Why did my hair go from perfect to bad so fast?

[DizzyGinger]

EDIT: Should've added I already did a clarifying wash yesterday and it did nothing! And I do it every 2 weeks.

EDIT #2: I seem to have fixed the problem, by using a less heavy conditioner, styling with only a tiny bit of leave-in conditioner and mousse. But that's based on one good hair day, so any tips still appreciated!

Long post ahead!

A little background - I have 2b/c, fine, high density, low porosity hair. I only JUST figured out my hair is low porosity. If I spray my hair with water or leave-in conditioners, you can see the entire strand is just covered in beads - it won't penetrate unless I scrunch a lot, which I hate doing because if I scrunch too much I lose definition. I also have wet frizz and "cobwebs" that appear probably just 30 seconds after soaking wet. Pretty sure those are all signs of low porosity right? Although I've read that low-porosity hair takes a long time to get wet and get dry. Mine gets soaked immediately, and dries fairly quickly. In spite of that I still think it's low.

On to my question: I've been casually following the Curly Girl Method the last few months, and it's been awesome. A couple days ago, I tried squish to condish for the first time, and it gave me the juiciest, huge clumps! I could tell it helped get that moisture into my strands. Then yesterday and today, I followed my usual style routine, and my hair is the straightest it's been in a year! Like, 2a. I am totally baffled how suddenly it would do that. It went from best hair in ages (in terms of level of curl pattern) to what it looked like back when I brushed it straight. I can't figure out what happened and it's super disappointing, so hopefully you all might have some ideas.

So, here is my routine and what I'd changed. It's gotta be something in here.

Old routine:


co-wash 2x week, sulfate-free shampoo 1x a week (extremely hard water in my state which leaves mineral build up, so I can't just do co-washing)
Rinse out conditioner with my head upside, leave for a minute while it re-forms the curl pattern (which it does quickly), then I was using the Shea Moisture curl smoothie cream (which is actually too heavy for my hair, so I try to only use a little), using prayer hands so as not to disturb the clumps. Doing this all whilst hair is soaking wet.
Plop for 10-15 min
Continue to hang hair upside. Shea Moisture Coconut Oil Gel - first applied with prayer hands, then scrunching/micro-plopping with my hands. When I get a handful of hair and scrunch, at the root I will sort of pulse the hair in my palm. Really helps get the product in.
Flip head right side up, and no touching. Even though it looks crazy, I don't touch it even to rearrange messy bits - just two clips at the roots of each side of my part to keep it out of my face.
Let it dry. When I do gel casts it can take 6 hours to get to bone-dry level.
SOTC with the teeniest tiniest bit of maracuja or jojoba oil.


And that was it. Here's what I changed.

All the same steps except I started doing STC.
With soaking wet hair, spray all over the Shea Moisture Manuka Honey Leave-In conditioner. It has Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein in it, so I am getting some amount of regular protein, and I know that I have to be careful to not overload it. The first time I tried it, I used it alone and left all other products out, and all by itself it immediately gave my hair volume, softness, and a general moisturized look. I began using it daily.
Then I started trying the LOC method. I was very light with the oil and cream. No gel cast, only a little on my ends and the first couple inches of my roots to prevent frizz. Air dry until about 80%, then diffuse alternating cool setting and low heat.


This went so well. My hair looked great. Then BAM, it completely changed! Literally overnight. It was wash day, and I was so confused to see the results were oddly straighter, as I said, and limp, dull.

Could this be too much protein? Is there something I should be doing differently to cater to my low porosity hair? Any ideas?? If you want pics of my hair before & after the routine change just lmk. Thanks so much for reading <3

[Kathie]

My first thought is that your hair might be over conditioned. With my texture if its over moisturised its more likely to fall flat.

[Lady Stardust]

It could be build up? Or too much moisture, as Kathie says. It could even be the weather!

I would try clarifying and doing a minimal product wash and see how that is, using shampoo and conditioner and maybe a leave in but nothing too heavy. Then when your hair gets some spring back in it you can go back to the routine that makes you happy :)

[Finda]

I also think the standard advice for a problem like that would be to clarify. You mention hard water. Maybe the sulfate free shampoo does not have a strong enough detergent to counteract mineral build up in the long run? I'd maybe think about using a sulfate shampoo once on a while. That is based on my hard water experience.

[spidermom]

Decrease in atmospheric humidity can make hair fall flat and limp. So can product buildup. I'd start with a clarifying wash followed by conditioner, then let it air dry.

[lapushka]

Low porosity is actually very very rare, but the term gets abused so much, and all over the internet, not just here. If you can't have chemical services, like say hair color won't stick or perms won't or relaxers won't, then, and only then do you have low porosity. I think what you describe is just normal porosity and isn't that far from the norm. It actually takes a lot of water to soak hair down, depends as well on what you used on it. If there are stylers on there, no wonder. Would not worry about that.

