Ok Ladies & Gentlemen, What am I doing wrong?

[Hana212]

I haven't posted in a while as I've been traveling the world for the past 20 months.
I've been pretty much doing nothing with my hair, just letting it grow. I wear it in a braid every day or tied up.
I do a S&D every 4 or 5 months and use coconut oil on the ends every day and finger comb, and brush with my BBB.
I tried Henna 3 times this year and I have switched to Lush's shampoo bars and Big conditioner (Hate the conditioner by the way, but it's easy to travel with) and that's basically my hair care routine.

My hair has FINALLY reached waist length YAY!

BUT, it is horrible :( it's become thin, and dry and ratty and has begun falling out again (last time this happened it was stress related, but now, I'm as happy and stress free as can be)
I think this is partly because of all the different climates and water that I'm exposing it to?
Maybe it just doesn't really like benign neglect?

What am I doing wrong? I use only natural products and don't use any heat but yet my hair looked so much better back when I straightened it every day and bleached it blonde every 6 weeks.

:justy:

Help me please :(

[torrilin]

Big's ingredients: Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera) , Fine Sea Salt (Sodium Chloride) , Glycerl Stearate & Peg - 100 Stearate , Propylene Glycol , Glycerine , Fresh Organic Lemon Juice (Citrus limonum) , Cetearyl Alcohol , Bladderwrack Seaweed (Fucus gardneri) , Fresh Lime Juice (Citrus aurantifolia) , Cold Pressed Organic Jojoba Oil (Simmondsia chinensis) , Cetrimonium Bromide , Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia) , Vetivert Oil (Vetiveria zizanoides) , Jasmine Absolute (Jasminum grandiflorum) , Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia) , Candelilla Wax (Euphorbia cerifera) , Titanium Dioxide , Methyl Ionone , Geraniol , *Linalool , *Coumarin , *Limonene

Note the sea salt as the SECOND ingredient. Salt can be very drying and damaging, and it's clear that this conditioner is drying for you. If you're set on Lush and a solid conditioner type product, I'd swap to Jungle instead.

Depending on your travel schedule, you can quite likely find something less heavily scented and more suited to very dry hair. Heck, depending on your hair, just straight up cocoa butter, coconut oil or olive oil might be better than the Big conditioner.

[Anje]

My first thought to was those Lush products. As I recall, they have SLS in all their conditioners. The salt isn't doing you any favors either. (ETA: OK, no SLS in BIG. But there is some in Jungle, unless they've changed it.)

I know there are some solid conditioners for sale on Etsy, if you feel you need that format. Most have some protein in them, some have silicones. SylvieL happens to carry one that has neither, if you avoid both like I do.

[torrilin]

The SLS in Jungle is pretty low down on the list, so they may be using it as an emulsifier rather than a cleansing agent. And well, it beats the hell out of having salt as the second ingredient. Otherwise, total agreement that Lush's products aren't very long hair friendly. And given my fragrance issues, not all that healthy for me either. (obviously, most of us don't get all itchy from fragrance in shampoo or conditioner... but I do :-/ )

[Hana212]

Thanks for the quick replies! I've only been using BIG for about a month now, and I use only a little bit because it's difficult to distribute.
I would LOVE to buy some stuff online, but I don't have an address to send it to because I barely spend more than a month in one place, and it's usually somewhere really rural :(
In other news, my holy grail of shampoo and conditioner that I usually use back home, has been discontinued!

How do you think I'd go just using coconut oil and no conditioner?

The shampoo bar is the green one (don't remember the scent or anything).

[spidermom]

I think some of these "natural" hair care routines are the pits! There's nothing wrong with taking advantage of advances in hair care understanding and the products that come from those advances.

I recently learned that coney serum (CHI Silk Infusion) is much more protective of hair from the effects of sea, sun, and pool water than the natural oil I had used during past vacations.

[torrilin]

Define really rural? Rural US is going to be pretty different from rural Indonesia...

