My experience with a chelating shampoo

[Belle126]

I just stumbled in here looking for much needed help for my below shoulder length hair and boy did I find it! This is my first post and I just had to say thank you, thank you, thank you! My roots are dyed and I just could not even get a comb through my hair after washing and adding conditioner to my hair before. It was a big-knotted mess. I would also put leave in detangler and I would still loose so much hair just trying to get my hair combed out. After reading here I realized that since we have hard water maybe I might need to try a chelating shampoo. I washed my hair today with it and used a conditioner that I washed out. All I can say is Wow! I could actually comb my hair out after it was washed. No tangles and no hair loss. I just can’t believe it! Many thanks. :D

[Johannah]

Great to hear it worked! I'm happy for you! :)

[UP Lisa]

I have hard water, also. Chelating shampoos do help, as does doing a final rinse with distilled water. With fine hair, tangles are just part of the fun, though.

[DweamGoiL]

Chelating shampoos really do help if you have hard water. My hair was recently limp and lifeless recently and I decided to try a chelator as well. It was a real game changer for me as well :) You may need to do it more than once in a row if you have a lot of build up, but it really does change the texture of your hair dramatically.

[LadyLongLocks]

Try a shower water filter too! It works wonders for my hair.

[Brielle]

Hello and welcome! I'm glad to hear chelating worked well for you. I know what you mean about your hair turning into one gigantic knot. Before I knew chelating shampoos existed I had major problems like that too. I had just moved from a place with very soft water to a place with [I]terrible[I] water and my hair just hated it!

[Leslieslsa]

I live in the Chicagoland area so it's city water, but I think I was using too much product and got build up that way. I had tried clarifying shampoo by Suave but it really wasn't working so I went to Sally's and got these crystal pouches that you mix with water and that worked great. My hair was a tangly mess before that. So I understand where you are coming from! It improved a lot with that mixture.

[Belle126]

Thank you all for the welcome. The chelating/clarifying shampoo I used was Pantene Ice and I also used the Pantene Ice Conditioner. I washed my hair several days later with the same shampoo plus I decided to put a couple of drops of mineral oil on the ends. I thought the mineral oil would help with the dryness on the ends of my hair. Anyway, I was able to comb my hair out with no tangles and no hair loss. My hair is even knot free when it is dry.

I’m not sure if I should use the chelating/clarifying shampoo/conditioner combination several times a week or just occasionally and then use another shampoo and conditioner for my regular hair wash days. I know my hair definitely needs more moisture, as the ends are dry. So, that is where I am at now. I guess I need to do some more reading on here to get some more ideas and then it will be trial and error to see what works. I just don't want to loose any more hair and I would like to get my hair healthy.

It seems as if you all had success with the chelating/clarifying shampoos for hard water and product build up too.

[Ambystoma]

I chelate and then deep condition afterwards (since those shampoos can be pretty harsh) every two weeks and just use my regular products in between. I tried to stretch it to once a month but my ends would start to get a little dry and not as shiny by week 3, so you might have to play around a bit and find out how often is optimum for you, since it also depends on how nice your tap water is, if you have a filter etc.

[Micayla47]

I've been looking for chelating shampoo for awhile, but every time I asked for it at the beauty supply store I would get a blank stare. Last weekend I tried asking again and again got the blank stare. Then I said "you know, for getting hard-water mineral deposits out of your hair?" and then they took me right to a great chelating shampoo. My hair has been so soft all week that I can't even put a claw clip in it. The clip just slides out after about an hour.

[Belle126]

I chelate and then deep condition afterwards (since those shampoos can be pretty harsh) every two weeks and just use my regular products in between. I tried to stretch it to once a month but my ends would start to get a little dry and not as shiny by week 3, so you might have to play around a bit and find out how often is optimum for you, since it also depends on how nice your tap water is, if you have a filter etc.

I figure I will have to play around with how often I chelate now that I find it works great especially since we have such hard water and I don’t have a filter. I do have a couple of other shampoos that I’ve bought and haven’t tried yet which hopefully will work out good for in between. I was thinking about trying the SMT to add more moisture to my hair. You know as old as I am you would think I would know something about hair. LOL

[Chiquita Banana]

I didn't know that Pantene Ice was a chelating shampoo! Thanks for the info on that.

[Belle126]

I've been looking for chelating shampoo for awhile, but every time I asked for it at the beauty supply store I would get a blank stare. Last weekend I tried asking again and again got the blank stare. Then I said "you know, for getting hard-water mineral deposits out of your hair?" and then they took me right to a great chelating shampoo. My hair has been so soft all week that I can't even put a claw clip in it. The clip just slides out after about an hour.

I know, it made such a big difference with my hair. My hair was just a big knotted mass when I washed it I and I just couldn't believe the difference!

[Belle126]

I didn't know that Pantene Ice was a chelating shampoo! Thanks for the info on that.

I had read here on the forum somewhere that it was a chelating and clarifying shampoo so I thought I would try it and it really worked for my hair.

[Belle126]

Ok, I used the chelating shampoo again then the SMT for about 4 hours. Washed that out and used a conditioner and put mineral oil on the ends of my hair. I had no knots and no tangles. The SMT was great and my hair really loved it! I am definitely going to do the SMT again. I wish I would have known about all of this years ago and maybe my hair would have been in much better condition then it is today. I guess you live and learn.

[Wildcat Diva]

Belle126, have you heard of citric acid rinses? These are a mild chelating agent. Do a search for a thread and start reading. These could supplement your routine with the shampoo!

I bought a ton of citric acid powder off amazon for pretty cheap. I also found "lemi-shine" as a dishwasher additive in the grocery store. When I called to ask what the "fruit acids" were, the company rep was pretty secretive. When I pushed the issue and said I was gonna use it on my hair because I assumed it was just citric acid, and I just wanted to make sure nothing else was in there harmful, she whispered a confirmation that yeah, it's citric acid (which is edible). HA!

[Wildcat Diva]

Belle126, have you heard of citric acid rinses? These are a mild chelating agent. Do a search for a thread and start reading. These could supplement your routine with the shampoo!

I bought a ton of citric acid powder off amazon for pretty cheap (well, I think it was close to a pound LOL). I also found "lemi-shine" as a dishwasher additive in the grocery store. When I called to ask what the "fruit acids" were, the company rep was pretty secretive. When I pushed the issue and said I was gonna use it on my hair because I assumed it was just citric acid, and I just wanted to make sure nothing else was in there harmful, she whispered a confirmation that yeah, it's citric acid (which is edible). HA!

[Belle126]

Belle126, have you heard of citric acid rinses? These are a mild chelating agent. Do a search for a thread and start reading. These could supplement your routine with the shampoo!

I bought a ton of citric acid powder off amazon for pretty cheap (well, I think it was close to a pound LOL). I also found "lemi-shine" as a dishwasher additive in the grocery store. When I called to ask what the "fruit acids" were, the company rep was pretty secretive. When I pushed the issue and said I was gonna use it on my hair because I assumed it was just citric acid, and I just wanted to make sure nothing else was in there harmful, she whispered a confirmation that yeah, it's citric acid (which is edible). HA!

Thank you for the information and I will search on the forum for it. I'm having some luck with what I am trying now but I'm game to try other things too! LOL