I just want slip. Anything I can use besides OTC conditioner?

[CurlyCap]

Over the years, I've learned a dozen ways to mix up leave-ins to style and moisturize my hair for the day. My leave-in conditioners are often so doctored that they don't even resemble the original product.

I want to move away from OTC conditioner, mostly because it's getting harder and harder to find plain, protein free, stuff-free conditioner in my area. My favorite is plain Sauve, but I don't see the point in driving 30-35 minutes to find $1 conditioner.

So:

Does anyone have any suggestions for conditioner-like substances I can use to detangle in the shower? Should I start looking into conditioner bases by mail order? Is there a slippery natural product I can use? There's gotta be something I can buy by the vat that fulfills the basic purpose of detangling and is cheap.

Any help appreciated!

[stachelbeere]

well... drive 30-35 minutes and buy conditioner in bulk...? 20 bottles for $20 :D that's what I'd do. sorry If I'm not of any real help here :/

[longhairedlady]

well at one point I was buying boxes of Garnier HerbaShine hair dye just to get the conditioner inside it lol. The conditioner was outstanding!

[Kaelee]

well... drive 30-35 minutes and buy conditioner in bulk...? 20 bottles for $20 :D that's what I'd do. sorry If I'm not of any real help here :/

Agreed with this! That's what I would do.

[Beborani]

Mineral oil.

[CurlyCap]

well... drive 30-35 minutes and buy conditioner in bulk...? 20 bottles for $20 :D that's what I'd do. sorry If I'm not of any real help here :/

That's sort of what I meant with 'harder to find'.

The suburban target or walmart might have suave, but only 4 bottles or so of it. And endless array of coney goodness, but not much of the plain stuff. I've asked about ordering a case or so for just me, but the staff looked at me like I was crazy.

On the other hand, the "natural" sections are expanding. My problem with them is that they are super expensive and I know that the ingredients are not. So I can't make myself buy them.

[Kaelee]

Doesn't your local grocery carry at least some cheaper brands of conditioner, Suave or V05?

[swearnsue]

You can add a little coconut oil to your shampoo and use a vinegar/water rinse.

While your hair is still damp, put a tiny bit of oil on your length.

[Madora]

Johnson and Johnson baby oil (mineral oil). Dead cheap, lasts forever. Detangles well. Use very sparingly! Rinses out well. Use on damp, not wet hair.

[Sillage]

The suburban target or walmart might have suave, but only 4 bottles or so of it. And endless array of coney goodness, but not much of the plain stuff. I've asked about ordering a case or so for just me, but the staff looked at me like I was crazy.

Speak with a manager. If that doesn't work out, you can always order bulk conditioner from places that sell to soapmakers ect. For example, Wholesale Supplies Plus does a conditioner concentrate (http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/ProductDetail.aspx?CatalogID=2&GroupID=332&CategoryID=2137&ProductID=4833&ProductName=Crafters+Choice%E2%84%A2++Hair+Conditi oner+Concentrate) that you mix with water and preservative-- and it only has two ingredients: Cetearyl Alcohol and Stearalkonium Chloride. I've bought bulk shower gel and other things from them and have been very pleased. Beauty supply places may also have what you're looking for-- they often have conditioners by the gallon.

[Sillage]

I forgot to add that New Directions Aromatics also does a ready made conditioner base (http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/conditioner-cosmetic-base-p-580.html) you might like: Water, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, PEG-40 Castor Oil, Stearalkonium Chloride, Cetrimonium Chloride, DMDM Hydantoin. They've got a really good reputation. I'm not familiar with Bulk Apothecary but they also make a conditioner base (http://www.bulkapothecary.com/unscented-bases/unscented-conditioner-base/) you might be interested in. It's made with water, glycerin, emulsifying wax nf, mineral oil, quanternium-7, pvp, glyceryl stearate se, stearalkonium chloride, ethoxydiglycol, propylene glycol, butylenes glycol, extracts of matricaria, nettle, birch sap, arnica, cinchona, and birch leaf, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, imidazolidinyl urea.

[LauraLongLocks]

When I have trouble with my local stores not carrying what I use frequently, I buy it on Amazon. So easy to put it on Subscribe & Save. No, this was not a paid commercial for Amazon. <wink>
;)

[thirstylocks]

Hmm, have you tried beer rinses? I've heard they make your hair more manageable and shiny.

What about diluting your conditioner with something to make it last longer?

[CurlyCap]

My routine now is to:
1. Wet my hair.
2. Add conditioner until my hair is soaked. Scrub scalp.
3. Continue shower routine
4. Detangle conditioner sodden hair. It won't detangle otherwise.
5. Rinse out conditioner.
6. Cool rinse.
7. Cool ACV rinse.
8. Soak up water with towel (not "drying"). Add leave-in concoction for curl formation.

In my experience, oil doesn't help detangle in the shower bc the water glides over the hair instead of through it.

[Nope]

Mixing banana baby food into some conditioner provides great slip for me; though I wouldn't really know much about slip at the moment since my hair is extremely short X3
Also, rinse your hair with super cold water at the end of your shower.

