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View Full Version : The "Make Me A Routine" Thread



celebriangel
April 25th, 2011, 01:12 PM
Hi all, I thought this would be a helpful place where the new, frustrated, and in-need-of-a-change could come and have a "haircare routine" suggested to them, particularly if they (like me) don't know what products work well or not together. I'll start :D

Current Routine: Wooden comb and BBB, CWC once a week with SLES and cones, commercial leave-in, castor oil on scalp before washing Just started putting cinnamon in my last 'C'. Schwarzkopf "luminance" in, er, the pinkish-red shade (there's only a few). My hair is this colour:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/celebriangel/hair.jpg

Hope that worked! Sorry it's a bit personal - it's the only photo I have.

Goals for routine: I want to maintain my colour (it doesn't fade much, it's just some nice things I tried that were otherwise brilliant made it darker) and maybe lighten/brighten a touch? And thicken my hair - it's thinned a bit, perhaps due to colour, perhaps illness, stress, or hormones.

Things that worked: My hair's pretty easy and likes everything I've tried so far (CWC, castor oil for growth and thickness, Coconut oil/Shea butter mix for length oiling) Although my scalp is/was greasy, I found that rich conditioners/gentle shampoos were best because they didn't strip my hair. I've managed to stretch washes to once a week, yay!

Things that didn't work/current problems: Castor oil is hard to wash out! I've tried leaving on conditioner for ages to dissolve it, but it's a stubborn bugger! the Coconut oil/shea butter mix also made my colour darker... (I think the castor oil might have as well.

Things I might try Manic panic dye instead of the permanent peroxide-y stuff (I'm worried about hair loss, and I won't worry about damage if I reapply manic panic lots. I've heard it can go BRIGHT if you just let it sit on for ages, and my hair's only light-medium ash brown to start with.

Thinking about going SLS-free in case that helps with shedding, and obviously cone-free cause of the lack of SLS. My scalp is oily but seems to respond better to things which are gentle and moisturising! I think it was only oily because of overproduction due to stripping anyway. Specifically poo bars maybe. I'd also like a leave-in that won't take away my colour, if that's possible? Or maybe I should stick to SLS so I can use a coney leave-in...Ack!

I guess my most pressing question, too, would be: do you think my peroxide hair dye was causing hair loss? I seem to shed a terrible amount when rinsing out the dye anyway, much more than a normal wash (about 3x) Help please, LHC!:cheese:

principessa1984
April 25th, 2011, 01:44 PM
You can make castor oil less viscous (& easier to wash out) by mixing it with a lighter oil like avocado. The color is probably doing a number on your hair. Make sure you apply conditioner daily and seal with an oil. If that's not enough, do deep conditioning treatments 3x/week. Make sure you use a light protein condish as well. Your hair needs some of its strength back. Peroxide is like hair kryptonite :)

FluffSpider
April 25th, 2011, 01:44 PM
so, to keep it short, some people have noticed shedding due to peroxide-y dyes.
I would suggest:
C-Cow-C( COW means mixing condish, poo and water in various proportions until you get something which works for you)
I'd say stick to sulfate-y shampoos but maybe try something gentler(cocamidopropyl betaine?) so you can hang on to the cones bandwagon-after all, your hair IS chemically dyed and cones will make it look better.
Because of the gentler surfactant, I would recommend you steer clear of Castor oil and try monistat for growth/thickening, and as an oil, perhaps sweet almond oil- I find it very easy to apply and effective
Colour-wise: I would strand-test some henna. Maybe you will like it... if not, I'd say buy a jar of Manic Panic and use it mixed with a hair mask to keep your colour from fading or darkening-buy it a shade lighter so it doesn't darken?
Oh, and ACV to 'set' the colour- seems vinegars help set colour in fabrics or as such, but that's just my two cents:p

