ManeEvent
January 28th, 2024, 01:41 PM
It's been a while since I've been here! I wanted to share what I thought was an interesting discovery. I've always gotten so much from the forum, I'd like to give back, even if it's just this little bit of info.
Backstory (skip if you like): extremely hard water area. The tea kettle bottom gets completely covered with limescale again within a month after full descaling. I used to have easygoing, healthy hair when I lived in the US. I moved to Switzerland in 2016 and that's when the trouble started.
I think my hair was ok before then because despite not taking extra care of it, I was eating meat then (richer diet), using soft water, never used heat, never went out in freezing weather with wet hair, and only dyed it for two years my whole life, the most recent time being 2010. At the same time, I don't do elaborate stuff: I use the same shampoo and conditioner all the time, rarely ever do masks, etc. I'm a workaholic.
It's always been very confusing because my length will be dry when my scalp is greasy on day 2 after moving to this hard water area.
Anyway, back to 2016: I used Björn Axen sensitive shampoo and my hair was painfully dry.
2017: Then I started using John Frieda's brunette stuff. One day, in the shower, I realised that my hair felt like it had soft, sticky plastic on it. Not great. Then I tried New Wash and it was a total grease bomb. Mixing in ACV didn't help it.
2018–2021: Then I used a French natural brand called Melvita, but my hair was still very dry and loads of white dots everywhere. I stuck with Melvita for a while, maybe a couple years. I started being more careful and not putting it up in tight ponytails, and braiding, especially at bedtime. But the dryness and white dots continued. I added some vinegar rinses in. There's a rose-scented one from some French company (Rene Furterer). It worked well but it was so expensive and I ended up trying to conserve it instead of using as much as I should have to nail the job. Melvita by itself was definitely not moisturizing enough/enough to fight the hard water.
Skip to here
Today: About 1.5-2 years ago I switched to Larry King Social Life Shampoo and Liquid Hairbrush conditioner. The conditioner is heavier than the Melvita one.
I don't think these are my holy grail products, but today I realised that I hadn't seen white dots in a really long time! And that's basically what I wanted to share here. My ends have been splitting less, I think, too. And in general, it's easier to get a nice look with no attempt at styling (esp. with social life cream). But the dryness persisted. So I'm going to try Briogeo Mango & Cherry, which is meant to be moisturising and good for hard water.
After realising I hadn't seen the white dots in a long time, I went to look at the Social Life ingredients list, and it has chelating ingredients down the bottom! Maybe this helps explain the improvement, rather than the price. :melting:
Brigeo Mango & Cherry also has chelating ingredients near the bottom of the list. And I just discovered that Klorane's moisturising Mango shampoo does too. So now I'm beginning to wonder if manufacturers have quietly figured out that a lot of dry hair symptoms are caused by environmental toxins and they just haven't been sharing that.
I'll try the Briogeo because it's cheaper than Larry King, but if money were no object, I'd probably do LK and add hair masks into the routine.
If anyone is looking for a good, moisturising shampoo/conditioner set and money doesn't matter, Larry King Social Life is worth a look. I'm going to try something else because I can't justify the expense any more.
Here's the LK ingredients list, with things in bold that I think are chelating ingredients.
Aqua (Water), Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Betaine, PEG-40
Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Hydroxypropyl Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride,
Xylitylglucoside, Sodium Chloride, Parfum (Fragrance), Acrylates/Palmeth-25 Acrylate
Copolymer, Anhydroxylitol, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Maltitol, Glycerin, Coconut Acid,
Xylitol, Panthenol, Ethyltrimonium Chloride Methacrylate/Hydrolyzed wheat protein copolymer,
Sodium Hydroxide, Phytantriol, Acrylates/PEG-10 Maleate/Styrene Copolymer, Phytic Acid,
Dehydroacetic Acid, Citronellol, Sodium Benzoate, Benzyl Benzoate, Disodium EDTA,
Potassium Sorbate, Limonene, Linalool, Ethylhexylglycerin, Coumarin, Eugenol, Pelvetia
Canaliculata Extract, Evernia prunastri extract.
