Failed hair experiments

[Keleesi]

I recently tried "no poo" baking soda and apple cider vinegar method of caring for my hair. It was a disaster for me! My hair was so grabby and almost sticky even after it dried, but thankfully after a regular wash things went back to normal :D

Has anyone else tried a new product or routine and had less than stellar results?

[Decoy24601]

I thought about trying that, but I read that because baking soda is alkaline it's very damaging to hair over time with extended use.

Right now I'm using a LUSH shampoo bar (I need the sulfates to cleanse my greasy scalp) with conditioner after and I finish off with a diluted ACV rinse (helps my eczema too). When I get out of the shower I put LUSH's R&B hair moisturizer on my ends and a few drops of olive oil in my hands and lightly comb through my hair with that. I'm looking into getting a better conditioner with less/no cones right now, since cones and my hair don't get along. I do this once/twice a week depending on how greasy my hair gets.

Otherwise, I do WO or CO depending on what my hair needs at the time with the ACV rinse and moisturizer + oil.

I tried doing straight no poo with only an ACV rinse and my hair just got way too greasy. My ends loved it, but I have thick hair and an oily scalp, so it just didn't work for me. Also, the ACV rinse I use is very diluted and I make sure to fully rinse it out of my hair.

[MINAKO]

One word, shampoo... Lol
Literally the worst thing i ever did to my hair right after japanese straightening.

[pailin]

-I tried dr. Bronner's soap, baking soda, vinegar....​Before I ever found this forum. In my case, I tried it because I have problems with perfumes- bother my skin. These left my hair feeling gross, and I found out my skin hates vinegar/acidic rinses even more than perfumes.

-Also every growth experiment. My hair's growth rate simply doesn't budge. And I found out my scalp doesn't tolerate oils.....

[Ingrid]

Tried baking soda and ACV. Hair never felt so bad!

Also chamomile hair lightening. Did sweet nothing to my hair. Scalp felt nice afterwards though :)

[Adorkable One]

Dr. Bonners soap. I guess you're supposed to dilute it with water. Well, I didn't know that, and put the soap straight on my hair. I've never used something so harsh on my hair. It was instantly bad. Lol.

[Arctic]

Has anyone else tried a new product or routine and had less than stellar results?

Oh yes, think of it as an LHC initiation. :D When reading my LHC blog, which I have written 9 years (almost), it's paved with failed experiments.

[pailin]

LHC initiation, yes!
I could also add, herbal shampoos- made my scalp itch.

[ChloeDharma]

Washing with soap, or at least a CV bar really didn't go well for me. It left my scalp and the first few inches feeling coated and kind of waxy like it hadn't been washed but the longer lengths were just so dried out though still with an odd coating but crispy with it. I do live in a very hard water area though but even with ACV rinses afterwards it just felt and looked awful. Plus I had this odd kind of wet dog smell in my hair after washing that would not get washed away no matter how much I lathered up.

[school of fish]

Not exactly a failed experiment, more like a failed strategy: cutting layers into my fine, delicate hair in a bid to blend in dried-out, thinned-out, damaged, broken ends. Razored-in layers, at that!

Still growing out that failure, well over 3 years later... ;)

[Obsidian]

I tried a clay wash once, dried my hair our terrible and left it with a weird coated feeling. Took multiple washing's to remove the residue. Was the absolute worse thing I ever did to my poor hair.

[Ophidian]

Baking soda--most unpleasant hair experience ever)
home bleach kit--orange straw
most of my salon haircuts--my waves magically turned every "edgy" short cut I tried to get into "mom hair"
CO-wash--scalp felt terrible, hair was lank and frizzy... though in all fairness my technique and products could have been way off and I only tried it once
henna--turned out way too orange on my ash blond/brown hair, and then as henna will, the color wouldn't budge and I did more regrettable things trying to get rid of it (bad cuts, black dye...)

And there is probably more that I am blanking on right now. So yes, I've had my fair share of failed experimenting :D

[Anje]

Oil shampoo was such an amazing nightmare for me. Crazy tangles. I kept thinking I was doing something wrong, because so many people raved about their results.

