Dry hair- I need help.

[MissAlida]

I just deleted a HUGE rant, so yeah. I'm frustrated with my hair, but I'll try to keep this light and negativity free.:rolleyes:
My hair is very tangly and dry. It air dries curly, but after I comb it and braid it in my usual french braid for sleep, in the morning it becomes very frizzy and dry and tangly. I can hardly detangle it to look half decent.Also I should mention that I wear it up almost always, and my hair is not split or chemically damaged.I have taper(I had a bad shed, and now hairs of all lenghts are growing in), so it doesen't look good curly, that's why I braid it for sleep. This seemed to give me nice shiny soft waves until recently. But now my hair is acting crazy. It's spring where I live, so the cause can't be dry air, or cold air or summer heat. It's just not nice, especially considering the amount of energy and time I spend on deep conditioning it weekly, and braiding it, and oiling it and etc.
So my question is: what can I do to reduce tangles and dryness? I don't know if my hair is worth all this energy...I'm tempted to cut it short again, and I'm afraid I'll regret it. Please help.:no:

[Madora]

You might want to read Ktani's article on using Mineral Oil to help moisturize hair:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=225



ETA: Additional link re: Mineral Oil

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=86298&highlight=Mineral+Oil

[swearnsue]

In addition to the mineral oil Madora suggested, have you clarified in the last few months? I find that a clarify and then using Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose conditioner, and then the baby oil works 100% of the time. It's like a complete do-over for hair!

[Ravenwind]

I had to chop my hair because of dryness, and I've been putting a little bit of coconut oil in my hair after I towel dry my hair after the shower. It's been helping a lot. Maybe try clarifying too and see what that does?

[MissAlida]

Madora- I'm not sure where I could find mineral oil where I live. I just tried to find cassia, and the saleswomen from the bio shop have never heard of it.Then after examining the box of a henna treatment they tried to make me believe that henna equals cassia. Also, oils are very expensive, and hard to come by. I'll try to find some baby oil, I might have a good chance to find that. There is an abundance of products, just not so many healthy ones.:shrug:
Swearnsue- I use the hybrid hairwashing method. I put conditioner from root to tip, leave it on if I have time, or if I'm in a hurry, just apply shampoo on the roots (without rinsing the conditioner out first), and massage. Then I rinse everything out and do a final white vinegar rinse. I do all this with my head hanging upside down, so some of the shampoo gets on my ends. Also, my conditioner is cone free. It might be buildup. I could do a clarifying with BS. I think I can try that.
Ravenwind- I put a hair oil on my hair after I towel dry it. It is a mixture of oils, and it seems to make my hair soft on the day I wash it, but the second day hair is awful. I tried to apply this oil on dry hair, but it makes my hair look oily. Also, I can't find coconut oil anywhere.
ETA: Thank you for your replies. :)

[earthnut]

A couple days ago, I clarified with a little baking soda and oiled the length with olive oil before bed. I also trimmed about an inch off. I probably had cone build-up and my hair is happy right now. :)

[CocoBean]

Madora- I'm not sure where I could find mineral oil where I live. I just tried to find cassia, and the saleswomen from the bio shop have never heard of it.Then after examining the box of a henna treatment they tried to make me believe that henna equals cassia. Also, oils are very expensive, and hard to come by. I'll try to find some baby oil, I might have a good chance to find that. There is an abundance of products, just not so many healthy ones.:shrug:
Swearnsue- I use the hybrid hairwashing method. I put conditioner from root to tip, leave it on if I have time, or if I'm in a hurry, just apply shampoo on the roots (without rinsing the conditioner out first), and massage. Then I rinse everything out and do a final white vinegar rinse. I do all this with my head hanging upside down, so some of the shampoo gets on my ends. Also, my conditioner is cone free. It might be buildup. I could do a clarifying with BS. I think I can try that.
Ravenwind- I put a hair oil on my hair after I towel dry it. It is a mixture of oils, and it seems to make my hair soft on the day I wash it, but the second day hair is awful. I tried to apply this oil on dry hair, but it makes my hair look oily. Also, I can't find coconut oil anywhere.
ETA: Thank you for your replies. :)
I had the same problem, mostly damage from flat iron, and blow dryer. I've stopped all of that, and have been trying the CO treatment, no poo at all. I also use baby oil almost daily, or at least every other day. My hair is still damaged, but looks a lot better, and have less hair loss too... think it was from using sulfate poo, which I've since thrown out. I saw a post about using catnip tea, search that in the forum, but you may want to try that.
If you are unable to locate the products you want locally, check online. I buy EVCO (coconut oil) online and it's cheaper than the health food stores...
Best of luck to you, and do keep everyone here posted.

