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Athena61
September 19th, 2014, 06:02 AM
Hi Everyone. New gal here. Background: I formerly was a brunette and dyed to cover my grays. Gave that all up and had my hair lightened to help ease the transition to going natural. I am doing coconut oil treatments 1-2 times per week, co-washing most times (or diluted 'poo to wash out the oil), and SMT. This all has helped TREMENDOUSLY to help make my hair feel better.

I've never officially clarified although I understand using a shampoo with sulfate can do just that. When I was using shampoo I stayed away from kinds that had that listed. But....now I am using oils and even though my hair LOVES oil I am wondering if I should clarify once in awhile. I have purchased a clarifying shampoo to use: Avalon Organics...Lemon clarifying shampoo.

So, my question......would it still be beneficial to do my coconut oil treatment beforehand if I'm going to clarify during my wash?

schnibbles
September 19th, 2014, 07:20 AM
If your hair is happy with a routine, you don't necessarily need to clarify. Tangly, rough ends or overall limp texture might be signs that you should clarify. Do you use cones?
My advice would be to pay attention to the condition of your hair, clarify when something seems "off" only. To answer your question, yes it's beneficial to pre-poo with your coconut oil before you clarify. This can help protect delicate ends from the harshness of clarifying 'poos. Hope this helps! :)

Athena61
September 19th, 2014, 07:34 AM
Thank you very much. My hair is doing very well with this routine, but maybe it's a matter of would it do even better.....

Madora
September 19th, 2014, 08:10 AM
Hi Everyone. New gal here. Background: I formerly was a brunette and dyed to cover my grays. Gave that all up and had my hair lightened to help ease the transition to going natural. I am doing coconut oil treatments 1-2 times per week, co-washing most times (or diluted 'poo to wash out the oil), and SMT. This all has helped TREMENDOUSLY to help make my hair feel better.

I've never officially clarified although I understand using a shampoo with sulfate can do just that. When I was using shampoo I stayed away from kinds that had that listed. But....now I am using oils and even though my hair LOVES oil I am wondering if I should clarify once in awhile. I have purchased a clarifying shampoo to use: Avalon Organics...Lemon clarifying shampoo.

So, my question......would it still be beneficial to do my coconut oil treatment beforehand if I'm going to clarify during my wash?

The clarification process rids your hair of everything on it, so it would seem a waste of time and product to do your coconut oil treatment before clarifying.

As far as how often to clarify, that depends on how much stuff you put on your hair during a month's time. If you oil daily, then I'd say once a month would be sufficient for clarifying. Clarifying is very strong stuff as far as your hair is concerned, don't over do it. Be sure to follow the clarifying with a conditioning treatment.

sarahthegemini
September 19th, 2014, 08:18 AM
Well as coconut oil prevents protein loss in the hair strand from washing, amd can also limit the hair expanding during the uptake of water, yes I do think it would still be useful to use it prior to clarifying (or a wash of any kind)

Athena61
September 19th, 2014, 08:19 AM
Thanks, Madora. As you can see I have received 2 different approaches to my question. It would be nice to save some time and not do a pre-poo oiling. I swear wash hair day is very time consuming from start to finish.

Question: what would you suggest as the minimum time to let the coconut oil sit on my hair during a pre-poo treatment?

sarahthegemini
September 19th, 2014, 08:22 AM
Thanks, Madora. As you can see I have received 2 different approaches to my question. It would be nice to save some time and not do a pre-poo oiling. I swear wash hair day is very time consuming from start to finish.

Question: what would you suggest as the minimum time to let the coconut oil sit on my hair during a pre-poo treatment?

Overnight if possible.

Madora
September 19th, 2014, 08:24 AM
Thanks, Madora. As you can see I have received 2 different approaches to my question. It would be nice to save some time and not do a pre-poo oiling. I swear wash hair day is very time consuming from start to finish.

Question: what would you suggest as the minimum time to let the coconut oil sit on my hair during a pre-poo treatment?

Sorry, cannot respond. I do not use any kind of oils..except mineral oil, and that only for detangling. I'm sure someone will chime in as many here do coconut oil and pre-poo treatments.

I certainly agree with you..hair washing is time consuming (at least for me with knee length hair). Luckily, I've been able to cut down the time by half an hour when I switched to using mineral oil as a detangler/conditioner.

Athena61
September 19th, 2014, 08:29 AM
Thanks, Sarah. I'm hoping to cut down the length of time for the oil treatment. I usually leave it on a minimum of 3 hrs. I didn't mention earlier in my intro but I do a protein treatment after my co-washing and before the SMT. My hair was damaged from the peroxide process. My hair texture, when wet, was on the gummy side right after it was lightened. Since I've been doing the protein treatment it feels quite a bit better.

