hair help for a friend

**WinterButterfly** · September 27th, 2011, 01:41 AM

I have a friend and she has fine thin hair. Her hair is almost bsl. I have been trying to hepl her find less damaging ways to care for her hair. I know by the look of her healthy roots that she can get thicker hair that is shiny. But she has greys and wants to cover it. For a while she was washing every other day, and I think I convinced her to co wash on day two instead of going back to shampoo every day. Her ends are very dry. They were looking rather nice about a month ago at her last trim. She won't stop using the blow drier all together but has switched to cool only. So I think that helped. I was trying to find gentler ways to color her hair. I was thinking that she might like henna and indigo for a nice brown. But I have never worked with this stuff. So I am not entirely comfortable with trying it on her. Maybe a semi perminent dye? Her hair seems quite easilly damaged. If I could I would give her some of my hair thickness and strength. I want her to feel pretty again. She seems sad over the state of her hair. I want to help. She orderd rollers to sleep in. But the avon lady never gave her the goods. My friend is kind and decided not to expose this woman who took from her. But she really did want the rollers. She is wanting to get into more heat free styling.

I was wondering if there was anything that would make her hair perminently less fine without damage. Maybe the henna and indigo? Will that make her ends any softer? I hear that a lot of people swear by henna for damaged hair. I think I want to buy her rollers when I can afford it. She is so nice. I don't want to give her bad advice.

**MinderMutsig** · September 27th, 2011, 03:40 AM

You can't make fine hair less fine. You can try and strengthen it with protein treatments or henna but you can't make it less fine. If she wants healthy and/or long hair she is just going to have to stop damaging it.

The dry ends to me sound like damaged over-processed hair that craves moisture. She could try a moisture treatment or maybe a bad of oil on the ends.

**Alaia** · September 27th, 2011, 03:56 AM

If you can convince her to try coconut (or other) oil on her ends it would probably help a bunch.

Deposit-only dyes are less damaging than other dyes, but the only damage free option is indeed henna+indigo to get brown (depending on how much indigo you use, though, this can turn out extremely dark brown to black). I'd recommend heading over to the Henna and Herbal Haircare section and having a little read in there (or ask a question about it). Your friend would need to be absolutely committed to the henna+indigo however as it is very difficult to get out.

**Madora** · September 27th, 2011, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by WinterButterfly

I have a friend and she has fine thin hair. Her hair is almost bsl. I have been trying to hepl her find less damaging ways to care for her hair. I know by the look of her healthy roots that she can get thicker hair that is shiny. But she has greys and wants to cover it. For a while she was washing every other day, and I think I convinced her to co wash on day two instead of going back to shampoo every day. Her ends are very dry. They were looking rather nice about a month ago at her last trim. She won't stop using the blow drier all together but has switched to cool only. So I think that helped. I was trying to find gentler ways to color her hair. I was thinking that she might like henna and indigo for a nice brown. But I have never worked with this stuff. So I am not entirely comfortable with trying it on her. Maybe a semi perminent dye? Her hair seems quite easilly damaged. If I could I would give her some of my hair thickness and strength. I want her to feel pretty again. She seems sad over the state of her hair. I want to help. She orderd rollers to sleep in. But the avon lady never gave her the goods. My friend is kind and decided not to expose this woman who took from her. But she really did want the rollers. She is wanting to get into more heat free styling.

I was wondering if there was anything that would make her hair perminently less fine without damage. Maybe the henna and indigo? Will that make her ends any softer? I hear that a lot of people swear by henna for damaged hair. I think I want to buy her rollers when I can afford it. She is so nice. I don't want to give her bad advice.

Since your friend has hair that damages easily, I would not agree to help her change her hair color unless you KNOW that it will not damage her hair. That sounds to me like a job for a color technician. I know you mean well, but since her hair is in a fragile state, it's best to try and restore it slowly, by diet and natural care methods, than resorting to methods that might be too harsh for her hair in its current condition.

And she is stuck with the kind of hair she has. It's all a question of the genes she was born with.

**FrozenBritannia** · September 27th, 2011, 09:27 AM

I don't see why she shouldn't be able to phone avon headquarters and ask why she never received her product. If she has a receipt than they would probably (I hope) just ship some straight to her, and she wouldn't have to confront the woman whom she placed the order with.

