ayurvedic powders,amla oil, does my hair just disagree?

[alexis11144]

hey guys i've been flipping around these forums for daaays trying to figure all this stuff out, there is a lot of new information to take in here. i've been extremely unhappy with my hair for the past year after a bleach mishap trying(failing) to go bright purple then repeatedly damaging my hair by trying to cover up mistakes and refresh any deep purple i could achieve.

i have had average hair, soft, not thin or thick and partially wavy until being brushed to an awkward fluffy-straight-wave. but now after all the chemical treatments, it seems like no matter how often i trim, i end up with split ends quickly because my hair is weak and gets VERY tangled. So tangled that if i skip a day of brushing, it turns into a nest. the ends tangle and look stringy and straggly, so when i gently brush them out and wet them a few times a day, i can see split ends breaking and falling into the sink.

i'm so over chemical dyes, i just want my hair to grow fast and healthy. i'm about to start experimenting with henna, indigo, amla, brahmi, bhringraj powders and amla oil. Last night i made a gloss with canned coconut milk, amla, brahmi, bhringraj and hibiscus to get some benefits without messing with the color just yet. it was a creamy thick yogurt consistency and went smoothly onto my dry, brushed hair. i covered with plastic and let sit about 3 hours. after rinsing for 10+ minutes, my hair felt knotted and dried, like it does after washing with castile soap or something. i found that it was impossible to remove without conditioner. after letting it dry, my ends felt dryer and more easily tangled than before..

i immediately followed with amla oil over my whole head, did not cover and let sit for the rest of the night.after what felt like 20 minutes of rinsing, my hair still felt oily but i got out and dried it anyway. rest assured, it looked stringy and oily, just the same as EVERY time i've ever tried any other hair oil. Does my hair just not like oils? or herb powder glosses? i ened up getting back in the shower to shampoo it out but i've been doing great with no shampoo, only co washing and i'd like to keep it that way. seems like absolutely nothing works on my hair the way it works on everybody elses.

perhaps i've developed a protein sensitivity? i'm a bit confused about this topic but i do remember reading that coconut milk bothers some with that issue.

[jaquelines]

It's possible IMO that either your hair doesn't like coconut milk (for ex I get great results with coconut milk, which has protein, but my hair becomes awful if I do something like avocado/banana/etc..protein stuff), or..you need to do a CO-wash your hair after using indian herbs. It's what I do. I had the same problem after using herbs until I put conditioner all over my hair, after rinsing out the herbs, let it sit for a few minutes and wash it out.

[-Fern]

It sounds to me like you left the coconut milk mixture on way too long, and that it started to dry out.

I think it's great that you are interested in trying more natural recipes for hair care, but you might want to go slow... you never know, like jacquelines mentions, when your hair might just not like an ingredient. I really liked Ursula's Standard Newbie Advice (http://web.archive.org/web/20120307010120/http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=39). Be sure that you establish a baseline and then do methodical experiments. The first time I tried oiling ALL of my hair, it was a disaster, and it took me almost a week to get it back to "normal enough to wear out of the house without feeling self-conscious." But my hair drinks up tiny applications of oil and it looks fabulous after brushing.

So just because you had a bad experience with the amla, don't write it off... but do maybe start on the meager side when experimenting with a new treatment, rather than zero-to-60 mph. ;)

Good luck on your journey!

[Calypso]

I tried coconut milk on my hair once, it was awful! It probably just doesn't agree with your hair. As for the oils, sounds like you just used a bit too much, you could always try less the next time. I've also heard that conditioner works best to get oil out of hair, although I still need to shampoo my scalp pretty well or it will still be oily!

[meteor]

In my humble opinion, those ingredients are great on roots, to promote healthy scalp and hair growth, but they will not make a great difference for hair that is already damaged by bleach significantly and battling split ends.

