fine hair problems

[bigeyedgirl829]

I have fine/thicker hair. Not horribly thick but medium-thick versus thin hair or the lucky people that have so much hair they have it to spare!! :rolleyes: Heh! But I have tried many different ways to minimize the tangles that comes with having baby fine hair. Someone could look at it funny after I take the time to comb all the tangles out and it starts to snarl up on me.

I've tried:
ACV rinses
Catnip
Cones
No Cones.
Henna
Indian Herbs
SMT
Shampoo Bars
CO washing
SLS free stuff and not

Is there something I've missed or am I just destined to have tangle-y hair? Thanks guys

[Madora]

You can eliminate a great many problems with tangling if you wear your hair up.

Wearing it down creates a mess of snarls, tangles, which ultimately lead to damage.

The less time you spend detangling, the better for your hair.

[bigeyedgirl829]

I usually do wear my hair up in a bun if I'm out and about and at home. But in a pony tail when working out... as usually with all the bouncing the bun comes out. I just wish I could wear my down so I can enjoy the length of it sometimes when I want to feel pretty and feminine. I hate having to put it up just so it's not tangle-y. Ya know?

Also my other fine hair LHCer's ... what do you have more luck with 'cones or no 'cones in your conditioners?

[RainbowHawk]

I haven't tried everything you have yet, but I have baby-fine hair which is curly and I'm also looking for help. Henna and cassia are not options for me, but I'm planning to try protein this weekend. :)

[Alaia]

Either work fine for me, cones or no cones that is.

Coconut oil helps me work out the tangles, funnily enough. It also makes it easier to put in updos as it doesn't err.... mess around so much. I get hopelessly tangled when I braid for example unless I've oiled my hair lightly beforehand.

[faithsdaisy421]

Ugghhh... I am a fine/thick like you. I know EXACTLY what you mean about the tangles. If I comb out my dried hair and walk 10 feet it has somehow developed tangles.

Some of the things I have found that have helped me, are things that you have mentioned. But, I'll go through my routine and you can take from it what you will.

So, the first thing I found that has helped my hair and tangles is using this shampoo... http://www.vitacost.com/Giovanni-Golden-Wheat-Deep-Cleanse-Shampoo
It is SLS free and absolutely AMAZING on my hair! I condition with this...
http://www.vitacost.com/Giovanni-50-50-Balanced-Hydrating-Calming-Conditioner/?vbnpid=21300
It is cone-free.

I found that my hair is much, much less tangled when using a SLS free/cone free routine. It seems to de-tangle easier as well.

I recently switched to CO, and use the above mentioned conditioner on my length and use this cheapo conditioner to "wash" with...
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=suave+naturals&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3069190010312262620&sa=X&ei=spJFTtDrEYXKiALmgqDWAQ&ved=0CFwQ8gIwBA
My hair is doing AMAZING with the CO. Honestly, I was quite concerned going CO, since my hair is so fine, but it has transitioned quite well. I think using the SLS/cone free products for a good 3 months, as well as stretching my washes to 2x a week really helped the switch to CO.

So, when I get out of the shower, I wrap my hair in a turbie twist, let it dry in the first for about 10 minutes, wrap it in a second for about 20 minutes, and then let it air dry fully before I do any combing. I use a wide tooth comb when it is wet if I HAVE to comb it wet for some reason, otherwise I use a tangle teaser.

I use a BBB at least once a day.

I wear my hair up in a bun most days, but if I do wear it down, I just plan ahead and know that I will be spending some time that evening combing out the tangles.

I recently did my first S&D, and found that helped with the tangles a bit. Also, I sleep with a satin sleep cap on, and coconut oil the ends quite lightly about 3 times a week.

You may want to try to clarify your hair, and see if that helps. Something as using some Baking Soda and rinsing with ACV may really help!

You will find what works for you, just slowly try new things!

[torrilin]

Hrm.

I still have really tangle prone hair. But it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be, mostly thanks to some technique changes I've made. The absolute first thing I tried when I found LHC was CWC. This is a good, useful technique, and it made it a lot easier to detangle my hair in the shower. Shower detangling is just one of those things that I've always had as a habit. I stuck with CWC for something like 2 months at first, enough time to use up a couple conditioners and at least one bottle of shampoo.

Next, I tried coconut oil mixed with shampoo. Before I tried a new shampoo with coconut oil, I tried a just shampoo wash with each one. It became VERY obvious that some shampoos tangle my hair a lot more than others. Adding coconut oil did not really alter how the shampoo tangled or didn't tangle my hair. The less a shampoo tangled my hair, the better the method worked. The end result tho just was not worth it compared to how much effort it was. CWC is a lot easier, and produces similar results for me. The other thing that came out of it was I discovered that it's totally possible to wash my scalp with diluted shampoo and get my scalp just as clean.

Something that was commonly used with oil shampoo in the past was a dilute vinegar rinse. I hadn't tried vinegar rinses with oil shampoo... but as I was easing out of the oil shampoo experiments, I started fooling around with vinegar rinses. Vinegar rinses combined with a shampoo that doesn't cause much tangling and the improved wash and detangle methods that I learned during my CWC phase? Huge reduction in tangles.