You can also make rollers out of old panty hose filled with cotton balls by cutting to size and knotting the ends. By slipping one of those cheap elastics on it she should be able to pin it to her head overnight. Of course, those foam sleep in rollers are only about 10 bucks for a pack of 30 at walmart and maybe even cheaper at a dollar store.

**julierockhead** · September 27th, 2011, 12:33 PM

Henna and hendigo is way easier than it is made out to be. Just ask her to save her hair from her brush and do a test run or two of a recipe or color mix, and if she like it (and understands the PERMANANCE), whip some up and slap it on her head!

This is a great place to read about henndigo-
http://www.hennaforhair.com/
although they really overestimate the amount you need.

**WinterButterfly** · September 27th, 2011, 05:51 PM

My friend told me today that she isn't going to put any color on her head for the next 3 months! This is great becauseshe will have stronger virgin hair growth coming in. I gave her a leave in that worked well for me when my hair was pretty damaged. I hope it works for her. And I may look at walmart when I get the time to pick up some rollers for her. I think that the cool setting on the blow drier still causes her ends to be too dry. But it is good that she is cutting out heat. She is wairy of products not labled for hair use. But I think she has made a lot of progress toward higher quality hair. I just want her to feel pretty again. Her daughter has hair a lot like hers except that it is healthy. I think that she misses her old healthy hair that she had in her youth. (Not that she is really old or anything!) She has had her hair done at salons for years. And if she had stronger hair it wouldn't be an issue. But her hair is more fragile, so it needs gentle treatment. Thanks for the help though!. In a few months if she wants color, I will try to find the right combo of henna and indigo for her. That way she can keep the pretty locks that she is growing out.
And about tha avon thinng. Se does have the right to turn this lady in. But she wonders if this woman had an emergency or something. She doesn't let money out of her sight that she I not willing to lose. She feels that it is better to cover this womans mistake this time. And it was only $10. It makes a person sad when people take from them. But if you give, then it is better. I understand this way of thinking. I never loan my familly money because I know it will never come back. So if money comes out of my pocket for them I don't ask for it back. This avon lady probably deserves punishment for her actions. And she knows it whenever my friend treats her with kindness instead. My friend won't try to purchase anything from her again. I supose tha it is punishment enough. And if tis woman tries this with another person, that other person probably will turn her in. It is natural for a lot of people to try and take advantage of others. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to love others.

**silverjen** · September 27th, 2011, 07:58 PM

You are a much more forgiving person than I am. I say that with admiration!

Anyway... Rainbow Henna sells premixed colors of henna, so you don't necessarily have to go the henna+indigo route. It's not BAQ quality, but it doesn't have any added chemicals or metals, either. I used it once and the results were fine. I think it might be easier than mixing your own. But definitely strand test before you do anything! Here's a link, or you can also find it in Whole Foods: http://www.rainbowresearch.com/index...drkjiolsi46s12

You are very kind to be taking such care of your friend.

**WinterButterfly** · September 27th, 2011, 07:59 PM

Oooooo! I looked at the henna hair websight thingy! I wanna try it now! I found that the last time I used dye on my hair it left my scalp unhappy. Dry and I had a sore (which could have actually been a zit) and a general feeling of unpleasantness. I'm not sure if I'm willing to committ to color I can't take out though. But I don't want to end up with a bad reaction in the future. My pantine has cassia in it and it is nice for the texture. Very different from the normal stuff. (Sillicones are happy on my head). My other friend might benifit from cassia color to hide her greys. She also has fine easilly damaged hair. She is growing her pixy to a bob now. I love her light blond grey coming in. I think it looks very pretty. And she did agree to grow it out like that. But it is nice to have non damaging options available. She had a natural light blond hair and still has the light blond eyebrows. She is 50 and doesn't seem like it. She used to chop her own hair when it got annoying. But since it is so short, it is hard for her to do evenly by herself. So she let's me do her haircuts. And she promised me that she will let me take the scizors to her hair first instead of herself. Her hair grows fast. So I have been able to remove the weird uneven layers for the most part. And sometime in the next couple weeks I will do another cut to hopefully get rid of the rest of the weird layers. And when that is done she will try growing it to apl. Her hair is a lot like mine. It is fine and thick. I think she is a 1b or maybe a 1c. The cut I have been working her hair towards looks better than I thought it would with her very slight wave. Her hair doesn't hold a curl like mine doesn't either! She also oils it. She buys the stuff from the african hair care section. The african hair care section is one of the best things idiscovered. Now those are products that controll frizz and keep hair soft!