Everything makes my ends crunchy!!!! Help

[cocolover]

I am really at a loss. I have been dealing with nasty doll hair ends for at least 6 months, if not longer. Thinking it was damage that I would need to just cut off, I have done two microtrims now. Finally, a few weeks ago I clarified with an SLS shampoo and then did an SMT for a couple of hours. To my absolute delight my doll hair ends were gone! However, as soon as I put anything on my hair, my ends turn back to doll hair :brickwall Shea butter, fox cream, coconut oil, jojoba oil, avacado oil, Africa's best oil, meadowfoam seed oil, olive oil, leaving in a small amount of conditioner, pure aloe, I tried a catnip treatment....they all create doll hair ends on me. I don't know what to do. When I put nothing on my hair it is dry, fly away and way too frizzy. Has anyone else experienced this? I would really appreciate any new ideas to try. Thanks.

[Aditi]

However, as soon as I put anything on my hair, my ends turn back to doll hair :brickwall Shea butter, fox cream, coconut oil, jojoba oil, avacado oil, Africa's best oil, meadowfoam seed oil, olive oil, leaving in a small amount of conditioner, pure aloe, I tried a catnip treatment....they all create doll hair ends on me.

First of all stop these treaments which you are doing to your hair its more likely that it does not suit your hair.
Second now that you have tried all natural products and did not got any result how about trying commercial product for your hair? I highly recommend Biolage Leave-in serum for you as they have helped me combat flyaways, frizz which were a major problem for my hair too :)

[cocolover]

I'm sorry, I should have given a bit more info. For personal reasons, I will not use any products that have chemicals in them. Also, when I used to use commercial products, my hair was way frizzier and unruly.

[rogue_psyche]

What washing/conditioning methods do you use and with what? What is the conditioner portion of your SMT?

[Igor]

I’m wondering what happened 6 months ago since your hair changed. My thoughts are that
A) You upset your hair too much with the different treatments and you need to leave it alone more. Return to your previous routine and ignore the feeling of “bad” ends. Give your hair time to return to its previous state
B) You could try to leave oil(s) in for longer time. They need time to absorb and penetrate. Find a weekend where you don’t have any plans and leave your hair greasy and oily to see if that helps. Coconut oil is supposedly the best oil for penetrating the hair stands. People have blogged about having oily hair for days and then suddenly the oils start absorbing on its own
I’m no oil expert, I’m just writing what I remember reading :wink: I hope you find a solution!

[juliaxena]

I never really understood "no chemicals" attitude. Oils are chemicals too. No "chemical" product is really unnatural, it's not like scientist in lab create artificial matter from nothing, it's all made out of "natural" compounds. It is fairly obvious oils don't suit you. However if you don't want to try some cones or hair creams with cones in them, then I guess all you can do is SMT every time. Perhaps you simply need a hardcore treatment for your ends (which I find cones are), you might as well do it.

[Shadow]

I found that Emu oil really helped to keep my ends under control. Emu oil and Kerastase Nectar Thermique have been my saving graces where scraggy ends are concerned (especially since I'm a naughty heat-styler hehe). My ends just didn't seem to want to absorb all the other oils I tried, even coconut, and it always felt like the oils where just sitting on top of the hair instead of sinking in. Emu oil, on the other hand, sinks right in. I only use a single, small drop every morning and my ends have loved it. I have also rubbed a tiny, tiny bit over my fingers and then smoothed them over the rest of my hair and have found that it works great to keep static and frizzies at bay when it's humid out without making my hair look greasy or unwashed (even serum doesn't do that for me :) )

If you're pro-natural products (and not vegetarian or vegan) I'd say give Emu oil a try. See if you can get a little sample bottle from somewhere so that you're not spending too much money in case it doesnt work for you.

[cocolover]

rogue-psyche-I have been using shikakai to cleanse since about February, but have recently started experimenting with soapnuts. The top half of my hair got much smoother and shinier when I quit using shampoo. The rest of my hair is very happy, just not the ends. I sometimes apply AO Honeysuckle rose to the ends in the shower while the herbs are on the top

Igor-it is not so much that my ends suddenly changed 6 months ago, they just got a little more doll hair probably.. I am at a dilemia, because they have always been dry and I'm trying to find something that will make them soft. I have left the oils in for days and they still don't give me soft ends :(

juliaxena-my decision to go no chemicals just came out of research of the long-term affects those chemicals can have on people. My husband had cancer in his mid-twenties, which sent me on a huge researching expedition. After reading lots of scientific studies, I just felt more comfortable leaving most chemicals out of my personal care products. I check all my ingredients on the cosmeticdatabase.com website for safety and make decisions based on that.

