Hard water detox and honey lightening- which to do first?

[toastertroodle]

Hey everybody! It’s been quite some time since I’ve been active on here! :)

For the past year I’ve lived in the desert where we have super hard water and very little humidity (whereas before I’d always lived somewhere with soft water and high humidity!) and my hair has definitely suffered. We just got a housewide water softener/filter system and I am so excited!! I got the Joico chelating shampoo which I’ll be using for the first time in a couple of days for wash day (I shampoo once a week). I’m also wanting to start trying out some honey treatments for lightening my quite dark blonde hair up a bit.

My question is- should I do one or the other first? Would it be best to chelate and detox my hair of the mineral buildup and then start honey treatments, or vise versa? Maybe it doesn’t matter? For reference if it helps my hair is 1a-1b/F/ii and currently MBL!

[Obsidian]

Chelate first, the mineral build up could interfere with the lightening

[foreveryours]

Clean first. I live also in the desert where water is as hard as the rocks and use Sally's ION shampoo.

[Cardinal101]

I agree about using hard water shampoo first, then trying honey treatments. How often do you plan to use the hard water shampoo? I also live in a hard water area and recently bought a hard water shampoo (Ion from Sally’s). I’m thinking of using it once per month, followed by deep conditioning, as I’ve read that chelating shampoos might be a bit harsh on the hair?

[lapushka]

Hey everybody! It’s been quite some time since I’ve been active on here! :)

For the past year I’ve lived in the desert where we have super hard water and very little humidity (whereas before I’d always lived somewhere with soft water and high humidity!) and my hair has definitely suffered. We just got a housewide water softener/filter system and I am so excited!! I got the Joico chelating shampoo which I’ll be using for the first time in a couple of days for wash day (I shampoo once a week). I’m also wanting to start trying out some honey treatments for lightening my quite dark blonde hair up a bit.

My question is- should I do one or the other first? Would it be best to chelate and detox my hair of the mineral buildup and then start honey treatments, or vise versa? Maybe it doesn’t matter? For reference if it helps my hair is 1a-1b/F/ii and currently MBL!

If your hair is really dark, honey has very little peroxide, so will only lighten "a smidge". It could turn brassy if your hair is too dark, so there's that. And phal on here is the author of how honey destroyed her hair; just FYI.

[rosenester]

If your hair is really dark, honey has very little peroxide, so will only lighten "a smidge". It could turn brassy if your hair is too dark, so there's that. And phal on here is the author of how honey destroyed her hair; just FYI.

Thank you for mentioning this thread, I just read through it. I recently did 2 honey lightening treatments on my crown and bangs hairs. It seems to have brought out my natural sun-highlights, but not enough for anyone to notice. I will not do it again until next summer if I still want to by then. I had no noticeable damage from 2 hours, but don’t want to risk it causing more damage to my bleached ends I am babying and growing out. I wish Phal’s photos still appeared on that thread…

[shelomit]

Clean first. I live also in the desert where water is as hard as the rocks and use Sally's ION shampoo.

I didn't realize you were also a desert-dweller, foreveryours! (Although I'm "in exile" at the moment and have been on and off for more than a decade.) I sure miss that weather where I am now, though I realize people unaccustomed/disinclined toward it find it deeply wearing.

[lapushka]

Thank you for mentioning this thread, I just read through it. I recently did 2 honey lightening treatments on my crown and bangs hairs. It seems to have brought out my natural sun-highlights, but not enough for anyone to notice. I will not do it again until next summer if I still want to by then. I had no noticeable damage from 2 hours, but don’t want to risk it causing more damage to my bleached ends I am babying and growing out. I wish Phal’s photos still appeared on that thread…

You're welcome! I think her hair basically got a texture change not to a wave but to a roughened cuticle.

[toastertroodle]

I agree about using hard water shampoo first, then trying honey treatments. How often do you plan to use the hard water shampoo? I also live in a hard water area and recently bought a hard water shampoo (Ion from Sally’s). I’m thinking of using it once per month, followed by deep conditioning, as I’ve read that chelating shampoos might be a bit harsh on the hair?

With the addition of our new water softener and the fact that I only wash my hair once a week I’m not too sure yet how often I’ll use the chelating shampoo! Maybe once every couple of months or so? I’ll just have to see how my hair does I suppose.

[toastertroodle]

If your hair is really dark, honey has very little peroxide, so will only lighten "a smidge". It could turn brassy if your hair is too dark, so there's that. And phal on here is the author of how honey destroyed her hair; just FYI.

Thank you! I say pretty dark blonde but it’s still blonde and therefore fairly light- just darker than my blonde used to be in my younger days :p I did chelate a few days ago and my hair feels sooo much nicer already, now I’m debating whether or not I even want to do any lightening. I’m a purist and a chicken when it comes to my natural hair color haha

[foreveryours]

I didn't realize you were also a desert-dweller, foreveryours! (Although I'm "in exile" at the moment and have been on and off for more than a decade.) I sure miss that weather where I am now, though I realize people unaccustomed/disinclined toward it find it deeply wearing.

I've been a desert rat for the last decade. Managed to escape the Valley of the Sun before I fried. While I'm now living among pines in a cooler place, saguaro don't grow above 3500 feet, temperatures are still too extreme for my liking. The problem is that AZ is really dry so there's no thermal buffering by moisture in the air, because there is none. I lived right on the Bay for the better part of 20 years, a way cooler locale, and I do miss THAT.