I don't even know where to begin :( Super fine, wavy, frizzy unmanageable hair!

[nyktkultus]

Hair type: I think a 2a but I'm not 100% sure.


Hi, all,

I am new to the forum so I apologize if a similar thread has been posted before; feel free to redirect me in that case! :D

So, onto my hair. I have always had fine hair with very little volume that I've gone 25 years of my life without knowing exactly how to handle. A few years ago I developed a hormonal imbalance that needs to be treated with pill contraceptives, and I'm sure this has made matters even worse in terms of thinness. This, paired with a few bleach jobs, artificial dyes and overall ignorance on hair issues has ended up in me having hair that looks lifeless, devoid of shine, frizz all over the place and more tangles that I've had in my entire life.

At the moment, I haven't bleached or used artificial dyes for over a year and I'm getting rid of my dead ends only twice a year. I never use heating or styiling (wet sets sometimes), and dry my hair with an old t shirt. The only things I use to color my hair are unprocessed henna, cassia and amla. However, the main problem for me is daily maintenance: I tried using sulfate-free shampoos for a while, but they left my hair looking flat and dirty. I switched to "softer" sulfates (Coco-Sulfate and the like) and now I use the condition-shampoo-condition method, but I haven't been able to find the balance between clean and striped. Whenever I wash my hair, it ends up looking either clean and extremely frizzy and damaged or greasy and heavy.
I've found that popular methods to tackle dryness, such as argan or coconut oil, leave in conditioner, etc also weigh my hair down; brushing is also a conundrum for me, because natural bristles worsen the frizziness and don't really work for my tangles, and a regular round brush does help with the tangles but causes a lot of shedding. I do try to do a deep conditioning every week, but it creates the exact same problem as shampooing in which I can't just rinse it without my hair looking greasy afterwards, and if I shampoo it, then condition again, we're back to the beginning.

I'm sorry, that was quite a bit to unpack! Maybe I'm just doing everything wrong, but every piece of advice I find is directed to people who don't have hair as terminally fine as mine. Is there anyone here who can relate to any of my problems and can give me some advice before I end up chopping all my hair off out of utter frustration? :confused:

Thank you in advance :bow:

[Lady Stardust]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

My hair is quite similar to yours, I get build up very easily.

A couple of things spring to mind:

- Do you live in a hard water area? You will see limescale in the kettle and splash marks around taps if you have hard water. A chelating shampoo will help if this is the case, it will remove mineral build up. You only need to use it every now and again when you think you might need to, maybe every few weeks. I used to find that my henna would go dull and that was a sign! Chelating shampoos are often marketed as “sun and swim” shampoos.

- Do you put conditioner on your whole length, or just from the ears down? My hair would look greasy if I used conditioner on the whole length.

- The Rinse Out Oil method is great for people like us. You use the oil before conditioner and then rinse both out (you can rinse the oil before applying conditioner if you prefer). Here’s a link to the thread
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=129191

- Did you stop using silicones, and use a sulphate shampoo to remove the last of the silicones, when you went sulphate free? I didn’t at first and it was a sticky mess :)

I hope something here is helpful, at least we can rule things out if not!

[nycelle]

There's so many things it could be.

I'd also start with clarifying first. Then I'd look at the ingredients in all the product you use and see if there's a common one in all. I know with me, my hair does not like certain ingredients.

Also, you said you had damaged hair. That could also be causing frizz and tangles. If so, something like a light leave-in (try oil and wax free) just on your ends and where the tangles are could be enough.

[lapushka]

I am also someone who can't use sulfate-free shampoos, so I stick to the sulfates and do a method for washing called WCC (more information is in my signature). You just have to do what your scalp/hair prefers, not what you prefer.

It is also important to clarify-wash once in a while, at least once a month but more if you wash more frequently. I don't know if that's part of your routine?

Good luck! :flower:

[MusicalSpoons]

Hello, and welcome! :flower:

The first question that sprang to mind is: how much of your hair do you condition? If your scalp hair is greasy from conditioning it, your options are either to: stop conditioning the scalp hair, change to a lighter conditioner, and/or rinse rinse rinse rinse rinse and rinse some more to make sure it's all rinsed out (this is why I very rarely condition my own scalp).

