Which kind of dry? How to tell the difference?

[HotRag]

I have problems to know if dry hair is caused of something to acidic/astringent or if it is just dry as from overcleaning/stripped from oil.

Is there a way to tell the difference?

Sometimes my hair feels dry when still damp, but can feel better when it dries.
It is like it feels dry but not, in the same time.
Can this be a sign of having to much acid or to much of an astringent ingredient?

If someone can, please tell me how dry hairs from "to strong ACV" or something like that, feels.
And the difference between this and dryness due to "stripping hairs too much".

[Heidi_234]

I second the question.

[Jorja]

Oooh, can I third the question? Sometimes my hair feels weird when wet, kind of like dolls hair :confused:, but it's fine once its dry.

[HotRag]

Oooh, can I third the question? Sometimes my hair feels weird when wet, kind of like dolls hair :confused:, but it's fine once its dry.
Yes, that I have felt too. I wonder if that is due to acidic ingredients or is due to oil not washed off. It feels dry and sometimes oily at the same time, but normal or great when dried.

[DragonLady]

Oooh, can I third the question? Sometimes my hair feels weird when wet, kind of like dolls hair :confused:, but it's fine once its dry.


Yeah; I "suffer" that, too. My response so far has been to keep slathering it with conditioner until it feels more normal, but I wonder every time if there isn't something else I should be doing or something I'm doing wrong. :(

[ratgirldjh]

well i have noticed that if i use amla on my hair alone - or even in a mix - that my ends will feel stripped. they literally feel different from the rest of my hair - even when my hair is dry. in the past i tried using vinegar rinses to wash my hair and had something similar happen - although not as bad. if you try using amla on your skin it also seems to leave a weird texture on your skin - so maybe this is a feature of either it's acid or astringent properties - though shikakai is also astringent - but pH balanced - it doesn't seem to leave the same feeling

i have noticed that this feeling seems to go away after a day or so - but i think the ends of my hair prefer less astringent items

[Finoriel]

I know the "crunchy dry" on dry and heavily oiled hair. My guess is that there is not enough moisture in the hair before oiling it when this occurs. Does not happen when my hair is in good moisturized condition or if I mist my hair before oiling it when it´s a little dry to begin with. That´s why I avoid warm and heavy oil treatments, they are just not for me.
Too clean gives me a "squeaky" feeling when it´s still wet and dry-flyaway-electric when I don´t fight that with oiling it as long as it´s still damp.
Acidic rinses do not make my hair feel dry and I tested a lot of different ones and tend to not follow them with more water. Never did too harst ones though.
Wiry and somehow crunchy when wet only occurred when I did very long henna sessions, years ago. Could also be the henna in combination with the coney products I used to use back then. That feeling disappeared when my hair dried.
HTH

[HotRag]

ratgirldjh: I also have experienced this when using amla. I have not used Indian herbs without it yet, but will exclude amla next wash.
Ends also feels odd when I used ACV, but not as much.

I have measured pH when using amla, and it went down to pH 3.

This dryness was there when using amla with soapnut liquid, but then I did not preoil, so I thought it was soapnuts that dried out to much. It could be both those times though.

There is no lack of oil when I have this dryness now, but I don't really know if it is lack of moisture or to astringent wash.
Maybe oil on hairs all the time can make the hair not get moisture?

The feeling is a bit like the "doll hair" as Jorja described.

[ratgirldjh]

for me any amla in my mix will leave my hair with this feeling. at first i thought it was the shikakai because other people said it is drying. but i found that i could use straight shikakai and not have the weird feeling. shikakai leaves my hair very smooth and sort of coney feeling. the amla makes it harder and more strawlike and even though it is supposed to improve curls it makes mine absolutely straight on the ends!

i think it is the astringent property and the extreme vitamin c content that my hair doesn't like. i also notice a similar feeling on my skin after i do a mask with amla paste.

once i tried a amla mask on my hair to see what would happen and the ends felt so dry and crispy afterwards - just the last 3 inches or so of my hair - the rest was beautiful! the feeling went away after a couple of days - but i didn't get good enough results to try it again :)

