find cheaper products.
What is standing out to me is sticking with a sulfate & silicone free system. For shampoo I’m seeing a lot of VO5, Suave Naturals/Coconut and SheaMoisture.
For condish I’m seeing Tresseme Naturals, Garnier Triple Nutrition
And for styling, LA Looks Sport Gel is really standing out as well as some KinkyCurly
Is this a good place for me to start? Gosh, the idea of regular store items just makes me so happy, no more running low and scraping the bottles waiting of the mail!
Any advice would be very appreciated. This site is great, but it’s also really overwhelming. Thanks!

EverydayCurls

To know whether it is the deva products, or to know which ones that are causing the problem, stop using one of them for maybe 2 weeks. If it helps, then that was probably one of them, if nothing changes, add it back in and stop a different one. Keep doing that until you find which product(s) is/are causing the problems.

Wildfox

Those brands are a great place to start. If it was me I would stop using the deva curl products immediately and experiment with new products until your problems clear up. Then, if you still want to know which deva product was causing this I would introduce one back in, one at a time. The other way seems like it could potentially take a long time to determine which product/s are causing that and I would not want to suffer any longer than I had too. Personally the Shea moisture raw Shea butter shampoo/conditioner, tresseme naturals conditioner, kinky curly leave in and curling custard are all favorites.

alhj

I’m pretty sure it’s the gel. I stopped using B’Leavin’ and that didn’t fix anything. Then I stopped with the nopoo for awhile, just cowashing and that didn’t fix anything. It’s kind of hard to totally stop using conditioner so that and the gel are the only things I haven’t completely stopped. But my gut tells me it’s the gel, I of course, don’t know that for sure.

I think I need to just stop Deva cold turkey. Let my head get back to normal and then maybe reintroduce one at a time.

I’m headed to the store today to look for new products! Wish me luck! Thank-you!

midnitechandra

Shea Moisture is a great brand with a lot of different product lines. The coconut/hibiscus smell great to me. :-)

KaZenner1990

If you.stopped cold turkey and then clarified you could alter the problem. If you didn't clarified you could identify easier. IMHO clarifying might do the trick but you know your hair better. I hope you solve the problem though since it's very frustrating I am sure!

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M+C/ii, high porosity, medium elasticity, growing out color and heat damage.