Oils do help, for sure! Especially penetrating oils like coconut oil are great for bleached hair and also pre-bleach, by the way.
Good post on how to make pre-poo oils work: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/oil-pre-shampoo-or-pre-wash.html (particularly useful for porous, damaged hair)

Please consider hydrolyzed proteins - they temporarily patch-repair damaged cuticle and really great for bleach-damaged ends. If you only want DIY treatments, consider DIY gelatin treatment (http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/04/gelatin-protein-treatment-recipe-update.html) or adding silk protein or keratin protein drops to your conditioner. But commercial products like Aphogee 2-Step (http://aphogee.com/two-step-protein-treatment-for-professional-use/) or Joico K-Pak Reconstructor would be of great help, too.
Coconut milk doesn't contain protein that is small enough (hydrolyzed, broken down) to penetrate hair. It can feel coating sometimes and has been reported to tangle some people's hair pretty badly, unfortunately. Coconut oil would be my go-to alternative instead, because it's the fatty acids that you want the product to deliver, anyway.

I would recommend masks for damaged hair: look for ceramides, penetrating oils (palm, coconut, olive, avocado...), 18-mea, hydrolyzed proteins, peptides, amino-acids, panthenol, niacinamide, silicones in ingredients. If you don't like reading ingredients lists, go for intense-repair masks marketed for "damaged" hair - Redken Extreme Strength Builder Plus Fortifying Hair Mask For Distressed Hair is an example, but there are many, many more out there!


I also highly recommend putting hair up, sleeping on silk/satin with hair contained and using only a seemless anti-static wide-tooth comb to keep those tangles and knots at bay. Silicones are very helpful for slip, too.

[lapushka]

I'd focus on babying it back to health first before attempting any other color, esp. one as permanent as henna/indigo is! Do your research, strand test and first of all, stop the breakage first. Once those pieces are out of your hair, along with any other damage you might have (splits, white dots), go ahead and do your thing!

[Lavendersugar]

My hair hates amla. It will dry out and take weeks to recover.

Coconut milk should not be left on more than a hour. Some can go longer but usually thise with super thick hair.

I agree on doing research about henna and indigo. Especially indigo. Henna is pain to remove but indigo is far worse. I'm talking green hair. I think if you know for sure you never want to dye another color henna is a great thing for your hair.

I'm in the minority but I feel oils should not be used if you heat your hair. Even daily blow drying. I think oiling is great but only if the hair is exposed to heat on a limited basis or not at all. From personal experience I found that oiling plus heat fried my hair.

[-Fern]

I'd focus on babying it back to health first before attempting any other color, esp. one as permanent as henna/indigo is! Do your research, strand test and first of all, stop the breakage first. Once those pieces are out of your hair, along with any other damage you might have (splits, white dots), go ahead and do your thing!

lapushka- I've always wondered, what causes the white dots? Or what does it usually mean?

[chantecler]

I had a simillar experience with cassia, it kind of made my hair feel dryer, but also a little more coarse/strong? I would suggest oiling only a little bit but more frequently, that seems to be what works best for me in any case. Also, for very damaged hair, I'd recommend shea butter if you can get your hands on it. A little goes a long way in making your hair softer.

[meteor]

-Fern, white dots are signs of damage. It's where a break is beginning to form and, with more stress, the hair strand can break in that spot, where the white dot is.
There are lots of signs of damage: breakage, split ends, white dots,... They are also components of normal weathering process, but can be greatly reduced with protective styling, gentle grooming and avoiding damage as much as possible.

The term for "white dots" is trichorrhexis nodosa and here's a great Wikipedia page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichorrhexis_nodosa

Under a microscope, a white dot can look like this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichorrhexis_nodosa#mediaviewer/File:Tricho-hepato-enteric_syndrome_%281%29.jpg)or this (http://pittsburghcurly.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/white-dot.jpg)or this (http://www.nordichair.se/wp-content/uploads/damagedHair3.jpg).

[-Fern]

meteor Thank you for the stellar links and information! You rock! :D

[meteor]

^ Thank you so very much, -Fern! :D
I figured I should also add this really informative article by Nightshade on hair damage (and how to prevent and manage it), and it mentions trichorrhexis nodosa (white dots), as well: http://web.archive.org/web/20120122064345/http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79