I don't blow dry my hair but after it is thoroughly dry I take a hair tool on the lowest possible setting and smooth it out. I do as little as possible.

Overall, wash day has to be planned out and takes up a lot of time.

Athena61
September 19th, 2014, 08:32 AM
Overnight if possible.

Sarah, I can just see my partner's eyes roll back into his head, but that would sure save some time. He's gone this weekend so am going to do just that tonight. I sure love how my hair feels after a treatment. Amazing stuff, truly.

Athena61
September 19th, 2014, 08:33 AM
Overnight if possible.

Sarah, I can just see my partner's eyes roll back into his head, but that would sure save some time. He's gone this weekend so am going to do just that tonight. I sure love how my hair feels after a treatment. Amazing stuff, truly.

sarahthegemini
September 19th, 2014, 08:53 AM
Sarah, I can just see my partner's eyes roll back into his head, but that would sure save some time. He's gone this weekend so am going to do just that tonight. I sure love how my hair feels after a treatment. Amazing stuff, truly.

It would absolutely save time wouldn't it, you could do it just before bed and then you could wash as early as you like the next day as you won't need to wait around :)

sarahthegemini
September 19th, 2014, 08:57 AM
Thanks, Sarah. I'm hoping to cut down the length of time for the oil treatment. I usually leave it on a minimum of 3 hrs. I didn't mention earlier in my intro but I do a protein treatment after my co-washing and before the SMT. My hair was damaged from the peroxide process. My hair texture, when wet, was on the gummy side right after it was lightened. Since I've been doing the protein treatment it feels quite a bit better.

I don't blow dry my hair but after it is thoroughly dry I take a hair tool on the lowest possible setting and smooth it out. I do as little as possible.

Overall, wash day has to be planned out and takes up a lot of time.

Gosh that does sound time consuming, I think oiling the night before would definitely help you. Have you thought about mixing the protein treatment with the SMT for time saving?

Athena61
September 19th, 2014, 09:21 AM
Gosh that does sound time consuming, I think oiling the night before would definitely help you. Have you thought about mixing the protein treatment with the SMT for time saving?

I've been using a commercial protein treatment by B&B, and it needs to be rinsed out within 10 minutes. I leave my SMTP in for 30 minutes. Someone mentioned adding gelatin to my SMT and that might work better. Yeah, when I wash my hair it's an all day affair. Hoping in time when the health of my hair is restored it won't be so labor intensive. Never thought about my hair much prior to the bleaching, but I certainly took it for granted.

Athena61
September 21st, 2014, 07:49 AM
I wanted to post a follow up on how the clarifying went for me. I ended up doing an overnight pre-oiling with coconut oil. I felt it might provide a defense against any harshness from using a shampoo. While I was clarifying with the shampoo I noticed quite a bit of shedding. Hair was wrapping around my fingers and I noticed around the drain as well. Yikes. Following the shampoo I put in the B&B protein mending masque for 10 minutes with a warm cap on my head. I rinsed and then used SMT for one hour. Rinsed again and did a final rinse with HALO. After I removed my turban I added a small amount of Foxes Shea Leave in and then let my hair air dry. Overall my hair felt drier and some of my more damaged areas felt crunchy. I can see much more of my natural curls and waves returning to my hair though and the overall wet texture is much less "gummy" feeling than when I first had my hair lightened this past June. I have no intention of clarifying on a regular basis but only if I feel my usual routine is not cutting it.

RedRendezvous
September 23rd, 2014, 02:03 PM
I wanted to post a follow up on how the clarifying went for me. I ended up doing an overnight pre-oiling with coconut oil. I felt it might provide a defense against any harshness from using a shampoo. While I was clarifying with the shampoo I noticed quite a bit of shedding. Hair was wrapping around my fingers and I noticed around the drain as well. Yikes. Following the shampoo I put in the B&B protein mending masque for 10 minutes with a warm cap on my head. I rinsed and then used SMT for one hour. Rinsed again and did a final rinse with HALO. After I removed my turban I added a small amount of Foxes Shea Leave in and then let my hair air dry. Overall my hair felt drier and some of my more damaged areas felt crunchy. I can see much more of my natural curls and waves returning to my hair though and the overall wet texture is much less "gummy" feeling than when I first had my hair lightened this past June. I have no intention of clarifying on a regular basis but only if I feel my usual routine is not cutting it.

That sounds a little extra dry/crunchy for just clarifying. You might be getting too much protein. I'd skip the protein treatment for a little while until your hair feels better. And yeah, no need to clarify too often anyway. :)