Suggestion for hair care routine for dry 2c/3a coarse hair

[Anabell]

Hi everyone!
I need your advice. My boyfriend have started to grow out his hair 2.5 years ago from buzz cut. His hair classification is probably 2c/3a/C/ii. Although he has virgin hair from the roots and he don't use heating tool (except this one time for a wedding) it is very dry, especially at the ends. I did trim his hair last month and take off 1 cm but other than that his hair is unattached.
His issues with his hair:
-It always very dry even when he fill it with leave in conditioner. He claims that it disappears in minutes. His hair simply drink the moisture away.
-The dryness cause tangles. Especially at the ends. Every time he run his hand through the hair he got into those knots.
His current hair care routine: He wash his hair once a week. He use regular shampoo (with SLS). Usually he don't use a conditioner. Instead he dry it a little bit with a towel and put leave in conditioner. He repeat the leave in conditioner application as needed. In the mornings he finger comb and then use a BBB brush (yes. I know. He insist that this is the most convenient for him).
He let me take care of his hair in the weekend and honestly it was all smooth and shiny without tangles. He claim that this is because it was before and after wash day and this is when his hair is the most manageable. Maybe it will be better for him wash it more often? What do you think?
I also wandered about henna. I know it will strengthen the hair and weight it down so the texture will be less curly (which he wants. He asked me once about hair relaxing, but gave up the idea after I told him how harmful it is). My only concern is that it will make his hair more dry..? I would suggest CO washing but I concern about it increase shedding.

So, I want your advice about hair care routine for this type of hair. He doesn't have a lot of time at the morning so preferably it shouldn't be time consuming.
Here is a picture of his hair.
http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg634/ebest60/Mitsy%20hair/3441a283-fe08-4ca9-bf07-688c9b038e5c_zps5oq5hzlb.jpg

[Anje]

It's hard to gauge in a photo, but I don't think his hair's actually coarse. Probably just dryness makes it feel wiry.

Chances are high that he needs to be using a regular rinse-out conditioner AND a leave-in conditioner. The leave-in doesn't exempt him from using a rinse-out in the shower. His hair probably does drink up leave-in; that's pretty common for curls.

So get him to try putting conditioner on his head, first and foremost. Some people don't do well with it on their scalps -- if so he can use it from below the ears on down. Have him comb his hair while he's in the shower with all that conditioner in, rather than combing it dry. It'll detangle easier, probably. Then, tell him to rinse only about half to 3/4 of the conditioner out. His hair should still be a little bit slimy when he's done. Let it dry without roughing it up too much (towel turbans are good, rubbing is bad, T-shirt instead of a towel is even better for nice curls but doesn't dry as quickly).

See how that works. Maybe try some deep conditioning treatments on it. (I love SMTs for this, enough that I have a link in my sig because I recommend them all the time.) I think it'll be softer and a bit less inclined to tangle pretty quick if he sticks to that.

Oh, and if he's interested, tell him to join!

[lapushka]

His current hair care routine: He wash his hair once a week. He use regular shampoo (with SLS). Usually he don't use a conditioner. Instead he dry it a little bit with a towel and put leave in conditioner. He repeat the leave in conditioner application as needed. In the mornings he finger comb and then use a BBB brush (yes. I know. He insist that this is the most convenient for him).

He *really* should be using conditioner, and if it's not convenient for him, then get him a 2-in-1! That should improve things already. On top of that he should be using the leave-in!

[Federica]

I have the same hair, really.
My routine is; WCC, aka wash (with shampoo SLS), rinse, apply conditioner, rinse, apply conditioner again, rinse. Conditioner is a must for me.
Have I mentioned conditioner? Well.
The only thing is that you must rinse very carefully after every conditioning.
I don't recommand using towels, they're a bit too harsh on hair and cause big tangles. I use an old cotton XL t-shirt and since I've switched to this detangling has become much easier.
Leave ins don't work for me as well, they dry my hair a lot. I use only a smalllll drop on my DAMP ends when really fizzy or super dry. Never put oil on dry hair, ever.
Double conditioning usually works much better for me than leave ins anyway.

