Just wondering...Am I the only one?!

[gustavonut]

:confused: So...Hello once again LHC. I have yet another question for you all, hopefully it will make sense and hopefully there will be an answer for it!
Anyway, I've been in Germany for a few weeks now, and I don't have ANY of my hair care items. (Deep conditioners, Clarifying shampoo, sleeping cap, special s&ding scissors...The list goes oonnnnn) :(
Ahem...here's the thing. I've never been able to CO. Never. My hair just will not take it. But there's a catch, if I swim in a chlorine pool, and then cowash with a lighter condish and then use triple nutrion on the ends, my hair will be a bit "normal" In fact, softer than if I use conventional shampoo and condish. It's really puzzling for me because my hair sucks in general while I'm here because the water is hard here I'm guessing :rolleyes: I don't even know...

So, the question/questions is/are, does my hair benefit from the coing or is it just effing with my head?! :mad: I'm at a loss here, I want healthy soft hair but haven't had it in so long, and its pissing me off. I may go get new shampoo and conditioner but I feel like its not even worth it anymore. The back of my head is always greasy and waxy and BLEH.... Any help is of course appreciated, I'm sorry this is so long and sad but I can't take it anymore.

Here's how my hair is every day:
-Always tangly, even if I carefully comb it out. (The only thing that can "detangle it" normally is a typical brush.) So sad..
-My hair always breaks if I try to detangle it
-Never feels soft
-Always look dull and greasy even after washing it
-When I do wash it, it takes "years" to dry

I'm going out today so I will check this later. Thank you all.

[Nini]

When did you last clarify? I always get a particular greasy patch at the back of my head when it's time to break out the stronger stuff.

[Teufelchen]

Depending where you are exactly, the water can be quite hard. Where I live, we have not a bit of limescale in water we have more or less water in limescale. You get the idea. ;)

If your hair is not used to the limescale, try ending your wash with an acidic rinse, this might help a lot.
And clarifying, as Nini recommended.

There is a conditioner from Fructis called Anti-Kalk, which is basically made for hard water, that might work for you.

My hair loves the limescale and gets exactly like yours is now when I wash with soft water.

[Madame J]

When I read your list of hair woes, I actually looked at your age because my hair was exactly like that when I was a teenager. I honestly don't remember what I did to make it better, but I do remember I had to learn to make sure I was shampooing my entire scalp. I have thick hair and if I don't part it in the back and make sure to get shampoo all the way down to the scalp, it doesn't get washed properly. Now I find that flipping my head upside-down to apply shampoo helps me get to the entire scalp without my hair blocking it.

That said, this could just be a teenage hormonal thing and will probably get easier as that settles down.

[Nique1202]

I can't even go sulfate-free, let alone conditioner only. So, you're not the only one whose hair doesn't always benefit from CO. It makes sense that it would work some after a swim, because the chlorine would likely strip out all your natural oils and the CO restores the moisture balance.

You don't really say specifically what you're asking, though. You say that you're using shampoo and conditioner, but ask if your hair is really benefiting from CO. Does CO seem to be working for you now? Or is your hair "dull and greasy" with CO now? Dull and greasy indicates to me that you need to find a clarifying and maybe also a chelating/swimmer's shampoo first off, and maybe give it a few washes with that, then try a few different things and see what they do. If your hair taking a long time to dry, is your sidebar profile (13 inch length) still accurate? Taking a long time to dry at shorter lengths is also an indication of either buildup that needs to be clarified/chelated off, or very very thick hair. If using conditioner near your scalp leaves your roots looking greasy, then stop using conditioner near the scalp, just lift your hair and apply conditioner to the ends. You'll find this easier as your hair gets longer, and eventually you should only need to apply conditioner from the ears down or shoulders down.

As to your detangling, if you're using a brush to rip through tangles that's why your hair is breaking. You need to use a wide toothed comb and your fingers to gently pry apart tangles a few hairs at a time, and take it slow. Give yourself time to do it gently and you should notice a huge difference. The damage from your brush may also contribute to how your hair doesn't feel "soft", though not all hair is going to feel soft anyway.

[Arctic]

Maybe the swimming hall has water softening systems in place, also in the showers. I've read it many times here that hair seems to get used to the type of water is has grown up with, so it wouldn't surprise me if your problems are from hard water.

However Madame J makes a good point too, you could try sectioning your hair to make sure you get your scalp shampooed evenly, maybe even use a squirt bottle and slightly diluted shampoo, this too will make the spreading easier for thick hair. My own hair was extremely oily when I was teenager, and I had to was daily, sometimes even twice if I needed to look fresh in the evening too, so I feel your pain.

I would also look into shampoos that remove all of these: buildup, chlorine and mineral deposits. (a combination of clarifying, chelating and swimmer's shampoo, I guess :)). You can get product recommendations from our German members, the Anti-Kalk one Teufelchen mentions seems like a good one to start. Maybe it comes with complimentary shampoo too.

[alishaxmarie]

I can't detangle with a comb either, I just get breakage no matter how I do it (le sigh). I only finger detangle in the shower with conditioner in my hair. I WCC with diluted shampoo because CO-washing caused me to shed more. You can get cheap squirt bottles at the dollar store (mine looks like it's intended for ketchup lol) and use that to dilute your shampoo. Diluting it allows me to cover my entire scalp without much effort and I don't have to mush shampoo down to my scalp just to get a decent cleanse. Another benefit is that my hair is less dry from the dilution and I find that diluted shampoo causes me to shed less than undiluted shampoo. Then I condition twice, leaving the conditioner in for a couple minutes each time while detangling with my fingers.

If you never notice results from clarifying, I suggest that you clarify two or three times in one shower or over a couple consecutive showers because I've experienced the same thing and multiple clarifyings seems to be working for me right now (I talked about it on my blog too if you're interested). Also, I agree that the pool water is probably drying out your scalp/hair which is why the CO is working, I still CO-wash after swimming in pools because I worry so much about my hair getting too dried out. If I think of anything else helpful then I'll stop by again! :)