Recovering bleach addict

[mrskstar582]

Hi there...I'm a recovering bleach aholic. Started bleaching my hair basically as soon as it started turning more brown in my later teens and have done so ever since! Couldn't have imagined ever going back to my roots but due to medical illness I was basically forced to and now I'm loving it! My natural hair is grown out at least ten inches and just the last three inches or so still has remaining bleach that looks like left over ombre. I can't wait for it to be totally natural, long and healthy after years and years of damage and telling myself I was only beautiful if I looked one way.

So here's the issues...Now that my hair doesn't have bleach and product in it, it reacts completely differently to shampoos and conditioners! I've long forgone my normal routine that involved excessive product use and heat styling and have been bouncing from every different kind of sulfate free hair care out there with really no rhyme or reason. The biggest let down was finally splurging at my hair dressers for the "fancy" shampoo/conditioner (since I wasn't blowing it on color) and my hair felt like straw from it!

I have mousey brown hair, that's fine but also kind of thick and mostly straight with barely any waves. The natural hair seems to get "greasy" and oily very quickly w added product or even the wrong shampoo/conditioner. Anyone have any sulfate free recommendations??? Shampoo/Conditioner and products for smoothing/styling that would be good for air drying?

[2gaits]

I can't help you with products but wanted to congratulate you on growing out natural. Giving up the salon highlights can be tough.

[Ylva]

Do you have a specific reason to want to be sulfate free? If not, I'd start from a basic market sulfate shampoo like Pantene, Garnier or something like that and go about looking for the ideal shampoo from there.

[Jo Ann]

Congratulations with being bleach-free for almost two years!

I would suggest travel sizes of shampoo/conditioner to find what your hair likes. The cost won't be as high as you find out what your natural hair likes and what works for you.

The shampoos and conditioners that you used when you were having your hair bleached are probably too heavy/moisture-rich for your natural hair. I would experiment with something like Shea Moisture, OGX, Maui Moisture or any of the other brands out there. Be warned, though--SLS-free shampoos can be more expensive than the SLS/ALS shampoos available. Also, if you haven't used SLS-free shampoo before, be aware you won't get the lather you're used to--they generally foam, and there's a learning curve to finding out how much shampoo you'll need to wash your hair. One thing I've found that helps is adding more water when I'm working up a foam, rather than more product.

[mrskstar582]

Travel sizes...genius!

And yes thank you! It was really irritating to grow it out but now that I'm getting close to my goal length I am so thrilled! I lurked on this website a lot for inspiration, and I couldn't be happier with my decision for so many reason! It seems so silly to stress about hair but its actually quite liberating!

The only reason I was going for sulfate free doesn't really have much to do with my hair- a few years ago I was diagnosed with "adult acne" induced by "stress". I was prescribed antibiotics which was somewhat effective but after researching I decided to go a natural with all my health and beauty products and it cleared up immediately! So I've been loyal to that ever since but no other reason not to try a product and see if there's a reaction.

[lapushka]

Welcome to the forum.

There is a bleach grow-out thread around here that you can join for some support and to maybe add your own pictures to. Just FYI.