Dorky Newbie questions

[Michou]

Hi everyone, lurked long enough that I felt obligated to out myself so I joined a few nights ago. I have a few questions, and if I'm completely in the wrong forum I'm so sorry, slap me with a banana and send me on the right path. :)

(1) Hair typing:
Here's how I think it shakes down for me
My black hair: 1c/M/ii
My gray hair: 3a/C/ii

Length is shoulder at this point, but I haven't measured it.

Of course, my gray hairs increase in number each year and respond differently to treatment. The gray hairs tend to spring up and stick out and the black hairs tend to lie flat and get greasy quickly. Do I clean for the black hairs and style for the grays?

(2) Post-partum hair:

I have greasier hair post-partum (ummm, perhaps I'm showering less or perhaps hormones) and I have an ugly post-partum fringe where all the hair lost is growing back. I somehow don't think that the fringe is fixable, but the grease is, I'm sure. I've looked through the articles and are there hair-type specific regimens that I missed?


(3) How time consuming is your hair? At this point I do hardly anything to my hair (yeah, it probably shows) but I also don't have much time. I'm a bit worried I'll end up with healthier hair (a great thing!) that I have no time to do anything with (a bad thing) so it will end up in a ponytail all the time -- the reason I always end up getting a cut.

Sorry for the rambles, just trying to figure all this out an also trying to figure out my goals and the related pitfalls.

[mira-chan]

No banana slapping needed as you posted in the right place. :disco:

It would be helpful to know your current routine before we give advice. :flower:

Gray hairs tend to need more moisture so maybe misting would help there.

As to being time consuming or not, My hair is thigh length and it takes about a a few seconds to two minutes a day to put up or braid. I have non tangly hair so I don't even comb every day. I wear it up or in a braid every day. I don't wear it down or in a ponytail usually.

Washing it is the longest part of my routine. I was once a week or less. I can wash it in 5 minutes or I can do a 2 hour cassia/ henna treatment depending on what I feel like. I let it dry overnight usually as it takes at least 6 hours to dy fully.

It takes as much or as little time as I want it to.

[Arctic_Mama]

Hmm.... is this a Michou I perhaps tempted over from a certain parenting forum with a bunch of LHC gush posts? :eyebrows: Welcome either way :D

Having two kids close together I have an excess of postpartum flyaways... one set is about 8 inches long and the others are maybe an inch or so, but none of them behave for a hairdo. I have found oiling has helped keep them from becoming too static-prone. As for the grease, I've found learning to live with/accept scalp chemistry is half the battle - your hair likes to be a bit sleeker and smoother with sebum and that is a GOOD thing as it protects and moisturizes it. But nobody wants to look truly greasy.

The ways to cut grease that I have found useful is a) using VERY light conditioners and gentle shampoos that don't irritate my scalp into producing more oil or add any weight to the crown of my head and b) using corn starch or an airing powder/dry shampoo on my roots to keep them fresher, longer. Scalp massage also has helped me move the sebum down my hair very well and feels heavenly as a bonus. When I can move the sebum down to my MUCH drier ends my hairs is healthier and less frizzy and my scalp looks less piecy for a few more days.

As for how time consuming my hair is? The longer it is the less time it generally takes. My hair is wild enough and thick enough that any length shorter than mid-back I used to end up fighting with to make it behave at all. It always looked messy, dry, unmanageable without tons of product and styling...

Now that it is healthier and I am embracing its natural texture I spend MUCH less time on it and it looks far better even just quickly combed than it used to after an hour of fiddling, no lie. Since I only wash my hair once a week now that cuts down on a LOT of time, but I'd say on an average day I spend maybe five to ten minutes on my hair. That's a morning and evening combing, braiding or bunning it, and two minutes of scalp massage at night.

SUPER easy and quick. Washing it gently takes maybe ten minutes, I squeeze the water out of it and oil when its damp, sleep on it wet and go on my way. Long hair tends to be quicker for ME to care for, because I just put it up and forget it.

[justgreen]

Try using an ACV rinse after shampooing (I always dilute my shampoo), to help promote shine and also help balance out the ph level of your scalp. That is what helped me get rid of greasies all the time. That and not scrubbing my scalp all the time with harsh shampoos. The more you strip your scalp of oil , washing, the faster it thinks it has to work to replace natural oil, and so it goes overboard.

[Michou]

No banana slapping needed as you posted in the right place. :disco:


Hooray!



It would be helpful to know your current routine before we give advice. :flower:

Gray hairs tend to need more moisture so maybe misting would help there.


My current routine is incredibly mainstream when I compare it to what I have been reading on this site. 2 to 3 times a week I wash and condition it when I shower. I use whatever shampoo and conditioner we have on hand, lately Dove.

