Going through a straight patch???

[julliams]

My hair has always varied each time I air dry it but just of late (last week or so) it has been drying almost straight of it's own accord. I'm not really doing anything different but the weather has just suddenly turned colder here (cold by Sydney standards) and I'm wondering if that has something to do with it.

Or could it be that my hair has just turned a corner in that the length is weighing it down more????

I actually really like it - I mean I like my curls but I don't mind my hair straight either. There doesn't seem to be any frizz and it's soft and easy to brush through.

I switch up my wash routines each time. On the first wash I have been using Kevin Murphy Luxury Wash Shampoo followed by Kerastase Nutritive Masquintense and Kerastase Nectar Thermique (even though I'm just airdrying). The other wash day I use Sunsilk Longer and Stronger followed by Giovanni Leave-in. It doesn't seem to matter which products I use - I seem to get the same results.

Could it be that the Kerastase products are kicking in? The salon told me that it was a cumulative result where you needed to use it for a while before getting the full benefit.

Here's what I'm talking about. The first pic is my hair in it's usual curly state - this is air dried, same wash routine. The next day it goes straighter (more like below but a little wavier). Photo is taken indoors with lighting and flash. The second pic is as it dried today. Air dried out in the sun, a little wind but not much - I've run a brush through it but it didn't change the texture. Photo is outdoor in natural light so you can see the texture a little better.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4607743491_685785ab40.jpghttp://farm2.static.flickr.com/1026/4608351980_0a3b4c4231.jpg

Has anyone else experienced this and what do you find to be the cause? I need to add that I can totally get my curls back by doing a little scrunching so I haven't lost them, but normally I air dry curly so I'm kind of surprised at the change.

I've also noticed that my hair sits curlier on the right side than it does on the left and you can see it in my straight pic - the right side of the longest part seems to curl under a little and on the other side it sits quite straight. Weird!

[Loreley]

I don't know what has caused it, but your hair is beautiful on both photos! :)

[HintOfMint]

My hair tends to dry straight-ish under two conditions: cold weather (which is almost always drier because it can hold less moisture), and when I use a 'cone laden serum. You said that it doesn't matter which products you use, so it's probably the cold weather, although I don't know what you were using before. In any case, your hair is quite lovely in both instances.

[julliams]

I have a friend who was a hairdresser and now has a handful of clients that she cuts at home. I was able to ask her advice at a birthday party today. Her first though was that my greys coming through are giving more of a straight effect, then when she asked what I was using she thought it might be the cumulitive effect of the Kerastase products that I'm using since they are very coney. She felt my hair and said that there was alot of silicone on my hair. She suggested clarifying, using a non-coney condish and seeing what happens the next time I air dry just as an experiment so I'm going to try that tomorrow.

As I said, I don't mind the straight change but it is nice to have curls one day and have it flatten to straight/wavy the next (which is what normally happens to me). I would be sad if I had lost my curls completely.

[julliams]

I thought I would report back on what happened after I clarified just in case anyone is interested, particularly for anyone for whom this happens to in the future.

I used Herbal Essences Drama Clean (left my hair squeaky), used Aldi 5 stars condish (no cones) and finished with Giovanni Direct Leave in (again no cones).

The results speak for themselves. Here we are clarified, cone free and air dried. Photo indoors with flash.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/4615011086_8e56bfb322.jpg

I honestly never though build up of silicones could actually take the curl out of my hair. What's good about it is that if I want to go straight, I just have to wash with Kerastase for a couple of weeks and it will go straight all on it's own. My concern here is that this Kerastase mask is supposed to be packing nutrients into my hair - well with that kind of coating there is no way anything is penetrating my hair. It is simply leaving a build up of silicone on each strand and giving it a nice "feel". I have heard that Kerastase is one of the best things you can put on your hair - honestly I really don't think so now that I've seen for myself what a build up of product can do.

[Roseate]

This totally happens to me too! I used a heavy-cone conditioner while on vacation a couple weeks ago, and my wurls dropped right out. It's pretty amazing the difference. Your hair looks great, anyway!

[Elenna]

With 'cones' it would seem that oils and products would not be able to penetrate the hair. The silicones would coat the hair and hide any problem. On the other hand, it is interesting to find a means to straighten hair without heat drying.

[jera]

First off, your hair is awesome. :D My hair tends to be straighter in cold DRY weather no matter what products I use. So it could be a climate/season type thing with you too.

[ilovelonghair]

It happened to me too and I didn't change products, my hair was like in the signature picture and now it has the vaguest wave to it. I want my wavier hair back. Could it be that it has become heavier? I have cut off my fairytale ends a lot lately, but they grow back very quickly. I noticed my hair has become thicker towards the bottom, maybe the same thing happened to you?

[julliams]

I checked in again with my hairdresser friend today and we had a great hair discussion - something I really don't get to do with anyone else as most people just aren't interested. Her take on it is that Kerastase does a great job of totally coating the hair and you are right - nothing gets in. The fact that they call their mask "Nutritive" is not what's really happening here. It's more the "Masquintense" part - an intense load of silicone masking (coating) the hair. So I asked her what's the difference then between something high end like that and the supermarket brands which are often loaded with cones too and she seemed to think that it's the proteins. From what I understood she thinks that the salon brands offer better levels of proteins. She said the supermarket brands are more like detergent with some additives to make your hair feel nice (and some good things too) but she likened it to washing with a dishwashing detergent (only a little better).

She said that I have the best of both worlds. I can use Kerastase and wear my hair straight, or clarify and wear it curly. She also thinks that just clarifying once won't have got all the silicone off because she thinks every strand must have been totally coated in order to make my hair straight like that. I may need to clarify a couple more times to get it totally out of my hair if that's what I want. I'm just happy to see that my curls haven't disappeared.

She maintains that in her opinion, if you can afford it and want to, salon brands are the way to go if you are happy with the silicone thing. She doesn't sell any products so this would be her own opinion, and I'm a friend, too so I'm thinking she would be telling me what she thought as opposed to a salon telling me this because they want to sell products.

I have used supermarket brands all my life and never ever have I had my hair react like this as far as I can remember (or was aware) so the silicone level must be very high. I guess the cones aren't such a bad thing if they are offering some kind of protection but I'm guessing that they won't be letting anything in either so any kind of moisture products or SMT or anything like that just won't get through. Perhaps moisture is being trapped within? I really don't know.

The good news for me is that she thought my hair was free of damage and even though many hairdressers tell me my hair has no moisture and is very dry, she said my hair looked fine and that it looks like healthy curly hair. This is what I always suspected too - I think some of those hairdressers are just used to seeing straight sleek, slippery feeling hair that is actually just coated with silicone.

Anyway - it has been very interesting and I feel like I'm learning something new all the time. I find this "hair journey" so interesting and I'm getting to know what works best for me.

[x0h_bother]

I have the same issue lately..note the avitar versus the sig. Mine may be from intense finger comb obsession, because I have dropped off using cones. I will try clarifying though in case.