Can you help with my hair?

[Jenw777]

I just joined, and was hoping for advice. I'm not sure if I can post pics or not. What would you do to make this nest soft and silky? I have no idea how to take care of it. It's dry and just sucks.http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c280/kitkatsmom/hair7-6-10-1.jpg

[xoxophelia]

What is your current hair routine? What is or has your hair been exposed to? (heat styling, sun, chlorine, dye etc)

[Jenw777]

Normally I wash with an organic lavandar shampoo and conditioner, but decided today that I'm going no-poo again. I only wash it once or twice a week anyway because it takes FOREVER to dry. I NEVER blowdry it and don't own a curling iron.

I straighten it once a week/every two weeks. When I straighten my hair, it's usually a day or two after I wash it, and then I wait a few days before I wash it again.

It has not been dyed in a few months, when we swim I don't get my hair wet (if I do, it takes FOREVER to get rid of the tangles). I'm not outside a lot.

[MissManda]

Yes, I think you should tell us what your hair routine is so we can get an idea of what your hair has been through. :) If your hair is dry, moisturizing shampoos and conditioners may help as well as oiling.

[Jenw777]

In the past few days I did conditioning treatments. One was with coconut milk (left my hair VERY oily) and the other was the conditioner/aloe/honey combo.

[MissManda]

I used to use a curling iron on my hair. I didn't use it a lot, bit I found that my har did become less dry once I stopped using it altogether. Have you considered trying the CO method?

[xoxophelia]

Well part of it looks like previous dye damage to me and straightening your hair once a week would be a major cause of damage as well. My hair definitely had some similarities to your hair when I joined. Around November, I stopped heat styling all together and stopped coloring.

My virgin roots that have grown in are very silky so that is really the best answer to silky hair. When I would straighten it, my hair would feel great at first.. but eventually even then it wouldn't feel nice.

There are things you can do while you grow out the damage to make it temporarily feel better though.. you can use tiny amounts of jojoba oil or coconut oil in your hair after washing. This would be just a few drops. You can do a 2 hour or even over night treatment of olive oil mixed with honey that you heated a little in the microwave.

Using some silicone products like a silicone conditioner or leave in has also helped a number of people but others swear against it. You would just have to try out that one.

Another trick is to never wash with hot water but just luke warm and in the end cool or cold water :)

[Dragon]

You could probaly benifit from a leave in conditioner and doing hot oil treatments with coonut oil. You can also use olive oil but I find it a bit harder to wash out. Jojoba oil is also good to leave in your hair. I use it all the time. One thing to be carful of is unless you are going to wash your hair, keep oils away from your scalp as they can clog your pours. I lernt the hard way with that. And by oiling a few hours or more befor you was your hair, it can help prevent protein loss from your hair and stop the shampoo stripping to much natural oil. Also if you decided to not oil befor you wash it, By conditioning it first will help prevent it stripping to much and leave your hair feeling softer. Also you still need to condition after you shampoo.

[Anje]

The short and simple answer that works for a lot of people:

Clarify, then SMT (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=128).

It's possible that you don't need to clarify, but for a lot of folks, it's a good place to start when hair is just nasty and unmanageable. Products like conditioners and even hard water tend to build up over time, and a good clarifying wash if you haven't done one lately is usually a wise first step.

Shopping list:
Clarifying shampoo (VO5 Kiwi Lime Squeeze is good, so is Suave Daily Clarifying)
Conditioner you don't mind using a lot of (Again, VO5 and Suave are good)
Clear Aloe gel (As close to 100% aloe as you can get)
Honey
Shower cap/plastic shopping bag

Cutting back on the straightening will probably help with the dryness and damage long-term, too, but the above should give some immediate results.

[Alexannee10]

Did you try olive oil, shea butter or amla oil on your hair ?

[Jenw777]

I haven't. I did try the honey/conditioner/aloe tonight, that pic is the after, it was on for an hour.

I do use coconut oil on occasion, but it feels oily and makes my hair smell gross. I don't use any products in my hair except the occasional silk drops or panteene leave in

[GRU]

Try Sweet Almond Oil or Grapeseed Oil. They seem to soak into my hair better than Coconut Oil, so it doesn't look as greasy.

My hair is curlier than yours, but our texture is similar. My recommendations would be:


Clarify
CO-wash, which means NO silicone products (you have to read read read labels)
ACV rinse
Leave in a light conditioner, particularly from the ears down (I use Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut)
NO heat: no blow-fryers, curling irons, or straighteners
Occasional deep conditioning treatments, such as SMT or commercial products or whatever you happen to whip up in the kitchen (see the Recipes section of the forum)
GENTLE towel-drying -- do not agitate your hair back and forth -- just wrap it gently and let the water soak into the towel (or try a product like the Turbie Twist)
Detangle in the shower, when hair is full of conditioner
No brushing, limited combing
Utilize the search function here. The folks here have written out a TON of advice in the various threads through the years. I've been here for eight months and I'm still amazed at how much knowledge is here that I haven't even tapped into yet!

[Jenw777]

My hair has a weird wave thing going on, but it will not hold a curl at all. I wouldnt mind if the waves weren't splotchy, but they are spaced weird, and don't go all the way down.

How do I keep the tangles out if I don't brush it or comb it? I get rats nests in my hair

[GRU]

If you go the CO-wash route, you can get tangles out of your hair in the shower.

Over time, you may find that CO-washing and deep moisturizing stabilize your curl pattern (many people have re-typed their hair another 1-2 grades curlier than they started with).

You may even find that much of your "frizz" is caused by your brush/comb. Check out this post:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=1127440&postcount=25

[Jenw777]

I redid the aloe/co/honey and used grapeseed oil. My hair feels a lot better! And the grapeseed didn't make me feel greasy or stink! Thank you!

[Khiwanean]

It might also help if you braid or bun your hair when you sleep at night (if you don't already). I know that has made a big difference in the amount of detangling I have to do. I used to just about have to brush in order to get out all the tangles, but now I can actually get away with just fingercombing.

[spidermom]

My hair can't tolerate straightening at all. It cooks the moisture right out. Your hair might react the same.

Try the CWC method of washing. I use conditioner on the length, wash my scalp with diluted shampoo, rinse, then condition the length again. The second time, I don't rinse the conditioner out. I just squeeze the extra water out of my hair in sort of a "milking the cow" motion. The extra conditioner really helps my hair to stay soft and well moisturized.

Welcome to LHC; have fun.

[GRU]

I redid the aloe/co/honey and used grapeseed oil. My hair feels a lot better! And the grapeseed didn't make me feel greasy or stink! Thank you!

YAY! :cheer: And you're VERY welcome!!!

Before I came to this forum, I had no idea that there were so many different types of oils available, and I certainly wouldn't have thought to put them on my hair! :bigeyes: I've learned (and continue to learn) sooooo much here, it makes me happy to be able to pass that info along to others.

I just wish it hadn't taken me four decades to make peace with my hair. Why oh why couldn't I have had the internet and wonderful folks here available to me in my teens????? ;)