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View Full Version : Any other long-term members still struggling to find a routine?



florenonite
May 17th, 2014, 07:20 AM
My seventh anniversary at LHC is coming up this summer. And I still haven't found the right routine. I'll settle on something that gives me decent hair for a while, sometimes even for months, but it's never quite right, and eventually that 'not quite' becomes 'not at all'. I clarified yesterday morning, and my hair felt (and looked) great, so I know it's healthy and can look nice when it wants to, but I can't seem to get it to behave like that consistently.

Please tell me I'm not the only one still trying to work out what makes my hair happy after all these years! :p

woodswanderer
May 17th, 2014, 07:45 AM
Yeah, I'm still working on my routine. I always have the idea that other people are doing something better for their hair than I am, and my hair could be better...the only problem is I am lazy and always in too much of a hurry for some things. I just made up a new mister blend of distiller water, rose water, glycerine, and aloe vera gel. When I ran out and remade it, I must have put too much aloe vera or too much glycerin...so now I have buildup. I'm going to remake it and measure this time.

ashke50
May 17th, 2014, 07:51 AM
I've been here over 3 years, and still not completely settled on a routine. I've got closer to a routine, but I am still making changes and trying new things - and I'm sure I've not explored all options or found the perfect thing for my hair, although I have ruled out some stuff and found some things I know my hair does like. I recently started doing CO again, and have done some vinegar rinses, and trying out different conditioners... I don't even use coconut oil on my hair that often, although I have a routine with that for my feet and hands.

I tend to have a routine for a while, and then add something in or make a change, and stay like that for a bit, and then repeat. My hair doesn't seem too fussy, and it isn't in dire need of anything, the main issues I have to combat is the itchy scalp and tendency towards greasiness.

I have settled on wearing my hair up though, that is a definite routine!

Firefly
May 17th, 2014, 08:05 AM
You're not alone! I've come to think that my routine is a veritable LACK OF ONE. I'm constantly changing things up-- CWC, CO, traditional S&C; regular trims, no trims; babying my hair and benign neglect. All-natural/herbal hair care and conventional hair care. I have a vast and ever-growing product graveyard, many of which I cycle back to every now and then. Wearing it up all the time and letting it loose... I could go on and on. It would be sooooo nice to find a routine that worked for the long-term but alas, it's not to be! My hair seems to like change, so I've resolved myself to constant adjustments. :shrug:

jacqueline101
May 17th, 2014, 08:13 AM
Every time I think I have found my routine it lets me down. I think I'm going to try no cones my hair seems to get greasy on the roots and dry like build up. I might see how this goes. I'm going to try use minimal products these are the only type of routine I haven't tried.

Freija
May 17th, 2014, 08:24 AM
You're really, really not the only one! :grouphug:

I have exactly the same problem - all of the things that have been popular over the years here - sebum-only, water-only, soapnuts/yucca/aritha (i.e. Ayurvedic herb washes), egg washes, honey washes, soap bars as shampoo, conditioner only, baking soda and apple cider vinegar, SLS and SLeS-free shampoos... all of them have just ended up hurting my scalp and most have dried out my lengths, too. Still, after six years here, on a day-to-day basis I have dry and rough-looking hair, with a massive frizzy canopy (because my hair is a mixture of fine and coarse strands, and it's curly, so all the coarse strands stick out...). My ends get tangled and split just a couple of months after each trim - and don't get me started on oils! I've tried coconut, olive, grapeseed and sweet almond so far, and they've all tended to make my hair feel waxy and slightly coated, without helping the dryness much...


But I am making progress. It's just a bit slower than I'd like. I have to remind myself that when I started here, my hair was scratchy, split and dull, and it had been kept short for years. I used to box-dye it bright red every month, heat styled it daily, detangled it aggressively, and hated it unto death. I'd never even tried a protein treatment, or a moisturising deep conditioner. Nowadays, it's back to its natural auburn colour, in virgin condition, and it's heading towards waist. Plus it's not 'difficult' - it's curly!

