Thick mostly fine hair, what do you do?

[QueenMadge]

I am realizing that my hair is fine rather than med/coarse. It is thick and curly and tends to run super dry. I am looking for tips from other curly/thick/fine hairs to help with keeping moisture in (keeps the curl pattern better and frizz/poof down). I also have very dry straw like ends most of the time. My ends are very prone to tangling even if there are no splits but much worse if there are splits.

Some things I am doing currently that seem to help a little...condition and oil the ends each time I get my hair wet.

Cutting down on the times per week I get it wet.

Finger combing only, or combing with wide toothed comb only when hair is wet and has a ton of conditioner on it.

I am looking for non-cone, moisturizing conditioners. My hair doesn't seem to care much for protein.

I am using a leave in hair balm that I made using glycerine, a little jojoba and a small amount of conditioner.

Thank you for any tips!

If I use regular gels I get drier hair over all.

If I use too heavy/waxy conditioners I get clumpy flat straight curls.

[Heidi_234]

Your hair sound alot like mine - it's rather medium or even fine but very curly and quite thick, and get super dry at the ends all the time.
What helps me tremendously is doing a dry CO - putting conditioner on entirely dry hair until it get totally 'wet' with conditioner. I bun it for an hour or so and then rinse out. This method uses quite much conditioner so you'd prefer to use a cheap one - I always see VO5 and Suave dropped around the boards (esp Suave tropical coconut conditioner - after seeing the ingredients I wish it was sold over here too), so sometimes I choose to follow with thicker conditioner I like.
Also, applying shea butter (I mix it with little bit of coconut oil on my palms) on the ends and bunning for the night helps alot - soft moisturized ends in the morning.
HTH :flower:

[amnicare]

I wish I had some good advice. I am working on the same thing. I hope you figure it out. :)

[QueenMadge]

Heidi123, I just wanted to let you know I did a shorter time conditioner on dry hair bun last night and it definitely made a difference in how the ends feel this morning. Thank you!

eta: I will do an hour or more tonight as I have the time and my sweetheart will not be home;-).

[Heidi_234]

Heidi123, I just wanted to let you know I did a shorter time conditioner on dry hair bun last night and it definitely made a difference in how the ends feel this morning. Thank you!

eta: I will do an hour or more tonight as I have the time and my sweetheart will not be home;-).
Woohoo awesome! :D I'm glad it worked!
I haven't tried it for shorter periods of time, so I'd be interested to hear it there's a difference. Don't forget to report back. :)

[QueenMadge]

I will Heidi,

I chose sleep over hair last night so didn't get to it then. I did wet the ends and put conditioner on them this morning as a leave in. They feel better than usual. If I get home at a decent time tonight I will test out the hour long and let you know.

[Heidi_234]

I will Heidi,

I chose sleep over hair last night so didn't get to it then. I did wet the ends and put conditioner on them this morning as a leave in. They feel better than usual. If I get home at a decent time tonight I will test out the hour long and let you know.
Great, thanks. Looking forward! :thumbsup:

[QueenMadge]

Ok, Both ways left me with non-crunchy ends. The hour + way though the ends felt better. More like the total length. I am experimenting with conditioners at this point and applications from the ears down to avoid scalp problems and I don't want a ton of build up. The conditioners I have are Natures Gate Persimmon/Rose Geranium, V05 kiwi lime, and Suave Aloe Vera Waterlily I think, and GVP conditioning balm from Sallys.

The lighter conditioners seem to work better with my hair. The heavier ones leave it looking after wards a little coated, even though I rinse it out. I am really happy so far to not have the hard crunchy ends;-). Thank you.

[Heidi_234]

And thank you for updating. :smile:
It's interesting about the lighter/heavier conditioners. I have the excat Nature Gate's conditioner that you do, it's one of the lighter ones, right? Maybe I should start using it on my very ends on non wash days before going bed with a quicker waiting time. How long did you leave yours for?

[RocketDog]

I have very fine, curly hair that's prone to dryness on the ends, and I find doing a modified smt-type treatment works wonders for my ends. I take about a tablespoon of conditioner (I use whole foods' store brand herbal mint), honey and virgin coconut oil and mix them together in a bowl, then apply to my hair (concentrating on the ends & length, not the scalp). I mist my hair with Giovanni vitamin leave-in spray or even plain water before I apply the goop so that it is easier to spread through, then wrap the ends up in a bit of saran wrap and put a beanie or bandana over the top of all that. I usually sleep with the goop in and wash it out in the morning - if I avoid my scalp I can get away with COing it out, but if I do a full-head application it does take a bit of shampoo to get my scalp clean.