Shadow-thanks for the tip, I will pick up some emu oil to try

[kdaniels8811]

Have you tried catnip tea soaks?

[missmagoo]

I'm going to throw out there that my hair HATES the AOHR. It made may ends like straw. I don't know why, because my hair does like protein- it just didn't really seem to absorb or something.

I used it last year randomly, and I was pretty surprised to see how much people seem to love it around here.

[teela1978]

Have you considered the possibility that your hair doesn't respond well to oils? Not everyone's does. Maybe it's best to stick to aloe and honey (per the good results with an SMT) and leave the oils alone.

[nucleardelusion]

I know this sounds like over kill, but my ends are absolutely fried from my gothy high school sessions and I've been leaving suave or v05 conditioner on my ends & just letting it dry there. Then I gently comb it out. It's been nearly a week and I dare say they shine! They're not perfect, but they're pretty happy.

[Renbirde]

If you live in a humid climate, you might try something containing a humeticant* like glycerin to helm your hair hang on to moisture.

*Sorry-- this isn't spelled right... I think. :/

[Deborah]

Since you have tried every product that you can on your ends, and they are still not nice, it seems likely that your ends are truly damaged. You may need to trim off a couple of inches. At 30 inches you won't likely feel that your hair is much shorter after a good trim, just that the ends are finally nice and healthy.

Good luck with whatever you try next! :)

[Anje]

I'm another who's going to wager that your hair doesn't like oils. (And that may change over time. Mine likes them a lot more than it used to.)

If you liked the SMT, maybe you should keep doing treatments like that, with humectant ingredients like honey, aloe, glycerin, etc. A few drops of glycerin in distilled water might be a good spray for your hair, though too strong a concentration can get sticky.

Also, are you putting oils on wet, damp, or dry hair? If you have only tried one, you might want to change. Crunchy ends from oil on dry hair is pretty common, though I've also heard of people dealing with the reverse (crunchy when applied to wet but not dry).

Finally, are you using protein in any of your products? You might want to switch your protein use and see if things change. Usually I associate crunch with too much protein, but there are folks that need some added to help their hair hold moisture.

[cocolover]

kdaniels- I have done several catnip soaks and they seemed to make no difference, does it take awhile for good results?
Anje- I have tried the oils on both wet and dry....I am thinking that the couple of you that mentioned it, may be right, my ends hate oils.
I will stick with the honey, aloe, etc... try the glycerine in water spray. I may try eliminating all protein, I've already been limiting it.
missmagoo-I've used several different conditioners, but they all don't seem to be enough, or maybe it is because I am using the oils with all of them
Thank you for all the replies.

[ktani]

kdaniels- I have done several catnip soaks and they seemed to make no difference, does it take awhile for good results?
Anje- I have tried the oils on both wet and dry....I am thinking that the couple of you that mentioned it, may be right, my ends hate oils.
I will stick with the honey, aloe, etc... try the glycerine in water spray. I may try eliminating all protein, I've already been limiting it.
missmagoo-I've used several different conditioners, but they all don't seem to be enough, or maybe it is because I am using the oils with all of them
Thank you for all the replies.

I agree that you have been trying too much all at once.

Oils are great but they can build up. Washing herbs are traditionally used on pr-oiled hair because they leave some behind to not have hair get dried out.

Catnip, from my experience does not do well over any coatings.

I would cut back on the amount of oils. Continue to use your washing herbs.

From reports in the catnip thread, great results have been achieved when the hair is clarified, then washing herbs used on the scalp only, and a catnip soak is used on the length separately, bagged and timed. You would need to clarify every so often doing this, unless you were to use conventional shampoo. Catnip is removed easily by that.

[spidermom]

How do your ends feel after an oil treatment followed by a wash? I did this with olive oil last night, left it in about 36 hours, then washed my hair. My ends are terrific right now - soft and pliable and obviously well moisturized. This is better than any other oil as a leave-in; I'm excited!