Waxy Hair Is Driving Me Nuts.. Any Help?

[Deemeeuh]

I'm a bit confused. I am going back to my natural hair color and the 1.5 inches or so of my unprocessed roots are soft and lovely. But the colored part of my hair after that feels and looks waxy for about 2 inches. What is going on?
Despite experimenting with a thorough massaging shampoo, not conditioning that part, trying a diluted vinegar rinse, and leaving off any product, the waxy part persists. Even my boyfriend noticed last week! I was mortified because it looks like I haven't showered. Gross.
Please, does anyone know what's going here? And if I can get rid of it without damaging/drying out my already fine and processed hair?

[CestMadeleine]

I had that a while back. It's just build-up from all the products in your hair.

I tried adding baking soda to my shampoo and though that did work it dried my hair badly, and the waxy bit came back a few days later.

Then I changed shampoos and it went away. I used regular Head and Shoulders shampoo. But you can try a clarifying one, like baby shampoo.

[Deemeeuh]

Thank you!
I will try this on my next wash and see how it goes! *crosses fingers*

[CestMadeleine]

I hope it works! Good luck :)

[HildeMV]

My dyed hair gets oily looking much faster. I can't wait until theyære further away from my roots. The only thing that'll get that feeling away for me is SLS-shampoo.

[jivete]

Mine feels waxy sometimes if I use too much protein.

[Anje]

If clarifying doesn't work, I'd suggest you look at the article on protein/moisture balance and try wet-testing your hair. Something may be off in the balance, though I'm wondering if you need protein. I wouldn't describe my over-proteined hair as waxy, but I've seen "gummy" a number of times for hair that needs protein.

[Deemeeuh]

Thank you! These are helpful tips!

I guess SLS means sodium lauryl sulphate shampoo and is not a particular shampoo brand?

I used baby shampoo this morning (which has sodium laureth sulfate) THREE times and no noticeable improvement. Nuts. But I will try Head and Shoulders next! (which has both laureth and lauryl)

I did do a protein treatment (Aphogee 2 Step) around the end of October. I was planning on another one in a week or so. My bleached hair used to be VERY gummy (so much so that an idiot hair stylist decided to give me a super short top layer of hair to "cut some of the damage out".. which thinned my hair majorly and I am still growing out.. man I hate hair stylists). But since doing a total of 3 protein treatments each about 3 weeks apart combined with having it colored brown and no longer chemically processing it, it is no longer gummy when wet... sort of wiry/tangly/hard to get a comb through when wet now actually. Hm. Maybe too much protein. So should I hold off on another protein treatment... or might this help?

And does anyone think that maybe oiling will work? With coconut or olive or jojoba something. The first two are oils but jojoba is a wax... Like dissolving like? It just occurred to me but I have no idea if that would work or exacerbate the problem.

Sorry for all the questions, but in addition, the colored part of my hair is now lighter than my roots. Is there a way to correct the colored part's waxy-ness while at the same time darkening my hair to match my roots? Like maybe with henna? I don't want to damage it further with chemicals but nor do I really want any red since my natural color is just a medium-dark brown.

[Elenna]

My :twocents:.

First, clarify with a shampoo made for clarifying or baking soda mixed with shampoo.

Second, how about putting some oil on your hair? You say, "sort of wiry/tangly/hard to get a comb through when wet..." I vote for coconut oil, since you have fine hair. Coconut oil works and is easy to wash out of fine hair. People here either put oil on before washing or after washing. Fine hair should feel soft not wiry and tangly.

[CestMadeleine]

Oiling might help, I second coconut oil for fine hair. My hair loves it and I have very fine strands :)

As for the colouring. Well you don't want red so I wouldn't suggest straight henna. Mix it in with indigo, perhaps 3 parts indigo one part henna. I haven't really experimented with indigo yet so I'll let someone else have the say in this one.

Also, here's Nightshade's article to natural colouring http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=2. Most of it gives you a light hint but you can keep doing herb rinses until you get the desired colour.