On my hair, an all oil/butter deal is do a scalp wash with my shampoo, rinse, and then work the oil or butter into my wet hair. Then braid. Then leave it be as much as possible. This is not ideal for my hair since it's fine, fairly straight and pretty tangle prone, and most conditioners have quite a lot of detangling ingredients, and skipping the detanglers is a sad sad thing. Unless you're also fine, straight and tangle prone, chances are you're going to wind up doing something different.

I generally wind up using a lot of products marketed as "natural"... not because I think natural is better. IMO, it's not. But since I need fragrance free products, and an awful lot of fragrance free products are also marketed as "natural"... I wind up buying "natural" stuff. That said, if I were trapped in a town where my only options were Walgreen's or CVS, chances are I could find perfectly fine stuff in the baby care aisle. A number of manufacturers are making baby products without fragrance these days and it's fairly mainstream stuff I can find in many drugstores. In a couple cases, I can actually make a decent go of it with just baby shampoo and coconut oil.

[Hana212]

I'm currently in Moreauville, Louisiana, next month I'll be 50 mins outside of Austin until Aug 19th but after that I'm in the Amazon Basin of Peru for 1.5-2 months, then Ecaudor. The place in Peru has no electricity, no hot water and is literally in the middle of the jungle (it takes 2 canoe's to get there!) So going natural isn't just for my personal reasons, but more so because I will have to shower under a waterfall, and am only allowed to use natural products in the water system there. I've been trying to get my hair used to natural products etc, but it just looks so bad.
I just want long, pretty, shiny, thick hair!

P.S. I just learned how to make goat milk soap (I'm interning on a dairy goat farm) and my teacher recommended using it as both a shampoo and conditioner as it contains vitamin E oil, Argan oil and coconut oil. So I may give that a go!

[Anje]

Be forewarned that depending on water chemistry, soap (as opposed to detergent like most shampoos) can be great or really awful. It can work in one location and not another. But if it leaves your hair feeling completely tangled and spiderwebby, a diluted acid rinse (vinegar, citric acid, lemon juice, etc) will go a long way to bringing it back to normal. Be sure to have something like that on hand each time you use it in a new place, just in case.

[teela1978]

When's the last time you clarified? Maybe while you're still in the states give it a good SLS/ALS scrub? I find lush stuff to build up eventually. Now and then it needs to be washed off with something a bit stronger (though I love their solid shampoos otherwise).

[jeanniet]

I'm thinking it's a combination of the salt in the conditioner, possibly the lemon juice in the conditioner, and the soap. If you can, I'd do a chelating shampoo to see if that fixes things up (follow with a moisture treatment), and then if you continue with the shampoo bar, use an acidic final rinse. Citric acid is packable, although you can't get it damp. I'm pretty sure the water in the Amazon basin is soft (or at least the Amazon itself is very soft), so a shampoo bar should work there. Don't know about Ecuador.

[jacqueline101]

I'd clarify get rid of the Big with sea salt it sounds drying. I'd micro trim your ends and cocoanut oil your hair. I'd switch your up dos maybe a braided bun the same hair do might be causing some of the fall out. I had that issue once.

[starlamelissa]

Agreeing with spidermom. All natural products just don't equal good length retention for me. I need some science in my haircare.

I would try a coney moisterizing set on shampoo and conditioner, and a little baby oil as a leave in.

Edited, when you can't use an unnatural shampoo and conditioner, try just a little mineral oil on damp hair.

[DancingQueen]

You say you S&D every 5 months. I don't know about your hair, but mine needs the occasional trim to keep the hemline nice and thick. Personally, I trim around 1 cm every 3 months, but I am sure you could do with twice a year. Also, you say you wear it in a braid every day. Do you tie the band in the same place? That could also explain the thin ends.

I am not sure why your hair would be falling out. It could be the different climates, but I am not sure. I heard some people started thinning when they used shampoo bars, and their hair stopped falling out when they switched to normal shampoo, but I don't know if that is the case here.

