I have got to tell you . . . I have tried a million and one different things on my own hair - mainly because of my job as a hair stylist/colorist. The other day I was having lunch in this little family-owned diner and overheard two women talking. Mind you, I try not to listen to others' conversations, but the topic of hair just grabbed my attention.

One of the ladies was telling the other one about something she had just tried. After reading an article, she decided to try adding a bit of Epsom salt (magnesium sulfide) to her shampoo. She was telling her friend that it made her hair feel great, full of volume and her curls bounced. I had to look, she did have beautiful natural curl and it bounced just like she claimed. I couldn't wait to get home and try it.

She said that she had put 4 tablespoons of magnesium sulfide (Epsom Salt) in about 8 ounces of her favorite shampoo. So . . . being the extremist that I can be, I poured some shampoo in my hand and tossed about a teaspoon of that miracle ingredient in. After the Epsom Salt dissolved, I shampooed with vigor, excited to achieve the same results.

Very quickly, I found that my hair seemed to be quite squeaky. With my fine hair, I knew that this wasn't a good sign. I rinsed thoroughly and began to smother my hair in moisturizing conditioner. When I got out, I barley blotted my hair with the towel and scrunched another dime-sized blob of conditioner mixed with a handful of water into my hair.

My hair was, in fact great . . . but not because I used too much magnesium sulfide. The shampooing did give serious volume to my hair, but it also scared the living daylights out of me. Had I not thrown the heavy duty conditioner on my head and let it soak in like I did, I would have had a dry, frizzy mess of curls on my head.

Not one to give up, I thought I would try it her way before I made a final judgment so, out came the liquid measuring cup, a measuring spoon, a funnel, and a plastic bottle. I carefully measured out 8 ounces of my organic shampoo and added exactly 2 tablespoons of Epsom Salt.

Of course, I knew that I had completely stripped my hair of all natural oils, so I gave it a few days before I tried the mixture. When my hair got to the point that the Florida heat caused it to be oily by the end of the day, I decided it was time to give this milder formula a try. WOW! I have to tell you that I have been quite impressed in this inexpensive addition.

I still add conditioner to my hair because of its tendency to dry out, but I still religiously use my conditioner on my ends. I love the results I am getting, but I am sure that daily use of this formula would be detrimental to my hair so I only use it when it begins to become too oily at the end of the day.

I feel like I need to explain the conditioner thing to you while I'm at it because too much makes your hair look very greasy. Now, remember . . I live in Southwest Florida. This is an extremely humid area and I have natural curl. The two of them make for a very frizzy head as a general rule. When I moved down here, I had a bad hair day EVERY day. Then I decided that the leave-in conditioner I was using was simply not what I needed. I grabbed my organic conditioner and squeezed a dab into my palm and rubbed my hands together.

I knew that, though my hair was very wet, it would not go on my hair without getting too concentrated in some areas while leaving other areas free of conditioner. I cupped one hand and filled it with water then rubbed my hands together again, trying to keep as much water as I could in them. Then, I scrunched the mixture into my hair.

After I did that, I went ahead and sprayed my hair with a styling spray designed to make curls more defined. I let my hair dry naturally and liked what I saw. I knew that I had finally, after 9 months (or 270 bad hair days) in Florida, found what I needed. Friends with straight hair have reveled in these 2 tips as well.