Dry ends? So confused.

[firicia]

Hello everyone. I have been here for 2 months now and changed my hair care routine. I don't use heat or styling products (hairspray, gel, etc..) anymore, I try to baby my hair with a little coconut oil on wet hair, I do use cone products because they seem to work well for my hair though. I only use a wide tooth comb, and no longer dye my hair (haven't now for 9ish months). My hair was doing great until the past 2 weeks.

I am now noticing that my ends are very dry and getting tangled easy. So today I decided to do a quick s&d as I am not trimming in 2011.

Now usually when my hair would get like this I would go to a hair salon to get a trim. Every time they told me it was because I was not treating my hair properly and that I had a ton of split ends with my hair so dry.

Well on my s&d I found my ends to be in great shape:confused: so ummm.... what's going on, lol. Oh my gosh I think to all the times they had to take off at least 2-3 " due to my dry damaged hair and now realizing it may not have been split at all and was either going through an awkward curling phase or... well I can't seem to think of why my hair could be doing this. I have had this problem with use of different shampoo and conditioner products over the years too so it can't just be these particular ones.

I chelated (sp?)with a good shampoo last week, I have done deep conditioner too, and still nothing. I also now condition, wash, condition.

Any ideas? Thank you so much in advance as I do not wish to cut my hair this year, especially not with ends in such good shape minus feeling dry:(

[krissykins]

My ends usually get dry and tangly when they need a protein treatment. Perhaps try that?

[Panth]

Clarify? It's not the same as chelation and, in my case at least, dry-feeling tangly unmanageable ends without obvious splits usually means a clarifying wash is in order.

Chelators remove mineral deposits from your hair and are typically used in the case of build-up from hard water. Clarifiers remove 'cone deposits, wax deposits, oil deposits and other product-related deposits.

EDITED TO ADD: Another thing I always do with dry ends (which can happen without heat or chemical damage, just with hairtype and hair being long and therefore the ends being old) is to do a very heavy oiling with coconut oil on the last 3-4 inches. I usually plait my hair then oil the tassel. I'll leave the oil in as I bun my hair mostly and the tips are tucked under the bun so can't be seen. I'll just leave it in and top it up until my next wash. Might even repeat after that ... basically until my ends feel a bit better or I get lazy or forget. :P

[alwayssmiling]

Yes I always check for protein overload. Also coconut oil overload can make my ends velcro-ey/crunchy. Just a thought.

[jojo]

for me this is normally a sign I need to trim.

[Anje]

Clarify first. Then try a moisture treatment, ideally one without silicones. You can go back to the silicones after that.

My ends usually get dry and tangly when they need a protein treatment. Perhaps try that?
Wow. My hair's exactly the opposite. It gets dry, tangly, and rough feeling with little hooked ends when I use protein. To the OP: You'll have to learn for yourself whether protein is necessary or evil or somewhere in between for your own hair. Protein followed by moisture is often a wonderful cure for hair that has experienced damage from chemical treatments and dyes, though.

From personal experience, I find that my ends get bad when they need moisture, and trimming doesn't really make the problem go away. So my attack plan is: clarify, moisturize, then decide on whether to trim. Your own experiences may differ.

[PamelaViktoria]

I find my hair dries out with conditioner. It feels good for a couple days, then starts getting drier and drier. Only using coconut oil and combing seem to keep it soft all week long.

[skyblue]

I'm gonna second the coconut making your ends dryish I almost trimmed a good 3 inches then decided to just wash my whole head and length then conditioned really well and yay my ends were back to normal, I had used coconut oil on my ends and they totally went dry and crunchy, so now it goes nowhere near my ends, I just use a tiny bit on my length once in a while I have since found that olive oil really works best for me
so don't go for the scissors yet do a good wash and condish or SMT and try some other oils and see what works better for you

[krissykins]

Wow. My hair's exactly the opposite. It gets dry, tangly, and rough feeling with little hooked ends when I use protein. To the OP: You'll have to learn for yourself whether protein is necessary or evil or somewhere in between for your own hair. Protein followed by moisture is often a wonderful cure for hair that has experienced damage from chemical treatments and dyes, though.

From personal experience, I find that my ends get bad when they need moisture, and trimming doesn't really make the problem go away. So my attack plan is: clarify, moisturize, then decide on whether to trim. Your own experiences may differ.

Just goes to show that everyone's different! Haha

[Mesmerise]

Have you tried doing an SMT or other moisture treatment? Also, how often do you wear your hair up and how often do you wear it loose? I think when you wear hair loose more often, the ends tend to be drier and tanglier (this is just my own experience mind), but when my hair is worn back a lot, I don't notice the end trouble (which may just be because my hair is up and not down lol).