[SaveTheTapirs]

Low porosity is actually very very rare, but the term gets abused so much, and all over the internet, not just here. If you can't have chemical services, like say hair color won't stick or perms won't or relaxers won't, then, and only then do you have low porosity. I think what you describe is just normal porosity and isn't that far from the norm. It actually takes a lot of water to soak hair down, depends as well on what you used on it. If there are stylers on there, no wonder. Would not worry about that.

This is interesting, because I've heard porosity explained in the opposite way. I can't remember where, but I heard that low porosity is basically the default, and that you will only have high porosity if you have chemical or heat (etc) damage. So it's almost like virgin hair can't be high porosity. But I only know what I've heard, it could have been bad info.

[lapushka]

This is interesting, because I've heard porosity explained in the opposite way. I can't remember where, but I heard that low porosity is basically the default, and that you will only have high porosity if you have chemical or heat (etc) damage. So it's almost like virgin hair can't be high porosity. But I only know what I've heard, it could have been bad info.

The thing about not being able to accept chemical services is a real thing. It happens to people. I think that they automatically claim low porosity for it but you hear all sorts of things! I know.

Same thing with high porosity and bleach, fried hair. And whatever's in between is normal, IMO.

People are so, so fast to say my hair is "different" and that difference has to be a porosity difference, while, IMHO, it is often not the case. And we're talking normal, regular porosity but... you know sometimes hair's just... hair!

[Finda]

Low porosity is actually very very rare, but the term gets abused so much, and all over the internet, not just here. If you can't have chemical services, like say hair color won't stick or perms won't or relaxers won't, then, and only then do you have low porosity. I think what you describe is just normal porosity and isn't that far from the norm. It actually takes a lot of water to soak hair down, depends as well on what you used on it. If there are stylers on there, no wonder. Would not worry about that.

I agree with this 100%.

Also, porosity runs more along the single hair from low porosity at the crown to higher porosity near the ends (if the hair is long and hasn't been cut in a while), simply because the ends have had to endure more wear and tear.

[GrowlingCupcake]

I agree that starting with a good clarifying wash will help, and maybe finding a chelating treatment to help in the long term.


Long post ahead!
If I spray my hair with water or leave-in conditioners, you can see the entire strand is just covered in beads - it won't penetrate unless I scrunch a lot, which I hate doing because if I scrunch too much I lose definition.

But, question! Is this after a clarifying wash or while it's still coated in build up? I'm assuming after a clarifying wash.

My partner has this issue; they have to double wash with a sulfate shampoo because their hair is naturally well-coated by whatever oil or sebum or the like. They don't use leave-ins; just a well rinsed out silicone conditioner. Maybe you also need more than one clarifying wash in order to 'free' your strands from build up.

[MusicalSpoons]

This is interesting, because I've heard porosity explained in the opposite way. I can't remember where, but I heard that low porosity is basically the default, and that you will only have high porosity if you have chemical or heat (etc) damage. So it's almost like virgin hair can't be high porosity. But I only know what I've heard, it could have been bad info.

Nope, that's incorrect. We have at least one member here with healthy, virgin hair that seems to have high porosity (and probably more than one, I just remember seeing them post about it relatively recently). That tends to be more common with coarse hair and curly hair but as with everything, YMMV. The default for average virgin hair is medium, with low being unusual and high also unusual for virgin hair (but not unusual for old or processed hair).



Also, porosity runs more along the single hair from low porosity at the crown to higher porosity near the ends (if the hair is long and hasn't been cut in a while), simply because the ends have had to endure more wear and tear.

Completely agree.

---
Science-y Hair Blog has a good article, including what to look for to try to determine porosity http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/hair-porosity-how-to-measure-sort-of.html

[DizzyGinger]

Thanks all - I realize now (and I'll edit my original post to say this) I should've said I just clarified! I do it every 2 weeks because of the hard water in my state. One that chelates, specifically, since as far as I remember only chelates will do anything for hard water build-up.

Whenever my hair is funky, I check my calendar to see when I last clarified. Usually I'll do that, and it "resets" it. So I did that yesterday, and when I saw it did nothing I thought, well what is it then?? lol

With that in mind, any ideas on what it could be besides needing clarifying? If it IS over-moisturized, how do I counteract that? Thanks ❤️

[SaveTheTapirs]

Nope, that's incorrect. We have at least one member here with healthy, virgin hair that seems to have high porosity (and probably more than one, I just remember seeing them post about it relatively recently). That tends to be more common with coarse hair and curly hair but as with everything, YMMV. The default for average virgin hair is medium, with low being unusual and high also unusual for virgin hair (but not unusual for old or processed hair).


