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View Full Version : First experience with clarifying & SMT - still knotty



Ilenora
May 31st, 2015, 06:59 PM
Yep, yesterday afternoon I clarified and did an SMT both for the first time ever after having them recommended quite a few times from you LHC folks. I used Tresemme Deep Cleanse and for the SMT I used a brand of cone- and sulphate-free conditioner that my family has in our retail store, and Mill Creek 99% aloe vera gel. I left the SMT on for about an hour and a half.

The upside is that my hair is very soft and very shiny. I rubbed a little argan oil into the ends and my braid is very sleek and neat today. I'll definitely be doing it again.

The downside is that neither treatment did anything for my knotty hair. If anything it has even more knots than usual, probably because the clarifying stripped out all the cones and I used a cone free conditioner. I was really hoping to end up with silky hair... or at least slightly-less-tangly hair :( I'm at a loss as to what else to try for the tangles. I've read seed oils can give hair more slip? My mother thinks it's just because my hair is wavy so I will be doomed to tangles forever. It is true that the wavy hairs coil around each other. The knots I get are mostly tiny, the result of a couple of hairs that have literally knotted into a tiny, tight knot. Too small to undo so I just have to tug carefully until it slips apart.

So far I've tried coconut oil, cone-free s&c (both made my hair worse, I stopped using them), leave-in conditioner (disaster, made my hair a sticky mess), ACV (does make it a little nicer) and most recently argan oil (this one is good; doesn't leave it sticky). Using combs compared to brushes does not make it easier to detangle - if anything the combs catch the smaller knots even more. I've started finger detangling to try and be a little gentler on the knots.

cathair
June 1st, 2015, 02:30 AM
SMT doesn't do much for me, even less than it does for you by the sounds of it :) Sounds like you have tried most things you can put in your hair. Have you tried doing some S&D? My hair will reach a point where that's the only thing that helps. Even 5 of 10 minutes can make a massive difference in how much less tangley my ends are.

Ilenora
June 1st, 2015, 02:34 AM
cathair, s&d is something I haven't done yet. I think our hairdressing scissors are blunt (I got a bunch of split ends just a month after trimming) so I need to get a new pair but can't afford it just yet :\
Your hair looks SO shiny - what do you do for it?

cathair
June 1st, 2015, 02:48 AM
Definitely don't try till you have some new scissors then. I imagine it will help quite a lot, especially if trimming gave you more splits :) I got my scissors from Amazon for about £17 I think. Might be worth a look there when you do shop for them? They don't have to be super expensive.

Thank you, that's very sweet of you to say :blushing: I think camera flash is helping me out a bit in that photo :D I was cone free when that was taken so it wasn't the cones, but I do like a good heavy coconut oiling, like in this thread :) I do that before e very wash if I can, which might be a bit of over kill, but it works for me.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=131747

Ilenora
June 1st, 2015, 03:56 AM
Anything from Amazon costs too much in shipping to Australia so usually I avoid it. Thanks for the suggestion though :)

At one point I was using coconut oil - I would spread some (not anywhere near the amount described in that thread XD) through my hair and leave it in for 15 minutes between shampooing and conditioning. I did not find it helped my hair and just made it greasy instead.

cathair
June 1st, 2015, 04:49 AM
If you decide to try coconut oil again at some point, try leaving it over night. I need to let it soak in, otherwise I can't wash it out. That normally takes me 8 - 12 hours :)

kaydana
June 1st, 2015, 05:05 AM
I know they have a bit of a bad rep round here, but when it comes to tangles cones are your friends. A good (and I don't mean expensive, my current favourite cost less than a fiver) coney serum is like a bottle of magic.

Wildcat Diva
June 1st, 2015, 06:12 AM
Yes, wavy=tangles for me. I don't brush hardly ever, and rarely comb.

How wavy are you?

Anje
June 1st, 2015, 07:25 AM
Here, you can often get inexpensive but acceptable and sharp haircutting scissors in the haircare section of pharmacies, big box stores, etc, for about $5. It might be worth looking to see if you can find similar.

Do you have any lingering damage? Heat, lots of dyeing or bleaching, perms? That would certainly increase the tangliness you experience. One thing that's worth trying is a protein treatment; my hair doesn't like them, but hair that does tends to improve after them. A "reconstructing" conditioner left in for a bit might be adequate. More intensive ones typically need to be followed up with moisture to give results that aren't super-tangly.

Do you normally use silicones? It might be worth trying a conditioner with some, if you don't. Serum doesn't work well for me, but I'm probably in the minority there.

Mine is always a little tangle-prone when I wear it loose. I do think this is rather typical for fine wavy hair. But it still is way better with good protein-moisture balance.

