Stringy hair :(

[IvanaGil]

You may also want to try going a bit longer without shampooing. I only wash my hair once or twice a week and noticed a HUGE difference in the overall health of my hair. I also use organic shampoo and conditioner, which could actually fall in the "no 'poo" category. It's from Aubrey Organics and uses peppermint and rosemary, which are really good for the scalp.

For the baking soda rinse I believe it's 1tsp for every 8oz of warm water. Following up with a lemon juice rinse is a great way for conditioning hair, but I'm not positive on the ratio for that.

Thanks so much I tried washing twice a week but my scalp just felt nasty and by day 3 I don't even want to go out lol My hair wasn't adjusting very quickly either. I tried is for about a month.

[AnqeIicDemise]

Thanks so much I tried washing twice a week but my scalp just felt nasty and by day 3 I don't even want to go out lol My hair wasn't adjusting very quickly either. I tried is for about a month.

I just slap on the oil after. XD

[Kerrilynn]

Thanks so much I tried washing twice a week but my scalp just felt nasty and by day 3 I don't even want to go out lol My hair wasn't adjusting very quickly either. I tried is for about a month.

Perhaps switching shampoos and clarifying with baking soda once a week or so will do the trick. I don't remember what shampoo/conditioner you are using, so maybe just try the baking soda rinse and see how it goes.

I have a fantastic book called "No More Dirt Looks" that talks about different beauty products and the chemicals that are in them and the potential dangers of them as well as give organic substitutions. There's also a blog by the same name. That's where I first learned about the baking soda and lemon juice rinses. I've even seen articles where people use avocado as a hair mask before washing their hair! The people who wrote the book and run the blog are equivalent to being the "vegans" of organic beauty products. In no way am I suggesting, or preaching, that everyone should be as strict as they are. They do, however, offer some good advice and really good ideas and suggestions.

http://nomoredirtylooks.com/category/uncategorized/

[AnqeIicDemise]

Transition period sucks, but its not about going full monty and then deciding to wash only once a week. The way I started was by washing every other day first and when that calmed down, every third day. I now can push it to 5 days without a huge problem..

But then I do something like, prepare my hair for the ocassional coloring and I do a bi monthly deep treatment so I average a wash every 3-4 days. There are hair dos that help keep the slickies at bay or at least make it look intentional. When I miss my wash and I *know* my hair's super oily, DH doesn't know. He just thinks I'm doing another deep conditioning treatment.

Eta: organic S&C helped a lot, though. I used Burt Bees and Aubrey's Organics for a long time until I realized my scalp just really, really, REALLY hates even the gentlest of shampoo. Shampooing with every wash just made the itchies and flakes worse. I'm now using a rather expensive shampoo but its super low on sulfates. I get a discount on the price and DH's scalp is loving it. As much as I loved the other shampoos that my hair adored, they were not always very friendly with DH.. and having separate S&C drove us nuts. He'd always run out of stuff faster then start swiping mine.

[IvanaGil]

Transition period sucks, but its not about going full monty and then deciding to wash only once a week. The way I started was by washing every other day first and when that calmed down, every third day. I now can push it to 5 days without a huge problem..

But then I do something like, prepare my hair for the ocassional coloring and I do a bi monthly deep treatment so I average a wash every 3-4 days. There are hair dos that help keep the slickies at bay or at least make it look intentional. When I miss my wash and I *know* my hair's super oily, DH doesn't know. He just thinks I'm doing another deep conditioning treatment.

Eta: organic S&C helped a lot, though. I used Burt Bees and Aubrey's Organics for a long time until I realized my scalp just really, really, REALLY hates even the gentlest of shampoo. Shampooing with every wash just made the itchies and flakes worse. I'm now using a rather expensive shampoo but its super low on sulfates. I get a discount on the price and DH's scalp is loving it. As much as I loved the other shampoos that my hair adored, they were not always very friendly with DH.. and having separate S&C drove us nuts. He'd always run out of stuff faster then start swiping mine.

Whole Foods sells a ton of organic S&C but I'm always apprehensive about trying them because of all of the "my hair started falling out" stories I've heard over a change like switching S&C. I might just have to force myself though

[AnqeIicDemise]

Whole Foods sells a ton of organic S&C but I'm always apprehensive about trying them because of all of the "my hair started falling out" stories I've heard over a change like switching S&C. I might just have to force myself though

I haven't had a problem. I thought I did at first because I did my switch right about the time my thyroid crapped out. I started with Burt Bees because I was on a search for protein. It had a side effect of being organic. (It smells like candy too. yum!) When I realized it was expensive as hell (because its a teeny bottle for like 8 bucks), I tried the other brands at Whole Foods. They're cheaper in price per oz.

It took me about a year and half to find the thing that works for me and that was just cutting out silicones and go as low as possible on sulfates. Its all trial and error, really. The way I see it is that I could stay with the routine that keeps me unhappy or I experiment and maybe find out the thing that works just right.

[Lilli]

That's a fairly heavy S&C IIRC, and that much oil... you just need to clarify regularly, and maybe switch up the S&C. I use the Suave clarifying shampoo once or twice a week and it fixes stringiness.

[Firefly]

I have a similar hair type to yours and just wanted to echo what others have said about easing up on the coconut oil. For me, I use oils and other products very sparingly because otherwise I do get that stringy look. HTH.

[heidi w.]

I have always had wavy/curly hair, but only recently (the past 2 years or so) has my hair become like spaghetti strands. No matter what curling method I try (all heat-free, of course) my curls break apart and get stringy. My hair is like seaweed! I've tried wide-toothed combs, fingercombing, and the Tangle Teezer (which does make my hair a bit stringier) and they all do the same thing. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Or is this just how certain hair types are? I wish for once my curls would just stick together.

I suggest you have too much weighted product on your hair, whether that be too heavy of an oiling application, or too much conditioner. Maybe you're not rinsing well enoough? Maybe you're just using too much oil or conditioner?

I would consider clarifying your hair, and proceed from there. Loss of curl suggests that there's just too much stuff built up on the hair.....

I am going to offer my hair oiling video so you can see how little I actually use. The biggest problem most people report when oiling is that hair is stringy and somewhat icky. That's because they're using too much.

I don't know if you oil, or CO wash, for example.

Here's my youtube video below....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjVwPKMQDYk

Although my video shows me working on my hair type, which is stick straight, the idea of how to detangle, how to BBB, amount of oil to use is still applicable to a variety of hair types. Curly hair types cannot oil as I can; it sort of doesn't work. Curlies often have to oil while the hair is still damp or even wet, and they often have to spritz it on versus smoothing it in to length after the hair is dry. I am sharing this video to simply give you an idea of how little I use. It's easy to add more if needed; much harder to get it out if applied too much. So watch this for the amount I use, which is frankly a bit more than my usual small amount.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

That's a fairly heavy S&C IIRC, and that much oil... you just need to clarify regularly, and maybe switch up the S&C. I use the Suave clarifying shampoo once or twice a week and it fixes stringiness.

There should never be a need to clarify the hair on a schedule. Simply do it ONLY when your hair needs it. That's it. I am not sure why all these people find it necessary to regularly clarify their hair once a week, or whatever timeframe. I haven't clarified my hair in around 3 years. Because it doesn't need it. If you use a very small amount of oil, it'll simply wash out in a subsequent hair wash.

heidi w.