ETA: Oh, and BANGS! I should have known better. I knew I wouldn't like them, but I got talked into it. They wouldn't lie right without straightening. They got caught in my glasses hinges. They won't side-sweep on me (my forehead is the wrong shape?). They looked greasy if I moisturized my face, and my forehead got so dry it peeled as a result. And they made my face look stumpy and fat. Bangs are dumb.

[Spinder]

Getting layers. "It will frame your face"... NOPE! More like it will just be weirdly wavy and not mesh with the rest of my hair, and the ends will be excessively scraggly and dry. Still trying to grow these silly things out. :(

Using spray-in conditioner - it just never ever worked for me. Works great for some people, but it just created a weird coating residue on my hair that made it all sticky, tangly and butt ugly looking.

Dry shampoo - left all these gross white flakes all over my head!

[yahirwaO.o]

Baking soda is by far the worst that have hapenned to my hair. It was super bad even some shedding was involved. shudder:shudder:shudder:
Egg washes were pretty amazing first and then I smelled all the time like a chicken farm LOL. But my actual scalp and hair were happy!
Co washing wasn't espectacular on me, not bad not good, just regular plain shampoo does better!
Getting choopy layers that resembled an awful asian mushroom cut. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!

[AspenSong]

I thus far have never found a shampoo bar I liked.
And while it's not a big experiment, going back to cones was a big no no. Tried to do that like 5 times, my hair strictly rebels.

My hair loves a baking soda scrub and ACV rinse though - turns my hair crazy silky!

[lapushka]

Shikakai powder: disaster!
Baking soda: disaster!
Ghassoul/Rhassoul: disaster!

These days I just stick to a regular sulfate shampoo and do WCC, sometimes the rinse-out oil method (ROOM) & to style the LOC method. That's basically my routine. My products can change but the routine is rock solid. For me, at least!

[Adorkable One]

This isn't much of a "fail" but more of a surprise. One of my first hair dying experiences was with Henna. It worked great, and made my hair feel great...but....my bathroom was a disaster. I had no idea it could be so messy. So cleaning the restroom after was kind of a fail. Lol.

[sumidha]

Banana and egg in the hair (not at the same time). Ugh, never again. shudder:

[Keleesi]

When I was using the baking soda it seemed like tons of hair was shedding!! I definitely won't be trying that again!

[H o n є y ❤]

DCing with ayurvedic treatments. Cassia & Amla have never failed to make my hair dry. I have to do two consecutive moisture treatments to get everything back to normal. Super annoying.

Then there's cowashing. It may have been the conditioner I used but it has always ended in a disaster. Cowashing with V05 has always resulted in nasty build up if used more than once. I've cut some of my hair due to the frustration from tangles the conditioner gave me. Never again.

[restless]

CO-washing was bad. Real bad. I was expecting these fabulous wurls all over, but all I got was flat and lifeless hair. Only did it once.

Cutting bangs was an even worse decision than CO-washing was. For some reason I kept doing it over and over throughout the years though...

[Mademoiselle]

CO-washing was bad. Real bad. I was expecting these fabulous wurls all over, but all I got was flat and lifeless hair. Only did it once.

Cutting bangs was an even worse decision than CO-washing was. For some reason I kept doing it over and over throughout the years though...

I spend the same with my bangs ... let it grow several times and do not know why I ever make the mistake of cutting !! I am now growing again , why I never learn to stop playing with the hair?? LoL :doh:

[Miss P]

I once tried to fade my hair colour by washing my hair with laundry detergent...don't, just don't. There's also been the natural remedy attempts I've made-oatmeal hair mask, honey lightening and onion juice to name a few.

[school of fish]

Oh I just remembered an epic fail! In high school I PLUCKED a widow's peak into my hairline!!! I thought it would look cool. It did - for about 10 days. Once the regrowth started showing I realized just how assinine that decision was, since there was NO WAY I was going to go through the literal daily headache it would take to maintain it... Took years to grow out that failure ;)

[MariaPon]

I wanted to give my hair some nice treatment, and I just read how many people liked coconut oil for their hair and scalp. I drenched my head in the stuff, and ended up shedding like crazy. But that doesn't end here. Even though people here told me that it's probably because my scalp doesn't like oil, I still thought "hey, maybe if it's a different oil, that's directed at hair, it'll work!" so I put burdock root oil on my entire head. And shed a bunch of hair.:doh:

[vampyyri]

I wanted to give my hair some nice treatment, and I just read how many people liked coconut oil for their hair and scalp. I drenched my head in the stuff, and ended up shedding like crazy. But that doesn't end here. Even though people here told me that it's probably because my scalp doesn't like oil, I still thought "hey, maybe if it's a different oil, that's directed at hair, it'll work!" so I put burdock root oil on my entire head. And shed a bunch of hair.:doh:

I just tried this with coconut oil today and had a similar experience... it's so weird!! My hair is really gross now that it has dried completely shudder:, I might take another shower just to have my normal hair back. :doh:

[Hairkay]

Banana hair mask. I had been successful the first 5/6 times I tried it but this one time it did not work. I'd heard of people who ended up with banana bits stuck in their hair but since I'd pureed the fruit and sieved it, I thought it would be be fine as before. I later worked out that my error was in using a banana that was not over ripe. It takes longer for bananas to ripen in colder months. Since I can't use shampoo, I sectioned my hair and combed the bits out with a fine tooth comb then rinsed a few times.

Honey and olive oil hair mask. I ended up left with an oily sticky mess. It wouldn't wash out with just water so I had to resort to using oat water to get it all out. I later worked out that my honey to oil ratio was the problem plus I'd put too much of it in my hair.

[Adorkable One]

Oh I just remembered an epic fail! In high school I PLUCKED a widow's peak into my hairline!!! I thought it would look cool. It did - for about 10 days. Once the regrowth started showing I realized just how assinine that decision was, since there was NO WAY I was going to go through the literal daily headache it would take to maintain it... Took years to grow out that failure ;)

LMFAO! Omg, I know exactly what you mean. I did something similar. Naturally I DO have a widows peak. When I was a young teen...I got the bright idea to shave it off. Lol. I have no idea why it bothered me enough to shave it off. It was so weird getting that to grow out.

[Agnieszka]

LHC initiation:-) egg wash instead of shampoo (stinky hair and itchy scalp)
Henna- red hair just doesn't suit me. I ended up bleaching it with highlights and ruined my hair.
CO was a bad idea too as it increased hair fall.
Going sulphate/cone free was silly too as my scalp needs proper wash and cones to smooth out my naturally porous hair.

[yahirwaO.o]

Banana and egg in the hair (not at the same time). Ugh, never again. shudder:

I cam forgive eggs (shine and thickness hello) But banana has to be one of the worst, dried my hair out and the bits were completely out after 4 washes. Dotn even get me on the combing part. shudder:


When I was using the baking soda it seemed like tons of hair was shedding!! I definitely won't be trying that again!

I knew I wasnt the only person who experienced this. Yes, keep your scalp away from that evil alkaline. Baking soda is great for mutiple stuff, but its just bad in hair terms!!!

[Keleesi]

I wanted to give my hair some nice treatment, and I just read how many people liked coconut oil for their hair and scalp. I drenched my head in the stuff, and ended up shedding like crazy. But that doesn't end here. Even though people here told me that it's probably because my scalp doesn't like oil, I still thought "hey, maybe if it's a different oil, that's directed at hair, it'll work!" so I put burdock root oil on my entire head. And shed a bunch of hair.:doh:

I've made that mistake with coconut oil. It didn't make my hair shed but I put tons and tons of it in my hair and slept with my hair like that. It took me two showers to wash it all out :( now I know to use it sparingly on the ends!

[VixenWolfMare]

Bangs. I was a little kid but still.

Honey seems to not work well with my hair. seems to leave it sticky no matter how much i try to get it out.

Ions all natural line that is discontinued. My boyfriend at the time told me i smelled like an old man.

oils sold for hair.(they always have other crap in them) I.e. VS oil sold for food.

cheap metal hair forks that cost like 3 dollars. they don't work and they break after you use them like 3 times.

On another note i mixed vinegar with shampoo a few winters ago when my hair got really unruly for no good reason and it helped. Nothing could fix it and i also had a respiratory infection that lasted months so my hair was on the back burner.

