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Ferine
July 2nd, 2010, 02:14 PM
I've been doing oil treatments, molasses, and coconut milk treatments as well. My ends, the last inch, just keep betting drier. I only wash about once a week using Kiss my face mistreated, condition with suave humectant. I use aloe, emu oil and jojoba as leave ins, and do oil treatments w/ coconut, jojoba, and castor. I have also added sweet almond oil recently.
No matter what I do the ends stay dry. It's not from prior damage, I don't dye, perm, straighten, or use heat.

Any ideas at all will be welcomed happily, and most likely tried!!!

Thanx in advance!!!!

Ferine

Ferine
July 2nd, 2010, 02:15 PM
Oh, I'm leary of trimming the last inch in case this works it's way up!!

And I just trimmed a 1/4 " about a week ago.

Thanx

Fairlight63
July 2nd, 2010, 02:22 PM
Have you tried putting jojoba oil or coconut oil on your hair while it is still damp?

Or I heard to put olive oil (gob it on) on your hair the day or night before washing it (nape of neck down) braid it & then wash the next day. I tried that last week & it seemed to help.

What kind of shampoo do you use? Aussie Moist helps my hair so maybe a moisturizing type of shampoo would help also.

Merewen
July 2nd, 2010, 02:24 PM
Someone suggested to me when my ends were not being nice was to put conditioner on my ends AFTER I rinsed and let it dry that way. It helped a lot!

Ferine
July 2nd, 2010, 02:25 PM
I have been putting jojoba and emu on the ends as soon as it is out of the towel.
Most of the time I oil with a coconut, jojoba, castor combo before I wash.
I started using Kiss My Face Mistreated shampoo recently, but maybe I should go for moisturizing instead, tho I thought the Mistreated was supposed to do that?

Thax BTW

pinklemonade
July 2nd, 2010, 02:25 PM
It seems like you are doing all the beneficial stuff, washing once a week, conditioning, oiling. My ends were also really dry so I cut them off.
I also suggest oiling with olive oil overnight, it makes hair real soft. Like Fairlight suggested oiling on wet hair is also a great idea.

white line
July 2nd, 2010, 02:31 PM
You are already using alot of other oils, but I found recently that my ends really love shea butter. I've added that as part of my heavy oiling, putting shea butter from ears down. When I wash my hair the next day, it is super soft and ends feel great.

HairColoredHair
July 2nd, 2010, 02:35 PM
When is the last time you clarified your hair? Often when my ends get 'dry' it's buildup.

Also, perhaps you have a protein buildup? My hair doesn't like protein and reacts by acting 'dry'.

Magicknthenight
July 2nd, 2010, 02:39 PM
I've been doing oil treatments, molasses, and coconut milk treatments as well. My ends, the last inch, just keep betting drier. I only wash about once a week using Kiss my face mistreated, condition with suave humectant. I use aloe, emu oil and jojoba as leave ins, and do oil treatments w/ coconut, jojoba, and castor. I have also added sweet almond oil recently.
No matter what I do the ends stay dry. It's not from prior damage, I don't dye, perm, straighten, or use heat.

Any ideas at all will be welcomed happily, and most likely tried!!!

Thanx in advance!!!!

Ferine

Have you tried an SMT? A lot of people have had success with it.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=128&=snowy+moisture+treatment
Just make sure you heat it up for only 30 seconds...any more and i get curds. Perhaps switch conditioners? I bought the Kiss my face miss treated shampoo and it has cones in it. I'm not sure if you know what cones are but reading this may help
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=13
O. Cones are short for silicone. The articles section has a lot on good hair care. It sounds like your doing a lot for it.
Perhaps also look into this
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=44
Clarifying may help if the shampoo has built up...and you can see if you need moisture or protein. If you don't find KMF miss treated to be moisturizing enough at the top of the page click "Reviews"
That's where i go sometimes when i want to look for a new product to try.
Also do you wear your hair contained? If its rubbing up against stuff or getting tangled in the wind that could make your ends dry.

