if your hair hates conditioner, how to get moisture?

[lawyermom]

It was suggested to me (thanks Katze!) to try adding more moisture to my routine. However, I shed like a sick dog whenever conditioner gets anywhere near my head. In lieu of being slightly bald with pretty hair, I'd like to find an alternative method to add moisture.

What is the best way to add moisture to your hair without using conditioner?

edit - Yes, I know that moisture is not spelled mositure. I can't change it though so I leave it as a testament to my hastiness.

[Fencai]

have you tried coconut oil?
that's a deep treatment that many of us like

[lawyermom]

have you tried coconut oil?
that's a deep treatment that many of us like

How do you use it - I mean, I've used it by just rubbing a little on the ends of my hair after a shower, but how do you use it as a deep treatment?

[spidermom]

Do you shed even if you keep the conditioner away from your scalp?

[Anje]

There are a few things you can try.

1. Conditioner only below your scalp. Like from earlobes down.
2. Change conditioners -- You might be sensitive to something in your condish that's making your shed, and another won't give the same result. (Posting ingredients lists helps with this sort of thing. People will often flag things that are potential problem causers and offer alternatives.)
3. Oils -- these aren't exactly the same as conditioner for everyone, and in the past I couldn't get one to substitute for the other. I'm starting to suspect that I could now...
4. Catnip tea -- lots of folks here have found that it's a decent substitute for conditioner.
5. Damp bunning -- tucking your still-damp ends deep into a bun for a few hours seems to get them to take up moisture. It's more effective than not doing anything to add moisture.
6. Humectants -- These often make hair feel more moisturized, even after you rinse them out. Honey's a good one, but can cause lightening. Other sugar solutions like corn syrup, molasses, and maple syrup, diluted with something, would probably also work well. Ditto with glycerin/glycerol and aloe vera. Note that they all also have some potential to make your hair tangle or feel sticky, and they can be drying in dry conditions (deserts, forced-air heated buildings in winter).
7. Less moisture-stripping routine -- some people get by pretty well if they simply do a routine that doesn't remove as much moisture from their hair. Washing with water only, with non-sulfate shampoos or shampoo bars, or with Indian herbs can all make people able to skip the conditioner more than they can using sulfates, though these aren't generally moisturizing themselves.

[Melisande]

You had some great ideas already.

Aloe vera gel. Straight or in water.

Diluted shampoo or mixed with oil (yes! it works)

Distilled water with oil, shaken and in a mister. The mist gives great moisture to your hair.

Another humectant: sorbitol. Lorraine Massey mentions it, and I remember on the German boards people put it into their mister. Worked very well for them. A caveat for humectants: in very dry air, the work the other way around, i.e., instead of channeling moisture from the environment to your hair, they take it from your hair and add it to the environment.

Oh, and you might try normal moisturizing cream in your ends.

[lawyermom]

Do you shed even if you keep the conditioner away from your scalp?

As silly as it may sound, It seems to me I do. I've puzzled over it and have no answers. On the scalp - YIKES - scary shed. I've tried just conditioning from ears down and it's still ugly. And on top of that, it doesn't look good - my hair gets overconditioned very easily. As I write that though, it occurs to me that I came to that conclusion in the past, when I was still using cones.

If I can find an alternative, I'd rather not deal with conditioner at all.

[lawyermom]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm going to start trying some of these things ASAP.

[KarpatiiSiv]

I've been using a Catnip rinse as my only conditioner for 4 months now with very good results.

[aahavaa]

My hair and scalp hate conditioner too, I get by with using coconut oil liberally as a prewash.
I also alternate between an sls and non sls shampoo.I always use the non sls when my hair is getting too dry and it does the trick.It seems to make my hair retain a lot more moisture.

[Madame J]

Have you tried a HALO rinse? There's a recipe in the Western Herbs article. I wash with shampoo bars and just do an ACV rinse after, normally, so after a cassia treatment left my hair feeling dry, I did a modified rinse with honey, aloe, a splash of vinegar, and a squirt of jojoba oil in a jar of water. Seemed to do the trick.

Coconut oil doesn't add moisture, but it will seal moisture you already have into your hair. If you need to add more moisture to your hair, I recommend honey and aloe (the humectants that Anje already mentioned.

[missy60]

I have sort of noticed the same thing with my hair. I lose very little hair from the shampoo but after the conditioner wow I have a big fall. I really dont understand this at all. Have you tried a leave in conditoner? I have been shampooing and then using Mastey leave in and my shed rate has went way down. Mastey is a very watery leave in, but I cant say its the greatest. I do dampen my ends with water and apply a deep conditioner then bun my hair a couple times a week. I shampoo the next day and my shed rates is still low.

[Nat242]

I'm thirding the catnip tea idea. My hair dislikes conditioner and deep treatments (except perhaps after henna'ing); catnip is the only way I've found to get moisture into my hair without it becoming lank and oily.

I occasionally add a little shea with AVG and a drop of oil as a leave in to the very ends of my hair, but only a very small amount.

[Flynn]

(I have found two different conditioners that don't kill my scalp, and which my hair loves... it might be worthwhile to keep looking...)