I used to wash my hair every single morning, but everything is happier now that I only wash it once every three to four days. I like the feel of my hair much more now I've been 'cone-free for about four years (it doesn't feel so piecey and oily or synthetic any more). I've found some very simple SLeS shampoos that seem to work okay with my scalp, when I dilute them with aloe vera and water, and I've learnt that if my scalp flares up badly, a plain rhassoul clay mask can help calm it back down again. Acid rinses are a godsend with my hard water.

I have the right brushes and combs to detangle my hair more gently now. I've learnt to French plait and put my hair up in disc buns with pretty single sticks and forks, so that even when my hair feels lousy and looks all fuzzy left loose, it can be made presentable. I know that plopping and not touching my hair when its drying can both help a bit.

I have really good hopes for mineral oil, too - I've only just started using it - as a way of trapping moisture inside my hair and keeping it soft and shiny between washes. And I think I'll come on in leaps and bounds when I finally find a conditioner which moisturises deeply enough, and/or a way to apply it that really gets my hair to drink it up. : )

I think it helps me to focus on that, and list everything good that I have got under my belt after six years as a member here, when I get very frustrated, rather than focusing on the things that aren't working. My hair might not be 'finished' yet, by any stretch of the imagination, but it still already looks miles and miles better than it used to, and it looks better than most 'non-LHC' cared-for hair, too - and I bet the same goes for yours. : ) Maybe you could try looking at a picture of your 'pre-LHC' hair next to one of your mane as it is today, to prove to yourself how far you have come?

florenonite
May 17th, 2014, 09:59 AM
Glad to hear I'm not alone, though I'm sorry to hear some of you are struggling like I am.

Freija: Wow, you really have tried everything, haven't you? I'm glad to see that you are making progress, though. Out of curiosity, do you do an acid rinse every wash? I find that they tend to be really nice the first time I do them, but if I do them every wash they're drying.

Sadly, I think my pre-LHC hair was better than it is now, as I joined shortly before moving to the UK. It was simple before; I S&Ced every other day, and my only real gripe was that I couldn't go more than three days without looking like a chippy. That's a big part of my problem, really; my hair just does not like the sheer dampness of the climate here. I can't do standard S&C anymore, because if I do I risk overconditioning my hair, but I can't just shampoo, either, because then my hair dries out. Many years ago I used to do the CW portion of CWC, and that worked pretty well (I stuck with it from sometime during my first semester of first year until I got my first shampoo bar second semester of second year, anyway), but when I tried it again recently my length got greasy really easily. This may be because I failed to adequately read my conditioner label and didn't realise that cyclopentasiloxane is still a cone :lol: Currently I'm trying out shampooing in the shower and using conditioner and AVG in my mister.

Pretty much the one incontrovertible thing I've learned about my hair in this time is this: My hair really, really likes pre-wash application of coconut oil. I've been doing this for at least 6.5 years, and I've never had any problems with it. Doesn't matter if I'm washing with dish soap or shampoo bars, my hair likes the oil. So I guess all the experimenting hasn't been entirely in vain ;)

HintOfMint
May 17th, 2014, 02:25 PM
My hair is extremely sensitive to changes in water and weather, so even when I think I've settled on a perfect routine, I never really know if it's just the products that work, or if it's the perfect storm of perfect temperature, humidity levels, water hardness, and products. It was only last fall that my hair was silky. SILKY. That never happens! Turned out to be a fluke.

Over my years at LHC, I've tried CO (made me shed buckets), sulfate free (scalp still freaking out), CWC (ran into some nasty buildup that Luxepiggy pointed out was causing my cuticle to lift at the ends), oil shampoo (never got the proportions right), cone-free everything (meh), egg washes with a little shampoo (made my hair a little tangly actually), and eventually settled on sulfate shampoo and coney conditioner. But of course, too harsh of a sulfate shampoo and my scalp gets flakey and scabby, and I have to watch out for proteins in the conditioner.