[HotRag]

for me any amla in my mix will leave my hair with this feeling. at first i thought it was the shikakai because other people said it is drying. but i found that i could use straight shikakai and not have the weird feeling. shikakai leaves my hair very smooth and sort of coney feeling. the amla makes it harder and more strawlike and even though it is supposed to improve curls it makes mine absolutely straight on the ends!

i think it is the astringent property and the extreme vitamin c content that my hair doesn't like. i also notice a similar feeling on my skin after i do a mask with amla paste.

once i tried a amla mask on my hair to see what would happen and the ends felt so dry and crispy afterwards - just the last 3 inches or so of my hair - the rest was beautiful! the feeling went away after a couple of days - but i didn't get good enough results to try it again :)
Definitely sounds like excluding amla will be something for me to try.

I first thought soapnut liquid was really drying, but now when I have over oiled and not been able to wash it out completely, I am sure it is not due to too much stripping of the hairs.

My body in general do not like sour things. I never eat citrus or sour candy. Do not like vinaeger. Even my teeth gets those icy aches for days when I eat a citrus or apple.

Maybe my whole body says "take the acid away". :rolleyes:
On my skin, it seams to be ok though. I do not use amla there, but hibiscus, thas also get solutions down to very low pH.

Next week, Friday or Saturday, I will see if the odd dry feeling gets better. Then I try same wash as last time, but without amla.

[Heidi_234]

HotRag, I have some ends that are possibly damaged (on the canopy layer, sun damage, wear&tear, who knows), they always give me the dry tangles while combing wet. I thought it was because of damage, the cuticle wasn't lying flat nicely, making it feel damaged, dryish and so on.
It's not build up, because I tried to clarify them. Also, it happens after I use ACV rinse and acidic catnip rinse, or even cold water. But I have hard time connecting that to way too astringent rinses, because it acts as if the cuticles are up, like with build up, rather than something else. I would assume that when the cuticle raised, it doesn't keep the moisture as well, and causes the hair to appear dry.
Do you have it on your entire length or just the ends? I got it on the ends, more on the more damaged ends than others.

[GlebeGirl]

I'm afraid I don't have much insight on the different kinds of dryness, but I did decide long ago to institute a policy of not determining how my hair felt after a wash until it was completely dry. Since it's the dry result I'm aiming for, I don't go by how it feels when still wet or damp since it's not finished 'curing', I guess. :D

It results in less stress for me, in any case!

[HotRag]

It is just ends. But they are not damaged. Of course there are more wear to the oldest.
And, it is the last third that has old henna on (if that could take a part in this).

I do not think it is raised cuticle, it does not at all feel like that. They feel very smooth.

The only real dry cause I can think of, is if the constant oil I had the last weeks, has caused moisture to not reach the hair. But again, when dry, it feels ok. Very soft.

[HotRag]

I'm afraid I don't have much insight on the different kinds of dryness, but I did decide long ago to institute a policy of not determining how my hair felt after a wash until it was completely dry. Since it's the dry result I'm aiming for, I don't go by how it feels when still wet or damp since it's not finished 'curing', I guess. :D

It results in less stress for me, in any case!
Yeeah! But... *heh* I want to put oil on damp ends, which has sometimes resulted in the discovery of very oily ends when dried because I thought ends where dry. Now I know better, wait and mist on oil + water if needed.

If it is due to too acidic stuff, I think it could be important for me to avoid such ingredients. If they cause damage in the long term.

************

Renewing the question for everybody:

It is said that to strong ACV solution can cause dry hair. But how does that feel? Is it like what we above have described?

[HotRag]

An update:

This week I washed again with Indian herbs.
I skipped the amla, and the strange dryness on the ends, is not present today :)
I added moong dal and besan, but I do not think they is the cause of the better ends.

I am rather sure it was the acidic thing that made this strange dryness, and that this dryness is what is meant by "to acidic can cause dry hair". With less well oiled ends, it may have felt more dry when dry (from water).

Before, I have felt this dryness when use of hibiscus and ACV. Not as strong as from amla though.