Need some help from hair gurus!

[Dreah]

Hey guys! It's been quite awhile since I last posted (almost a year, eek!) but I've been lurking around a bit here and there and decided to jump back into things... except that now I'm a little stumped, as my hair has changed quite a bit over the last year!

A brief bit of background: I was firmly at classic length this time last year, and had been henna'ing from March 2010 until then. So a good portion of my length was still damaged horribly by all the tortures of chemically dying it for years. I was planning a big move from Washington State to Maryland, and right before I left I got a crazy idea.... and went to get my hair chopped off! So I went from classic to just barely BSL, with some light layers cut in as well. And I absolutely loved it!

I continued with henna up until about March of this year, and would still be using it if I wasn't so darn poor! (I lost my job in Feb. and just now got another one, so once bills are caught back up I'll definitely be getting some more henna. I'm going through withdrawals!)

So here is my predicament. Once I cut off all that weight and damaged hair, the remaining hair decided that it was wavy / curly. o.O;; So what I previously thought was 1b hair is actually in the 2 range... what do you guys think? 2b? Possibly even 2c, as the ends tend to spiral if left alone? Here's a hair typing pic I took today after a shower, left completely alone to air dry with no combing. (Don't mind the dirty mirror!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v366/munkyness/me/hairtype.jpg

On top of the seemingly random hair type change, I moved very close to the Eastern coast... which means crazy humidity that my hair isn't used to. So I frizz -constantly-. Mostly my canopy, where it's about 3 inches of completely virgin hair due to my lack of funds for henna recently.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v366/munkyness/me/frizz.jpg

I have no idea how to tame this! It's especially bad when I wear my hair up and out of my face for work. If I don't hairspray it down I end up looking very sloppy and frizzy after an hour or two. I really don't want to rely on hairspray. My hair likes coconut oil (or it did a year ago or so... on the drive to the east coast when I moved, some jerk broke into my van and stole a bunch of stuff, the box marked 'bathroom' as well, that had my coconut oil in it. (i know, right?) ) All the big grocery stores I've checked out here doesn't carry it, so I don't know where to get it.

Any other suggestions for taming humidity frizz? Preferably something cheap for the short term... I'm hoping things will be better financially in the next couple months so then I can splurge on more expensive things for my hair!

Thanks so much in advance, everyone! :D

[Maktub]

hmm...

you could try aloe verra, or virgin olive oil (a tiny amount) ... or a good leave-in conditionner, or even a little bit of conditionner applied on wet hair... or cones, possible too if you are not cone free...

Good luck ! I love your natural color and you have very beautiful hair !

[annieangel149]

wow! lovely hair and its grown! lol! ermmmm! sorry im pretty hopeless with hair typing but i would say 2b? just washing with conditioner every other wash might help with the frizzys! and yes! a little oil smoothes out those flyaways! :)

[julierockhead]

Oh Hai! Welcome back!

Aloe (the kind with no alcohol from Walmart) works real good for sproingy canopy frizzies.
Love your natural color, and the henna color you achieved!

[CarpeDM]

I will be watching this thread I've got the same curlies that are very unruly and untameable and nothing seems to work for me...

[Dreah]

Thanks so much for the compliments and suggestions so far!

I forgot to mention that I do use conditioner every wash. My hair loves Tresemme's Naturals line, but the last month or so I've been using Suave's Professionals Almond and Shea Butter. Though I don't use conditioner on my scalp, just the length, as I tend to get greasy very quickly.

I keep reading about aloe gel so maybe I will pick some up when I run out to Walmart tomorrow!

[Anje]

Well, the length looks gorgeous! I'm not sure I can help you with the frizz. I've got the same stuff perpetually around my head. A little oil or sebum seems to help, and I do get less of it if I CO wash rather than using shampoo, but I've never been able to get rid of it completely with clean hair. (Probably never will, either. My follicles think I'm a curly for a few inches every time they make a new hair, then decide that's too much work and they'd rather make straightish hairs. So new growth is perpetually curly-frizzy.)

[BlazingHeart]

If you're headed to walmart anyhow, some of them carry coconut oil. You'd find it with cooking oils.

~Blaze

[Dreah]

I'll have to check it out. I'm surprised that the big grocery stores here don't have any... they have a big organic section but just... no coconut oil. I checked with the cooking oils too, but nope.

[swearnsue]

Walmart carries the LuAnn coconut oil. It isn't virgin, cold pressed etc etc, but I've been using it and like it alot. It doesn't have a coconut smell and you can use it to cook with also. Do you have a bulletin board/swap board at work? You might find some deals on oils, henna, other stuff there. Sometimes people will give you things when you are a new hire!

[jojo]

I think your a 2a/b . I too get the frizzies in the exact same place annoying huh? my hair prefers EVOO to coconut oil, I just put it on dry hair, cling film and leave overnight and then use conditioner no water, just conditioner straight on leave for 5 minutes rinse and repeat and it not only brings the wave out more but tames the frizz. It might be an idea doing CO washes, which im better would bring you to a full 2b or even 2c!

Love your natural and henna colour too,

[Dreah]

Well, Walmart was a bust. But I think that's only because the one closest to me sucks and doesn't really carry what other Walmarts do. I couldn't find coconut oil or the right aloe vera gel... they had the stuff for sunburns full of alcohol, but not the pure stuff. /sigh

On a happier note, I'm trying out CO again, to see if maybe that will help some. The first time I tried it, I wasn't very successful, and couldn't get past the super greasies. So far so good though... perhaps having more virgin hair length than I previously did is helping too!

I desperately need a trim too, I think. Or perhaps some clarifying... ugh. I had all this stuff before I moved! It still baffles me that a thief broke into my car, took the GPS, my computer monitor, boxes of DVDs and.... my bathroom box with my coconut oil, ACV, and various shampoos etc. ...Oh, and about 6 months of my birth control. -_-; lol.

[Anje]

Check grocery stores among the oils, the natural foods, and with the popcorn that you would pop on the stove for coconut oil. I've seen it in all three of those locations. Walmart is also known to have virgin stuff among the supplements occasionally, but that's not the cheapest route to go for coconut. Alternatively, if you have an Indian/Pakistani sort of grocery store anywhere by you, you're sure to find coconut oil there for lower prices than you'll get elsewhere.

[Dreah]

Thanks Anje, I'll check those places out!

[Teazel]

Helllooo, hair twin! :waving: :D

[longhairedlady]

I would use some oil and skip the shampoo and do CO or at least CWC.

[silverjen]

I get the East Coast Frizzies too, and for me a drop or two of jojoba oil on dry hair tames them better than anything else. So that's another possibility to consider.

[ellen732]

I was having the same problem with my hair and then I tried Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I got it at Wallgreen's for $9.99 and I use it after every wash when it's damp. It doesn't make my hair wavier but it does tame it and makes it manageable. I really like the stuff.

[Flying Penguin]

For coconut oil, you could try Amazon. This is the one I got:

http://www.amazon.com/Nutiva-Coconut-Oil-Organic-solid/dp/B001E8DHPW/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1316359169&sr=8-12

And you can get free two-day shipping with the Amazon Prime trial membership. :)