Maybe you can try scalp washes
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=85
If you want to avoid washing your hair too much. A lot of people have success with CWC though. (Condition, wash, condition.)
Conditioner on the length..shampoo only on the scalp.
I've heard good things about catnip as well
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=118

I also found this
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=177
Though i haven't tried it.
I gave you a lot of links but try not to be overwhelmed! Take it slow and try one thing at a time so you can know exactly whats working. Good luck!:D

ETA: Theirs also something called CO (conditioner only) where you wash your hair with a very light conditioner. It does clean your hair and can help keep it from getting dry.



If none of this works you can always micro-trim a very tiny amount. A small trim always seems to help!

teela1978
July 2nd, 2010, 02:39 PM
Just to clarify, are you using conditioner after you wash or just oil? My ends do better with conditioner than just oil. Also, as haircoloredhair mentioned, a good clarifying of your ends could help as well.

Madame J
July 2nd, 2010, 02:41 PM
When is the last time you clarified your hair? Often when my ends get 'dry' it's buildup.

+1. I've had "dry, damaged-feeling" ends for a year, even though I was using lots of conditioners, oils, moisture treatments, etc. Then, I stopped using shampoo bars and got a bottle of cheap clarifying shampoo and after one good wash, the damaged feeling went away. I probably could have avoided my last trim if I'd thought of it sooner.

HintOfMint
July 2nd, 2010, 03:03 PM
I looked up the ingredients for Kiss My Face Miss Treated Shampoo and I think I see what your problem(s) could be.
1. One problem could be from the rice protein and the wheat amino acids. Too much protein, or any protein at all if you are sensitive, can dry out your hair if used for a while.
2. Another problem could be the dimethiconol and cyclomethicone. While they are fairly low in the list of ingredients, silicones have a tendency to coat the hair shaft and block out any conditioners, particularly this combination. While cyclomethicone evaporates, dimethiconol doesn't and is facilitated by the cyclo to coat your hair. Since this is in a shampoo and I am assuming you use this on your length since you have not stated otherwise, the silicone is coating your hair before you even put on conditioner. Suave humectant, has glycerin--an ingredient that draws moisture (steam from your shower) into your hair. However, a moisturizing conditioner cannot do its job since it is being blocked by silicone left by your shampoo.
3. This issue has to do with the suave humectant, and my money is on this issue. Suave Professionals Humectant has a silicone--dimethicone. Kiss My Face has very mild kind of sulfate in the middle of its ingredients. Dimethicone is notoriously heavy and requires SLS to remove it. It is the bad boy of all silicones, and Kiss My Face does not have the detergent power to remove it. The dryness on your ends is build up.

Your whole issue could be more than buildup. The protein and silicone in the shampoo could be exacerbating any dryness caused by the imbalance between a weak shampoo and heavy silicone conditioner.

My recommendation is to clarify with an SLS shampoo (silicone-free, and protein-free to be on the safe side), and condition heavily with a silicone-free and protein free conditioner. I recommend Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition because it is one
of the few conditioners that is both protein and silicone free, yet is very rich. I have also heard that Tresseme Naturals has a decent conditioner, however I have not tried it.

Stine
July 2nd, 2010, 03:07 PM
Have you tried pure honey?

Last time I had these dry ends and nothing else worked (cleaning, proteins, oiling), I tried a mixture of water an honey on all my hair (or just the ends, both works), left it on for about an hour or two I think. Then shampoo and condition like usual.
After that, they were back to normal again, turned soft, when oiling, etc. :-)

As I am writing here, I think I should use honey more often, it made ma hair shine like never before.... :heartbeat :heartbeat :heartbeat

Darkhorse1
July 2nd, 2010, 08:46 PM
Haven't read the answers, but olive oil is what helped me. I had dry--like straw-ends, from the elements I work in. This is what I did for my needs, so you can try this, and then fiddle with it to make it work for you:

Wet hair, then oil ends where you figure the dryness starts. Take olive oil (be careful as this will cause alot of slippery-ness in your tub. I do this seperate to a shower, head upside down in the tub) and slather it into ends--I massage it in because I have a lot of hair. I don't let it sit too long--I clean the tub while it's soaking in ;)

I then wash my hair as normal, using degunkify shampoo by herbal essence--this is the best way to get the oil out (btw, this was a tried experiment many times as I missed oil and it looks hideously greasy if you do that ;) ). Make sure the ends squeak clean. it may feel dry, but don't worry, it isn't.