[vampyyri]

LMFAO! Omg, I know exactly what you mean. I did something similar. Naturally I DO have a widows peak. When I was a young teen...I got the bright idea to shave it off. Lol. I have no idea why it bothered me enough to shave it off. It was so weird getting that to grow out.

OMG I used to shave my widows peak off too! It's funny how we all want what we don't have :laugh:

[Growtivation]

Hmm...do my failed french braids count? I'm finally trying to learn how to do it on myself, but I'm still having some trouble not making them totally messy and crooked. :oops: Also I have all these shorter hairs by my temples/behind my ears that won't stay in the braid.
http://i.imgur.com/WmK1LCB.jpg

Also agreeing with everyone saying bangs. Once I cut some chin length side bangs, thinking it would look really cool. I don't know if they were too thick, or maybe cut too bluntly, but it looked so stupid with the rest of my hair being much longer, especially when I had my hair up.

[Hairkay]

Hmm...do my failed french braids count? I'm finally trying to learn how to do it on myself, but I'm still having some trouble not making them totally messy and crooked. :oops: Also I have all these shorter hairs by my temples/behind my ears that won't stay in the braid.
http://i.imgur.com/WmK1LCB.jpg

Also agreeing with everyone saying bangs. Once I cut some chin length side bangs, thinking it would look really cool. I don't know if they were too thick, or maybe cut too bluntly, but it looked so stupid with the rest of my hair being much longer, especially when I had my hair up.

If you like you can try putting some accent braids at the front. Cornrows, they'll be like mini French braids at the front, secure then tuck them into your main French braid. Doing the front gives you practice on a much smaller area before tackling the back.

[Silverbrumby]

CO washing. A complete bust with hair shedding and hot sore scalp

Rogaine - massive shedding and lost 1/2 inch ponytail

Thrush cream on scalp - hair loss

[MariaPon]

I just tried this with coconut oil today and had a similar experience... it's so weird!! My hair is really gross now that it has dried completely shudder:, I might take another shower just to have my normal hair back. :doh:
My hair wasn't gross or anything, but I mean "OH GOD CHUNKS OF HAIR AND THEY JUST KEEP COMING OUT"


I've made that mistake with coconut oil. It didn't make my hair shed but I put tons and tons of it in my hair and slept with my hair like that. It took me two showers to wash it all out :( now I know to use it sparingly on the ends!

At least I didn't sleep with it in, don't want to even think what would happen afterwards shudder:

[school of fish]

A recent one - diluting conditioner for CO. Stringy, limp, lank, yucky hair :(

I thought maybe I could try to go through less conditioner by diluting it - I don't use tons anyway but I like to do whatever I can to use minimum product. So many people find that CO works better for them when they really dilute the conditioner but once again my hair decides to be the rebel... ;)

[purpleelephant]

Stretching washes beyond 2 days. I wanted so badly to handle and wash it less, but it's not worth a scalp that's so greasy, that the hair gets heavy and starts to smell funny.

[Iamsiam]

When I was 16 years old I thought it would be a brilliant idea to bleach my hair. I looked like a lion by the end of it. Later that week there was a dog show at the park across from where I live. I ended up winning a look alike contest with my Pomeranian..... #fail. The things we do when we are young!

[lapushka]

I am also no never ever going to put real food in my hair again. Egg? Residuey, still greasy, feeling hair. Banana & yoghurt, boy it was blended well but still not well enough (chunks). Nope. I've experimented with tons of things (even hair dye, henna, and bleach) when I first got here, all sorts of sulfate-free shampoos, CO-washing, you name it.

The best thing for me to do is to stick to regular shampooing & conditioning (well, an adapted method of WCC/ROO/LOC) and that's it. I plan on sticking to this "simple" ;) routine for a long time yet.

[Elyse]

No poo with the whole baking soda and ACV rinses for sure. More power to you if it works for you, but for me the baking soda damaged my hair pretty bad. I could see where it was breaking off and everything. And I somehow managed to look like a greasy mess. It just didn't work for me at all, and I'll never do that routinely again.

[blackcats666]

My fringe (bangs) had too much volume and wouldn't look right. So one afternoon after a few drinks I thought "I know some people undercut their nape when their hair is too thick. Maybe ill do the same thing with my fringe"

I did. I have fine hair. My new scraggly fringe was awful. After 2 days I cut it all short and ended up rocking the baby bangs for 2 years!