[jivete]

Try a super moisturizing conditioner without protein. Mine really does get this weird kind-of waxy, matted feeling after a protein treatment, even when my hair has obviously needed protein (too stretchy). I now always follow with my biolage conditioning balm and leave it on for a while. That helps.

When I would get that waxy-ish feeling, it felt like my hair needed to be shampoo'd but that never helped. Only the extra moisture from a non-protein conditioner would help.

[Deemeeuh]

Thanks! I will definitely try some of those color rinses/treatments once school finals are over. (College is currently ruining my life and worse, my hair care lol)

Today I tried coconut oil. I wet my hair in the shower, slathered on and massaged some coconut oil into the strands and scalp, then used tons of Aphogee conditioner (realized after that it had hydrolyzed veggie protein, nuts) massaged into hair to 'rinse.' Truly rinsed (thoroughly) with water. Still felt like some coconut oil was left so I gobbed on and massaged in L'Oreal EverPure Smooth Conditioner then thoroughly rinsed that too. Blow-out on low heat using a boar bristle round brush and a seamless comb.
Positives: Comb glided through hair, only one tiny tangle! No wiry feel, no strands clumping together. Cannot feel the waxy part anymore. Hair feels very soft! I think it may really have needed that; thanks for the protein/moisture balance and the coconut oil suggestions!
Negatives: Hair looks stringy at the ends and just a touch oily at the roots. This makes my already fine hair seem really thin as well. So this morning after I blow-dried I had to tuck and tie the ends back. I think it might be because my hair still has some coconut oil in it. But I'm afraid if I actually shampooed the coconut oil out, then all that softness would be gone too.

I truly think conditioning-only washes are onto something though... not only for waxy hair but for softness... can't wait to experiment later on with this!

Tomorrow's plan: I bought the Ion clarifying shampoo today from Sally's or possibly I will use the Head and Shoulder's Dry Scalp shampoo and conditioner I just got. Leaning towards the latter two... and I see my bf tomorrow so fingers-crossed!

[Deemeeuh]

Jivete: Matted! Exactly! And yes I had been using Biolage Hydrating Shampoo combined with the Ultra Conditioning Balm. Loved the results! But I think it may have contributed to build-up... however, I can't be sure because there are other variables involved like Redken Glass 01, CHI Silk Infusion, etc that I put on damp hair. Confounding variables as my statistics prof would say :)

Yes I think using the conditioner definitely helped, somehow. Because I kept trying to get it out with that baby shampoo and it wasn't really affecting it. Weird.

If you like your Biolage, have you thought of including it in Snowy's Deep Moisture Treatment? I had great results with the Biolage condish in that. It can be used as a CO wash or a treatment. Great recipe!

[Delila]

I don't oil much these days, I find it seems to contribute to tangles/knots for me, but that sort of thing is quite individual, so by all means, keep experimenting if you're getting good results.

I'm posting, though, because I'd suggest that you conditioner-wash out the excess coconut oil. I find it works much more effectively than other things.

When I do oil, I tend to oil my hair at night, and then in the morning I slather my hair with conditioner, put it in a conditioner cap, let it sit there a while (30 min?) while I drink my morning tea, then I go get a shower, add some water to the conditioner and massage my scalp really well, and rinse like mad.

I prefer really light conditioners for that job, VO-5 works well, as does the Cure Care (http://www.sallybeauty.com/scalp-Conditioner/CURCAR1,default,pd.html)conditioner from Sally's (no fragrance, and CHEAP).

[Katze]

I had your issue when growing out color, too. The bleached/damaged/colored hair just seemed to have a different texture - but my virgin hair gets like this if I do not use sulfates.

I would recommend regular (1-2x a month) sulfate washing for your fine hair. For me, this helps get my hair really clean, and keeps my scalp happy.

[deko]

Clarify. Twice. Then use SMT for about an hour and rinse well. Let your hair air-dry and check the results. If your hair feels stretchy then add some proteine treatment to your next deep treatment session. if your hair seems dry and scrunchy then add moisture to it.

I can't use coconut butter on my hair. My hair is between fine/medium coarse and it's heavily damaged but getting better (thaks to henna) so try and experiment on your hair. I can only use light oils as leave-ins and nothing more.