Using a modified SMT is generally good for my hair as a regular conditioner, but there are times when I would swear it wouldn't matter if I used dish soap and butter to shampoo and condition, it's just disaster.

mira-chan
May 17th, 2014, 03:44 PM
I only have my current routine becuse i dont have time for a better one. My hair does not look it's best on this routine but where I'm living and my current schedule doesnt allow anything else than the most minimalst things.

truepeacenik
May 17th, 2014, 05:13 PM
Eight years here. :thud:
I play with most of the ideas with cleansing.
I find that mixing it up is the best for me. Frankly, I think I just get bored and need to feel like I'm trying something.

TheLuckyLurker
May 17th, 2014, 08:21 PM
Oh yeah. I'm right there with you. I don't know if the problem is the wrong routine, the wrong products, or both, but it is extremely frustrating.

dancingrain91
May 17th, 2014, 10:08 PM
I've been here two years and I'm just getting back into my CO routine. My hair had an attack of the greasies that caused a massive breakout on my face of awful cystic acne. (Or they both happened at the same time) Anyways, I think it was stress related but I was S&C every other day for a month with random pre shower oiling. Now I'm back to CO with citric acid rinses and oiling of the length before hand. And a massive almond oil deep conditioning before clarifying once a month. Hopefully no bumps in the road mean I can finally use this routine for a few weeks and see if my hair really likes it. I know it likes citric acid and the oils and leave ins but the CO has never been consistent enough. All I know is S&C is way too drying but my hair looks greasy so quickly. I can barely manage every other day even though I often wash twice to three times a week with CO when I use that.

ErinLeigh
May 17th, 2014, 11:10 PM
you're not alone! I've come to think that my routine is a veritable lack of one. I'm constantly changing things up-- cwc, co, traditional s&c; regular trims, no trims; babying my hair and benign neglect. All-natural/herbal hair care and conventional hair care. I have a vast and ever-growing product graveyard, many of which i cycle back to every now and then. Wearing it up all the time and letting it loose... I could go on and on. It would be sooooo nice to find a routine that worked for the long-term but alas, it's not to be! My hair seems to like change, so i've resolved myself to constant adjustments. :shrug:

i am not a long term member but ditto everything firefly wrote.

Johannah
May 18th, 2014, 02:03 AM
I can join, I'm afraid :p

I've tried basically everything and there are a lot of things my hair reacts great on, but I need to figure out the right amounts, if you know what I mean. And that's not simple at all...

florenonite
May 18th, 2014, 05:35 AM
Wow, who knew there were so many of us? I posted this thread because so often I feel like everyone else has it figured out and it's only the new members who are trying to find what works. Little did I know ... :p

I'm trying to take a 'back-to-basics' approach at the moment. There are two washing methods that have worked consistently for me for extended periods of time. One was shampoo bars. They're out as I have hard water and they've just never gotten along with my hair here. The other is the CW method. It's working okay lately, but I keep overdoing it on the conditioner, maybe because it's been really humid here lately. So basically, I know that I need to wash my scalp well, and moisturise my length, but not overdo it. At some point in the past few years, when I was having a grease attack, I started doing two lathers in the shower, so I'm trying to wean myself off those, too, as I don't think it's helping my eternal quest to stretch washes ;)

So basically, what I'm trying out right now is shampoo (once!) as infrequently as I can get away with it, which comes out to every other day. Mist with coney condish (because I can't read :p), AVG and water after showering and before putting hair up. Coconut oil before braiding the night before a wash. Pretty simple, really, and should tell me where I need to tweak it.

battles
May 18th, 2014, 07:23 AM
I feel weird that I might qualify as a long-term member now.. but yeah, I totally fall into this category. Something will work beautifully for me for a few weeks, a few months.. and then something will go horribly wrong and my hair will look like straw or become totally dried out or SOMETHING. It happens with shampoo bars too, but I'm trying again and going to test out a few more conditioning bars this time. Something has to work for me. :(

I always worried that people felt I was a bit silly jumping back and forth from one wash method thread to another, but honestly nothing was working for me.

