Body concerns.

[pandora114]

Hullo, as you can see I'm rather new here. Just started growing my hair out again. It's been short for well over a decade, if not more now. Well I have rather fine hair, that's pretty bodyless on a good day, just wondering, how I can have it long, AND give it body, instead of making it look like well a limp noodle.

I currently use Henna on my hair,(have for over 2 almost 3 years now) and oiled it for the first time today with CO. (just a titch! after rinsing out my henna today)

gonna be getting away from Fates and Cones after this bottle of Pantene gets used up. the frugal chick in me screams at waste of that magnetude lol.

So yeah, give me your body tips! My hair is rather limp...it needs Hair Viagra

[DragonLady]

Putting it up while it was still damp always helped for me.

And once I got some wicked body and waves from putting it into a handful of braids and lettign them dry.

Bending at the waist and then flipping my hair up over my head always worked for a little while.

[longhairedfairy]

Putting my hair in a bun helps a lot.

[CindyLea1]

I love second day braid waves! Even better if I can get a french braid to work on day one then take it apart, and finger comb! VOILA! Perm-for-a-day. The tighter the braid the better the waves.

[Flaxen]

It was my experience that nothing made my hair quite as limp as Conetene, I mean Pantene :lol:, so I think just eliminating silicones from your routine will help immensely.

[wheatfree]

It was my experience that nothing made my hair quite as limp as Conetene, I mean Pantene :lol:, so I think just eliminating silicones from your routine will help immensely.


You know, I just proved this for myself tonight. I haven't used a conditioner at all in over a month, let alone one with dimethicone, and I've had the curliest hair I've ever had in my life. It's been gorgeous, bouncy, curly. I've been walking into the bathroom just to look at it.

Well, I needed to wash it tonight, and didn't have my regular stuff handy. I ended up putting Pantene conditioner in it. Seriously, I tried to mitigate the damage by only using a little and rinsing it straight out. No wait time at all.

Didn't matter. My hair is almost completely straight. My curls are the gentlest of waves, and they don't look near as pretty this way.

[lizzyjo]

I know most people on LHC condone blowdrying, but I've found that gives me the best volume. I blowdry my hair on special occasions and it ends up looking really nice.

[Carolyn]

If you are using Pantene, then it's highly likely you have build up that needs to be removed. Get a clarifying shampoo and get rid of the build up. Get a nice cone free conditioner and see if that helps. Save the super coned up Pantene for a once in a while thing or use it to shave your legs with. If you have been using one conditioner exclusively for a while your hair might be ready for a change.

I like to damp bun and I get nice smooth bun waves.

[MsBubbles]

I have too much body on my body and absolutely none in my hair! However, bunning my hair once it has just dried, for a few hours, gives me about an hour of bun waves, depending on the humidity where I am.

Wet bunning doesn't do a thing to give me body. The slightest bit of moisture makes my hair revert back to its dead straightness.

Once you have been babying your hair and it has grown down a bit, I think you will find something that works for you, even if it is temporary.

Just noticed you said "I have rather fine hair" but you've got it listed as 'M' in your profile.

[pandora114]

because I didn't know what it meant >.> I'm like "well it's pretty medium right now with all the henna in it..." so who knows, it might behave differently now. It's still pretty limp and lifeless.

I did find a nice clarifying shampoo recipe.

I do have some non-cone kicking around under my cupboard (Dove I think) It's just regular poo and baking soda. I think I'll do that, then give it a nice oil after it's all rinsed....

...the thing is, hubby wants me to use up all that pantene 2 in 1 >.> we're on a tight budget...I didn't know it was bad

[Flaxen]

It's not that Pantene is bad (well, I personally think it is), it's just that Pantene is so 'cone laden that it requires certain steps to deal with it - like clarifying. My hair goes limp after about two uses of Pantene, and I would trash my hair if I clarified that often.

The fact that you're using a 2-in-one might be a problem, too. That puts conditioner on your scalp every time you shampoo, and that will make for limp hair.

[pandora114]

just got out of the shower. did a clarifying with Head and Shoulders and some baking soda. Man my hair squeeked lol. I then did an ACV rinse and used some CO after squeezing it with a towel.

My hair does feel a bit different after the H&S and BS treatment along with the ACV rinse.

