Help with fine hair routine!

[partlycloudy]

I have heard many times that less is best when it comes to shampooing, but I just can't seem to get this to work. I generally wash my hair every 2-3 days and when I do I just can't seem to help washing my hair with shampoo 2-3 times, with great handfulls of the stuff as well. I have hair that is quite fine, and if I don't do this I don't feel I am really getting my hair and scalp properly clean. My hair isn't exceptionally greasy or anything, although I do sometimes have slightly OCD tendencies. I can only use the recommended 'dime' size amount of shampoo per wash if I wash my hair every day, which I don't want to do (and even then I'm always itching to do it twice).

I would be very grateful if someone could provide insight on this or suggest something new for me to try.

Thank you!!

[Madora]

You don't need a lot of lather to properly cleanse your hair.

What you might try is diluting your shampoo with 8 oz of warm water, stirring it thoroughly, then pouring it slowly all over your head and length.

Also, I'd recommend the George Michael method of shampooing:

1) Detangle all hair with a wide tooth comb (start at the ends of the hair and gently work up to the scalp)

2) Brush it out thoroughly with a boar bristle brush

3) Get your shampoo (I use a tablespoon of the GM Pink Shampoo) and dilute it in 8 oz of warm water. Stir thoroughly and then pour it slowly over your thoroughly wet hair

4) Massage the shampoo into your scalp with your fingerpads. Do not "moosh" your hair around your scalp or cram your hair on top of your head like a mop. Be gentle and go slowly!

5) Rinse the shampoo out with warm water

6) Repeat steps 3, 4, 5 and end with a cool rinse (as cool as you can stand it.

7) Condition with your conditioner of choice. I always dilute my conditioner

8) Rinse the conditioner out thoroughly, finishing with a very cold water rinse (this helps close the cuticles on your hair that were opened by the warm water).

I hope this helps. I also have a certain technique I use to keep tangles at a minimum. It sure reduces on the need for detangling!

Good luck!

[haibane]

Pre-oiling my scalp with castor oil makes it much less greasy. Also, adding coconut oil to the shampoo makes it less drying. And conditioner only from the ears down.

You may also want to try CO-washing, as it can be done more often without being drying, and if done right can cut the grease quite effectively.

[partlycloudy]

Thanks guys! Great ideas! I shall definitely be trying these out :)

How long should I give something a go before I decide if it's working or not?

[haibane]

Thanks guys! Great ideas! I shall definitely be trying these out :)

How long should I give something a go before I decide if it's working or not?
Well, if it turns out really bad, just stop at once and go back to your regular routine, otherwise give it a little while to kick in.
Ursula's Standard Newbie Advice ( http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=39 ) has some great advice on how to go about trying new things.

[DoubleCrowned]

Pre-oiling my scalp with castor oil makes it much less greasy. ....

How do you do this? I heard that castor oil was extremely hard to get out.

[Kristamommyx3]

You and I appear to be hair twins. I wash my scalp only on a daily basis, and the length of my hair gets an actual purposeful washing maybe twice a week. I use a sulfate free shampoo with Argan oil in it, and lather up the scalp with my finger tips, and then rinse it with warm water, followed by cool water. The shampoo that rinses down the length is good enough for that hair on most washes. I also do a hot oil treatment with coconut oil, olive oil and honey once a week or so, before shampooing. Recently I've been experimenting with main and tail conditioner as a protein supplement, too. I would NOT recommend over washing your scalp. I live in Florida, have a naturally very oily scalp, and once is always enough for me. More than once with full strength shampoo sends signals to your scalp to shift into damage control and overproduce more sebum (oil). On a side note, I would skip a day between washouts, but through trial and error, I've discovered that it's an integral part of keeping my allergies at bay. :). Oh, and as for the OCD feelings toward your scalp, try retraining your fingers to look for soft and clean, not squeaky clean. Remind yourself that overly dried out is wrong, and aim for the clean, but not stripped feeling on your fingers. Hope this helps!

[Gulbahar]

Have you ever actually tried to shampoo your hair only once per wash? If not you really should and see what happens. It shouldn't be difficult to clean fine and not particularly oily hair. I know my scalp would kill me if I were washing like you do. I second the idea of diluting the shampoo - it lathers much better this way and certainly gives a very satisfying feeling of clean hair.

[shikara]

First to the castor oil question - I find it comes out easily when I shampoo. It also helps TREMENDOUSLY with tangles.

As to the original poster, I like the remarks suggesting you dilute the shampoo - especially with OCD tendencies (oh boy, I have those too!) And maybe using a gentle daily wash shampoo. I now like to wash mine twice because of the scalp to end prewash oilings I do, with a final rinse of lemon juice/water. Since it seems the OCD is making you wash it that often, maybe you can switch that over and apply it somehow to the rinsing of your hair. Also, some people think 2 in 1's are not really the way to go; however, when researching care of fine long hair, this was a suggestion and it is working out fabulously for me. If you used this, and couldn't cut down too much on how often you apply, at least the conditioning portion of the 2 in 1 may cut down on the damage you may do to your hair otherwise. Good luck!

[haibane]

How do you do this? I heard that castor oil was extremely hard to get out.
I don't think it's harder to get out than any other oil. The stickiness just makes it harder to get into the scalp in the first place. :p
Things that help me get it out:
Use only a little oil (sometimes I only oil around the hairline and my parting, the areas that tend to look greasy)
Pre-rinse with warm water (castor oil is partially water soluble so this softens it up a bit)
Give the shampoo a minute or two to work (it can take a little while for the shampoo to dissolve all the oil if you use a lot) (or if you use CO, much longer, some people use 15-30 minutes)
Use warm water to rinse (I used water that was too cold a few times when it was hot this summer and it didn't get all the oil out)

The castor oil thread has a lot more advice:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=18265

By the way, to partlycloudy, check out the Thin/Fine Hair Thread ( http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=17115 ) a lot of great advice in there! :)

[partlycloudy]

Thanks everybody for your great advice!

For starters I think I'm going to try diluting the shampoo and see if I can't stretch washes to twice a week. I'm sure this will be much kinder on my hair and scalp, not to mention my wallet :) If I can't get my sebum levels to adjust in two months or so I'll try shampooing with diulted shampoo 3 times a week. I'm going to stop 'mooshing' my hair all around and learn to be more patient and gentle.

I'm also going to start doing conditioning treatments maybe once every two weeks; I'm going to order some Cocoveda from HennaSooq when I order my henna. (I'm going to henna as well, but probably not for a couple months.)

So much stuff to try! Cones/no cones, protein/no protein, sulphates/no sulphates! I'll just have to experiment a lot I guess before I settle on a routine. Also, I had a look at the thin/fine hair thread and it's amazing how such different things work for people with apparently very similar hair types! We're all such individuals :)

[vanillabones]

We are hair twins :)
I apply coconut oil on my length before my showering in the summer ( I still have bleach damage on my ends)
In the shower I too find that diluting shampoo gives you that feeling of shampooing twice which I have cravings to do a lot as well. It just gives you more lather to spread it around on your scalp easier with your fingers. I only have diluted my clarifying shampoo which has helped a lot, I'm afraid to do it to my organic shampoo to dilute the preservatives and supposedly stuff can grow in it? But I am not sure :(
Anyway, my hair is really short but I still use the CWC (condition wash condition) method.

I apply a cone-free cheap v05 conditioner to my ears down and then shampoo my scalp with a couple pumps of my sulphate free shampoo and I try to just clean the scalp. If you use a gentle shampoo going in with shampoo for a second time isn't really that big of a deal (for me at least)... when my hair is very dirty I repeat, rinse it all in cold, then condition with a cone conditioner and rinse out in cold again. I apply the conditioner even to the top of my head but you shouldn't do that if you really are only trying to wash twice a week. I was able to do that with longer hair but now I wash every other day. :(

CO (condition only) washing isn't great for me. I use the kiwi v05 clarifying conditioner and done properly my hair looks less greasy after but feels dirty and lanky as ever so I am not the biggest fan of it. Still I will use up the bottle ;) That's just my insight as we are hair twins! But you should try it anyway :P

[partlycloudy]

Well, I thought I should tell you all how I've been getting on with your great advice!

So I washed my hair this morning after four days. I first gently detangled my dry hair with my new wide-toothed seamless comb. To shampoo my hair I diluted one pump of shampoo in a glass of warm water, and poured it slowly over my scalp, gently massaging it in with the pads of my fingers (but hardly at all really; I didn't want to move my hair around too much). I did this twice, rinsed thoroughly with warm water, applied conditioner from the ears down, left on for a few minutes, and rinsed with cold water. I let it air dry, french braiding it when it was almost dry.

My hair is now soft, silky and volumised, and doesn't look or feel dirty at all. And my scalp doesn't feel dry!

Also, my coconut oil arrived today! I applied it sparingly from the ears down once my hair was dry. I combed out my hair a couple hours later, and wow - my previously frizzy-looking ends look almost like they've been freshly cut!

I'm actually starting to believe that once my damage grows out I might actually be able to have pretty long hair. I didn't realise all the things I was doing before were so damaging - I just thought I had bad hair! THANK YOU SO MUCH TLHC!

[partlycloudy]

Also, I want to mention that I don't think I'm going to try CO or WO washing. It seems like it doesn't often work for fine hair, plus I don't really feel the need. If my hair felt overly dry I might be tempted, but it doesn't; it feels soft and lovely. And it's not as if shampoo is evil - it IS designed for washing hair, after all. (Please note I do not say this in complete ignorance of how shampoo works or the biology of hair.) Although one of my goals *is* to become an ingredients nerd, so I can make sure I'm choosing a poo which DEFINITELY isn't evil. ;)

Thank you so much everybody, again! :crush: You're all studendous human beings, and exceptionally beautiful too.