I also have the thrown in wrench of shampoo and conditioner causing my skin to breakout. :rolleyes:

vsvisionz
May 18th, 2014, 07:30 AM
I don't know if I qualify as long term yet, but I've been growing out my hair for two and a half years now and still haven't found that perfect routine.

xoChesleyy
May 18th, 2014, 10:23 AM
I don't really have much of a hair care routine, but it seems like simply leaving it alone and not using many products is what works best for me. I recently tried applying coconut oil to my ends daily for a week or so.. I noticed a huge difference in the look and feel of my ends, because they are always very dry, but this somehow made my hair get greasy faster. I sacrificed my ends for the extra two days or so without washing my hair, although I'm not sure if that is more beneficial or washing my hair more often. I guess you could say I'm still on the search for a better hair care routine. :p The biggest thing I really do is just do a coconut oil pre-poo before each wash. Other than that, I just S&D when I feel I need to, take biotin along with a multi-vitamin daily, use natural/organic hair care products, sleep on a satin pillowcase, and use henna.

battles
May 18th, 2014, 10:47 AM
Ha! I realized that I DID find something that worked quite well for me and didn't have any freakout periods. I had great luck with the Cocoa Pink shampoo and conditioner, but I stopped using it cuz .. I don't even know why I did.. I think I ran out and was too darn lazy to order it again. :doh: I'll have to keep up with that..

Brattina88
May 18th, 2014, 10:59 AM
This thread is totally reassuring to me as a "newb" that I haven't found a routine yet ;) * whew*

AmyBeth
May 18th, 2014, 11:56 AM
I had a routine that was really good for my hair- then I started using hendigo. That was a game changer. I don't regret it, because my hair is much thicker, stronger and shinier. But it is also much heavier and much more lank and oily! After 10 months of hendigo, I am still trying to find out what will make my hair look good, even though I know it's in better shape than ever. I have to figure out how to clean the roots adequately while keeping the ends from drying out.

Vanilla
May 18th, 2014, 05:07 PM
You are so not the only one! I've been here almost 3 years and I still have no consistent routine. I tried CO, WO, shampoo bars and CWC. My hair is pretty prone to build up, but my lengths need WAY more moisture than my roots.

What I have figured out is that my lengths don't really like SLS, though I can go a day longer between washes if I use SLS. I only recently discovered that my hair craves protein, and I wasn't giving it enough for a long time.

So my current routine is:
S&C when my hair starts looking greasy
Nexxus split end mender treatment (protein + cones) after each wash
Cassia or sedr when I remember
Panacea/coconut oil as pre-shampoo treatment (when I remember)

But I also alternate with mineral oil as a leave in if my hair starts feeling stiff.

Foodie
May 18th, 2014, 05:57 PM
I think it's actually pretty natural to have a routine that is constantly evolving. When I joined LHC there was none (or none that I recall) of this coconut oil talk, and so it wasn't part of my routine. Now it's something I use regularly. I do think that after several years of trying different approaches to your routine, the basic requirements of your hair should make themselves apparent, and it would be unusual to still be casting about for fundamentals after many years. :)

florenonite
May 23rd, 2014, 01:38 PM
Currently I'm trying out shampooing in the shower and using conditioner and AVG in my mister.


Aaaand now I'm back to shampoo bars with a vinegar rinse, because my scalp's been throwing a hissy fit :lol:

battles
May 23rd, 2014, 01:41 PM
I went from shampoo and conditioner, back to shampoo bars, back to sulfate free shampoo and conditioner and NOW I'm trying modified curly girl for wavy hair. I genuinely have no idea what I'm doing anymore. :rolleyes:

Edit: I am going to set a minimum time limit for CG though. For at least a fair try. Everything else has been tried multiple times and I know it doesn't work.

MsBubbles
May 23rd, 2014, 01:55 PM
I think you might be onto something here, Florenonite!

I'd probably be having trouble finding a good routine if I put in the effort to find one. I have been able to keep the shampoo that works for my scalp (diluted aubrey organics green tea clarifying shampoo), and do daily scalp washes - probably for the past five years! But I don't really look at my hair much any more. I've given up worrying about it tangling when down. I've given up trying to protect it to eke out any more beauty from it. I don't care if it ever gets to butt length with a tidy hemline or if it looks straggly. I don't really care much what color it is.