Cheers!!

[MagicalMystery]

Avocado oil worked miracles for me!! It absorbs really fast too.

[manderly]

First question: Why are you combing out your curls? That never leads to good looking hair, just frizz from my experience.

Second question: Do you use any leave-in? You say you wash your conditioner out?


As a fellow typed hair member, I put about 2-3 pumps of conditioner into my hair and do not rinse it. Curls need the extra moisture and weight to be their happiest. :)

Check out the curly girl method!

[unknown]

CO-washing did wonders for me. I used a light conditioner on my scalp and a heavier one on the length. I also make a leave-in with 50/50 water, olive oil and a bit of conditioner that I use when I comb my hair to tame friss.

CWC-washing or washing with eggs/acv could also help.

[afu]

my hair used to be very frizzy and dry before i came here, but now i'm well on the way to being happy with it again. The first step for me was to embrace my curls and stop straightening, now my hair is getting more and more curl back every week and i'll soon be back to the 3 category. Here's the routine that works for me, it might be worth a try:

1) CO wash (i only use 1 stage), rinse well
2) lightly pat dry with a towel. Re-add conditioner from top of ear level down
3) leave in a turban for a bit
4) apply coconut oil liberally and brush through with tangle teezer
5) scrunch the curls back up with hands and air dry

I buy my virgin coconut oil from amazon, my hair literally drinks it - my lengths can never have too much.

I never brush dry hair, my curls would turn to frizz

[GoldberryHair]

Dove Intense Damage Conditioner is my Holy Grail, :) they have amazing leave-ins too,

and Coconut Oil is wonderful,

OH, and for leave-in Garnier Triple Nutrition Spray is A MIRACLE!

Oh, and mayo masks are really good too.

[Dragon Faery]

Maybe you need to add a second conditioning step with a thicker conditioner. Or else do a deep treatment the night before a wash.

Clarifying may help get your hair back on track.

Try lightly oiling your hair before detangling. This helps me a lot when mine gets dry and tangly. Or try adding a bit of conditioner or detangling spray before detangling.

Try not to comb or brush. With curly hair, that's just asking for trouble, even if you've straightened it out with a braid. Fingercomb, starting at the bottom, and most importantly, take your time.

You may not have splits, but you may have roughed-up hair shafts from problems with detangling.

Keep your ends oiled, even if at first it seems greasy. Over time you and your hair will adjust, and it should tangle less.

Try misting your ends with water or tea, then adding a smidge of oil or conditioner. Or baby oil, if you decide to try that.

It's also possible your hair is just one of those that does better with a wash every other day or so. Do whatever makes your hair the happiest, regardless of whether it's what's recommended by others or not!

[Dragon Faery]

It's also possible you need more protein. Sometimes dryness and lack of protein can look similar. If you try a protein treatment (in a conditioner or something) and it works, then you can likely go back to your old routine with no problems. If it doesn't help or makes it worse, clarify it out and do a deep treatment.

[Laylah]

Your hair probably isn't actually THAT dry, but the problem is when you comb the curls it breaks them up and creates frizz. The thing to do is to comb you hair only when it's wet, with a ton of conditioner. While your hair is still wet, right before you go to dry it, make sure you leave in the conditioner and use your fingers to smooth together any curls that have separated. Make sure it dries like this, with the curls defined and all the hairs of one curls sticking together. If you blowdry, use a diffused to decrease the air speed so it doesn't break up your curls.