As part of this, I've moved to a lot more finger combing, and much less use of regular combs and brushes. I do still have and use combs and brushes, but it is no longer a daily thing. I also comb my hair a lot less... maybe once a day instead of many times a day.

Keeping my hair braided or bunned helps also. But I'd done that for years, and I'd still occasionally have proto-dreadlocks. So technique (at least for my hair) matters a lot more than anything else.

[feb26]

Glad it's working out for you. I love the feel of running a brush through my hair, but it DOES seem to encourage tangles rather than reduce them. Keep up the good work!

[bigeyedgirl829]

I think I've had the best luck with CO washing and the Indian Herbs. But with the CO my ends get dry after a couple days... and the herbs give me the greasies pretty fast. I initially started my hair care routine with clarifying with the VO5 Key lime. S&D I've done a lot. I've slept with a satin cap as well. I just will keep trying to find the right routine for my hair. I appreciate all the responses

[deko]

I've tried:
ACV rinses
Catnip
Cones
No Cones.
Henna
Indian Herbs
SMT
Shampoo Bars
CO washing
SLS free stuff and not


Oils and aloevera.
Many oils help with detangling.
I spread a tiny amount of black seed oil to my ends after wash (wet) and they feel really fine. Many like olive oil and coconut oil, I use black seed oil because I use it to my face (lovely!) and the rest will go to my hair.

If oils are too much then mix oil to aloe vera gel, it will help the oil to penetrate and it's good to your ends.

Remember if you oil your ends often you'll need to clarify your ends once in a while.

[MyKing'sQueen]

Hey, bigeyedgirl829! I feel your pain! I have fine hair and I wear it down most of the time which results in major tangles :( Wooden comb would get stuck in my hair all the time and i would hear hairs snap no matter how gentle I was... It was a pain to detangle. The only thing that is working for me right now is tangle teezer which makes detangling a lot faster and easier and using a detangling spray or any kind of oil. As for cones, they don't seem to make any difference for me :rolleyes: I hope you find a solution soon :flower:

[Panth]

My old method: cones, masses of them. Namely Pantene. Plus realising that if I've been out in the wind then there's going to be tangles so sit down with a wide-toothed comb (wooden, to prevent static which just makes more tangles) and something else (magazine, TV, film) and just comb it out.

My new method: oil shampoo (1 part coconut oil, 2 parts Boots' Essentials shampoo) followed by a white wine vinegar rinse (1 tsp vinegar, 1 pint cool water).

Tangles aren't really a problem for me any more, though, as I wear my hair up 99% of the time as that is a requirement for me to get past TB and maintain classic+ lengths.

[chrissy-b]

Sebastian's Potion No. 9. It's a leave-in, styling, moisturizer with cones. I use it in my hair after it's dry and it keeps the tangles away (mostly) when I wear it down. Every oil except Camellia oil collects dust which make my tangles worse, but Camellia seems to help a little bit. Hope you find something that works!

[RainbowHawk]

I've just learned that what my super fine hair actually needs is protein. I have a feeling that once my hair is stronger, it will be less tangle-prone. Now it's just a matter of finding the right kind and the right balance. All this time I thought my hair just needed a different moisturizing routine (or just more moisture) when in reality I was just skewing the moisture/protein balance further. Yikes! Is this you?


. Hair that is shifted too far on the moisture side will be "super-elastic" and stretch more because it lacks a sound protein structure. Many people describe the feel of over-conditioned and over-moisturized hair as "mush-like" or "overly soft," especially when wet. This kind of hair has a weak, limp, spongy feel to it. Protein deficient hair will tend to pull and stretch along with the comb and then break.

My hair has the texture of overcooked pasta when it's wet, very soft and stretchy and bleh. I always thought that a lot of stretch meant my hair was healthy! :shake: You live, you learn!

[pepperminttea]

I feel your pain. As far as I know, there's nothing that works. There are, however, things that help. A little bit of 'cone helps me, but not a lot; 'cone-free shampoo and condish but with a 'cone-y leave-in every few washes - on damp hair, after a more moisturising leave-in. Oil, too; light ones like camellia or NightBlooming's Triple Moon blend. Frequent deep moisture treatments and not too heavy on the protein; when my hair's dry it makes the tangling worse. Wearing hair up is the big one, but I'll grant you it's not as fun. Whenever I wear my hair down I have to make sure I set aside time to detangle before bed. It takes a while, especially if it's been windy.

[alyanna]

My hair's always been problematic on that front too. I haven't really found a solution. Wearing it up works for sure, but I just love wearing my hair down when I'm out :o

It gets tangled and messed up in a second. If it's oiled, it won't tangle as much, but then it's not presentable either.

When it gets longer, I'm hoping I can do The Curly Girl method and just wear my hair curly and unbrushed. With only shoulder-length hair, I don't always like the curly look.