[ErinLeigh]

Ceramides. Add them to whatever base you are using and they will give a nice slip and seal.
they can be found naturally in
Barley Malt Oil
Eucalyptus Extract
Hemp Seed Oil
Kukui Oil
Sunflower Oil
Walnut Oil
Wheat Germ Oil
Safflower oil
Grape seed oil
Poppyseed oil
Sunflower oil
Hemp oil
Corn oil
Cottonseed oil
Soybean oil

[niky45]

oooh... you want it for CO-wash, not to use it as conditioner....

otherwise I would have suggested ACV as a leave-in... but obviously, not for CO-wash.

hmmmm... have you tried coney-conditioner? I actually found that my hair prefers it (at least, the amodimethicone-y one, that is supposed to not build up). Although my routine involves some shampoo "now and then", to counteract the cones, though...

... as I set it, you have those options...

- try coney one. hey, there's nothing bad in trying. *

- buy in bulk (perhaps you have to go even more far... )

- buy online. shipping costs can be expensive, but not that much if you buy in bulk (i.e, amazon charges per package... )

* the "problems" with cones are that they HIDE the damage, so you could potentially damage it further without nothing (but not here at LHC where you know how to care for it) and the buildup, that supposedly amodimethicone does not do.
the best thing about cones, is that they leave you hair MUCH softer (they coat the shafts), so you will find it easier to detangle.

[TiaKitty]

Fenugreek is supposed to give great slip.

[WilfredAllen]

vinegar? Catnip?

[Anje]

SMTs give me a lot of slip and the effect tends to last at least a week or two, for whatever that's worth. My other dream ingredient for slip is behentrimonium methosulfate. The soapmaker-types tend to have it available; I'm rather tempted to get a bunch and mod my conditioners myself.

[jeanniet]

Fenugreek and marshmallow both give great slip, but I found that they build up (YMMV). I think your best bet is either the bulk conditioner base, or buying your preferred conditioners online. Walgreens might be one place to check, and Walmart might have a pretty good variety, too. I've bought Tresseme Naturals from walgreens.com before, when I couldn't find it locally.

[chen bao jun]

Did someone already mention flax seed gel?
Instructions are all over you tube.

[CurlyCap]

So what do you peeps think of this mad plan:

1. Make flax seed gel
2. Combine with my homemade favorite butter mix: shea/cocoa/avocado/olive. Maybe 20%

This will make an oily/gelly substance that I can dump on my hair in the shower and use to detangle to my heart's content. Then I'll rinse out the excess, and go about styling my hair after the shower.

I can only foresee that it won't have the cleansing properties of co-wash, but I rinse everyday and ACV rinse everyday. I dunno.

[Sillage]

I dunno CurlyCap, without an emulsifier you're going to get a weird mix (or non mix as the case maybe) by trying to combine the water based flax seed gel with the butters. I also don't think it will rinse well. But you never know until you try! I say if you're interested in doing it, give it a whirl and report back :)

[CurlyCap]

I dunno CurlyCap, without an emulsifier you're going to get a weird mix (or non mix as the case maybe) by trying to combine the water based flax seed gel with the butters. I also don't think it will rinse well. But you never know until you try! I say if you're interested in doing it, give it a whirl and report back :)

You're totally right. My plan is to make a mess of flax gel first and see if it'll work in bulk for this purpose. If it does, I'll work on doctoring it.

[Sillage]

Good plan CurlyCap!

[tbonita]

GVP conditioning balm (same as Biolage) is around $5 and sold at Sally's online. It's cone-free (I think) and definitely protein free and I use it as a leave in either diluted or full strength. Good in SMTs and just a fab all around condish.

[tbonita]

Oh I also heard great things about aloe vera powder!

[CurlyCap]

Well, I made the flax seed gel. It was actually pretty easy and very slippery to touch. While it was hot, it absorbed about a 1tbs of my butter mix quite easily with no solubility problems.

It didn't help slip at all! :wigtongue:

It seemed like the more I put on my hair, the more was absorbed. In the end, I put about 1.5 cups of flax seed gel in my hair, gave up, and just used more of one of the conditioners I already had. All of it rinsed out well.

Onwards and forwards to try other things!

[Sillage]

LOL a cup and a half? Your hair was hungry, CurlyCap! Sorry the flax seed gel didn't work out.

[CurlyCap]

LOL a cup and a half? Your hair was hungry, CurlyCap! Sorry the flax seed gel didn't work out.

Lol. Yep!

The whole time I was applying, I kept thinking "Well, at least I've discovered an SMT-base that might actually work for my hair!"

And for it not working, no worries. This is how we discover things. We try and see what works! There's lots of ideas in this thread left to try.

[jeanniet]

If you can get it locally at an herb shop, try marshmallow root. It's very slippery, and while I found it to build up somewhat, if you're going to rinse it out I think it could work. Try something like a tablespoon in two cups of water (though for your hair you'd probably want to double that, lol), bring to a light boil for a couple of minutes, then turn the heat off and let it sit for half an hour or so, then strain. Fenugreek will do the same thing, but I can't stand the smell. Some say it smells like maple syrup--which it does, kind of, but I don't care for that smell anyway, and definitely not on my head!

[starlamelissa]

For simplicity sake I'd order through amazon