Hair freak-outs after moving

[Atalaya05]

So, I have a question for everyone...

I just moved from a relatively wet climate (Portland, OR) to the mountains of North Carolina, where winters are very dry and veeeeeeery cold. My poor hair doesn't like this at all!

I thought the condition was improving but in the last few weeks it seems soooo much drier...it's like straw now. I ran out and bought some leave-in conditioner, and have started to experiment with my routine a little bit, but not too much luck so far.

Has anyone else had this problem? What kind of treatments would you recommend?

[AJoifulNoise]

Do you use any oils? Coconut oil has been my hair's savior this winter.

[Faye Diego]

I got my hair through the last winter with a mix of coconut and macadamia oil, shea butter and bee wax. It's great, really. ^^
You can change the oils off course, I think the bee wax is the important part of the recipe.

[HairColoredHair]

You may need to consider as well that you may have gone from a place with one type of water to another. Is your water soft? Chlorinated? Sometimes disilled water or a filter could help?

[Atalaya05]

No, I'm not using any oils at the moment, but I'll definitely give it a try! Anything for my fried hair, lol. I've never tried using bee wax or shea butter on my hair either...didn't really occur to me to try.

As for the water issue...as far as I know we don't have hard water here, but I could try using a filter to see if that helps.

Thanks for your advice!

[Euphony]

I'm in a wetter climate than you were before you moved (north of Seattle). Hubby and I spent a week and a half in Rhododendron/Zig Zag last summer. My hair was so weird, it lost so much of the wave (which I thought was dandy!) and it dried in half the time after washing it (another dandy!) but was drier on the ends then normal. Using just a dab of coconut oil and making sure I did use conditioner after washing it helped a lot.

[kdaniels8811]

SMT's!

4 parts conditioner (4 Tablespoons)
1 part honey (1 Tablespoon)
1 part clear aloe gel (1 Tablespoon)

Heat in the microwave for a few seconds til it's warm, then apply to wet or dry hair (especially the ends). Cover hair with a shower cap/shopping bag/clingy food wrap/whatever, and let it sit for as long as you can stand it (30 minutes to overnight). Rinse out, do not shampoo.

Works like a charm.

[LHGypsyRose]

I haven't ever lived on the West coast, but I have lived in Fl, Co. and many states in between. The biggest change for me was moving from NC to Colorado because winters were much much dryer in Co. That was years ago and I don't remmember how I dealt with it, but I still have long healthy hair so it is possible to surrive. Good luck:)

[Themyst]

Hmmm... I wonder if you could run a humidifier during your dry months - at least while you're at home.

[SimplyLonghair]

I had this problem, but not because I moved, but because the weather here has changed. O_O
When I first moved here it was very humid and that was okay, I could deal with that, but now it is dry. Way too dry and my hair doesn't like it so I am going through a learning curve as to what works now as opposed to what used to work. :o:rolleyes:

Good luck, and yes SMT is wonderful! Honey helps draw moisture in the air, whatever that happens to be, and that really helps.:D

[melikai]

I had this same problem when I moved back to Canada briefly after being in NYC for years. My hair felt brittle and straw-like. Turned out that it was both lacking in moisture and had protein overload. It was like the dryer climate made my hair require less protein (??). Still can't really figure it out, but what worked was a lot of deep moisture treatments (warmed up honey, conditioner without proteins, and walnut oil; applied to dry hair for an hour, then shampooed and conditioned), and alternating CWC and CO washes. Just check all shampoos and conditioners for any proteins, and avoid them.

[Atalaya05]

Hmm, someone I know recommended I try egg whites etc to load up on protein so I may have overdone it. I'll try cutting back and see if it helps and just keep drying deep conditioning treatments. Hopefully that'll fix things :)

[feralnature]

I left Houston (wet east Texas) many years ago, for central Texas (dry) but my hair likes it. I don't have the droopy droops like I had in the humidity. As long as I condition and oil, my hair shines and has body.

[ratgirldjh]

i know what you mean - LOL
when i lived in florida for 2 years i was just starting to grow my hair out from very short. we evidently had perfect water there - because it didn't matter what i used on my hair it always looked great!

then we came here to texas and the same thing i was using in florida made my hair gummy, dry, and lifeless looking and dull within a week.

that was part of what got me started on this quest for the perfect shampoo!

btw- i used weleda rosemary shampoo til they stopped making it - i haven't tried any of the new formulations because i realized later that it was an SLS shampoo
then i changed to garnier fructis S&C for years and that is what i was using when i moved here - maybe the cones finally caught up with me?