What do you do with your hair when....

[Alethia]

....you just feel dissatisfied with it? My hair is not looking great just now. It's got quite a few strands at classic length now, but from about half way down the length it is extremely thin. It's really light and non-slinky. It feels yucky and a bit coated, but when I clarified it (SLS wash) it looked really shiny, but was more flyaway than ever. I conditioned it with Luscious Long conditioner quite heavily, which made it lie a little better, but it felt horrid and coated again. It also tangled more easily.

I went cone-free for 6 months, trying to reduce the amount I wash it. I'm down to once a week now, but even with that it's really greasy and yucky at the top for a couple of days before I wash it. I tried shampoo bars during this time with dilute vinegar rinses (don't need lots of vinegar because I'm in a soft water area). After this my hair didn't tangle so much, but it felt coated and really was because it left a grey film on my hairbrush (wooden, hog bristles) after every brush.

The past month or so, I've given up on the shampoo bar because of the coating and dull appearance of my hair. I was also having to S&D like a maniac because of all the splits that started appearing. I've gone back to SLS-based shampoo which has some cones in it, but have not reverted back to cone conditioner. I just don't know what to do with my hair to make it look and sit better again. I've even been tempted to give it a dusting to even up the hemline, or go even more drastic and take it back to waist or hip length. I wonder if taking some off the length would make the top feel a bit perkier. I'm shedding about a hairbrush full a day, but loads of new growth too. I just feel all over the place with it. Hmmm, maybe it's a metaphor for my life.......:cheese:

[spidermom]

I can't tolerate thin, uneven ends, so I get a trim every time my hair gets out of shape, especially when it's splitting a lot as well. I'd rather have shorter but even and thick-ish ends (I've got taper even so). My hair grows back fast after I've had bad ends cut off anyway, so there's no reason to keep them and baby them along.

[Chromis]

I give it a teeny tiny self trim and then I just put it up and let it be!

[Alethia]

I wear it up nearly all the time, except for the occasional single braid day. I tend to do Fig 8 (a la LadyGodiva) or flipped bun (almost a Fig 8, but with loads of winds around one of the loops) with a single Ketylo stick. I think I'm going to do a light trim, and go back to cones. Life seemed simpler then with fewer spit ends, and when I got a bit blah I just switched brands for a while and that seemed to perk it up.

[Gladtobemom]

I write it down on the calendar. And I make myself a promise that I won't cut unless I still feel that way in a month. Why, because I've impulse cut my hair before and every time it's a disaster.

Then, I usually clarify, do a nice deep moisture treatment. Maybe use a little smoothing condish with some cones (cause frizz is my problem).

The other way that really works, Roll my hair on big rollers.
My hair is gorgeous when it has dried that way.

[LadyPolaris]

I agree with what has been posted - wait a few weeks. If you still feel the same way, have a small trim, 1 to 2 inches. Good luck :)

[LisaJaney]

You know, some hair genuinely LIKES no-cones. Some hair likes "more cones, please!" Maybe your hair is just saying "That was nice, but I REALLY prefer..." and your job is to listen. I just don't think cones are the devil, is what I'm sayin'. For SOME hair, sure, but not for everyone's hair. I have a friend whose hair does BEAUTIFULLY with no cones (her hair is like silk, every single strand is magnificent and smooth) But I've heard a LOT of people say "I went no-cones and it wasn't so great". IF your hair is doing well, then fine. But if it's not, then it's time to try something that your hair DOES like.

You mentioned that the shampoo-bar did fine for awhile, but then your hair looked dull. I have used a bar only a few times, and my hair was soft but it just feels weird and coated and dull, like you say. So that's not for me, and that's fine.

One thing about the S&D: when I find tangling, it's generally due to TWO things -- either splits are leading to tangling (which leads to more splits; it's a viscious cycle) or else I have buildup and the hair is just catching its neighbor because the hairs aren't slick and smooth-cuticled or something. So I try a clarifying shampoo first (because it's easiest) and I don't just use a "normal" shampoo: I use one designed specifically to clarify and remove buildup, so that I KNOW it's removing buildup. Then I condition well. My ends are ALWAYS softer after a clarifying shampoo. Always. If, however, I'm still having splits, THEN it's time to do the S&D. After whichever-thing-worked (either the shampoo worked and it was buildup, or it really was splits, which were probably caused by buildup anyhow) then my hair is just peachy-keen all over again.

There are a lot of really cool "fads" (and I don't mean that in a bad way; I mean that in a "this group is really following THIS routine, but the other group does this other thing" way) around here, and very few of them work for me. What you've been doing may just not be the perfect routine for you. :shrug: And, even at that, sometimes you gotta change it up a bit. I personally CO-wash and that works great. But sometimes I get a bit of buildup, so I clarify and fix it. And if I go travelling, where the waterhardness is different? My routine doesn't work worth crap. My condish-of-choice works great here in Idaho, but it's not so great in Spokane. So at that point I just S/C like the rest of the non-LHC world. ;)

I just mostly wanted to give you permission to use cones if your hair likes them. It seems everybody who comes here (I did it, too, I know) gets the notion that cones are evil, and it's just not true for every head of hair. It's okay to like cones. You can be verbal about your loveaffair with cones, or you can stay in the closet. Either way, you just have to find what things work on your hair, and it's fine. I tell ya, I've seen heads of fantastic hair only to have the owner of that hair say she uses Pert or some such ungodly concoction on it. I'm just sayin: ya never know what'll work. And going all-natural sure SOUNDS like a good and noble cause, but I know that when *I* tried it, it was a dismal failure. I make no apologies for what I put on my hair, and neither should you have to. :twocents:

[busnutmedic]

Ugh, I feel like that a lot. I feel like cutting! Like, seriously! But I need to give it some time.

And I'm not suggesting a cut. I'm just so sick of my lack of hair. And it doesn't exactly make sense that cutting would help me, that would make me end up with LESS hair, not more.

Whew. I guess I'll braid it and put it behind me and forget about it :D

Bonnie

[Mitzy]

Gladtobemom, that is a great idea about writing it down and waiting a month! I like that even better than the two week rule.
My hair loves cones, it never looks better than when I use conditioner with cones and a cone serum. The problem for me is my skin doesn't. I itch all over and I haven't yet figured out how to get the stuff on my hair and not my skin. Maybe when my hair gets longer. But it even bothers my scalp and my hairline, my hands, everything.
If my skin could tolerate cones, I would be all over them!! If they don't hurt anything and they work for you, why not use them?