Take your favorite conditioner and then slather that on. Again, leave conditioner on as long as you feel you need it--I'm ADD and can't wait too long, then rinse. I use a cool rinse to finish and my ends are soft and silky.

To modify this to your own needs, try it on dry hair too (I did this on dry ends and bagged it for 2 hours whilst cleaning the house, and had NO change--for some reason, water helped my ends).

Good luck!

chrissy-b
July 2nd, 2010, 09:01 PM
When my ends behave this way I clarify, deep condition, and put a little AO Honeysuckle Rose conditioner on my ends and damp bun. If after about a week of this my ends are still dry, I'll do a heavy oiling with olive oil on WET hair after a deep conditioning treatment and that usually works.

I went through the same thing you're going through now in the winter and ended up introducing cones back into my routine, just for my ends. It did help A LOT but I eventually just had to trim those ends off and now I'm just more careful and make sure to moisturize with more than just oils.

Hope something works for you!

ETA: Since you only wash once a week you might think about misting and adding a little moisture to your ends daily, either in the form of a leave-in or oil. When I skip days without washing or wetting my hair, my ends get so dry and tangly if they don't get moisture everyday.

christine1989
July 2nd, 2010, 09:26 PM
Hmmm... that is very odd since you seem to be doing all the right things. Did you check your ends for splits or are they just dry? If your ends are split you could try catnip, S&D or better yet a small trim to get your ends healthy. When my ends became inexplicably dry I overloaded them with coconut and castor oil on a daily basis for about two weeks and now they are in good shape again.

virgo75
July 2nd, 2010, 09:39 PM
I agree with all who suggested clarifying.

I thought I had to cut off the last 3-4 inches of my hair for a while. I tried EVERYTHING.
Then I clarified and did a few SMTs back to back and my ends are fine now. :)

I think it went crazy because I was using too much stuff with protein in it.

Hope that helps. :flower:

Juanita
July 3rd, 2010, 12:52 AM
Shea butter Seems to work best for me. Better than oils in very dry weather conditions.

Melisande
July 3rd, 2010, 01:23 AM
Clarify. Then, use Fox' shea butter mixture - shea butter, conditioner and a light oil. The combination of moisture and oil in an emulsion makes this mix a powerful moisturizing treatment. I love it and continue to use it - it was one of the first LHC recipes I tried and I have found nothing better for dry, scrunchy ends.

serious
July 3rd, 2010, 02:16 AM
I agree with everyone who suggested shea butter, it works wonders for my ends!

Cocoa butter is great ,too. I use it as a pre wash treatment, melted and mixed with conditioner and sweet almond oil and leave it for at least an hour. A tiny amount of shea butter after the wash, and no dry ends for me.

Jessica Trapp
July 3rd, 2010, 04:38 AM
SMT works wonders for my hair.

How do you wear your hair when you sleep?

:flower:

Nae
July 3rd, 2010, 06:35 AM
I too would recommend clarifying, then what I do when things are feeling dry is, glob on the conditioner in the shower, rinse it out. Then while still damp I put coconut oil on my hair, a conditioner that I just leave in (usually V05 or Suave) then I glob on the Aloe Vera Gel. Then I wet bun the whole mess and head to work. My dryness doesn't stand a chance.

moominhapa
July 3rd, 2010, 07:36 AM
I agree with the suggestion to clarify and deep condition. This, in addition to S&D (cutting out individual split ends with very sharp scissors), has worked for me when I thought I was going to have to cut off my ends. When my ends were really dry, though, one thing that never seemed to help was oil. I love coconut oil to no end, but I guess when my ends were suffering from build up, the oil just sort of sat there on top of my hair and didn't do anything. To clarify, I used a sulfate shampoo, and to deep condition, I used an SMT. I had to repeat this process 2-3 times before my problem was fixed, so don't give up if it doesn't work right away!