I hope you figure it out. By the way, I wish it was me traveling the world like that, let me know if you need some company (paid, of course). :laugh:

[torrilin]

I'm currently in Moreauville, Louisiana, next month I'll be 50 mins outside of Austin until Aug 19th but after that I'm in the Amazon Basin of Peru for 1.5-2 months, then Ecaudor. The place in Peru has no electricity, no hot water and is literally in the middle of the jungle (it takes 2 canoe's to get there!) So going natural isn't just for my personal reasons, but more so because I will have to shower under a waterfall, and am only allowed to use natural products in the water system there. I've been trying to get my hair used to natural products etc, but it just looks so bad.
I just want long, pretty, shiny, thick hair!

P.S. I just learned how to make goat milk soap (I'm interning on a dairy goat farm) and my teacher recommended using it as both a shampoo and conditioner as it contains vitamin E oil, Argan oil and coconut oil. So I may give that a go!

Ok. Then yeah, the Lush products are unlikely to do what you want. They're not any more biodegradable than regular drugstore stuff. (not any less either...)

If you're using shampoo on all your hair currently, I'd see if moving to scalp only washes can work for you. I'd also try working out a minimal water wash and rinse routine. For me, a wash in 1.5-2L of water is pretty doable. My hair is fairly fine and average thickness, so even tho it's past waist length, I can pretty easily fit the length in a glass of water. Let it soak, press the glass to my head, dribble water over my scalp. Voila, rinsed hair. Makes navy style showers work very easily. If you don't use much water to wash, it cuts down on the pollution you can produce.

I don't know the Peruvian Amazon all that well... most folks I know from Peru are from the highlands. It's a very big and diverse country. I know in the highlands, long hair is traditional for women, and most women you meet will have hair that's really long by American standards. Also really well cared for, with braided updos being the norm. Can't say whether the same holds true in the Amazon basin. But if hair care is one of your things, you can probably have a lot of fun getting the kids to teach you how they do it.

Dittoing what everyone else said on soap as a cleanser. For me it works ok (assuming there are no fragrance issues), but the vinegar rinse is a must. I'll still need oil or conditioner afterwards too. It's not an all in one product for me, since when you make soap you're basically running a chemical reaction between the base and the fat. Pretty much all the fat or oil will get used up by the reaction, and since my hair basically sucks up conditioner like a sponge... even a superfatted soap isn't going to have enough fat or oil left to keep my hair happy. It's a real your mileage may vary thing tho, and it may be workable for you.

[jillosity]

I guess I'm in the minority, but what occurred to me is that 20 solid months of travel is going to carry with it a certain amount of constant stress, even while you're having a great time. Of course it could be the products you're using, or different water types, but that's some serious traveling and I'd expect "burnout" in some area of my health from it.

That being said, I have used some of Lush's haircare, I loved Reincarnate and Jungle, but my hair was short at the time, and now that my hair is longer I don't think I'd try them again because of the mechanics of using a bar. I got to a point with Reincarnate where i would cut the bar into small chunks and cover it with water, basically liquefying it because I didn't like the feeling of dragging the bar across my head and it took too long to work up a lather with my hands, I felt like I was wasting water it took me so long! Jungle didn't condition my virgin hair enough so it really wouldn't work now on my upper-BSL length. Gosh Reincarnate smells divine though, lawdy. I'd probably try it again if it could be easily purchased in stores.

Well, good luck and happy travels! Heavens, but it's HOT in Austin in the summer, watch out for the thunderstorms too ;)

[alexis917]

Are you still using shampoo bars?
Maybe you have hard water...I was afraid to try bars because I
a. don't know if I have hard water
b. can't afford to buy new hair stuff AND a filter.
Jealous of you for being able to travel so frequently, though!

