Dawn made my hair fall out?

[Pamberpestana]

I've been a heavy cone user for years. But now that I have virgin hair, Im unsatisfied with all the coney products I used to love and decided to go cone free to see if my hair would like it.

I dont have a clarifying shampoo on hand so I used blue Dawn. I know, I know. So harsh! While putting a cone free conditioner in my hair after, I felt so much hair coming out!!! (Okay, it wasn't by the handful or anything, my hair is getting longer and maybe it looked like more than it was.... I'm going to guess maybe 30-40 strands of almost apl length Hair)

But I have never lost that much hair at one time before, even during post partum hair loss.

Did Dawn ruin my hair?
Or were cones keeping my hair on my head some how?

[mira-chan]

The amount of strands that came out, 30-40 is well within the normal range of shedding. That much can easily come out just from hair manipulation during the wash. They would have come out anyway as they were ready to. They might have been held in your hair with the buildup you were clarifying out actually.

[Pamberpestana]

Okay, thank you.
Now that my hair is mostly dried, I'm thinking that cone free is what my hair needs. Time to experiment to find out what cone free products I'll be using!

[Cherriezzzzz]

Yea don't worry about one "good" shedding. If it becomes an issue try vinegar rinse to neutralize your scalp and close those cuticles.

[Obsidian]

I use Dawn every one in awhile for super clarifying and it's not hurt my hair. It does dry my hair out some but a good conditioning fixed it right up.
For cone free, I like tresemme perfectly undone conditioner.

[embee]

When using something like Dawn I like to dilute it a good deal as it's pretty strong stuff. Like, 1 squirt to a cup of water. :) It sure is great for getting things cleaned up!

[*Wednesday*]

I know Dawn is used to remove grease on animals involved in oil spills because it’s gentle but also good at de-greasing. I agree with embee, maybe dilute it to lighten it up. It is recommended you clarify no more than twice monthly.
If you are using a different combo of products (Dawn and a new Co) and boom increased hair loss, try and rethink the day for your hair. The day you washed your hair, did you wear it up all day and that is just the days shedding coming out. Did you brush your hair and remove more tangles before you washed? Do you shed more this time of year? These are possibilities.

[mermaid lullaby]

Interesting, I didnt know Dawn could be used this way. Although, I'm too careful to try it.

[meteor]

I might be of a minority opinion here, but I would listen to what your hair says. :flower: Excessive shedding is not a great sign, if you are thinking of repeating this somewhat frequently. While clarifying can sometimes cause heavier shedding that day just because clarifying shampoo won't have all those friction-reducing, slip-inducing ingredients (e.g. silicones) to help with hair manipulation, Dawn is in a category of its own, because it's more heavy duty and has higher surfactant load than what would typically be necessary for a shampoo.

The thing is, even body washes (which are meant to be gentle enough and not disruptive to skin's pH) still have much higher surfactant load than a typical shampoo, since hair has a much greater surface area on which to generate foam (http://chemistscorner.com/cosmetic-formulations-body-wash/). Dish detergents are typically even more cleansing.

Once in a blue moon is probably OK, as most things in life, but I wouldn't do this too, too often, since hair doesn't normally need that much de-greasing. :flower: I understand that you wanted to specifically clarify, but there is a whole range of strength to clarifying shampoos and how much stripping the hair may need at that time. If you frequently run into problems with the kind of build-up that a simple SLS/SLES or ALS/ALES shampoo can't handle, I'd take a second look at the product use and consider what might be causing that type of build-up in your case.

[Siri]

I've used Dawn for years every now and then on my hair, also used Palmolive dish soap and never had a problem with either. :hmm:

[luvlonghair75]

I don't recall having a problem with Dawn, either. It's been a long time since I have used and haven't really needed to since I stopped using conditioner on my scalp.

[Pamberpestana]

I just wanted to use the Dawn this one time to remove all the build up so that I can start to co wash on fresh hair (if my hair doesn't like co washing I plan to try sulfate free/ silicone free products). In the future, if I need to clarify, I don't think I'll use Dawn again, I'll just buy a small bottle of some sort of clarifying shampoo.

Looking back, I did have my hair up for a few days prior to this washing, and I've recently give up my vent brush that I've had for about two years now and decided to use a wide tooth comb instead.

[akurah]

I just wanted to use the Dawn this one time to remove all the build up so that I can start to co wash on fresh hair (if my hair doesn't like co washing I plan to try sulfate free/ silicone free products). In the future, if I need to clarify, I don't think I'll use Dawn again, I'll just buy a small bottle of some sort of clarifying shampoo.

Looking back, I did have my hair up for a few days prior to this washing, and I've recently give up my vent brush that I've had for about two years now and decided to use a wide tooth comb instead.

Just get this stuff:
http://www.suave.com/product/detail/671043/daily-clarifying-shampoo-conditioner

It's cheap, it does the job, and it won't trash your hair. You don't need the conditioner, just the shampoo, as the conditioner adds nothing to the clarifying process itself. If you want to condition after clarifying, just use whatever you planned to use after clarifying.