This might be relevant to your problem though: I can't strike a balance between cones/no cones, or moisture-treatments vs conditioners. So I gave up on that too!

My solution: give up. :laugh:

Chromis
May 23rd, 2014, 01:59 PM
Well I have the routine down...shampoo bar once a week (maybe twice in summer) followed with an acid rinse and henna once or twice a year. I keep meaning to do the henna again but it is *such* a pain!

It did take me a while to come to this routine and I have sometimes tried straying from it (Bad Idea!) but it seems the best I have tried. This does not mean all is happyfun hair times though sadly. My hair pretty much just hates it here in general. The water softener is helping, but our water is still pretty hard and seriously folks, I am not going to only use rainwater/RO/distilled water on my head when washing. Did you catch the part about how often I do henna compared to normal henna heads? Yeah, no not lugging in water every wash, way too much work!

I have also never managed to get my split ends under control. I never use heat, handle it gently, wear it up, etc (I like doing all of these things anyhow!) and I have a pair of nice sharp hair scissors which I use to S&D frequently. No matter how diligent I am with snipping them out, it seems ten more appear. It's like whack-a-split! I've also been maintaining at knee hoping my hemline will thicken for a good three years now.

florenonite
May 23rd, 2014, 02:04 PM
My hair pretty much just hates it here in general. The water softener is helping, but our water is still pretty hard and seriously folks, I am not going to only use rainwater/RO/distilled water on my head when washing. Did you catch the part about how often I do henna compared to normal henna heads? Yeah, no not lugging in water every wash, way too much work!


My parents live in Southern Ontario, in a place with SUPER hard water, but they have a water softener. I can use just about anything on my hair there (but not CO), and it'll be fine. Here? The water's less hard, but no water softener, and my hair gets upset if you look at it wrong. I think part of the issue is that it's SO much drier in Ontario, so my hair doesn't stay wet for hours on end after washing it.

AmyBeth
May 23rd, 2014, 10:04 PM
I think you might be onto something here, Florenonite!

I'd probably be having trouble finding a good routine if I put in the effort to find one. I have been able to keep the shampoo that works for my scalp (diluted aubrey organics green tea clarifying shampoo), and do daily scalp washes - probably for the past five years! But I don't really look at my hair much any more. I've given up worrying about it tangling when down. I've given up trying to protect it to eke out any more beauty from it. I don't care if it ever gets to butt length with a tidy hemline or if it looks straggly. I don't really care much what color it is.

This might be relevant to your problem though: I can't strike a balance between cones/no cones, or moisture-treatments vs conditioners. So I gave up on that too!

My solution: give up. :laugh:

You mean if I give up, my hair will look as spectacular as yours?

ashke50
May 24th, 2014, 03:20 AM
I've just switched again, this time from CO back to CWC - my scalp was getting a bit itchy, but more to the point it was still taking forever for me to wash my scalp with conditioner, despite diluting it, using a pump bottle etc. Too much effort, so I'm back to shampoo on the scalp, which is so much faster!

CurlyCap
May 24th, 2014, 04:50 AM
But wouldn't your routine constantly change as your hair grows and you try new things?

I posted a thread about a month ago about how frustrated I was with my hair and how I didn't know what to do. Now I have a new detangler, new products in the shower, a new method of wearing it up. It all feels very new and frustrating! And then people will PM thinking I'm some guru of curly hair....stuff.

As long as your hair is still growing and in good shape, change whatever you want and enjoy the experiments! That's what I tell myself to avoid being frustrated.

florenonite
May 24th, 2014, 05:34 AM
As long as your hair is still growing and in good shape, change whatever you want and enjoy the experiments! That's what I tell myself to avoid being frustrated.

That's a great attitude to have ^_^

I tend to get frustrated when I can't wear my hair down without the length looking gross, or it looks greasy the day after I wash it, but at the same time, I know it's not unhealthy, and it's still growing, so I should just take the opportunity to learn new styles :)