Works wonders for my hair, and makes the ends so much easier to detangle.

[darkwaves]

Cutting down on the times per week I get it wet.


I've tried that, too -- but it never worked for me, long term. My mostly fine (except for the new coarse!?! hairs), thick hair LOVES water. If it doesn't get it several times a week, it turns into straw.

[Heidi_234]

I've tried that, too -- but it never worked for me, long term. My mostly fine (except for the new coarse!?! hairs), thick hair LOVES water. If it doesn't get it several times a week, it turns into straw.
Maybe it's not the water but the conditioner that accompanies it :wink:

[QueenMadge]

Last night I applied the Suave Aloe/waterlily conditioner to the ends with about a half teaspoon of glycerin mixed into about 1/4 cup of conditioner. I put it up in a scrunchy bun with a plastic shower cap over that and my sleep cap on top of that. I slept in it and rinsed it out this morning. I put about a 50 cent sized amount of the same conditioner through my wet hair and put it up in a towel while I finished my morning routine.

I have had non crunchy ends all day. I will continue this ends mostly treatment a couple of times per week until I can trim most of the ends off. I have a feeling that this will improve the condition of my future ends as it will keep a higher level of moisture in them and not overload my scalp with the conditioner. We'll see how it goes after a month or so.

I do put a small amount of coconut or other oil in my hair on a regular basis. Usually after a shower, while it is still wet.

[QueenMadge]

I left it on for over an hour the second time.

I will try the night-time ends only with the nature's gate conditioner next time. It is a lighter one, but heavier feeling than the suave one. The GVP is really heavy and I might try that on a third night long experiment. I exercise in the a.m. and take a shower after that so it would be on for at least 8 hours.

[Heidi_234]

I'm with you on that one. I'm going to start applying conditioner on the ends in the evening and rinse it out before going to bed every non-wash day starting next week. My ends are currently dry and crunchy and making me want to cut them really badly.

[darkwaves]

Maybe it's not the water but the conditioner that accompanies it :wink: Yes, that could be true!

[QueenMadge]

natures gate is a no go for me for the hour or more on dry hair. It left my hair with flattened out curls and not moisturized. It is going to be my co wash conditioner.

I have tried the garnier 3 minute undo (the apricot seed bits are weird imo) as a soak conditioner, and followed that with leaving in a bit of the conditioner, today I have nice soft hair.

So for me, so far, suave aloe/waterlily conditioner as a soak and leave in = good, non crunchy ends and softer hair. After I try the garnier a few more times I'll report back.

[Heidi_234]

QueenMadge, do you leave it in your hair overnight, or rinse it out and leave it to dry overnight? I ask because as much as I'm not chemicalophobic, I'm a little wary of so much leaving conditioner in overnight, it feels like it's about to dry and crust in my hair or something.

1 hour worked great for me so far with creamier conditioners, this evening I'll try the runnier conditioner I have, for 1 hour, rinse it out and let it dry over the course of the night. My ends right now are not as dry as they usually are, but there's room for improvement. :)

[QueenMadge]

What I did was make a high (top of the head ponytail) and saturated the length of that with the conditioner. I then put a plastic shower cap over it and my satin sleep cap on top of that. This was with the NG Persimmon/Rose Geranium conditioner. I slept with it on over night.

For the other experiments I have done the same and left it on for at least an hour but not overnight. I find this keeps the conditioner off of my scalp but soaks the heck out of the ends.

[Heidi_234]

What I did was make a high (top of the head ponytail) and saturated the length of that with the conditioner. I then put a plastic shower cap over it and my satin sleep cap on top of that. This was with the NG Persimmon/Rose Geranium conditioner. I slept with it on over night.

For the other experiments I have done the same and left it on for at least an hour but not overnight. I find this keeps the conditioner off of my scalp but soaks the heck out of the ends.
Maybe that's why the NG conditioner didn't work?

On a related note - maybe it could be good to change the title of the thread, since we're not troubleshooting anymore, but experimenting with a certain treatment?