Budget Babe Hair Care: Splurge vs Skimp

Over the years, I've become quite the product junkie. Hair care items whether it be accessories, shampoo, conditioner, treatments, pomades, gels, leave-in treatment, you name it and I have to have it. Hair products are similar to makeup items because there are certain products I splurge on and others that go I the cheap route. Here are my top 3 Splurge vs Skimp categories!

Splurge:

Deep treatments

Leave-in Conditioners

Shears

Skimp:

Shampoo

Co-Wash conditioners

Gels

QUESTION: What do you skimp and splurge on?

Measuring Your Hair

How do you measure your hair?

I was looking back through some hair photos, really I was trying to organize my oversized collection of hair photos but I found some pictures that look like I was almost BSL (bra strap length).  All the photos were taken around the same time only difference was the bra.

I think that actual inches are a better measure for hair length than the use of body parts, so what do you think?

AHS Asks: Would you try this?

All my ingredient junkies out there, read this ingredient list and let me know what you think (in the comments section) 

Ingredients for a Shampoo:

water, decyl glucoside, sodium lauroamphocetate, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate, hibiscus sabdariffa (hibiscus) extract, wheat amino acids, hydrolyzed wheat protein and linoleic acid and linolenic acid and hyluronic acid and sorbitol and triticum vulgare (wheat germ) oil and simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oil and panthenol and tocopherol, yeast extract, di (lauryl dimethyl ammonium hydroxy propyl), decyl glucoside, citric acid, behenamido-propyl hydroxyethyl dimonium chloride, peg-150 pentaery-thrityl tetrastearate, gluconolactone and sodium benzoate, propietary blend of pure essential oils.

Based on the above ingredients would you try this shampoo?  

Bantu Knots

I'm officially stumped when it comes to Bantu knots. I've tried them on wet hair, damp hair, dry hair, freshly blowdried hair, even freshly flat iron sections thinking the heat from the flat iron would help the knots set. Every single time, my style falls flat, literally. As soon as I take the knots down I have awesome big beautiful curly waves then about 10 minutes later it's a loose wave and an hour later forget it my hair barely has a bend it in. I'm not sure what gives! I feel like I've tried everything from different methods, to different products, to loading up on hair spray (which I hate) and nothing works.

So my question... Relaxed Ladies, how are you getting your bantu knots to last?