[MissAlida]

First question: Why are you combing out your curls? That never leads to good looking hair, just frizz from my experience.

Second question: Do you use any leave-in? You say you wash your conditioner out?


As a fellow typed hair member, I put about 2-3 pumps of conditioner into my hair and do not rinse it. Curls need the extra moisture and weight to be their happiest. :)

Check out the curly girl method!
I comb my curls out, because I have taper, and I don't like the look of my curls. I had a very bad shedding, and now hairs of all lenghts are growing in, so my curls start out nice and full, and end in a couple of strands that refuse to stick together and form a curl so it gets all puffy. Also, I wouldn't mind going curly girl, but I am curently using a special shampoo, that stopped my shedding. As I read, curly girl method is CO with plopping. I could try the plopping, but I don't know what to do with my hair for sleep. Doesen't yours get tangled if you sleep with it loose?
About the leave in: I do wash out the conditioner fully, but I apply a couple drops of hair oil on my towel dried hair, so that acts like a leave in. It's just a mixture of oils, it's really nice. Thank you for your reply.:blossom:

[MissAlida]

Wow, thank you all for your replies. You have just showered me with a ton of information, I don't even know where to start.:D
Do you think the curly girl method would work even if I use shampoo? I really can't stop using it, it decreased my shed, and that's a miracle. Also, after I wash my hair, it's not curly. I know that some curly haired people have curly hair even when their hair is wet, but mine relaxes to a 1a, so I can't really form my ringlets with my fingers while they are wet. Only with air drying I get curls.
Another question: what do curly haired people do with their hair for sleep? If I braid it, my curls relax to waves. If I leave it out, my curls become frizzy and tangled.
I have too many questions, I know.:o Thank you for your advices, LHC is great.:heart:

[Sheylenna]

You know what I have found? My hair is straight but also tangly @ the bottom. But if I use oil for some reason it does not do anything for my hair unless it saturates my hair... which mean I can't oil it after I wash my hair... it get to oily.

I take Olive Oil (just the kind you buy in a supermarket) and put it in to my bath water and put it in my hair. It nicely moisturizes my hair and skin (Even if I do feel like I'm a salad ^ . ^). The only problem is that you have to clean the tub REALLY well after or the oil makes the tub nasty.

Sometimes I can get away with putting some oil (of any kind) into my conditioner... but sometimes the just makes my hair nasty.

There is also if you have a "Ethnic" Section in your supermarkets hair section they sometimes have hair oil like olive, tea tree, carrot and jojoba. OR you can order online from Sally's... ummm its called... 7 something I don;t remember and I left my bottle @ my moms.... Natural7? something like that .. found it http://www.sallybeauty.com/argan-oil/SBS-631613,default,pd.html?cm_vc=SEARCH it;s about $7. so not too bad....

[Amanah]

CO Washing, Curly Girl Method for the win :)

[Safira]

I think you should watch for humectants. If you use humectants and it´s dry hair, humectants draw the moisture out of your hair. It´s not always that if it rains, it´s good for hair. I cannot explain this better, I think you should go to curly forums and find information.

Clarifying should be first step and if you find out if your hair likes protein more than moisture (mine does) that should help this problem.

[DancingQueen]

I might be wrong about this, but you might want to avoid sleeping on a braid if you have curly hair. I used to have this problem, but now I just flip my hair over my pillow and sleep like that. My hair have never been better. :)

[Kinkycurlygurl]

Madora- I'm not sure where I could find mineral oil where I live. I just tried to find cassia, and the saleswomen from the bio shop have never heard of it.Then after examining the box of a henna treatment they tried to make me believe that henna equals cassia. Also, oils are very expensive, and hard to come by. I'll try to find some baby oil, I might have a good chance to find that. There is an abundance of products, just not so many healthy ones.:shrug:
Swearnsue- I use the hybrid hairwashing method. I put conditioner from root to tip, leave it on if I have time, or if I'm in a hurry, just apply shampoo on the roots (without rinsing the conditioner out first), and massage. Then I rinse everything out and do a final white vinegar rinse. I do all this with my head hanging upside down, so some of the shampoo gets on my ends. Also, my conditioner is cone free. It might be buildup. I could do a clarifying with BS. I think I can try that.
Ravenwind- I put a hair oil on my hair after I towel dry it. It is a mixture of oils, and it seems to make my hair soft on the day I wash it, but the second day hair is awful. I tried to apply this oil on dry hair, but it makes my hair look oily. Also, I can't find coconut oil anywhere.
ETA: Thank you for your replies. :)
@MissAlida Ordinary baby oil is mineral oil.

[manderly]

Curlies sleep in high sleep buns or "pineapples" to preserve curl. I personally tie a big hairnet (the kind that would go around giant curlers) around my hair for more curl preservation.

You can incorporate Curly Girl while still using shampoo on your roots. You need to use WAY more leave in to help your curls clump correctly, that's the point, clumped curls.

My hair is not curly when it's wet, it's more of a loose wave until I flip and scrunch gel into it and scrunch excess water out. ETA: I do not plop, nor to I twirl my curls, a simple scrunch is what I use to coax them out.

Do you have any curl-friendly salons near you such as a Deva salon? You can get a curl-friendly cut while preserving the majority of your length, they specialize in getting those curls happy again, and can show you how to use products to enhance the curls you'd like.

Honestly, a couple of drops of oil isn't going to cut it, especially if you're complaining about dry hair. I use 2-3 PUMPS of Deva One condition in my hair....I recently cut and I'm only about shoulder length now. THATS how much leave in and moisture is needed for thirsty curls.

I suggest you jump into the curly and wurly thread and start reading up and embracing. You've received a bunch of suggestions from non-curlies here, and while great advice for their hair type, I'm telling you that after being here as long as I have, trying all these things (before I realized I was a curly), that they aren't enough for my hair (and that goes for a lot of other curlies). :flower:

[Laylah]

Another question: what do curly haired people do with their hair for sleep? If I braid it, my curls relax to waves. If I leave it out, my curls become frizzy and tangled.

You can do either method, but if you want your curls back after sleeping, just spray some water on them and add some conditioner to define the curl. Braiding might be better, though, to save time so you don't have to detangle again. My hair has a really strange texture, part wavy and part super curly (spirals with the diameter of a sharpie marker) so this is the method I use for the curly portion of it.

[whichypoohs]

I've had the impossible done: orange Henna has been removed from my hair and I've now had ashy blonde highlights which will allow my grey hair to grow out. So my hair's been through it. It's dry. So I'm keeping it ragged at night and up in the day and I will "Condition Only" and shampoo once a week. I'm also using Argan/Moroccan Oil. As I write this I've let it down and it's feeling soft....so here's hoping.

[MissAlida]

So today I clarified with a mixture of BS and shampoo, then deep conditioned with some conditioner mixed with an egg yolk and some hair oil. I also did a final rinse with diluted white vinegar. I towel dried, didn't comb, but scrunched my lenght with a couple drops of oil and some aloe gel from my little plant, which is finally big enough for me to be able to use some of it's leaves.

My hair is very shiny, smooth and soft. The curls are a bit untidy, I have been braiding alot lately, so it might need some time to curl nicely again. So yay, I'm happy.:D:D Thank you ALL for your help, you're amazing.:bowtome:

I wanted to upload a photo for you to see the results, but I can't. I don't know why, I even resized it, but it just tells me it's not from a valid source or something. What should I do?:shrug:

[Madora]

MissAlida, the uploading function is not working at present. This has happened before. Just keep checking back (it may take time to fix).

You might try downloading a picture from Photobucket instead and putting it in your post.

[MissAlida]

Madora, thank you for the information. I tought there was something wrong with my internet connection. I'll just try it later then.