Conditioners drying my hair out!

[Starchild494]

I need some help!

I havr tried a ton of conditioners, some with cones and some without.... The whole thing.... But when I use conditioner it makes my hair feel like a broom well the ends anyways. Also my hair becomes dull and meh! When i don't use conditioner my hair is So happy. I noticed that its easier to break with out something on it. I have also tried different amounts and even using many conditioners together. Am I doing something wrong? I am use the squish to condish method...

I'm super confused about the whole condition conumdrum! Your ideas abd advice is much needed and appreciated

Thanks
Starchild

[lapushka]

I would not squish to condish with straight hair, at all. Maybe leaving an amount of conditioner on the hair (not rinsing it out properly) is not that great on 1 hair?

Have you tried just S/C?

And FYI there is nothing wrong with not using conditioner at all! If your hair is happy that way, just do that!

[Starchild494]

What is s/c?

Also how do I contend with the breakage?

[Ylva]

What is s/c?

Shampoo and condition.

Maybe your hair doesn't like humectants. They are found in a lot of conditioners. Do you live in a dry environment? In such conditions, they would actually remove moisture from the hair rather than adding it.

[school of fish]

Your experience sounds familiar to me - I have hair that builds up very quickly and just doesn't like a lot of product intervention :)

My own routine runs contrary to some of the standard (and very solid) advice given here about oiling, stretching washes, conditioning, etc.. and I've come to the conclusion that my hair just likes to be routinely stripped and replenished. It likes straight S&C (shampoo and conditioner), it likes it daily, it likes the shampoo to be a clear sulphate type and the conditioner to be a thick rich type with light cones that rinses out and leaves no perceptible film. It also doesn't like any kind of leave in or oil or serum or whatever, it likes to be detangled frequently (gently), especially as it's air drying otherwise it gets crunchy, piecey and broomsticky :)

I would agree with lapushka, squish to condish probably isn't the ideal method for your texture - it never did anything for me but cause problems.

I'd start with a good clarifying/conditioning and see what that produces - if you see a vast improvement then buildup may be a contributor.. if you don't then you might need to go deeper and tweak something about your product ingredients/method/routine/etc. :)

[akurah]

I would try clarifying if you have not yet...

Also my hair is not a big fan of conditioners. I don't condition separately, though I think my shampoo currently might be a 2-in-1 (maybe) of Head & Shoulders.

What I WILL do, though, and this is rarely, is I will take a dab of body oil (think neutrogena bath oil and similar) after I'm oiling my skin in the shower, I'll take some leftovers on my hand and rub it over the top of my hair. So far, my hair has not objected.

[spidermom]

Another vote for clarifying followed by a deep conditioning treatment. Also there’s no rule that can’t be broken. If conditioner provides no benefit, ditch it.

[lapushka]

Another vote for clarifying followed by a deep conditioning treatment. Also there’s no rule that can’t be broken. If conditioner provides no benefit, ditch it.

^Very true!

[Dark40]

I agree with spidermom. You may want to try a clarifying shampoo, and then try a conditioner afterwards, and then if that doesn't work then ditch it, and only use shampoo. Conditioners are nothing but fillers. They are suppose to be moisturizing to the hair not drying it out. You must be doing something wrong. I agree with lapushka. Don't do the squish to condish method.

[RottenMango]

You might have buildup and need to clarify. If that still doesn’t help, you may have better luck with oil treatments like oil rinsing and hot oil treatments.

[Spikey]

I can't offer you solutions beyond what has already been posted, but whenever my ends feel like a broom, I do an SMT. That helps my ends get healthy again... though of course if it's the humectants that your hair doesn't like, anything with honey in it is a bad idea.

Also, have you considered NW/SO (no water sebum only)? That's a method which leaves out all products and uses manual cleansing to maintain hair.

[Libra4]

Perhaps the problem is not with the conditioner, but the shampoo. You need to make sure your hair is free of any buildup with a good shampoo, and then use a hydrating silicone free conditioner. You might also have low porosity hair, which means that you need extremely light oils/ products before your hair becomes like straw. Good luck :)