Now, my current issues are: thin, limp, shapeless hair, gets greasy fast , lack of shine, splits
Routine is: CO/C-COW-C, Henna, WTC, 'cones, washing once every 5-6 days.
I'm willing to do anything which won't make me wash my hair every day or buy something I can't buy(manic panic, coconut oil, BAQ henna)
Hair dislikes: Head and Shoulders, wet bunning, OCM,

celebriangel
April 25th, 2011, 02:06 PM
Fluffspider, I have heard that catnip tea rinses are excellent for splits/shine/general healthiness. Also, many people find poo bars (because they are more moisturising, but also gentler) to be good for body/stretching washes/just generally good! I've been reading the poo bar thread :) You cant then use an ACV rinse (diluted) or conditioner as well if you like. It's much gentler and not stripping so you can lather multiple times to get your hair really clean without stripping/causing over-production. See here for reviews:

http://www.chagrinvalleysoapandcraft.com/enjoyshamp.htm

The poo bar thread (in the conventional products section) also has a recipe for a condish/ACV rinse on page 5.

I know that some people get more body/shine/less greasies going SLS and cone-free. :D

principessa1984It must be said, though, that I take good care of my hair damage-wise, coconut oil before my colourant, and it looks as healthy as can be! No peroxide damage that I can see :)Except the shedding, which may or may not be due to other issues. However. I'm either going to try Manic panic by itself or henna + manic panic in case it fixes my shedding/other damage issues start to happen further down the road. As long as I can get a fairly bright red, I'm more married to the idea of long hair than to my current colourant :D

lara grace
April 25th, 2011, 02:47 PM
Definitely switch to Manic Panic, or since you are in the UK, Directions (it's cheaper). I dyed my hair red last summer over dyed light ash brown and it came out bright (see my album), and it conditions a bit as it dyes.

And for castor oil washing out, I find that it only washes out easily when I use a cone-free conditioner (I use a cone conditioner after my cone free one). I use Inecto Coconut Oil conditioner and slather on loads, leaving it for a few minutes and massaging and I never have a problem getting rid of the castor oil :)

MonaLisa
April 25th, 2011, 02:49 PM
I like your color, and the guy :p

I heard castor oil has effect on color as well, makes it darker?
Wish i could help...

Firefox7275
April 25th, 2011, 04:01 PM
Thinking about going SLS-free in case that helps with shedding, and obviously cone-free cause of the lack of SLS. My scalp is oily but seems to respond better to things which are gentle and moisturising! I think it was only oily because of overproduction due to stripping anyway. Specifically poo bars maybe. I'd also like a leave-in that won't take away my colour, if that's possible? Or maybe I should stick to SLS so I can use a coney leave-in...Ack!

I guess my most pressing question, too, would be: do you think my peroxide hair dye was causing hair loss? I seem to shed a terrible amount when rinsing out the dye anyway, much more than a normal wash (about 3x) Help please, LHC!:cheese:

Your guy is cute and you have a gorgeous smile! :D

My hair is a similar colour (Schwarzkopf Live XXL 'Red Passion') and I too lose a clump of hair when I colour. Normally I only separate front and back sections before I start, then do my roots as a series of partings, combing the hair all to one side, then all to the other. However, last time I sectioned it carefully into five distinct sections whilst dry, then applied colour to the roots of each section in mini partings, leaving each section stuck up in the air! So I did not comb all my hair to one side, as I know this creates tangles. Does that make sense? Then I spread the dye down half of the length by squishing but did not dye the ends at all. When I rinsed there were barely any shed hairs! :hifive: Sooooo I *think* the shedding has a lot to do with manipulating the hair, combing and de-tangling, dye obviously adds to the problem as it doesn't have any slip.

I seem to be shedding slightly less hair when I CO-wash than when I SLS-wash, again I think this may be to do with slip more than anything else. I just started using the ordinary Fructis Repair and Shine (=Triple Nutrition) as a leave-in conditioner and I am really happy with it. If you find any shampoos or conditioners that don't take some colour let me know, because I haven't found one in eight years of red dye. I am prejudiced against soap-based bars because I know how much even glycerin soap strips my skin. I know that a lot of conditioners are added to a good soap-based bar, no different to using SLS with a lot of humectants in. :confused: