Silicone question! (Hair, not boobs!)

[goldcopperbrown]

Which of the following is true? I've been cone-free for a while now and part of me misses the cones. My hair never as shiny or as sleek. (I have straight hair, trying to grow it long)


A- Using cones (like dimethicone) will make it hard to grow your hair long.

B- Cones are totally fine as long as you use SLS shampoo or clarify.

C- Cones prevent your hair from actually getting moisture.

D- Cones are good for your hair because they keep it from getting tangled and breaking.

[spidermom]

Whether a statement is true or not varies greatly from individual to individual.

For me, cones help so much with detangling that I am loathe to give them up. I have to clarify every other month or so, which is probably as much because of conditioners and oils as it is because of cones.

[charchar1711]

cones do not prevent growing long hair at all, my sister has the longest most beautiful hair and all she ever uses is cheap drug store (sulphate/silicone) shampoo conditioner! I couldn't live without the cones either as every cone free product I have tried fails to de tangle my hair. on the other hand some people say cones make there hair horrible, so to be honest there is no right or wrong answer as everyone's hair likes different things.

[rowie]

cones do not prevent growing long hair at all, my sister has the longest most beautiful hair and all she ever uses is cheap drug store (sulphate/silicone) shampoo conditioner! I couldn't live without the cones either as every cone free product I have tried fails to de tangle my hair. on the other hand some people say cones make there hair horrible, so to be honest there is no right or wrong answer as everyone's hair likes different things.

This! I tried WO and then CO and it just wasn't working for my multi-textured hair. Probably WO worked well for the straight hairs I have because it made it feel really smooth, but for my coarse hairs all the way to the waves it only made it feel like straw and dried out despite using coconut oil and EVOO during my exploration of WO. CO was fine for my coarse and wavy hairs, but my straight hairs suffered and felt like straw from protein build up. I also agree that the statement "cones prevent you from growing long hair" is false because both my older sisters have grown into classic using biosilk serums (highly coney), and cheap drugstore brands.

[maborosi]

Some people's hair does not like silicones. In a way, they're kind of like oil, they have the same effect, and there are different kinds.

Removing buildup from them helps because some find that, over time, they make the hair feel waxy or weighed down.

I cannot use them right now, because after we moved, I realized that our house's water is hard. Hard water + cones = buildup. Until we get a water softener, I'm afraid that I can't use 'em.

They really helped detangle my hair, though, and made my hair sleek and shiny.

~maborosi~

[RapunzelKat]

Your thread title made me laugh! :lol:

For me, I don't think I could have grown my hair long without cones! They keep my hair from tangling beyond the point of no return :D I think it really depends on what your hair likes ;)

Incidentally, it looks like we may be hairtwins :cool:

[EmilyOtter]

As a newbie, I've been trying to figure out what it is that is "bad" about cones.... is it the buildup thing, or is there something else that's negative? (And I also like your title!) :)

[patienceneeded]

I keep going back to cones, my hair loves them! There's nothing "wrong" or "bad" with cones. Some people like them, some don't. I generally clarify once a month or so, but I've never had any really bad buildup. I don't use sulfates regularly, they make my head itch. So I limit my sulfates to an occasional clarifying wash (once a month) and I've never had a problem.

[caadam]

I totally thought your were talking about boobs...

jk lol

Nah, I knew what you meant. :D For me, I recently switched to WO from having been a CO washer. I really did like CO. It made my hair feel soft, and it made my hair manageable and shiny.

The only reason I decided to start WO is because even though my hair loved CO, my scalp didn't. My scalp was always very dry, or very oily two days later after every wash. I've been without products for two weeks starting tomorrow, and my scalp is waaay happier. Hair... meh, it'll catch up eventually.

The kind of conditioner I used was Suave Rosemary Mint. That one has dimethicone in it (sp?), and when I first started using it, I was CO washing every other day.

For the past few months, excluding these recent two weeks, I was CO washing every day because I just couldn't handle the itching and oiliness my scalp suffered when skipping days.

My hair has grown 18 inches since December 2010.

Of course, I cut off a few inches due to some funky ends from chemical damage, but yeah.

So, obviously dimethicone doesn't really affect hair growth, at least in my case. lol

And as for clarifying... I used a tea tree oil shampoo every couple of months. *shrugs* Another reason I've switched to WO—my scalp hates shampoo, too.

This is just my subjective experience from doing CO for a looong time. I really liked it, because my length liked it, but in the end, my scalp suffered enough that I decided to make a change.

Hope that helps!

[Copasetic]

Whether a statement is true or not varies greatly from individual to individual.

Exactly. All you need to know is whether or not cones work for you personally.

[Charlotte:)]

Well in my case, D, but it's different for everyone.

[ladyfitzgerald]

I'm a newbie here :p and I was wondering if someone could clarify what CO and WO mean, i'm guessing it has to do with using shampoo with silicone.. haha sorry if it's a dumb question!:confused:

[caadam]

I'm a newbie here :p and I was wondering if someone could clarify what CO and WO mean, i'm guessing it has to do with using shampoo with silicone.. haha sorry if it's a dumb question!:confused:

It's not a dumb question! :D

CO is an abbreviation for Conditioner Only. WO is an abbreviation for Water Only.

People who are CO only wash their hair with conditioner, and people who are WO only wash their hair with water! Hope that helps. :flower:

[Shesta]

B) and D)

I personally don't use cones on regular basis only because they seem to add some coarseness to my hair and it doesn't feels as soft. Otherwise I like how easy is detangling with them.

[holomi]

My hair loves cones, and also my hair does fine without them. I happen to love the new Pantene lines, so I've been using cones. :)

[Valfreyja]

I love cones, in moderation. I have thin straightish hair, I don't know if that affects anything. I DO know that water hardness changes how cones work (or don't) for people. The water here is extremely soft, we have the best water in the world. Hence, cones don't behave as horribly as they would otherwise.