[restless]

When I was 16 years old I thought it would be a brilliant idea to bleach my hair. I looked like a lion by the end of it. Later that week there was a dog show at the park across from where I live. I ended up winning a look alike contest with my Pomeranian..... #fail.

lol oh no :spitting: Im sorry but this must be one of the funniest things Ive ever read on this site. I hope your hair is feeling better now!

[Stepo_NiNha]

No and low poo works wonders in some hair types but it's not for everyone.

Some people have better results with CO, sulfate free shampoos, pre-poo treatments, etc. Others may prefer strong sulfate shampoos.

I already tried sulfate free shampoos with no success. Itchy scalp and a lot of hard water build up even with apple cider vinager rinses.

I returned to sulfate shampoos and I'm really happy :)

[cailinbee]

I tried water-only for several months, it never felt like I transitioned. I realized it's okay to use shampoo and products as long as they're working for me!

And I also finally threw out my bottle of Shea Moisture leave-in conditioner. I was trying to use it as a healthy growth enhancer since it had castor and jojoba in it, but I couldn't stand the clinging smell of it. It was too strong and greasy for my fine hair.

[Nellon]

Failed hair experiment one: Washing with soapnut and shikakai. While I liked the idea and it brought out the waves... It was too harsh for my thin Scandinavian hair. Wish it'd worked though...
Failed hair experiment two: Deepening the henna red to a deep burgundy. A friend asked if I was sick, my lips looked blue! :D So no, did not suit my skin colour one bit!
Failed experiment three: Dyeing my hair purple. Really liked it for a day or two. Then resorted to baking soda and soap cap highlights to get it out. Fortunately it budged.

[Andthetalltrees]

Inversion method does not work. Even if you religiously hang upside down for months it'll still grow like normal and you'll just feel dizzy

[CarrotTop]

Ah, my hair care failures...
Cowashing with Aussie 3MM was quite possibly the worst idea I ever had. My hair actually felt nice, but my scalp was irritated and itchy and gunky and horrible. (Turns out, my skin hates aloe with a passion.) But I kept doing it for about 5 washes! :doh:
Teasing my hair. Never again.
Brown sugar scalp scrub: once I started to work it into my damp hair, the sugar dissolved completely but left quite the residue.
And, to top it all off, last summer, I thought that since I was using a sulfate-free shampoo, I could shampoo as much as I wanted and never use conditioner. I based this concept off the hair routine of my mother, who never uses conditioner but has the most fabulous, fluffy, shiny hair. (Never mind the fact that it's 2a/F/i chin-length hair instead of 2c/C/iii waist-length hair.) I washed my hair every day, with no conditioner, for ten days. Then I bought more conditioner.

[Shepherdess]

I have definitely had a lot of failed experiments! I have tried many different products and brands, and I found out that my hair hates silicones, sulfates, glycerin, coconut oil, and baking soda. I think at first the cones feel nice, but then my hair ends up feeling like synthetic doll hair and snarls like a nightmare, the sulfates are too harsh on my hair shaft and leave it dry and brittle, glycerin makes my hair gummy and sticky, coconut oil over absorbs leaving my hair heavy and crunchy, and the baking soda made my hair a maddening frizzy velcro mess. Now I am in need of finding a new product and I am afraid that it could end up being a failed experiment like the many times in the past. It is hard to find any products without all these ingredients too, though my scalp has been itchy after the humid warm weather along with my change to usage of more conditioner, so I may need a slightly better shampoo than my trusty bar shampoo to help with this problem.

Reading over ingredients labels is getting tiring and it seems like every time I find something that I think might work, there is an ingredient in it that I know I need to be careful of. The "all natural" shampoos tend to be too gummy and sticky because of the glycerin, and the good lathering shampoos with sulfates are too drying for my hair, though I know my scalp liked them in the past, so I guess I need a balance. Because of this, I may be visiting this thread a lot in the near future as I experiment with different shampoos. :p

[DoomKitty]

My biggest one would have to be the perm that didn't take....luckily I was able to wash it the same night and get rid of most of the frizz. Second one is coconut oil...it left my hair so crunchy and the final one would be stretching a wash from every 3 to 4 days to a week...my hair was so oily and greasy it was like a helmet and I couldn't get it wet enough to get shampoo through it without scrubbing and shedding heaps.

