MEET DAYNA
Hello, My name is Dayna. I enjoy being outside, gardening and hiking. Also hair is a big passion of mine. I like trying different heatless hairstyles and learning more about how to naturally grow it as long and healthy as possible. Overall, I’m into clean and simplistic beauty. I gave up makeup and nail polish a decade ago – because of working in the beauty industry, I'm now pretty particular about what goes on my body and hair. My hair is straight (unless I have bun or braid waves) and fine but I have a lot of it, which is a curse and a blessing. I am thankful to have dense hair but it does cause some head/neck pain from the weight of it.
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF + YOUR HAIR!
I was a licensed cosmetologist now turned natural beauty enthusiast. The backstory on my hair journey is that I used to dye and heat style my hair heavily in my teens/20s, especially after going to beauty school and working in salons where hair change was so readily available and encouraged. I have had black, red, blonde, auburn, and purple hair but I decided to get out of that industry. Starting in 2012, I decided to stop doing all of that and grew my hair from a chin length inverted bob to tailbone length by 2018, all in my natural color.
In 2018, in a moment of weakness, I decided to try the ombré hair coloring I was seeing everywhere and it fried my ends. 🙁 Unfortunately, it was from about bra strap length downwards that was bleached/fried. After that, I made the hard choice of doing a major hair chop to get all the blonde bleached bits cut off (15 inches! And I got layers) to start fresh and start the regrowth process right this time. I regretted chopping off the hair I had worked so long to get but was excited about starting with fresh ends and not dying it again. I did research on how to grow hair more naturally and that’s when I came across The Innate Life via so many YouTubers. I bought the Long Hair Bundle with the Problematic Scalp Treatment and Rose Hair Elixir. I was hooked. First off, the smell of those two products are amazing, and the results were even better!
HOW DID YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR HAIR BEFORE USING THE INNATE LIFE?
During my first time starting to grow my hair from 2012 to 2018, I didn’t really take good care of my hair. I just more or less did the benign neglect and it grew. You can say I was boycotting the beauty industry. It ended up forming a sort of V hemline because I was not taking the best care of it nor doing trims. The most I would do is a random coconut oil hair mask every few months but that just weighed my hair down and clogged my drains.
WHAT MADE YOU SEEK OUT THE INNATE LIFE? HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS?
After discovering some of the long hair YouTubers like HolisticHabits, OrganicallyAnna, Naturally Antonia and Coffee&Makeup, I was introduced to The Innate Life. I’m all about supporting US or Canada-made companies but I had never actually ordered something from a different country before. I was a bit nervous but it made it to me safely and I was so pleased with taking the plunge to try it. I learned to do research into not only the product but also the company. I came across The Innate Life’s YouTube channel and it was so fun to be able to see Bhavna’s routine and see her walk through the new office. I loved the fact that the Founder of the company was so natural and transparent with things. It made me want to support the company even more.
WHAT IS YOUR HAIRCARE ROUTINE NOW?
Currently with it being summer, I am washing my hair twice a week – Sunday and Wednesday. During the winter, I can stretch it to once a week, every Sunday.
PRE-WASH
I do a hair treatment on wash day, sometimes I apply it the night before and let it sit overnight; just depends on how my scalp is feeling at that time. I use the Problematic Scalp Treatment and put that all over my scalp in sections with my finger, then massage with a scalp massager or my fingers. I actually found a super helpful video tutorial on The Innate Life’s YouTube page for how to apply the scalp treatment. I do brush that through my hair with a wooden brush. I then put some of the Rose Hair Elixir on the ends and put it in a bun. I go through and put more of the Problematic Scalp Treatment on the hairline once it is up to make sure that’s getting some good attention and I do a little massage. I have a hair cap that has rice in it and can go in the microwave to warm up so I do that and put it over a shower cap. I let that sit on my hair until it cools, then wash it out.
HOW DID YOUR HAIR CHANGE + HOW LONG DID IT TAKE FOR YOU TO SEE RESULTS?
After I started using the Problematic Scalp Treatment and Rose Hair Elixir twice a week, I noticed my hair was so much healthier. It was more shiny/alive (is that a thing?) and the baby hair growth was so fun to start seeing. Another one of the main things I noticed was that my scalp wasn’t as irritated on a daily basis.
No joke, I think the baby hairs started to pop up during the first month. I actually initially thought that I was just having a frizzy hair day, but then I noticed they were tiny new growth baby hairs! I thought ‘no way, it was too soon’ but I was so happy with the results. I noticed that my hair went from looking rather fried, damaged and dull to becoming more flowy, shiny and moisturized. Because I started using these products right after my big chop where I got layers cut in, I was able to grow out all those layers and cut a straight across blunt hemline within a year and haven't looked back.
WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE PRODUCT + WHY?
It’s hard to choose between the two because I love them both for different applications. The Problematic Scalp Treatment is cooling, refreshing, and you can literally feel it working from the very first application. It helps control the scalp itching and irritation, and it feels like it helps get a really deep clean. The Rose Hair Elixir smells so lovely yet light and refreshing. It doesn’t make my hair tacky or weighed down like a lot of other oils do. I always buy them together in the Long Hair Bundle because, in my eyes, they are the most beautiful and perfect pair.
WHO WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THESE PRODUCTS TO?
I would recommend these products to anyone looking to grow their hair or just make their hair overall healthier. I think these products would even benefit the short hair girlies or guys out there, but be warned – you will have to go get your haircut more often and might join the long hair tribe before you know it. 🙂 I have tried other popular scalp treatments and have not found anything that matches The Innate Life. The smells, the consistency and the results, oh my.
HOW DOES THE INNATE LIFE FIT INTO A LIFESTYLE COMMITTED TO HEALTH + WELLNESS?
I have been trying to transition to cruelty-free and more ethically-sourced products, and that is a major draw for me to The Innate Life. Not only do they make stellar products that actually do as they claim at an affordable price, but they’re a good company all around. I always make sure to have The Innate Life Scalp Treatment and Rose Hair Elixir on hand.
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