[Hana212]

Oh my gosh thank you all for your amazing replies!
I know the water I'm currently using is soft water and in Canada it was extremely hard water.
Yesterday I tried an overnight coconut oil soak, and used the shampoo bar on my scalp only this morning.
It hasn't dried yet, but I'll let you know how that went for me :)
The water in a glass trick is a good idea! With ACV rinses and such, it might be hard to lug a bottle of liquid around with me (I only have 1 carry on sized bag for the next 5 months).
I am interested to chat with some of these Peruvian women with the long hair though! I better work on my Spanish some more so I can learn their secrets! (And report back to you all of course).
I do often tie my hair tie in the same place on my braid, which I hadn't even thought about damaging my ends. I just moved it a bit higher, maybe switching it up every day should help. :)

[Anje]

With ACV rinses and such, it might be hard to lug a bottle of liquid around with me (I only have 1 carry on sized bag for the next 5 months).
Check out citric acid. You only need a tiny amount per rinse, especially if you're rinsing in a glass, and it's dry. Much more packable.

[Firefox7275]

Soap and baking soda are alkaline so damaging to skin and hair, I doubt they are suited for use under a waterfall. There is nothing natural about bar soap, it is created by a chemical reaction. Soaps nuts extract would be better or honey washes, both are acidic so respect the skin's protective acid mantle and are found in nature. Are you consistently protecting your hair from sun damage?

Your nutritional status may be playing a role, are you consistently eating a balanced diet and embracing local delicacies if needs be?

[Hana212]

Soap and baking soda are alkaline so damaging to skin and hair, I doubt they are suited for use under a waterfall. There is nothing natural about bar soap, it is created by a chemical reaction. Soaps nuts extract would be better or honey washes, both are acidic so respect the skin's protective acid mantle and are found in nature. Are you consistently protecting your hair from sun damage?

Your nutritional status may be playing a role, are you consistently eating a balanced diet and embracing local delicacies if needs be?

I am protecting my hair from sun damage when I can, and I'm eating lot's of fresh fruit, milk and vegetables as I'm living on a Goat dairy farm with lot's of fresh produce!

Also - my coconut oil soak + shampoo bar didn't work out so well. My scalp is clean but the ends are still oily. I thought the shampoo run off would clean the ends but it wasn't sufficient. I might try one of those navy rinses using a cup on the ends tonight :)

How long do you all think would it take my hair to adjust to water rinses only?

[Firefox7275]

I am protecting my hair from sun damage when I can, and I'm eating lot's of fresh fruit, milk and vegetables as I'm living on a Goat dairy farm with lot's of fresh produce!

Also - my coconut oil soak + shampoo bar didn't work out so well. My scalp is clean but the ends are still oily. I thought the shampoo run off would clean the ends but it wasn't sufficient. I might try one of those navy rinses using a cup on the ends tonight :)

How long do you all think would it take my hair to adjust to water rinses only?

Have you been eating a balanced diet throughout, plenty of oily fish, other seafood, mineral and fibre rich foods (nuts, seeds, beans, lentils)? The body needs a balance of all the nutrients from all the food groups for optimum health. Fruit, veggies and fresh dairy is great, but that could leave you off for essential fatty acids and minerals like magnesium.

Some people adjust to water only fairly quickly, some take weeks or months. You could be starting at a bit of a disadvantage if you have used alkaline soaps or sulphate surfactants on your scalp if that caused underlying irritation - your hair loss could indicate this - or conversely at an advantage if you have been eating a balanced diet as above for the past few months.

[Anje]

Also - my coconut oil soak + shampoo bar didn't work out so well. My scalp is clean but the ends are still oily. I thought the shampoo run off would clean the ends but it wasn't sufficient. I might try one of those navy rinses using a cup on the ends tonight :)

How long do you all think would it take my hair to adjust to water rinses only?
Yeah, I have to make sure I actually shampoo my ends when I do that. :)

I did water-only for a quite a while -- about 8 months. I'd say it takes the average person about 8 weeks to fully adjust. The typical pattern is that after maybe 4 weeks the greasies have really calmed down and you think it's working, then at around 6 weeks you feel like an otter in an oilslick again. This happened so much, we WO people called it the OO phase. After about 2 months, though, if you're going to adjust, you're doing good. You even come to resent using anything like conditioner because it makes your hair not feel normal for a week or two.
In the end, it was my ends that couldn't take it. At the time, they just couldn't get the moisture they needed from oil alone. Now that a few years have passed and my ends are much healthier and more responsive to oil, my results might be different.

