First Month at LHC - Hair Revelations

[Nox_Inber]

My hair has gone through so many drastic changes the last few years that I don't have a "normal" routine anymore. The last time it was normal was 2 years ago, my hair was super blue and I used Ion Color Defense S&C. My hair got a little bit dry, but it was decent for such low effort and super bleached hair ya know? Then I moved across the country, hormones ruined my hair and I went through so many products trying to find something to save it (nothing did). My hormones are much better now thankfully, no more bleach left in my hair and now I'm ready to find my hair routine again.

Lately (last 6 months) I've been using CV shampoo bars with citric acid rinses and I've had hit or miss results. For a while there I thought my hair was doing well but I can never get it to stay consistent. I also moved into my dad's house and he has very hard water - bad enough that a pot of water won't boil unless it's in my electric kettle. Don't get me started on making pasta lol. It's been very frustrating, last time I was here I got mineral build up with regular S&C, let alone soap. So you know what? I'm going back to my old products. It's sulfate free but it does have cones, which I haven't used in over 6 months. I'm tired of my hair being on and off dry/crunchy or sticking together and getting clumpy, getting overly greasy and feeling dirty or being oddly flat with no wave. I've tried just about every variation possible and just when I've found the solution or had the perfect hair day, another problem comes up or I can't consistently get good results. Perfect one day then terrible the next. So I'm saying screw it, I'm going back to the last thing I know worked relatively well for my hair and starting from there to see what happens. If cones and drug store hair products get my hair normal again, then so be it! But I'm not giving up my NB Freya's hair salve or oils lol. Luckily I already know my hair will do both oils and cones :D I'd like to come back to shampoo bars one day but it's likely not happening until I move out of here. On a positive note I learned many things through my shampoo bar experience. It's also what led me to LHC, seeking out knowledge and finding an amazing supportive community in the process.

Lessons learned;
1) It's okay to give up on something that just won't work, even if you love the idea of it. I love a natural lifestyle but my hair doesn't love all parts of it. I can still give my hair natural care in other ways - whether it's herb and tea rinses or a great leave in.
2) The importance of clarifying. I used to switch products every few months because "my products don't work good anymore". Uhm, I never ever clarified so that was probably a huge part of it. Some people can get away without clarifying, I can't unfortunately.
3) My hair loves citric acid in this hard water. Finally, a way to prevent mineral build up!
4) Technique is equally as important as the product. I used to think cheap hair products were garbage for your hair. Wrong. Finding the right type of product and how to use it is what matters. There's nothing wrong with cheap or expensive, as long as it works!
5) I always thought my hair was dry because it wasn't super soft, flowing hair. That's because I have coarse hair. It will always have a certain texture to it and that's okay. I used to spend so long fighting my natural hair, which is 1C and can't decide between straight or wavy. No more! It is what it is and I embrace it now :)

Moral of the story; If something just doesn't want to work with your hair, don't force it.

Thank you for reading this far! What products or techniques did you spend the longest time trying to make work, even if it wasn't right for your hair? What was your biggest revelation upon joining LHC? :)

[Alissalocks]

Accepting my own hair texture was a gift I gained from my first month on LHC also. And my hair and scalp have never had a problem with sulfates or silicones, so I just follow its lead and use what works .

I also have hard water but I chelate my hair about every month or so, which helps balance it.

Blessings on your hair path :flower:

[milosmomma]

That's a great moral of the story, we have to listen to our hair and give it what it needs. Work with it instead of trying to mold it into something it is not.
For the longest time starting from teenage years all the way to mid twenties I hair either dyed or bleached(or both) hair and tried to straighten almost daily. I was working against my hairs color and texture. This all changed during my lurking days, but I am now completely dye and heat free and rock the category 2 waves :lol:
Things became so much easier and so much less stressful when I gave up trying to change my hair and starting working with it. I'm glad you have found what works for you! It can take a long time and alot of bum experiments.
I would say the biggest change since actually joining the forums would be adding a routine ACV rinse because of hard water. Such an improvement and another thanks I owe to the lhc for solving another hair problem.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

My biggest LHC revelation was that I could accept and enjoy my own hair for the beauty and qualities it had, and that I could learn how to get it looking its best.

[Nox_Inber]

Accepting my own hair texture was a gift I gained from my first month on LHC also. And my hair and scalp have never had a problem with sulfates or silicones, so I just follow its lead and use what works .

I also have hard water but I chelate my hair about every month or so, which helps balance it.

Blessings on your hair path :flower:

Thank you, light and positive energy to you as well :) Do you chelate by soaking your hair in a dissolved crystal or do you use a chelating shampoo?


