Current pic-advice needed :)

[Yedda]

Hello,

My hair is looking unhealthy and I'm looking for advice. I usually wear it in a bun 40% of the time, and the other 60% I wear it down but I put it in the front on the side of my face because it looks less "raggedy" then. Embarrassing to admit but...

Current routine: Wash hair 3 x week. Put conditioner on length, shampoo, then rinse. I recently started putting additional conditioner on after I get out excess water, which I do not rinse out. I let my hair air dry and wear it down onto the days I wash, and wear it in a bun the other days. I do not use dye or a blow dryer, but have some highlight color from years ago.

I am content with the length of my hair now but need to make some changes so I can be proud to wear it down and not always on the side of my face. It also tangles very easily which is frustrating.

**I am vegan and against all animal cruelty so I will not use any animal parts (products) or products testing on animals.

Thanks in advance for your help. :)

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag43/yedda84/untitled_zps2j5uipqo.png

[turtlelover]

Have you considered microtrimming over time to get rid of any remaining highlight damage towards the ends and possibly thicken the hemline? It looks like what is growing in is nice and healthy! :D

[holothuroidea]

I get in these ruts, where I just feel like my hair is raggedy and sad. These are things that work for me, and it looks like you and I have similar hair types.

1. Clarify. There are a couple of different ways you can do this. You can go and buy a clarifying shampoo but I've found that the best thing is some heavily diluted additive-free dish soap (I use seventh generation). I wash with that and then rinse with a 25% white vinegar dilution (fill up a cup 1/4th of the way with vinegar, fill the rest with water). Then I use my regular conditioner. Hair reset!

2. Trim. If you haven't trimmed in a while (3+ months) give it a little trim (1/2''). It really makes a world of difference, especially with tangles.

3. Declutter. Gather all your hair stuff. Products, pins, elastics, hardware. Throw away anything you haven't used in 6 months. Throw away all pins, elastics and heavily used accessories. Replace them with new ones. Thoroughly clean your brushes, combs and bottles. Put all your clean, shiny new stuff in a nice box or caddy.

4. Get one new hair toy and learn a new hairstyle to use it with.

Hope this helps!

[lapushka]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with your hair! It looks lovely. I agree with the microtrimming idea to get the last bit of damage out.

[Yedda]

Thank you three! I have been thinking about trimming for a while and I might try clarifying. I haven't done that in quite some time now!

[spidermom]

Depending on the specific products, having conditioner and shampoo on your hair at the same time can cause problems. One has a positive charge, the other has a negative charge, and the hair ends up being grabby and tangling up. Just to be on the safe side, rinse out conditioner before applying shampoo if you want to condition first. And of course rinse out the shampoo before you apply conditioner. When I was using the CWC routine, my hair became like Velcro on the ends.

[Yedda]

Thanks Spidermom, what worked better for you than cwc? I can say my ends feel like Velcro too. I have been putting on conditioner on my ends and shampoo on my scalp (at the same time as you noted). I only recently added additional conditioner after. Not sure if should should switch to doing shampoo, rinsing, conditioner, rinsing, and that's it. I thought conditioner on the length while shampooing was suppose to protect the length.

[Deborah]

When I have not been happy with the way my hair looks, I usually trim off a couple of inches. I have always been happy with the look and feel of the freshly cut ends, and the added swinginess (is that a word?) that the cut seems to achieve. My whole head seems to feel lighter, and I like the way my hair moves.

I'm probably not describing this very well, but I always feel happier and my hair looks better to me.

Just another idea to consider.

[meteor]

Yedda, if you are looking for an alternative to CWC, check out pre-poo oiling :) : penetrating oils like coconut reduce keratin loss during subsequent shampooing and combing (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12715094).
How to make oil pre-wash work for your hair: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/oil-pre-shampoo-or-pre-wash.html

And I agree that conditioner applied pre-poo can potentially create build-up problems down the line, due to cationic ingredients being applied before the anionic ones. This article explains these problems very well: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2011/07/cationic-compounds-in-cosmetics.html

[Yedda]

Thank you! I did not know anything about positive/negative factors so the link mess helpful.

I trimmed a couple inches this weekend and did the clarifying and vinegar rinse. Feeling a little better but will have to find out how to treat the remaining part of my ends. I don't currently oil so I need to research the benefits of pre-wash oiling of after-wash, and if I should oil when wet or dry.

Thanks again.

[spidermom]

The night before I plan to wash my hair, I apply either olive oil or coconut oil to the bottom of my length and braid (top of head ponytail, then braid. It works really well to keep my length feeling soft and strong. Most of the time, I shampoo, rinse, apply conditioner to length but not scalp, and let it marinate while I wash the rest of myself. Then I rinse while combing through my length very carefully with the shower comb. I find that letting the conditioner soak for awhile removes oil better than shampooing does.

[rkathleen]

I have no real knowledge to impart, but wanted to say that it is nice to see that there are vegans around the forum! :)

I can't speak to the science of it, but I have had the best luck with leaving conditioner in for a while rather than pre-applying it, like spidermom does. I used to have calf-length hair and found that the best routine for keeping my ends nice was to shampoo the scalp well, rinse, then put conditioner on it, pile it on top of my head in a bun secured with a plastic clip, wash and shave, then rinse the conditioner out. The bun kept loads of conditioner on my ends. I didn't trim, and my ends were slightly frayed but stayed manageable. Now I keep it shorter (TB length) and get trims every 4 months or so, and for me the trimming plus leaving conditioner in for a several minutes is working really well. Now that I trim, I don't need to keep the hair in a bun while letting the conditioner sit.

[rkathleen]

D'oh, when I said "put conditioner on it" in the second sentence, I meant for "it" to refer to all of my hair, not just my scalp. Looking back, I realize that what I said was ambiguous.

[Belle Paix]

I've found a certain leave-in salve has done wonders for me. Don't know if I can put the name on here...? Forum rules, and whatnot. But it's been fantastic for my hair. I put it on a couple of hours before I shower, and sometimes just on the ends on days I'm NOT washing :). Sometimes, we think it looks much worse than it actually does. Your hair looks pretty good to me! I agree with the previous posters though; clarifying is a great place to start, good luck!

[starshade]

I too don't see anything wrong with your hair (despite having whined about my own in another post!). When I had slightly damaged velcro-ey ends, usually a wash with clarifying shampoo would help, after which a good deep-conditioning mask worked wonders (not immediately after, but before the next time I washed). As also pre-poo oiling like others have mentioned. I totally swear by oiling for keeping ends in good condition.