shiny hair a la subbrock

a few days ago, someone asked me what i do to get my hair so shiny because her daughter who has natural 4a hair always has dry, frizzy looking hair. to be honest, i really didnt know where to start because there are so many different answers on why my hair is shiny. and here they are:

- my hair is healthy. healthy hair has a tendency to have much more bling ability (i totally just made that term up) than non healthy hair. so that means keeping my hair moisturized, getting trims as needed, and avoiding doing much damage to my hair.
- product, product, and more product! and im referring to quality, not quantity. there are some products out there that make my hair so shiny, its ridiculous. things like veggie glycerine or products with glycerine as a main ingredient, oils (particularly castor oil), gels (kinky curly curling custard, fantasia ic gel w/ sparkelites, ouidad climate control gel), and other "stuff" (ouidad clear control pomade). i do avoid products with non water soluble 'cones in my everyday styling products because even though they give a great shine to my hair at first, the buildup is a nightmare.
- color. i would be lying to myself and everyone else if i pretended like coloring my hair had nothing to do with how shiny my hair looks. after a fresh dye job, its always particularly glossy looking because thats what the color is supposed to do--deposit color and give a shine boost. of course, as the color fades, so does the shine. *color is not something i would ever recommend for a young child. ever.*

so thats what keeps my hair shiny. what about you?