If you're into natural recipes, I had really good conditioning results with a rinse of black tea followed by a rinse of hibiscus tea. I left both on my hair one at a time for a while after shampooing and then rinsed them out. The hibiscus, I think, was especially helpful. I left it on for about an hour. Good luck!

Calaelen
July 3rd, 2010, 12:30 PM
i think as everyone has said that trying a clarifying shampoo to refresh the ends is a good start.

Then you may want to try a no protein at all trial, as it can be very drying to some hair types. This includes vegetable and soy protein.

As a last comment, I would avoid the Castor oil, as it is awful for hair despite the claims that it helps with growth and stops breakage. It is really not a good hair product, especially for your hair type.

I've elaborated on this in other threads, and if your interested let me know, and I can look it up for you. I just don't have time to go into the long explanation due to a soccer game starting in 1 min and DH needing the tv. :)

FlowFlow
July 3rd, 2010, 12:52 PM
WOW!!! Fabulous thread, everyone! I'm loving all the suggestions I'm reading. Does anyone have any ideas for a WO gal having the same trouble? I've been hesitant to over moisturize/over oil as it will be difficult to get everything out with WO, but after reading this thread I definitely want to try clarifying first and follow it up with a deep conditioning treatment. I use coconut oil as a prewash treatment and on in between days, but it seems to me it mostly serves to give my dry ends beautiful shine. I don't actually feel it is helping the condition of my hair improve, though. This thread has definitely gotten me interested in shea butter, too!

moominhapa
July 3rd, 2010, 03:08 PM
WOW!!! Fabulous thread, everyone! I'm loving all the suggestions I'm reading. Does anyone have any ideas for a WO gal having the same trouble? I've been hesitant to over moisturize/over oil as it will be difficult to get everything out with WO, but after reading this thread I definitely want to try clarifying first and follow it up with a deep conditioning treatment. I use coconut oil as a prewash treatment and on in between days, but it seems to me it mostly serves to give my dry ends beautiful shine. I don't actually feel it is helping the condition of my hair improve, though. This thread has definitely gotten me interested in shea butter, too!

Maybe catnip or hibiscus? They would be the least likely to get stuck in your hair with WO, I think. Aloe might be good too.

Sissy
July 3rd, 2010, 03:15 PM
I recommend Nightblooming's Panacea Hair Salve (http://www.etsy.com/listing/50514745/panaceas-hair-salve-leave-in-conditioner). It works well as a deep treatment or a leave in conditioner and is shea butter based. The mix also contains coconut oil, rooibos, and eo's and it works really well on my dry ends and smells fantastic. She also makes a vegan one, but I have not yet tried it although I've heard others say they love it.

FlowFlow
July 3rd, 2010, 09:39 PM
Yey! Thanks! I'm so excited I wasn't prepared to give up on my WO, but I was getting ready to give up on my ends. Good news, too...I saw my mom this evening after a month of not seeing her and she said, unprompted, that my hair health looks much better (this coming from a very critical mom, too)! Yey! Can't wait to clarify and DC...this will be my 1st time...drumroll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

eschmi1
July 3rd, 2010, 09:47 PM
Wow, this really helped me out. Great tips everyone! I had no idea that natural oils could help so much :)

sugarpixie10988
July 4th, 2010, 12:12 AM
I'm so glad I saw this thread! I was having the exact same issue as the OP, my ends seemed permanently dry, even though had no damage! My issue was protein, I clarified and tried the SMT and my hair feels a thousand times softer! Yay! I was afraid I'd have to go back to cones, but I guess not :D. I guess I need to find a new shampoo now.
:inlove: I love LHC! Thanks guys :).

Ferine
July 6th, 2010, 04:20 PM
Thank you for all the great tips!!!
I'm sorry I haven't responded before now, I was away from the computer for the weekend.

I tried the conditioner on the ends tip, and it fixed the problem right up!

My hair doesn't seem to have issues with proteins or cones. I had noticed that my hair was looking a little dull, so I did a rinse with ACV and that fixed the dullness right up.

I'm thinking about changing back to CO and using the Suave clarifying cond for that.

Thanx again!!! and all the wonderful ideas, I will be sure to keep a link to this!