Backstory (skip if you like): extremely hard water area. The tea kettle bottom gets completely covered with limescale again within a month after full descaling. I used to have easygoing, healthy hair when I lived in the US. I moved to Switzerland in 2016 and that's when the trouble started.
I think my hair was ok before then because despite not taking extra care of it, I was eating meat then (richer diet), using soft water, never used heat, never went out in freezing weather with wet hair, and only dyed it for two years my whole life, the most recent time being 2010. At the same time, I don't do elaborate stuff: I use the same shampoo and conditioner all the time, rarely ever do masks, etc. I'm a workaholic.
It's always been very confusing because my length will be dry when my scalp is greasy on day 2 after moving to this hard water area.
Anyway, back to 2016: I used Björn Axen sensitive shampoo and my hair was painfully dry.
2017: Then I started using John Frieda's brunette stuff. One day, in the shower, I realised that my hair felt like it had soft, sticky plastic on it. Not great. Then I tried New Wash and it was a total grease bomb. Mixing in ACV didn't help it.
2018–2021: Then I used a French natural brand called Melvita, but my hair was still very dry and loads of white dots everywhere. I stuck with Melvita for a while, maybe a couple years. I started being more careful and not putting it up in tight ponytails, and braiding, especially at bedtime. But the dryness and white dots continued. I added some vinegar rinses in. There's a rose-scented one from some French company (Rene Furterer). It worked well but it was so expensive and I ended up trying to conserve it instead of using as much as I should have to nail the job. Melvita by itself was definitely not moisturizing enough/enough to fight the hard water.
Skip to here
Today: About 1.5-2 years ago I switched to Larry King Social Life Shampoo and Liquid Hairbrush conditioner. The conditioner is heavier than the Melvita one.
I don't think these are my holy grail products, but today I realised that I hadn't seen white dots in a really long time! And that's basically what I wanted to share here. My ends have been splitting less, I think, too. And in general, it's easier to get a nice look with no attempt at styling (esp. with social life cream). But the dryness persisted. So I'm going to try Briogeo Mango & Cherry, which is meant to be moisturising and good for hard water.
After realising I hadn't seen the white dots in a long time, I went to look at the Social Life ingredients list, and it has chelating ingredients down the bottom! Maybe this helps explain the improvement, rather than the price. :melting:
Brigeo Mango & Cherry also has chelating ingredients near the bottom of the list. And I just discovered that Klorane's moisturising Mango shampoo does too. So now I'm beginning to wonder if manufacturers have quietly figured out that a lot of dry hair symptoms are caused by environmental toxins and they just haven't been sharing that.
I'll try the Briogeo because it's cheaper than Larry King, but if money were no object, I'd probably do LK and add hair masks into the routine.
If anyone is looking for a good, moisturising shampoo/conditioner set and money doesn't matter, Larry King Social Life is worth a look. I'm going to try something else because I can't justify the expense any more.
Here's the LK ingredients list, with things in bold that I think are chelating ingredients.
Aqua (Water), Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Betaine, PEG-40
Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Hydroxypropyl Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride,
Xylitylglucoside, Sodium Chloride, Parfum (Fragrance), Acrylates/Palmeth-25 Acrylate
Copolymer, Anhydroxylitol, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Maltitol, Glycerin, Coconut Acid,
Xylitol, Panthenol, Ethyltrimonium Chloride Methacrylate/Hydrolyzed wheat protein copolymer,
Sodium Hydroxide, Phytantriol, Acrylates/PEG-10 Maleate/Styrene Copolymer, Phytic Acid,
Dehydroacetic Acid, Citronellol, Sodium Benzoate, Benzyl Benzoate, Disodium EDTA,
Potassium Sorbate, Limonene, Linalool, Ethylhexylglycerin, Coumarin, Eugenol, Pelvetia
Canaliculata Extract, Evernia prunastri extract.