Your lengths - the bleached, processed hair - definitely will need lots of moisture and probably some protein, so definitely a heavier conditioner. How long do you leave conditioner on for? What do you use as a deep treatment?

Also, does your conditioner contain silicones? If so, you might need to clarify the lengths to get off potential build-up, although actually there are some non-silicone ingredients that can also cause buildup so maybe the question should be: what shampoos/conditioners do you use at the moment? If your hair is fine, you probably need a light shampoo without silicones and lots of oils or butters, especially as the first 6 inches or so of your hair are virgin and probably don't need conditioning from the shampoo!

Maybe you don't need to brush, and can get away with using a wide-toothed comb, or a wooden brush with widely-spaced bristles, or you may even just need to finger detangle.

There are a few very fine-haired members on here with beautiful manes of hair, and I'm sure they will pop by to share what works for them :)

(Oops, took so long typing my reply I inadvertantly repeated some things that weren't posted when I started typing, sorry!)

[elfynity]

Hi Mytikultus, yes I can definitly relate to mos of your issues as I also have very fine hair that is on the thinner side of ii, and I have battled with the greasy look and the frizzy look. There is so much to be said, but what I have learnt about my hair is that dry is not healthy. Dry may 'look' nice and neat for perhaps a day but it is actually very damaging for your hair.

There is a lot going on, and it is hard to follow every issue that you have, but I got the jist of it. I can only give you advice based on what has worked for me. PS, there is also a henna board in the forum as henna care I think is different to regular hair care.

You may want to calm down on how often you shampoo and allow your natural sebum to start coating your hair and regulate your oil production so that you don't have to anymore. You can also try to dilute your conditioner and only use it on your ends, not your roots. Then you wont get that greasy look on your crown? I stopped using shampoo altogether, it was greasy at first and now it is perfect all the time, my hair regulates itself. I do have to use conditioner on my ends though because they are damaged and need extra moisture. The conditioner I use is totally organic and doesn't weigh my hair down, but then I also dilute it. Also remember that by using shampoo often, your hair is over compensating for the loss of sebum and this causes sebum over production and hence greasiness. you have to stop shampooing so often to break the cycle.

What is the leave-in conditioner you are using?
My experience with coconut oil and fine hair has been that if you use to much it can weigh your hair down and make it crunchy. Also, oils don't moisturize your hair, they seal in moisture that is already there. I use sweet almond on my hair, but i literally use so little, i rub it in the palm of my hands until it is soaked into my skin and literally gone, and then I pat down my hair. It is the only way I can put oil in my hair. I used to use more and it looked greasy all the time and it is counterproductive as you have to shampoo to get it out which leave you with dry hair again.

You have your hair at 1b, but you are experiencing frizziness. I know there is a way to see your completely natural amount of waves and curls, someone here knows how to do this? I suspect that you may not realise that you are actually more like a 2a - hence the frizz?

If your brush is causing you shedding I would definitly get one that doesn't. I can never use a round brush on my hair, it is the worst. I can only use a paddle.
Sulphates made my hair shed very badly. As soon as i stopped them my hair stopped falling out, and silicone caused incredible breakage for me that I am still recovering from.

So, I guess there are alot of questions still to ask, but I hope this helps from my experience of having fine hair.

I wanted to add that if your ends are dry and damaged and you can see split ends then it could be time to start microtrimming on a regular basis to get rid of it without having to cut your hair short. Also, S&D can really make a huge impact in your split ends, i have just removed all my splits using this method.

There are some things you can use to help thicken your hair that have been spoken about biotin (which apparantly gives you bad skin to eeeek) Collagen, and my personal fav, gelatin. my hair grew like weeds and thickened after pregnancy after using 1 teaspoon gelatine every day. It depends though if your body is deficient in any of these vitamins / minerals (not sure what they are called).

I think you just need to clarify, and then literaly be brave enought to just leave your hair for a few days, or a week if you can to just be, and allow it to just be what it wants to be for a while, and keep it tied up in a loose bun when it starts to look bad, and then take it from there.