Moisture is the key for me.

[meteor]

Annabell, if his biggest issue is extreme dryness, I'd really stay away from henna, actually. :flower: Instead, I'd go heavy on moisturizers, i.d. humectants, emollients and occlusives.
So, for example:
- using the SMT (conditioner + honey + aloe) as the moisturizing conditioner;
- using oils as a pre-poo treatment (more on this here: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/oil-pre-shampoo-or-pre-wash.html);
- adding oil to conditioner in order to boost its moisturizing properties;
- sealing moisture after washing, using something like the LOC routine (liquid leave-in + oil + cream) or just adding a d few drops of oil and/or coney serums here and there throughout the week...

Also, I'd recommend sleeping on silky smooth materials and avoiding brushes (they add frizz and break up curls). Also, look into the Curly Girl Method - it focuses on things that really help keep curls stay clumped together and moisturizied, e.g. Conditioner Only-washing, LOC, gels, plopping, scrunching, etc...

[lapushka]

Annabell, if his biggest issue is extreme dryness, I'd really stay away from henna, actually. :flower: Instead, I'd go heavy on moisturizers, i.d. humectants, emollients and occlusives.

Seconding this, and the advice on curly girl.


Here's the online version of the curly girl routine:
http://www.wikihow.com/Follow-the-Curly-Girl-Method-for-Curly-Hair

And here's Teri LaFlesh's site on tightly curly hair (his hair might be more curly than you think):
http://www.tightlycurly.com/welcome

[Anabell]

Thank you all for the useful advices.
Yesterday he wash his hair with rinse conditioner and them leave in after the shower and I think his hair is much better. It was shiny and soft and in dense ringlets. But the top of the hair was still a bit dry. And this is only day one after wash. I will purchase aloe-vera gel and suggest him to add this too after the leave in. If it won't work I will make him SMT. Maybe for this hair type seal in the moisture isn't enough. You need products that actually attract more moisture in. I wanted try this one for long time but was lazy. So it a good opportunity to try it for me either. lapushka, thank you for the link to the curly girl method. There a lot of useful information in there.

[Luna12345]

Hi. There's this lovely product which is like a miracle for dry hair.
It's by Redken. It's sold at hair salons between $20 to $30. It's worth the price because it lasts a very long time.
It's REDKEN extreme strength builder plus hair mask.

[Luna12345]

Also another thing that could be causing his hair to be dry is his diet. Does he have a healthy diet?

[cathair]

Annabell, if his biggest issue is extreme dryness, I'd really stay away from henna, actually. :flower: Instead, I'd go heavy on moisturizers, i.d. humectants, emollients and occlusives.
So, for example:
- using the SMT (conditioner + honey + aloe) as the moisturizing conditioner;
- using oils as a pre-poo treatment (more on this here: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/oil-pre-shampoo-or-pre-wash.html);
- adding oil to conditioner in order to boost its moisturizing properties;
- sealing moisture after washing, using something like the LOC routine (liquid leave-in + oil + cream) or just adding a d few drops of oil and/or coney serums here and there throughout the week...

Also, I'd recommend sleeping on silky smooth materials and avoiding brushes (they add frizz and break up curls). Also, look into the Curly Girl Method - it focuses on things that really help keep curls stay clumped together and moisturizied, e.g. Conditioner Only-washing, LOC, gels, plopping, scrunching, etc...

This ^^^ :) I'd be tempted to give it a really good soak with tons of coconut oil over night before washing out. See if that makes any difference. Makes a huge difference to me with dryness and tangles at the ends.

[lapushka]

Hi. There's this lovely product which is like a miracle for dry hair.
It's by Redken. It's sold at hair salons between $20 to $30. It's worth the price because it lasts a very long time.
It's REDKEN extreme strength builder plus hair mask.

It doesn't have to be expensive to be good. ;) Oil works just as well, as well as conditioning the hair twice and adding a good leave-in.