[SimplyViki]

From a different perspective, I'll second what others have said about trying to cut out the cones and see how your hair likes it. I like cones for their limp-ifying properties - they make my "can't-make-up-its-mind-if-it's-straight-or-wavy" hair straight, which is easier for me than trying to make my waves appear and behave. So for me, they're great, but for someone who's trying to avoid limpness, they'd probably not be the best thing.

[pandora114]

From a different perspective, I'll second what others have said about trying to cut out the cones and see how your hair likes it. I like cones for their limp-ifying properties - they make my "can't-make-up-its-mind-if-it's-straight-or-wavy" hair straight, which is easier for me than trying to make my waves appear and behave. So for me, they're great, but for someone who's trying to avoid limpness, they'd probably not be the best thing.

Yeah, See my hair is limper than well...an all male assisted living facility >.> *insert badumba here*

I think the no cone/fate route will help tremendously. Or I might need fates but no cones to get rid of the every day buildup that will weigh me down, I dunno. I just know my hair feels 10x different after doing the Head and shoulders + baking soda wash and an ACV rinse, with a titch of CO after toweling.

I would grow my DD's hair out again but she's gonna go live with my MIL for the next school year (it's complicated) so I highly doubt my MIL will do anything to take care of it so I gotta keep it in a page boy for now :(

[pandora114]

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1166/imgp0553i.jpg

here's my hair now. Kinda hard to take a pic of it really but it's at my collar right now, just about...

BTW, today I did a clarifying treatment with H&S shampoo mixed with baking soda, an ACV rinse and a titch of CO. I henna'd yesterday, mix was henna, ACV, CO, green tea.

Today I did a bit of yoga, and did some more googling. Think I'll make some Kefir Chai (I have some bengal spice tea with loads of cardamom in it)

[creativehoney]

After my co washes, my hair is full and fluffy, but by the end of the next day it flattens down.

If you skip a day or two in between washes, try a water only rinse/wash on your skip days, the water fluffs it up again. (it does for me.)

I use vo5 volumizing conditioner for my cowash sometimes. That helps a bit.

Also, when I do aloe Vera gel "plopping" that tends to hold the volume way longer.

I think oiling makes mine go flatter quicker, so on days I do my aloe "plop" I skip the oils.

I also think mine started losing volume after daily shampoo and conditioner. I had Major shedding all the time.
Sinse I started co washing my shedding has literally cut down to 1/4 of what it used to be.

Hth. :)

[vindo]

Well I have rather fine hair, that's pretty bodyless on a good day, just wondering, how I can have it long, AND give it body, instead of making it look like well a limp noodle.
So yeah, give me your body tips! My hair is rather limp...it needs Hair Viagra

My hair had pretty limp moments with Cones, but it was all gone once I stopped...
Also more length and less layers make the hair fall better and stick together better.
My undyed virgin hair (at BSL now) is also a lot stronger and a little thicker, so in case you have used chem. dye in the past it might better.

Aside from that - not forcing it into a shape and simply treating it very good really will produce juicy hair at its best. So i would not try to get the body with blow dryers and products ;) it's only short term.

It does not look limp in the picture btw., if youre a 1a you can never achieve 3a body ;) but that can still mean that it can look thick or have a lot of body for very straight hair :flower:
Mine is very straight and slippery but I never feel like it is flat...the hairs hold itself away from the head pretty well, jut not the way typical "Hollywood Hair" does. In nature hair has less oomph :lol:

[pandora114]

thanks :D I dyed my hair quite a bit when I was younger, I think the last time I used chems on my hair was when my son was 6 months old. he's now 2.5 so all the chem hair has been cut off by now. Heck my mom PERMED my hair when I was a kid. UGH I had the worst poodle top perms you could think of...fried baked..nasty..

My hair is now all healthy non chemicaled growth. Just henna.

[Madame J]

I'm pretty sure you can get Suave or V05 shampoos and conditioners for under a buck each, and members here seem to like them. Maybe shell out 2 bucks and pick up a clarifying shampoo to clear out the cones, and a good cone-free conditioner, so you have the option of either CWC or CO if you want to try that.

Honestly, I'm a grad student and new wife on a stipend, and I will drop an unintended dollar on a bag of chips in the afternoon once a week -- I'd totally go without that for two weeks to make my hair nicer. And you can use shampoo to shave your legs, too, not just conditioner -- I accidentally bought shampoo instead of conditioner last time, and have still been using it. The 2-in-1 will be even better than plain shampoo.