I think what it leaves me with is black hair that gets greasy, gray hair that sticks out everywhere, and dandruff. Neither my scalp nor my hair are as healthy feeling as I would like. I have tried washing it (my hair) more often, and it does help with the grease but increases the fly-aways.

How does your scalp stay clean with a once a week wash? I'm really intrigued, I would love that to work for me!


Hmm.... is this a Michou I perhaps tempted over from a certain parenting forum with a bunch of LHC gush posts? :eyebrows: Welcome either way :D


Aha! Yes, it's me, I'm glad to see a familiar face, thanks for the welcome!



Having two kids close together I have an excess of postpartum flyaways... one set is about 8 inches long and the others are maybe an inch or so, but none of them behave for a hairdo. I have found oiling has helped keep them from becoming too static-prone. As for the grease, I've found learning to live with/accept scalp chemistry is half the battle - your hair likes to be a bit sleeker and smoother with sebum and that is a GOOD thing as it protects and moisturizes it. But nobody wants to look truly greasy.

The ways to cut grease that I have found useful is a) using VERY light conditioners and gentle shampoos that don't irritate my scalp into producing more oil or add any weight to the crown of my head and b) using corn starch or an airing powder/dry shampoo on my roots to keep them fresher, longer. Scalp massage also has helped me move the sebum down my hair very well and feels heavenly as a bonus. When I can move the sebum down to my MUCH drier ends my hairs is healthier and less frizzy and my scalp looks less piecy for a few more days.


Oh ho ho, I'm starting to wrap my head around this.

When I take antacids for indigestion (by way of example) it helps in the short term but my stomach chemistry is disturbed for a few days. In response to the antacids my stomach actually produces more acid afterwards, in an effort to re-reach equilibrium.

Is hair oil like this? Am I pushing my scalp to produce more oil when I clean it? That makes sense, particularly if your routine (lighter shampooing, lighter conditioning, etc) is working for you.



As for how time consuming my hair is? The longer it is the less time it generally takes. My hair is wild enough and thick enough that any length shorter than mid-back I used to end up fighting with to make it behave at all. It always looked messy, dry, unmanageable without tons of product and styling...

Now that it is healthier and I am embracing its natural texture I spend MUCH less time on it and it looks far better even just quickly combed than it used to after an hour of fiddling, no lie. Since I only wash my hair once a week now that cuts down on a LOT of time, but I'd say on an average day I spend maybe five to ten minutes on my hair. That's a morning and evening combing, braiding or bunning it, and two minutes of scalp massage at night.

SUPER easy and quick. Washing it gently takes maybe ten minutes, I squeeze the water out of it and oil when its damp, sleep on it wet and go on my way. Long hair tends to be quicker for ME to care for, because I just put it up and forget it.

I would like to avoid the perpetual pony-tail of my student days, but looking around the site leads me to think that I can do much more with it than that. At this point I'm not wasting a lot of time fussing with it, but it just doesn't look very good at all. A year ago my benign neglect produced much nicer results than it does now.

That's great that you're finding it less time consuming, based on the photo's I've seen on the other site the results are great! :)


Try using an ACV rinse after shampooing (I always dilute my shampoo), to help promote shine and also help balance out the ph level of your scalp. That is what helped me get rid of greasies all the time. That and not scrubbing my scalp all the time with harsh shampoos. The more you strip your scalp of oil , washing, the faster it thinks it has to work to replace natural oil, and so it goes overboard.

Yes this completely confirms my "light-bulb" moment earlier, thanks so much! I'm not a huge fan of the smell of ACV (if the acronym means what I suspect) but it certainly is worth a go. :)

Thanks everyone, this has certainly been eye-opening!

[Melisande]

There are alternatives for ACV if you don't like the smell. I use citric acid that you can buy in drugstores - it has no smell at all, and a bit in a pitcher makes a gently sour last rinse. I lick it before I pour it over my head.

I dilute my shampoo very much and it still cleans very well. The detergents in shampoo are highly concentrated. Did you ever feel the need to put cream on your hands after you wash your hair? Then you know how thoroughly they strip scalp and hair of natural oils.

I oil my scalp and hair before washes heavily, and after washes very very lightly (oil and distilled water in a spritz bottle). I want my scalp to feel that there is enough oil around for a while ;-)

Sheabutter is very good for my gray hair - mine is definitely coarser than my original hair, too, albeit not as different in structure as yours. I use the sheabutter recipe posted here by Fox a long time ago - sheabutter, jojoba oil and your fave conditioner.

If you are not happy with your hair, the Dove might be the culprit. Cones! My hair is happier without it. It might be worth a try to replace it with a cone-free regimen. Check the results, if you don't like it, you can always return to the Dove.