Can cones.. fade away on the hair? (I can't explain!)

[LocustSpawning]

I was having a lot of trouble until recently from what I think is build up, but anyways, I've since clarified and deep conditioned and it's back to normal. In my routine I use both cones and oils, it works fine. I've only ever needed to clarify one time. (I clarified twice then though) but anyway; I was thinking...

I know other people use cones and oils at the same time, and it works fine. It works fine for me too. Can cones sort of 'fade away' on your hair after a few days of no washing to allow more moisture in from something else? Because, after I shampoo I condition with a no cone conditioner that makes it really soft, but then a cone heavy deep conditioner. If the cone heavy one totally sealed it, the oils I use after the shower or the next time I use the no cone one it wouldn't penetrate at all... but it does.

So.. do they sort of 'rub off'? How otherwise would moisture be able to get in?

[Amber_Maiden]

I'm not sure... I use a cone serum after drying my hair and combing it while it's still a little wet (I know ... bad...)... I don't use cones in the shower. I do notice that as the week progresses (I wash my hair once a week, or sometimes after 7+ days), my hair definitely starts to behave weirdly, if I don't apply more serum... I don't know if that helps any.

[LocustSpawning]

Thanks for your reply :D hmm..

This has really got me thinking now. I used cones and oils for a whole year and they worked fine up until just over the 1 year mark. You'd think layers of cones would build up and not let
any oils/non cone conditioners penetrate after just a few months, if that?! :S They can't completely seal the hair.. surely?!

[charchar1711]

all the products i use have cons in them, (my hair is nasty without them) and it always seems to soak up oils and serums between washes and i don't get that built up feeling either :) x

[Alaia]

I think it depends on what sort of cones are in the product.

Some of them do dissolve away, some don't.

[sbhonda]

If cones were what worked for me, I would probably keep using them too, but I tried to clean out a tiny bottle of Macadamia "Natural" Oil, which is really just a silicone serum (isn't it sad that they can name it that?), that I had sitting around because I wanted to use at as a travel bottle for actual oils. I left it soaking in about a cup of water with almost a tablespoon of dish soap ALL DAY, and then just straight dish soap for a while. 8 hours later, and even wiping it with cotton swabs and shaking the heck out of it with soapy water in it, I still can't get all of it off the sides of the bottle.

I haven't been cone free for long, and though my hair seems happier now, I was wondering how bad they could really be on my hair. The fact that dish soap couldn't remove it in 8 hours makes me pretty sure that I don't want to put something like that on my hair again. Water soluble cones don't concern me much at all, but I don't think I need them right now. Granted, this serum was probably about as bad as cones can get (pretty much straight dimethicone and cyclomethicone), and other formulations are probably better or less totally packed to the brim with cones. Plus this is just an observation, so it doesn't mean much.

When my hair was horribly damaged from bleach, I needed cones to get by. I think cones can be very helpful for making damaged hair tolerable. But the idea of buildup that I may not be able to get out concerns me now that my hair is all unbleached and pretty healthy. I think they would do me more harm than good with my hair how it is now.