[Theobroma]

Seconding the questions about diet, which can be an issue when travelling. I had a major shed several years ago that started while I was on a six-week summer school with limited opportunities to do my own catering. Because of a food intolerance I'd only discovered weeks before the start of the school, I ended up with a serious imbalance in my diet and was getting far too little protein. I ended up losing over half my hair and had no idea why! If you've had even one period of maybe two months or so in which your diet was unbalanced enough, that could well be what caused your thinning.

As for hair care products -- I use the same soap I use on the rest of me, followed by a white vinegar rinse (citric acid should do just as well) and a few drops of olive oil as a conditioner (also doubles as body lotion). That's all I need to keep my hair soft and manageable and tangle/split free. While I haven't done any travelling since hitting on this routine, it would definitely mean less stuff to carry around!

[lapushka]

I remember "Loepsie" (she makes YT videos, so you'll be able to find her) used to use shampoo bars from Lush and her hair started thinning out. After a number of months she found out the shampoo bars were the culprit.

[furnival]

I remember "Loepsie" (she makes YT videos, so you'll be able to find her) used to use shampoo bars from Lush and her hair started thinning out. After a number of months she found out the shampoo bars were the culprit.

Yup, I took two Lush shampoo bars with me when I spent six months in India, and by the end my hair was shedding like mad, brittle and dry. They're very harsh, solid SLS.

[Vrindi]

Keep in mind that just because you're happy/not feeling stressed out, that doesn't mean your BODY isn't stressed. If you've been traveling all over the place, experiencing different climates and water and products and time zones, then your hair might be freaking out. It doesn't know it's having a good time. It's just, "Wait, a whole new climate? AGAIN?!" and that could be leading to a heavier than normal shed.

I wish I'd known about coconut oil when I was traveling the world. That would have saved my hair. Try to keep it in protective styles as much as you can, even covered if you're outside or in heat, and definitely get rid of the Lush products! Baby shampoo and coconut oil seems like a safe bet.

Your travels sound awesome!

[HairFaerie]

Another vote for "When in Rome, do as the Romans". If it were me traveling, I would definitely find out what the locals are using and try that. That would be super cool! What an awesome opportunity. I would LOVE to travel like that. Have fun & good luck finding "hair secrets"! Be sure to share with us when you return! That is super interesting! :)

[Hana212]

Ok... I think I need to suck up the monetary loss and toss the Lush products.
I also FINALLY got a trim on Monday night (Found a local girl studying hairdressing who offered to trim it at her house for a packet of cigarettes) so I paid $5 for a neat 1 inch trim and long layers, which I must say worked out wonderfully. I still have my WL hair and it feels SO much better.
She washed it with Bedhead shampoo and conditioner, and my hair feels wonderful. Maybe it's time to switch to those tiny travel coney shampoo and conditioners whilst in the USA. Plus coconut oil and an ACV rinse when it's available to me.
My diet was pretty terrible in Canada so it's only the past month that I've been eating better, my body is thanking me but maybe it will take a little while for the results to show in my hair.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/hana212/480201_10151750577905879_1831537489_n_zpscdc993fe. jpg

[rachelbethany]

Fabulous! I love the picture. Glad you found someone to help you out.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but you might want to stay away from the coconut oil. It isn't a protein, but it does promote protein in the hair. I find that when I was oiling my ends with coconut oil (and I was using organic, cold pressed, etc.), they become ratty like that. I think my hair already gets too much protein, and the coconut oil locks it in, in a way. For me, I have decided I only like coconut oil as a pre-rinse, if anything hair-related. Now I usually just use it on my skin. Not to mention I live in a place with very harsh water (very high in minerals), so it almost felt like the oil was locking the minerals in, so to speak. A nice rinse with some distilled, store-bought water can often make all the difference.

Good luck on your hair journey and your . . . actual journey! :P