At night, I like to put my hair in a braid and then slather the end with coconut oil too. I find this leaves my ends feeling softer.

However, I also attribute a lot of my hair's problems (especially the ends) to the fact that the hair there is already damaged (dye, heat etc.) and they're not truly going to improve until I've grown out all the damage. You can't see the damage as split ends, but I've no doubt there is damage there anyway, it's just not visible to the naked eye!

One thing a trim can do is make all the ends fairly even, whereas even healthy ends that aren't even may get more tangly just because they're random lengths (I don't know about this though). Maybe just focus on wearing your hair up a bit more this year since you're determined not to trim, and while you're doing it, baby the ends with oilings etc.

Also consider that while your hair may feel better with cones, the cones may not be doing your hair any favours in the long run (I'm not really pro or anti cone, but I've generally stopped using them). Have you also tried methods of washing like CO, or oil shampooing??

Basically there are HEAPS of things you can experiment with and trial, but unfortunately no one way that works perfectly for everyone!

[racrane]

Hmn, my ends are dry as well but I have attributed that to - while not terrible - nonetheless I have abused my hair. I too stopped with gel, hairspray and heat, as well as mostly keeping my hair up now. My new growth is happy while my ends are still complaining about the heat, I think. I just baby them in the way they like to be babied and one day - one day - I can trim them off. But you need to find what works for you.

[Firefox7275]

Hello everyone. I have been here for 2 months now and changed my hair care routine. I don't use heat or styling products (hairspray, gel, etc..) anymore, I try to baby my hair with a little coconut oil on wet hair, I do use cone products because they seem to work well for my hair though. I only use a wide tooth comb, and no longer dye my hair (haven't now for 9ish months). My hair was doing great until the past 2 weeks.

I am now noticing that my ends are very dry and getting tangled easy. So today I decided to do a quick s&d as I am not trimming in 2011.

Now usually when my hair would get like this I would go to a hair salon to get a trim. Every time they told me it was because I was not treating my hair properly and that I had a ton of split ends with my hair so dry.

Well on my s&d I found my ends to be in great shape:confused: so ummm.... what's going on, lol. Oh my gosh I think to all the times they had to take off at least 2-3 " due to my dry damaged hair and now realizing it may not have been split at all and was either going through an awkward curling phase or... well I can't seem to think of why my hair could be doing this. I have had this problem with use of different shampoo and conditioner products over the years too so it can't just be these particular ones.


If the problem is not build up from coconut oil or coney conditioner, it may be that those ends have simply taken too much abuse in the past and are not salvageable. :shrug: At the end of the day the last inch of your hair has had two extra months of dyeing and whatnot - some routines will weaken the inner core of hair, some will strip the cuticle of layer by layer and some will concentrate all the damage in one spot. That will mean not everyone's hair looks or feels the same when damaged. I can't remember the last time I saw a split or white dot in my shoulder to armpit length hair, but I get velcro ends and breaks galore from mechanical abuse. My hair is going to need a lot more than two months babying before I can quit trimming for a year. :(

[growingpains]

I agree try and clarify in a way that is good for buildup in general. Maybe an ACV rinse or shampoo with SLS.

When my ends get nasty it's almost always a result of buildup. Of course, if it's been a long time since a trim it could also be damage as well. My ends afterall have been subject to years of abuse. But, your hair is not as old and should not need to be trimmed from damage given all you seem to have subjected it to is heat in the past.

[MeganE]

I just experienced this. Lots of tangling, the ends were awful. I trimmed an inch, and they still felt awful. I was on the verge of trimming more, when I started thinking about what I'd heard about mineral oil build-up. It was in two products I'd used heavily in the last week. So I did a clarifying wash with SLS and used a coney conditioner and my hair feels nice and slick again. I don't think I actually needed to take the inch off, and I'm really glad I didn't take any more off. I think you should try clarifying and deep conditioning first.

[AmericanWoman]

I think dry ends are just because the ends are older than the rest of the hair and lose moisure faster. So if you can figure out how to keep moisture in the ends- bingo. Problem solved.

[Jean Stuart]

fox's shea butter conditioning cream works real well on my ends. made them feel soft.

[Deborah]

My ends have been good lately, but when they used to get dry, I stroked on a tiny bit of shea nut butter to the last six inches or so right after washing, while the hair was still fairly wet. This worked great for me.

[celebriangel]

I wouldn't trim - whenever my ends *begin* to feel like this I give them a fairly hefty coconut oil. Sorts 'em right out :D

But, in case coconut oil doesn't work for you, almost everyone who's ever used Nightblooming (Nightshade here)'s panacea on their ends has found it made them super-soft.

