Products make hair crunchy

[Trollkona]

I've been away from this wonderful community for several years and my once really long, soft and shiny mane of hair is reduced to a quite sad, thin sight. It all started some years ago when I did some bleach baths do remove cemical black dye so I could go back to my natural colour (dark brown). Enough with the background story and to the problem, for the last months I haved tried to take care of my hair again, but most products makes i crunchy and the strands stick together. Leave ins, spray or cream makes it horrible. All kind of oils makes my hair flat, stringy and to oily no mather how little I use. Never had this problem before and I dont get what Im doing wrong? I used to be able to use most kinds of leave in products and oils (in huge amounts) and it just made the hair soft and nice.

[Sevenof91]

You have described the hair that I had about 2 months ago after an awful protein overload. The last 2 inches of my hair were so bad it looked and felt like they had been bleached a million times. It was crunch, dry, breaking off, knotting every 5 seconds, I went for a trim and then decided to baby my hair. For the past 6 weeks I've gone curly girl and given up shampoo and only use my blow dryer now on the cool setting once my hair has air dried about 80%. It's taken a while, but it's just lateley starting to feel like 'normal' hair again.

Have you tried clarifying your hair first to try and get rid of any build-up?

[Firefox7275]

Clarify and chelate, then read the ingredients on all your products. Protein overload can certainly make hair crunchy. Try using penetrating oils as a pre-wash or an ingredient in a leave in conditioner instead of straight up. True conditioners are rich in the major emollients (fatty alcohols and cationic surfactants) - these give softness, slip and some shine. Other proven ingredients for damaged hair include ceramides, 18-MEA and panthenol.

If none of these are effective it may simply be time for a trim as your ends may have lost all the protective cuticle. Contrary to popular belief bleach baths are not gentler than persulphate bleach they are simply more controllable. Harsh shampoos and any alkaline lightening mixture will erode away the cuticle and blow holes in the cortex as melanin pigment is removed alongside the dye molecules.

[Trollkona]

I will try to clarify and hope it will help. Some parts of the hair is beyond rescue, and I did a mayor trim some time ago, the problem is that the really damaged parts is in the middle, from when I got a really bad layered cut. So I've been trying to do alot of SD's lately. I think clarifying, lots of SD's (split ends everywhere!) and alot of oils and pampering may be needed :/

[Katrine]

After you chelate, you may want to do a moisturizing treatment. And I think you are right, it sounds like your hair (and you) just need some pampering. :)

[Trollkona]

I also tried to not washing my hair every day, but after 3 days my hair was crunchier than ever? I didnt use any products, just brushed it with a good brush.

[Trollkona]

Thanks for your help! I used bakingsoda in my hair some days ago and did a moisturizing treatment. Last I did a session of sd and this morning I trimmed it. Looks alot better already and I started to use argan oil everyday as well. I uploaded a picture on my profile to share the result