The product I stopped using

For three years I recommended a leave-in conditioner I won't name. It worked beautifully on most curl patterns, smelled wonderful, and felt great in the bottle. Then I noticed something.

The clients who used it longest had the driest ends.

I went back to the ingredient list. Buried below the marketing-friendly oils was a drying alcohol — not the only one in the formula, but the highest-concentration one. The kind that gives you that "soft" feel for an hour and then quietly draws moisture out for the next 23.

The lesson is older than the bottle. Read the labels. Not the front. The back.