So, yeah. Try lots of things, see what happens. Everyone's hair is different, and you just need to find the right thing. I'm currently shocked to discover my hair *loves* a conefree wash with vinegar rinse :magic: which is odd as I thought it was a total product whore.

I'm sure this is fixable without scissors :o

[firicia]

Hello everyone thank you so very very much for posting!

I have a little update but first wanted to ask... how does one clarify?:o I saw something about ACV, does it need to be apple, what about white vinegar? I am sure there is probably a link around here somewhere with this info but I seem to not be finding it so any help would be appreciated.

So my update is I am have stopped putting coconut oil on my hair in the shower and when it's wet. That seems to have made a little bit of a difference. Maybe I was putting far too much on when it was wet and it was drying crunchy. I am going to just try to not use coconut oil for a couple weeks and then see if I can use it on dry hair without the troubles.

Thanks again:D

[Sundial]

White vinegar is fine too :) I switched from ACV to white vinegar when I read somewhere that it brings out red in hair. I think the vinegar rinse is not to be confused with clarifying.

As for clarifying, you can either use a clarifying shampoo like Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo or you can use baking soda (to be used in small quantity!). Some people add the baking soda to their conditioner or shampoo, and some mix it in water I think.

[maborosi]

White vinegar is fine too :) I switched from ACV to white vinegar when I read somewhere that it brings out red in hair. I think the vinegar rinse is not to be confused with clarifying.

As for clarifying, you can either use a clarifying shampoo like Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo or you can use baking soda (to be used in small quantity!). Some people add the baking soda to their conditioner or shampoo, and some mix it in water I think.

Two questions about clarifying:

How often should you do it?
And is it okay for people with dyed hair? Can it strip the color out?

~maborosi~

[torrilin]

Vinegar is an acid. Specifically, acetic acid. Even more specifically, vinegars sold in the US are usually 5% acetic acid. This doesn't change based on the kind of vinegar you use, unless you are specifically using vinegar straight from an active vinegar culture... and then the only thing that will change is the percentage of acetic acid in your vinegar.

So that means vinegar is just *one* thing going on your hair, and the effects are pretty predictable. A lot of seemingly extreme long hair practices are similar, where you're getting down to the fewest possible ingredients... good way to go if you know you have allergy or chemical sensitivities.

For most people even a 5% dilution is too strong, and they'd dilute their vinegar further before using it as a rinse. It would be best practice to use distilled water, but for me tap water works fine (despite my tap water being so hard that one wetting without a vinegar rinse will leave me with visible mineral deposits).

If I try to use coconut oil without vinegar rinses, it's pretty awful for my hair. Coconut oil and mineral deposits do NOT get along on my hair.

[Anje]

Two questions about clarifying:

How often should you do it?
And is it okay for people with dyed hair? Can it strip the color out?

~maborosi~
Clarifying should be done as-needed. For some people, that's every couple weeks, for others it's every few months or longer. It really depends on what products you use and how much buildup you get.

Clarifying is necessary if you have buildup, whether your hair is color-treated or not. It might remove color, yes. But given how nasty buildup hair is, it's a worthwhile trade.

Personally, I like a sulfate-loaded clarifying shampoo for clarifying. Baking soda leaves my hair too dry, and it's really quite harsh on hair. It's a good backup option for people who react badly to sulfates, though.

[Sundial]

Clarifying should be done as-needed. For some people, that's every couple weeks, for others it's every few months or longer. It really depends on what products you use and how much buildup you get.

Clarifying is necessary if you have buildup, whether your hair is color-treated or not. It might remove color, yes. But given how nasty buildup hair is, it's a worthwhile trade.

Personally, I like a sulfate-loaded clarifying shampoo for clarifying. Baking soda leaves my hair too dry, and it's really quite harsh on hair. It's a good backup option for people who react badly to sulfates, though.

I second what Anje said :) I'm one of those who have reactions to sulfates so I just rinse my hair out with baking soda and water when it feels like my hair needs it. This doesn't happen very often, only when my hair seems Velcro-ey, waxy, or when it seems to be out of sorts even after deep conditioning

[WaterMusic]

Just a FYI, I think that if you are using cones then you might have splits even if you can't see them. The cones are 'glue-ing' them back together.

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong.

[WaitingSoLong]

I think dry ends are just because the ends are older than the rest of the hair and lose moisure faster. So if you can figure out how to keep moisture in the ends- bingo. Problem solved.

That.

I will say the opposite of what a lot here are saying...if you are not currently using any cones, you may give them a try.

I had this issue with the last 4" of my hair (and I DO have splits but there was a definite dryness, too) and tried about everything mentioned above. I relented and went back to cones.

I AM SO GLAD I DID. Silky, smooth, non-velcroe ends. What can I say? YMMV. sigh.