nalgena
April 23rd, 2015, 04:02 PM
Hi everyone, I'm new here and in desperate need of advice.
As the name of the topic suggests, my hair is brittle and dry no matter what I do! I have very fine hair and I know it's very prone to damage so here's the list of things I do in order to grow my hair long and healthy:
- I stopped dyeing it about 16 month ago (I used to use semi-permanent dyes). I recently used henna, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on my hair apart from lightening my hair for the first two washes
- I never ever do any heat styling
- I even went a year without blow drying, but have been drying my scalp lately because my hairstylist suggested it would be good for my dandruff. Blow drying of my scalp lasts about 2 min and I let the rest of my hair air dry
- I switched to bamboo and boar bristle brush
- for about a year now, I've been using oils as a prewash treatment. I've tried coconut, avocado and olive oil. Coconut oil is my all time favorite although it doesn't seem to have had any effect on my hair lately and I'm even starting to think that it might be bad for my hair
- I've also been doing scalp treatments, I usually use a blend of castor, neem, coconut and peppermint essential oils. Lately, I've been also using onion juice
- sometimes I make myself a home made mask which contains some of the following ingredients: egg yolk, yogurt, vegetable glycerin, coconut/olive/neem oil, avocado, honey (I probably forgot something)
- I use a microfiber towel to wrap my hair after washing
- I wash my hair twice a week
- I rinse my hair with rosemary tea and ACV
- I've been using sulfate-free, paraben-free, silicone-free, ... shampoos and conditioners, but two of those shampoos/shampoo bars made my scalp itch like hell and I got tons of dandruff. Also, my hair looked so dull. So this past week I used some random Herbal essence shampoo&conditioner this week and my hair looks so much better (I know it's because of silicones)
- I eat healthy and drink tons of water
- I sleep on a satin pillow case
- because my hair looks so dry and dull, I mostly wear it in some sort of loose braid or loose bun
I read about hair porosity and did a test - my hair doesn't sink no matter how much baking soda I add. Is there anything I can do about it? Also, last november I started shedding hair excessively and it lasted for about 4 months. I lost A LOT of hair, I'd say at least one quarter. For the last couple of months hair shedding has been back to normal and I've noticed tons of baby hair, so I guess I'm gonna get my old thickness back. How long does this take? A year? More? Because of this experience, I bought some bitoin and prenatal vitamins (I'm not pregnant or trying), but I still had to chop off about 10cm this years due to thinned ends. My virgin hair looks very healthy, but it's still not long enough so I could cut off the rest of my hair off. I'm now somewhere between APL and BSL and my ultimate goal is waist length, but I'm not in a rush. I first want to get my hair healthy looking and then go from there, but I'm seriously doubting I can do this. What else could I try? Any advice will be appreciated.
As the name of the topic suggests, my hair is brittle and dry no matter what I do! I have very fine hair and I know it's very prone to damage so here's the list of things I do in order to grow my hair long and healthy:
- I stopped dyeing it about 16 month ago (I used to use semi-permanent dyes). I recently used henna, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on my hair apart from lightening my hair for the first two washes
- I never ever do any heat styling
- I even went a year without blow drying, but have been drying my scalp lately because my hairstylist suggested it would be good for my dandruff. Blow drying of my scalp lasts about 2 min and I let the rest of my hair air dry
- I switched to bamboo and boar bristle brush
- for about a year now, I've been using oils as a prewash treatment. I've tried coconut, avocado and olive oil. Coconut oil is my all time favorite although it doesn't seem to have had any effect on my hair lately and I'm even starting to think that it might be bad for my hair
- I've also been doing scalp treatments, I usually use a blend of castor, neem, coconut and peppermint essential oils. Lately, I've been also using onion juice
- sometimes I make myself a home made mask which contains some of the following ingredients: egg yolk, yogurt, vegetable glycerin, coconut/olive/neem oil, avocado, honey (I probably forgot something)
- I use a microfiber towel to wrap my hair after washing
- I wash my hair twice a week
- I rinse my hair with rosemary tea and ACV
- I've been using sulfate-free, paraben-free, silicone-free, ... shampoos and conditioners, but two of those shampoos/shampoo bars made my scalp itch like hell and I got tons of dandruff. Also, my hair looked so dull. So this past week I used some random Herbal essence shampoo&conditioner this week and my hair looks so much better (I know it's because of silicones)
- I eat healthy and drink tons of water
- I sleep on a satin pillow case
- because my hair looks so dry and dull, I mostly wear it in some sort of loose braid or loose bun
I read about hair porosity and did a test - my hair doesn't sink no matter how much baking soda I add. Is there anything I can do about it? Also, last november I started shedding hair excessively and it lasted for about 4 months. I lost A LOT of hair, I'd say at least one quarter. For the last couple of months hair shedding has been back to normal and I've noticed tons of baby hair, so I guess I'm gonna get my old thickness back. How long does this take? A year? More? Because of this experience, I bought some bitoin and prenatal vitamins (I'm not pregnant or trying), but I still had to chop off about 10cm this years due to thinned ends. My virgin hair looks very healthy, but it's still not long enough so I could cut off the rest of my hair off. I'm now somewhere between APL and BSL and my ultimate goal is waist length, but I'm not in a rush. I first want to get my hair healthy looking and then go from there, but I'm seriously doubting I can do this. What else could I try? Any advice will be appreciated.