[Iamsiam]

lol oh no :spitting: Im sorry but this must be one of the funniest things Ive ever read on this site. I hope your hair is feeling better now!

17 years later, my hair is virgin. Lesson learnt!

[emilia1992]

- Henna - looked pretty nice afterwards, but then faded quickly. Thought it had rinsed out totally, then dyed my hair with conventional dye and it turned a murky green.
- Lush shampoo bars - smelled wonderful, but dried out my hair. Sometimes, even after multiple rinses and my hair feeling clean when wet, when my hair dried it would be caked in some sort of waxy residue stuff that felt and looked really dirty.
- No washing/stretching washes - I went for 2 months without washing hair with shampoo, using a Mason Pearson brush, scritching, massaging etc. My hair just got smelly, greasy and even started to fall out much faster than normal.

[Lanalavallama]

Shall I join this confession session...?

So I am currently doing Water Only, but had the bright idea to do a "treatment". The ingredients were yoghurt, honey, orange juice, some oils and onion juice. The mixture was smooth and creamy, which is ideal for me; nothing would get tangled in my strands. But, an evil little voice said, Why don't you apply the pulp to your kinky, coily, can't-shampoo-to-get-rid-of-any-smells strands too? So, I added the pulp to my hair. 2 days of rinsing (and smelling like a bag of sour cream and chives chips) later, I have decided to leave the pulp alone.

I hang my head in shame.

[DoomKitty]

My latest fail! I tried plopping for the first time yesterday...while I got slightly more definition in the waves at the back of my head the waves at the sides dropped out almost completely. Plus when I woke up this morning after letting it dry overnight it was all crunchy and a complete mess. I think I'll keep to doing LOC and air drying.

[Keleesi]

Ah, my hair care failures...
Cowashing with Aussie 3MM was quite possibly the worst idea I ever had. My hair actually felt nice, but my scalp was irritated and itchy and gunky and horrible. (Turns out, my skin hates aloe with a passion.) But I kept doing it for about 5 washes! :doh:
Teasing my hair. Never again.
Brown sugar scalp scrub: once I started to work it into my damp hair, the sugar dissolved completely but left quite the residue.
And, to top it all off, last summer, I thought that since I was using a sulfate-free shampoo, I could shampoo as much as I wanted and never use conditioner. I based this concept off the hair routine of my mother, who never uses conditioner but has the most fabulous, fluffy, shiny hair. (Never mind the fact that it's 2a/F/i chin-length hair instead of 2c/C/iii waist-length hair.) I washed my hair every day, with no conditioner, for ten days. Then I bought more conditioner.

I can't imagine washing my hair and not using conditioner. My mom is very into washing her hair and using the smallest amount of conditioner on it, so growing up that's what I also did. It might work for her fine, straight hair but not for my frizzy dry hair. I put conditioner from root to tip and let it sit for at least 5 minutes when I wash now!

[Betazed]

I tried using "all natural" products, with no cones or sulfates. I didn't really see any difference in my hair but the shedding was crazy! At first, I just assumed that was normal for only washing once a week. Then, I ran out of my products while visiting relatives in another country. Since I was ordering my all natural stuff online, from a Canadian company, I couldn't replenish my supplies without paying a crazy amount for shipping. I used my SIL's Treesume Naturals (which isn't really natural at all) shampoo and a conditioner with cones. I instantly noticed there was much less shedding. I decided to go back to conventional products ("low" sulfates and cones) to test it rather than re-ordering and, so far, I'm still experiencing less shedding with each wash.

I also had the dreaded "face framing" layers. Although, it wasn't my choice. On my last visit to a salon, the stylist began cutting in layers without asking. I didn't mind when I left the salon because I was wearing my hair loose and it looked good. But when I went to braid my hair the next day, I was pissed! I learned how to cut my own hair after this and I've vowed to only have my bangs "professionally" cut. I'm too scared to do those myself, otherwise I would swear off salons altogether.

It's nice to know you're not alone in failed hair experiences! :grouphug: