Can you still have nice long hair using drug store products

[l0nd0nbr1dg3]

I just bought this grow your hair long book and it gives all these natural recipes I get it, it's cool and all but I don't have the time to make that stuff. I use some natural stuff anyway. It basically said to throw out all drugstore shampoos. I understand how they are harmful and all but come on is it really that important to do everything natural? Plus I think it's really disgusting to mix an egg in stuff. What do you think?

[Anje]

Absolutely.

Heck, I wash pretty exclusively with cheap (Suave!) conditioner. Not even good drug store products.

As far as shampoos, I personally find them drying, and they increase my oil production a lot. However, a lot of people here have fantastic hair and use sulfate-laden shampoos. A number swear by diluting them with water -- less concentrated harsh cleansers that way, and they sink to the scalp better.

[wvgemini]

I buy stuff from the drugstore, walmart and dollar tree. I spend more for stuff from Lush and Body Shop. I also smear on honey, coconut oil, coconut milk, etc. Not everything off the shelf is harmful, just like not everything natural is good! I would not take the advice of some "this is how you MUST do things" book to heart.

[Nae]

Yep, plenty of people here have unbelievable hair and use really inexpensive drug store products. No harm, no foul.

[l0nd0nbr1dg3]

Thanks guys I'm just in lOve with herbal essences split end protector it was 3.99 and I love it more than my 30$ crap

[Aveyronnaise]

Ha ha I am sitting here with the awesome results of my once weekly egg-honey-lemon juice wash. It just makes my hair so darn bouncy!
Anyhow I follow that up with some good old triple nutrition garnier conditioner bought from my local drug store. I tend to go for a mix , which I think that most people on here tend to go for a " what works for my hair" kind of a mix.

[spitfire511]

Umm I am like rule-breaker #1 lol! :D

I do like some nice organic shampoos and conditioners (Giovanni triple treat tea tree is a fav.) But seriously, I washed with suave clarifying yesterday, conditioned with Suave professionals Rosemary Mint (coney) and then put quite a bit of FX silk drops in the ends and my hair looked the best that it has in months. LOL

My hair likes cheap shampoo/conditioners and cones! My only caveat is that clarifying regularly is a must, and I LOVE to throw in a SMT every so often - my hair soaks it right up.

[MissManda]

I use a combination of cheap and natural products and my hair is in much better condition than when I was using the $20 Matrix stuff. Caring for long, beautiful hair doesn't have to be the least bit expensive. If you find that the shampoos are too harsh or drying, you could try diluting it and it should clean just as well.

[mallorykay13]

I C-COW-C wash and cones and sulphates work fabulously for me.

[spidermom]

I use over-the-counter products, and I think I have pretty nice hair.

[dulce]

1 have used Pantene shampoo /conditioner daily for years,it really agrees with my hair.1 do buy A &G serum for shine and moisture,especially on my ends[like a lot of you use the coconut oil].1 also buy that same salon brand[A&G] for my weekly used blue shampoo for silver/blondes .

[SpinDance]

Certainly many do. Here's an article (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=218) about such stuff, too. I'm still in my experimentation phase, trying different products/combinations/routines, but so far between the cheap drugstore items (Suave & Tresemme Naturals lines, Garnier Fructic cone-free) and things from the grocery or health food stores (coconut oil, Shea butter, jojoba oil, etc.) it's going quite well. I do like some conditioners from Trader Joe's, and I swear by Panacea, though.

[Tea Lady]

I got my main long hair growth using Suave and VO5 products. I experimented with other things along the way of course, but always returned to those. Very recently I fell in love with Aubrey Organics and have been using that, which is pricier, but I got all the way to classic (now trimmed back to hip-length, but growing longer again) using the inexpensive products. I usually waited until they were on sale for .99¢ at the store!

Tea Lady

[BlazingHeart]

I've developed a mild sulfate sensitivity, so I find sulfate shampoos extremely irritating to my scalp and skin (and sulfate toothpastes - which are the vast majority! - cause me dental pain), so I buy 'poo bars, but I use drugstore conditioners.

I've had hip-length, thick, got-compliments-everywhere hair with not much taper while using drugstore shampoo and conditioner before I developed the sensitivity. It depends on what your hair likes.

~Blaze

[starlamelissa]

My hair is close to waist length, I use aquaphor baby shampoo, naturelle unscented conditioner, and leave in a teeny bit of olive oil or knock off biologe balm. That's it.

If I want to co wAsh, which I rarely do, I use cure care unscented hair and skin conditioner, but for the most part that is reserved for shaving cream and body lotion.

Every item I mentioned is under six bucks.

And from two real life longhairs I know, one uses vo5 poo and con dish, the other uses mane n tail, same as her pet horses.

The real key to long hair is patience, gentle handling, and not cutting it.

[Maelyssa]

Many beautiful long hairs on the forums use drug store products. As it's already mentioned Suave & VO5 are two big ones. I personally knew a stunning long hair who used Victoria's Secret So Sexy shampoo & conditioner & her hair was hip length & amazing. I'm currently using Tresemme Naturals on my own hair & it's reached waist length & looks pretty nice. I've also seen some great heads of hair using Herbal Essences & Garnier Fructis.
It's a matter of trying different things out & seeing what works for you.
Good luck & happy growing!

[Ithonna]

My hair loves kids shampoos. I am currently using Suave kids 2in1, the strawberry one. My hair loves it.

[patienceneeded]

I use mainly drugstore stuff, the cheapest being VO5 and TRESemme Naturals. I also use Whole Foods 365 store brand. I also use Aubrey's Organics, Burts Bees, and The Body Shop Rainforest Shine. Aubrey's and Burts products I can get at several drugstores in the area, I have to go to the mall for The Body Shop. None of these conditioners have cones. I CO wash but do occasionally use a sulfate free shampoo (diluted) if I feel my hair needs it. I use the same brands when choosing a shampoo, right now I have a bottle of Burts Bees Raspberry shampoo in the shower for when DD and I need it. I have used the really expensive salon stuff before and it doesn't seem all that different. I do like Aveda Shampure stuff, but it is expensive!

[JellyBene]

One of my good friends has gorgeous waist length hair that she washes daily with cheap sulfate shampoo and cheap conditioner (suave I believe). I also had hip length hair as a little girl and thats all I ever used. However, for about a year I have been taking all natural care of my hair and it has NEVER been this nice! My favorite thing I have found so far is to use a mix of shikakai and amla powder as a shmapoo, it is suprisingly easy and takes no more than 2 minutes to prepare

[Mesmerise]

One of the things that really interested me when reading some of the threads on LHC was how many of the "super" long hairs just use "regular shampoo and conditioner"...we're talking those with classic+ hair here!

This has basically taught me that it's totally okay just to use the normal stuff I always used to use and that I don't need to make special concoctions, or stop shampooing, or whatever in order to grow my hair! Now, I don't think I've got hair that would look good at that length (I think it will always taper too much) but I would like nice hip length hair, and I think it is totally possible to do that with regular shampoo and conditioner! There are MUCH worse things you can do for your hair. Back when I was a kid I didn't know what a split end was, and I used regular (probably fairly cheap) shampoo and conditioner. I never had a hair problem until I chemically damaged it! So I now stay away from chemical dyes, as well as heat, and I'm back to using shampoo and conditioner to clean my hair!

[Athena's Owl]

heh! I think at least half of the longtimers here use very inexpensive products. I'm using a more expensive product right now, and it's all right, but you know what I keep going back to suave.

[Juneii]

gosh, if drugstore brand shampoos and conditioners are truly bad for you and your hair then everyone must be bald before LHC! "Natural" most definitely does not mean better. Sulfate shampoos and coney conditioners for me please :)

[Hairitic]

JellyBene; Can you please explain your Shikakai and Amla powder shampoo? How do you make it and where do you get your ingredients? How do you use it? Thanks for any help you can give. :)

[SoulOfTheSea]

Well, I do not use any fancy schmansy organic shampoo or anything, I just rotate between Suave shampoo+conditioner, Tresemme Naturals, and Herbal Essences. I like to rotate with cones and non cones, because if I do one for too long, my hair becomes drab. But yes, beautiful hair is possible with drugstore products, just look at all the beautiful hair in this community! :)

[JellyBene]

JellyBene; Can you please explain your Shikakai and Amla powder shampoo? How do you make it and where do you get your ingredients? How do you use it? Thanks for any help you can give. :)

I ordered it on ebay. I used the Hesh brand. it cost about $8 including tax. i hear it is MUCH cheaper if you can find it at a local Indian market. I just bought one box of amla and one box of shikakai, I got a plastic bowl and put in about 2 tablespoons of the shikakai and one of the amla and poured in a tiny bit of water and mixed it into a thick paste. then i wet my hair in the shower and rubbed it onto my scalp and hair, then I waitied for about 10 minutes (shaved my legs, washed my body ect.) and then rinsed it out and poof! clean, shiny voluminous hair. It works REALLY well, I previously had tons of coconut oil on my hair and it was able to remove all of it which amazes me, with normal shampoo I had to wash twice to remove the oil.

[deko]

I use regular sulfate shampoo (diluted) 2-3 times a week. I clarify once a month before coloring. I color my hair with semi-permanent color once a month, this year. Next year I will let myhair to the natural color. I use standard cheap conditioner (a lot). Sometimes (a couple times a month) I use coney conditioner. It shields my hair.

The only difference is that I don't blowdry, I don't brush my hair and I do use expensive Phyto9 leave-in condish. I oil my ends when I feel like, but it's not regular.

[punkcatknitter]

First of all, I'd love to know what the name of the book is b/c I'm really into all natural stuff.

Second, that being said, I love my Trader Joe's shampoo and suave conditioner. I love the idea of making my own shampoo and stuff out of all natural ingredients, but if they didn't work great in my hair I'd be just as happy to go back to my old stuff. Just be balanced and remember that the author of the book wants you to become a believer and tell people to buy his/her book. Plus it's just an opinion. I personally think sulfates are evil, but I'm not the queen of hair knowledge, so nobody has to agree with me!

[GRU]

Depends on what you consider "nice" hair.

If you like mine, then the answer is yes -- I'm a Suave CO-washer.

If you don't like mine, then buzz off! :lol:

[lapushka]

I'm well aware of the pricey salon stuff. I think it's pretty much BS. I bought one expensive hair mask in my life, many years ago. Cone laden, nice smell, but my cheap hair mask, conditioner, pretty much had the same effect; didn't justify the difference in price, IMO! If there's cheaper stuff that's great (and there better be cheap great stuff), why would I even want to use pricey stuff? :shrug: Why should drugstore products all of a sudden be no good? Because the ads (and some people) want you to believe that only really expensive stuff can "buy" you nice hair? Or that for some reason expensive stuff can make you grow more hair follicles? Yeah... I don't think so.

[Copasetic]

You can definitely have nice long hair using only drug store products. I know plenty of people in real life with long, thick hair who only use Pantene or Dove products.

I avoid shampoos with a lot of SLS in them, because I find they clean my hair too much, but that's a preference thing. A lot of people do great with SLS.