That's a great moral of the story, we have to listen to our hair and give it what it needs. Work with it instead of trying to mold it into something it is not.
For the longest time starting from teenage years all the way to mid twenties I hair either dyed or bleached(or both) hair and tried to straighten almost daily. I was working against my hairs color and texture. This all changed during my lurking days, but I am now completely dye and heat free and rock the category 2 waves :lol:
Things became so much easier and so much less stressful when I gave up trying to change my hair and starting working with it. I'm glad you have found what works for you! It can take a long time and alot of bum experiments.
I would say the biggest change since actually joining the forums would be adding a routine ACV rinse because of hard water. Such an improvement and another thanks I owe to the lhc for solving another hair problem.

I went through the flat iron phase as well, I couldn't stand the way my hair waved when it was short and instead of growing it out and waiting I decided "Oh, everybody uses heat on their hair so it can't be that bad!". Biiiig mistake. I think it's awesome that you have category 2 waves, I'd love to have those! Now I'm growing out my "bad hormone" phase hair which prefers being more straight than wavy. The grass is always greener :D I agree that ACV is a life saver in hard water, it really helps me with detangling and dealing with the somewhat criminal amount of minerals in the water here. Do you rinse yours out or use it as a leave in?


My biggest LHC revelation was that I could accept and enjoy my own hair for the beauty and qualities it had, and that I could learn how to get it looking its best.
LHC seems to have that effect on many of us, it's definitely a wonderful community here to love our natural and enhance our hair :) I love all the positivity!

[Groovy Granny]

It is an evolving journey....so cherish the hair on your head, enjoy every stage of your personal journey, and bling it up with fun hair toys and styles :cheer:

Great revelations :thumbsup:

[ManeGoal]

I'm there. I have tried and retired so many things to work on my hair just because I heard it read it was amazing, ignoring my hair's plea for mercy!
Also, just a thought, I have hard water, and bought a shower head with a filter. I installed it I on my own super eady, and not bad price on amazon. Might help, it has been great for my hair I think.

[Nox_Inber]

It is an evolving journey....so cherish the hair on your head, enjoy every stage of your personal journey, and bling it up with fun hair toys and styles :cheer:

Great revelations :thumbsup:

That's a wonderful point :) Its so easy to forget what I already have if I focus too hard on where I want to be. The present is meant to be enjoyed, hair included. The challenge of growing long healthy hair and finding the patience and acceptance to be happy along the way makes the success even more worthwhile :D Thank you for the kind words!

Also, I love your username! It's very fun :D

[Nox_Inber]

I'm there. I have tried and retired so many things to work on my hair just because I heard it read it was amazing, ignoring my hair's plea for mercy!
Also, just a thought, I have hard water, and bought a shower head with a filter. I installed it I on my own super eady, and not bad price on amazon. Might help, it has been great for my hair I think.

"But _____ sounds like such a good idea! If only my hair didn't have a mind of own!" - me 9/10 times haha. I blame all it on all the beautiful long haired people here that inadvertently make me want to experiment :)

I'm shocked by how much worse the hard water has gotten here compared to 5 years ago. The calcium and magnesium build up seems to happen much faster (accumulation in the pipes over 20 years?) and that's just what I'm aware of. My scalp definitely doesn't seem to like it. I remember Stormynights recently saying she bought a shower filter from Amazon and it helped. Now that I've got a second recommendation I'm definitely considering getting one as soon as I can spare the money. If you don't mind me asking, which one did you get? There's so many to choose from!

[MusicalSpoons]

Shower filters usually only neutralise the chlorine or chloramine in the water; AFAIK only the showersticks brand actually softens. I will say my filter makes a noticeable difference anyway, my skin does better and actually all my shower products smell better too! So while I've not noticed any real difference in my hair, for me it's still worth using and I know that it can't be hurting my hair :lol:

I'm glad to hear you've learned a lot and I hope you soon find what works best for you. Tbh the majority of people with the longest hair here seem to have pretty normal routines using standard sulphate and silicone products! The key seems to be understanding how those ingredients work and what works best for your own hair :)

Biggest revelation? Hairtoys. Using elastics to hold my buns every day before LHC constantly destroyed my ends, necessitating an annual cut from ~tbl to ~hip and I didn't think ordinary people could grow hair longer. So I guess a close second biggest revelation was that hair longer than tbl is possible for the majority of ordinary people! Also body markers, and that hair care could be more than shampoo and conditioner while still being fairly simple. OOH! And scalp washes! My goodness, I think that's actually in third place; my lengths really have benefited from being washed less often (~once a week, twice at most, instead of every other day). And how to detangle to minimise damage, and a recent one is that daily detangling is not always necessary for straight or wavy hair, and that my hair has weak waves instead of being straight but unruly. Oh, so many!