---
Science-y Hair Blog has a good article, including what to look for to try to determine porosity http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/hair-porosity-how-to-measure-sort-of.html

Ah, I should have read about it there. That's a great blog. It sounds a lot more plausible seeing as hair is so diverse and everyone has a different genetic makeup.


I agree with this 100%.

Also, porosity runs more along the single hair from low porosity at the crown to higher porosity near the ends (if the hair is long and hasn't been cut in a while), simply because the ends have had to endure more wear and tear.

This makes a lot of sense.

[aloewurly]

If you effectively are low porosity, the LOC method may be too much for you. The oils and heavy conditioners that help drier hair can overcondition hair that doesn't need it.
Maybe try using a single styler? When I wear my hair curly I use only gel, and it works better and lasts longer than layering leave ins, oils, creams, butters...

[Kathie]

Thanks all - I realize now (and I'll edit my original post to say this) I should've said I just clarified! I do it every 2 weeks because of the hard water in my state. One that chelates, specifically, since as far as I remember only chelates will do anything for hard water build-up.

Whenever my hair is funky, I check my calendar to see when I last clarified. Usually I'll do that, and it "resets" it. So I did that yesterday, and when I saw it did nothing I thought, well what is it then?? lol

With that in mind, any ideas on what it could be besides needing clarifying? If it IS over-moisturized, how do I counteract that? Thanks ❤️

You could try to counter with a protein treatment to see if that works?

For example, a rice water rinse (its more of a soak really) gives my texture a huge boost. (I don't ferment my rice water so it only takes an hour or so to prepare.) The protein seems to help support the curl structure.

Often with curls we have to find the balance between moisture and protein. Too much moisture and texture can fall flat. But too much protein and hair can feel brittle.

[DizzyGinger]

Yes the protein moisture balance is so tricky! there's so much to learn and it can be overwhelming, but I enjoy it. I did a protein treatment the same day I clarified, but I'm not sure how much protein was in it. I think I'm gonna try a single styler for a week - just today I got some really lovely hair mousse which I saw recommended several times for type 2s (Maui Moisture Coconut Milk Curl Foam Mousse). Which I thought could be a good choice for fine hair that gets weighed down. And I'll see how that goes. I should probably give it a couple weeks really.

Though I'm not sure if I need to change up how I'm cleansing. I'm thinking perhaps I'll continue low-poo and STC with a lighter conditioner than I've been using. All the creams, oils, leave-ins etc leave my hair very soft and looking healthy. I love the Shea Moisture brand, but all the products do contain heavy ingredients of kinds. I'm thinking it's weighing down the waves. Maybe lightening up the routine with less products and less heavy products will do the trick!

[Kathie]

Yes the protein moisture balance is so tricky! there's so much to learn and it can be overwhelming, but I enjoy it. I did a protein treatment the same day I clarified, but I'm not sure how much protein was in it. I think I'm gonna try a single styler for a week - just today I got some really lovely hair mousse which I saw recommended several times for type 2s (Maui Moisture Coconut Milk Curl Foam Mousse). Which I thought could be a good choice for fine hair that gets weighed down. And I'll see how that goes. I should probably give it a couple weeks really.

Though I'm not sure if I need to change up how I'm cleansing. I'm thinking perhaps I'll try low-poo and STC with a lighter conditioner than I've been using. All the creams, oils, leave-ins etc leave my hair very soft and looking healthy.I love the Shea Moisture brand, but all the products do contain heavy ingredients of kinds. I'm thinking it's weighing down the waves. Maybe lightening up the routine with less products and less heavy products will do the trick!

That sounds like a good idea! Finding that balance between product combos that work and those that hinder can also be a fine art.

[DizzyGinger]

Well, I seem to have fixed the problem! Thank you all for the ideas. I washed with a low-sulfate shampoo as I had 3 products from yesterday to get out, but still didn't wanna go harsh with the sulfates. Still did STC, with less condish this time. Then spritzed my leave-in conditioner VERY lightly all over. Barely a mist. Then used a mousse, diffused once 60-70% dry, and my hair was back to normal!

So, I think it was too much product. And the LOC method is too much for my hair, clearly. I'm gonna stick with just these 2 for a little while, then if I do add other products I'll be sure they're much lighter.

The downside of the mousse - my hair is super soft and touchable, and looks pretty. But more products add more weight, and I'm not sure these waves are gonna last overnight with how fine they are. Still, I'll wait to add more in to my routine for the moment.

Your advice really helped, thanks again : )

[Kathie]

I'm glad it worked out :cheese: