Looking to learn proper haircare

[Angelair]

Hello,
I've recently came across this forum and have been learning so much about ways to take care of my poor fried hair! This is such an excellent site - and of course as a newbie I have tons of questions! I have fine and thin/medium hair that's finally somewhere around APL, with a slight wave to it. Too many color changes - always the commercial dyes - and years of 'cone products - have left it looking dead, and my ends keep breaking off. Thus my roots keep growing but my length doesn't change much.

So far, I've begun a CO routine, with a shampoo maybe once every week or two, and have banished my hair dryer - and the flat iron - into the far reaches of my closet - gasp - I never thought that day would come! My hair likes the change, I think. As my roots are coming in, with some grays mixed in - I need to color, and since ice always loved red shades, I waiting now for my BAQ henna delivery to come this week. I know that I have to strand test since my hair has seen so much chemical damage.

What I realize, however is that I really know very little about proper hair care and would love any advice for healthy hair that actually grows - or for anything henna. Anything I should buy besides cone free conditioners? I don't know if I need a comb since I like to finger comb my hair,and I already had bbb from my hair drying days. I have coconut oil, but I'm not sure if it had any positive effect, I applied it tony dry ends last night but they r still dry today, I tried the SMT which I loved - hair was super soft after it dried,but next day was dry and brittle again.

Thanks for any help!

[CurlMonster]

If you like to finger comb that's better than any comb because it means you feel the knots before you rip through them. However if you are looking for a comb, wide-toothed and seamless is what's recommended here, or a lot of members rave about the Tangle Teezer. A satin or silk pillowcase is also good for your hair because it reduces friction and tangling on your pillowcase at night.

You mention your hair is breaking off before it grows, so you will definitely be looking to prevent damage to your ends. Have you been wearing your hair up? And if you have, have you been using hair-friendly tools to keep it up? That's quite important to retaining your growth and reducing damage to your already damaged ends.

You've already made some awesome big steps towards healthy hair though, so congratulations! :)

[Angelair]

Thanks for your advise, I think the comb - either horn or wood - and a silk pillowcase are both excellent, they will be on my "buy" list once I have some extra money :cheer: but I'm not sure about hair toys. I have been using chop sticks during the day to bring my hair up lately, I'm not sure if that's good or bad for my hair? I think I read here it should be good, but when I use them the hair feels very tight - so isn't it pulling/ripping the hair?
Oh and at night I sometimes braid it, but usually just leave it out and I suspect that's doing some damage too.

[Pierre]

Welcome to LHC!

[jrmviola]

7 years ago I had fine and thin/medium tailbone length hair that had suffered badly from swimming and I decided to trim all the way up to Shoulder length. I'm glad I did because by that point I had learned what my hair liked and i was able to regrow again to fingertip alot healthier hair. Although it has never thickened up, that is just the nature of my fine hair at the length its at.

[RitaCeleste]

I've been using Pantene cones and all for awhile now, occasionally shampooing if I get buildup. My hair likes cones just fine. For a no cone shampoo, I was using Honeysuckle Rose by aubrey organics. Its the closest thing to being natural and as good as cones on my hair. I have to do a lot less stuff to my hair now and have it look good using the cones. I like coconut and meadow foam seed oil. About a 1/3 cup olive oil with two table spoons of honey warmed and mixed makes a good deep conditioning treatment. Also oiling hair heavily with coconut oil at night, and putting conditioner on it for 30 to 45 minutes to break down the oil and rinsing it out works wonders on fried hair. You hair could be overly dry and brittle. Protein won't help that too much, you might want to avoid it until you've got it deep conditioned well and good for a bit. But the oils and oiling your hair will help brittle ends.

[Angelair]

Thanks all! I have been using coconut oil the last couple of days, but I think my hair needs to be clarified now, it's starting to look a bit greasy. I just hennaed it last weekend, when I washed off the henna the hair was absolutely gorgeous, soft and bouncy. Now it's looking stringy, maybe daily oiliness are too much for me - although I must say the ends are looking much better now. Yay!

[breezefaerie]

It's best to try only a few new things at a time, to really find out what your hair likes.
For example: if you henna, oil, go cone free, sulfate free, heat free, conditioner only, etc and your hair does not like ONE of these it can be hard to figure out what the culprit is.

You have hennaed, gone heat free, started oiling and are going to clarify if I read correctly. Maybe just give that a go and see what happens with your hair. Then try one new or different thing at a time.

I know there is a LOT of info here and it's so much fun to jump in with both feet, but you have all the time you need!
And what works great for you now might now work great in the future so there is always room for experimentation down the line.

And welcome!