There hasn't been anything I've persevered with despite my hair saying no, except maybe one specific shampoo that my hair loved and my scalp hated (in fairness my scalp strongly dislikes lots of things and I didn't realise the signs of rebellion were not a necessary evil). It's taken me more than 2 years to find a product that truly doesn't leave my scalp flaky - a specific, cheap conditioner - and a shampoo that my scalp consistently tolerates rather well, almost to the point of liking it. I use a combination of both, exactly how depends on how my scalp is doing each time. Before LHC my scalp was unhappy for years, I just didn't realise it and it took me at least a year here to accept that it ought to change.

[ManeGoal]

"But _____ sounds like such a good idea! If only my hair didn't have a mind of own!" - me 9/10 times haha. I blame all it on all the beautiful long haired people here that inadvertently make me want to experiment :)

I'm shocked by how much worse the hard water has gotten here compared to 5 years ago. The calcium and magnesium build up seems to happen much faster (accumulation in the pipes over 20 years?) and that's just what I'm aware of. My scalp definitely doesn't seem to like it. I remember Stormynights recently saying she bought a shower filter from Amazon and it helped. Now that I've got a second recommendation I'm definitely considering getting one as soon as I can spare the money. If you don't mind me asking, which one did you get? There's so many to choose from!

Definitely! here's the link hope it works https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Luxury-30-Setting-Replaceable-Cartridge-Spa/dp/B01N53ARBX/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=spa+luxury+shower+3in1+shower+ head&qid=1564281170&s=gateway&sr=8-8

[Nox_Inber]

Musicalspoons, darn I was wondering about that. I know there's chlorine in the water here though I'm not sure how bad it is. I'll still keep the filters in mind for when I've got the spare money :) I'll probably be living in this location for another year so a $30 investment seems more than doable!

I'm on day 3 of using my old products and wow, what a difference. My hair feels normal again, for lack of a better description. I still need the ACV + CA rinses for sure but I can't believe it, nice hair! I mourned my shampoo bars for about 2 days but I've already moved on :D It's actually saved me a lot of time, my showers are much shorter now because I don't spend as much time meticulously trying to washing out the soap residue.

It's funny how the smallest things can make such a world of difference when it comes to hair! I love the artistic side of hair toys, you literally get to walk around with a piece of art on your person, how cool is that? Plus minimizing damage? It's great that a change away from elastics has allowed you to grow further than you thought possible :) I've been straying from elastic lately, I can feel it tugging at my hair or when I have to take it out and I'm trying not to yank out hair with it...yikes. Once I figure out updo's better, I do have some thin paintbrushes I could experiment with to get a feel for hair sticks! Double hair toy art? :cool: Scalp washes sound really interesting, my hair is short enough that I can get away with washing my full length about every other day (possibly a day longer depending on weather) but this sounds like a great idea for longer lengths. Ohhhh so I swear that no hair dresser knows how to properly detangle. Every single one of them seems to just rip right through hair! shudder: Also, I agree with you that it's not necessary, personally, to fully detangle every day. Your profile says you're 1C/2A, aka, the "hmm wavy or straight, how about both and neither at the same time!" hair that I've also come to know so well lol. Admittedly I'm on the straighter end of 1C depending on how I dry and cut my hair, but it could easily go either way. I never detangled my hair in my late teens, it's the only way I was able to get it wavy. People gave me weird looks when I said that but hey, the hair's in charge, not me! :D

You know, you saying that actually made me realize just now that my scalp hasn't been itching...I thought it was allergies or hormones but I think my scalp disliked shampoo bars. I'm going to guess that despite my best efforts, little bits of soap were sticking to my scalp. I was wondering why I was getting itchy and zitty. Mind blown! Wow, that's a long time to live with an unhappy scalp! Isn't it great when you find the right product and it's a cheap one? Pre-LHC I thought cheap hair products would make hair fall out...oh how I was wrong. I love how LHC has impacted us all so positively, it seems that many members lived with one issue or another but the world is ripe with misinformation regarding hair care, so we just suffered with it or struggled to find a solution. Or we didn't realize something was a problem in the first place because we'd accepted it as necessary. Knowledge is a powerful thing :)


Definitely! here's the link hope it works https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Luxury-30-Setting-Replaceable-Cartridge-Spa/dp/B01N53ARBX/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=spa+luxury+shower+3in1+shower+ head&qid=1564281170&s=gateway&sr=8-8

Thank you! :)