Arctic
June 1st, 2015, 07:31 AM
Caffeine rinses didn't seem to do much for me - OTHER THAN made my hair feel silky and very slippery (and more compact too because of thos e qualities). I've seen some herbal teas to have a slippery effect too, but can't remember which they were.

ravenreed
June 1st, 2015, 12:31 PM
My hair hates SMT's because of the humectants. In dry climates humectants can cause the hair to lose moisture quickly. I end up with hay hair and splitty ends.

Anje
June 1st, 2015, 01:54 PM
My hair hates SMT's because of the humectants. In dry climates humectants can cause the hair to lose moisture quickly. I end up with hay hair and splitty ends.

Weirdly, even in the dead of winter with about 2% relative humidity, my hair likes humectants. I know in principle it's supposed to be drying, but my hair likes them all the same. Funny how much it varies from person to person, isn't it?

arr
June 1st, 2015, 02:02 PM
Weirdly, even in the dead of winter with about 2% relative humidity, my hair likes humectants. I know in principle it's supposed to be drying, but my hair likes them all the same. Funny how much it varies from person to person, isn't it?

Me too! It doesnt matter the weather, my hair will not behave unless it has a healthy dose of humectants, all year long.

Arctic
June 1st, 2015, 02:14 PM
Mine also love humectants all through the year, in every weather! And it does get very dry here for big part of the year.

ravenreed
June 1st, 2015, 02:22 PM
Yes, there is no one size fits all hair care approach, alas. Otherwise we wouldn't need a whole forum dedicated to various odd things we do with our hair. :)



Weirdly, even in the dead of winter with about 2% relative humidity, my hair likes humectants. I know in principle it's supposed to be drying, but my hair likes them all the same. Funny how much it varies from person to person, isn't it?

lapushka
June 1st, 2015, 02:44 PM
I double condition, mainly because I wanted to initially go curly girl *but* I have to use a harsh sulfate shampoo because of my SD, so... I double condition, and do a few other things as well (all in my signature if you're curious). I use a "lighter" conditioner for the first C, but a good detangler (Herbal Essences Hello Hydration) for the second C. I *never* (honest to God) have tangles or knots, except when I have a pretty crappy first C.

Ilenora
June 2nd, 2015, 09:31 PM
Thanks for all the opinions! Let me see if I can address everything said...

cathair, I'll remember that if I ever want to try coconut oil again :) Thanks. I find it really difficult to sleep with anything in my hair though. It's so big that containing it comfortably is very hard. I imagine sleeping with a plastic bag on would be really annoying ^^;

kaydana, I've used cony shampoo and conditioner my whole life. I didn't even know about cones until I came to this forum. I briefly tried a cone-free s&c but found it was terrible for my hair - tangles, very dry, etc. What serum do you use?

Anje, I did check the pharmacy and they have $15 scissors. Unfortunately we're just on a very tight budget at the moment and I just spent all my spare money on vet bills :\
No damage here at all. I've never once used heat, dye or bleach. I try to be as gentle as possible with it and yet I've always had split ends. The number of times I wear it loose in a year could probably be counted on one hand. Loose, it ends up as a tangled rat's nest within an hour. Re: cones, see above :)

Arctic, how do you do a caffeine rinse?

ravenreed, the SMT did give me very nice, soft shiny hair, it just didn't fix the tangles as I was hoping.

And finally, Wildcat Diva, I don't really know how to describe how wavy I am. Mostly I think it is due to braid waves, although they do start at the crown of my head, above the braid. There is even a kink in my bangs, right at my forehead. I was curly haired as a child. My waves are quite deep/defined but big. A photo probably describes it best, although this photo is over a year old - I think it looks a little wavier now?
http://s26.postimg.org/795s4a17t/hair2.jpg

cathair
June 3rd, 2015, 03:14 PM
:thud: wow, your hair is beautiful :crush:

Nadine <3
June 3rd, 2015, 08:42 PM
My hair likes SMT's but it HATES aloe with a raging passion. I use honey and instead of aloe I like to add a bit of coconut oil to mine. This gives me fantastic results. For normal, non DT washes I use the rinse out oil method and it's been hands down, the BEST method for keeping tangles and splits at bay. I also use a cone free conditioner, but then I use a coney serum as a leave in to seal in all the goodness from wash.

Even with all this, my hair doesn't always behave...sometimes I just have tangles. It's a wavey hair thing I think....Sometimes if I do a damp braid the braid waves behave far better than my natural pattern.

MeowScat
June 4th, 2015, 12:46 AM
Hmmm, just wondering if you have hard water. Maybe a vinegar rinse might help?

truepeacenik
June 4th, 2015, 11:24 AM
Sharpen your scissors.
Any place that does knives can do scissors.