Fabric softener as a conditioner?!

[lmfbs]

www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/35-lifechanging-ways-to-use-everyday-objects

Number 9 - use fabric softener as a hair conditioner. Now, to me, this seems like terrible advice. Is there any truth to this?

[brave]

The link didn't work for me. But my mom always said fabric softener destroyed clothes, so I'd be wary to use it on my hair! I don't know how much truth there is in that.

[lmfbs]

The link didn't work for me. But my mom always said fabric softener destroyed clothes, so I'd be wary to use it on my hair! I don't know how much truth there is in that.

Fixed the link

[caadam]

...I don't even want to know. lol shudder:

[brave]

#5 is a legitimate tip. I use that all the time. And we all know #15 works well ;) #2 makes me nervous because after 3 months your mascara is supposed to be thrown away anyway.

[caadam]

Some of those tips are pretty good, and rather creative!

However... using a toilet cover as blotting tissue? Does this person not realize how much fecal matter is floating in the air and getting on surfaces of a public bathroom?! Disgusting. I mean, I know there's technically fecal matter here and there no matter where you go, but in a public bathroom... I would have to say, and probably be correct, that there's MUCH more than most other places. lol

[Hollyfire3]

#5 is a legitimate tip. I use that all the time. And we all know #15 works well ;) #2 makes me nervous because after 3 months your mascara is supposed to be thrown away anyway.


The mascara thing makes me nervous as well...I clicked 15's video JUST to watch Loepsie....she's awsome! Isn't she a member here?

[cwarren]

There are way too many chemicals in fabric softener to put it in your hair. Add the fact that its also flammable...

[caadam]

Lots of hair products made specifically for hair are flammable, too. And everything has chemicals. lol It just depends on what chemicals are safe to put on your hair. I really doubt the ones in fabric softener are. Blugh...

[cwarren]

Lots of hair products made specifically for hair are flammable, too.

True.

But I try to avoid hairsprays and products with warning labels :couch: All I can think about is the Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial incident :tmi:

[ScarletRose]

Oh my gosh I don't think I even want to try that :run:
But, if anyone tries it, I would be interested in hearing how it went!

[caadam]

True.

But I try to avoid hairsprays and products with warning labels :couch: All I can think about is the Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial incident :tmi:

OH I KNOW... poor guy. :(

I stopped using hair spray years ago myself. I don't blame you one bit. lol

[Tota]

I heard once from someone that fabric softener instead of conditioner does make hair beautiful. But to me, fabric softener is the same as pure poison and I don't even use it for fabric. I don't even own it.

[kpzra]

Well, considering my fabric softener is vinegar...

[luxepiggy]

Considering that I break at least 1 nail every single time I go near fabric softener, I am definitely not putting it on my hair! (>(oo)<)`

#2 is so not a good idea! If it's been open long enough to dry out, it's been open long enough for lots of bacteria to have started a party in there. Ick.

[Raiscake]

My mom tried it once. She has fine thin hair and it made her roots sooo greasy.

[MonaMayfair]

It's common to use fabric softener as a conditioner for synthetic wigs. I've never heard of it used on human hair though...

[Aredhel77]

I actually DID use it on one occasion, years ago, in an 'emergency' when I ran out of normal hair conditioner (I was a teenager and knew no better!). IIRC, it worked OK, but only OK. No allergic reactions or anything. Maybe I was lucky, as my scalp is now a lot more picky. I wouldn't do it again, anyway. I am sure it would (at best) build up like crazy if it didn't fry your skin and hair beforehand LOL. Or if the perfume in it didn't cause a reaction!

[bumblebums]

I would never do that. I have, however, used hair conditioner as a fabric softener on a wool sweater.

[LaFlor]

I don't even use the stuff on my clothes! Toxin city!

[LadyHazel]

I have a Turkish friend who swears by this and her hair is very long , it is very thick bushy and frizzy and it does look rather fried but she puts this down to her heritage howver I am skeptical because it sounds as ridiculous as her hair is fried looking. Clothes also get thrown in washing machines with harsh cleansers so bare that in mind.

Some people cringe at the thought of using olive oil in hair but that's a widespread ancient tradition that has results, so if fabric softener could be used as this with BENEFICIAL results then why is it not more recognised ?

I would not touch this with a barge pole, fried hair is never inherited!

[louzen]

I would never put fabric conditioner on my scalp/hair, oh my God the harsh chemicals would be so harmful. I just hope noone reads that tip and actually follows the advice.

That being said, I have heard of people using washing-up liquid as shampoo - that makes me cringe too!

[caadam]

I've heard of people using dish soap, detergent, dog shampoo (which is VERY BAD. The only time my mother used that on me is when I had lice during the sixth grade, and it was just once. It actually helped, but yeah... on a regular basis, it's BAD, but people do it shudder: )...

I know waaay back when my great grandmother came over the border from Mexico with her children (my grandma and my great uncles and aunts), they used pesticide on their hair in order to get rid of, well, bugs and stuff (because they were working out in the fields all the time). Even kerosene. Like... I can't even. x________x

[Ticky]

I know a girl who used it occasionally. Her hair looked fine, not damaged.

[RitaCeleste]

Its not damaging. I've used it just to try it. Its nothing to write home about. My mother-inlaw was telling me to try it on my daughters hair for tangles as a detangler. And Lady Hazel does not have ethnic or textured hair and I'm pretty sure she can't tell the difference in frizz and fried hair. Textured hair does not get long if it is fried. If it is fried, it breaks off. A brush is more likely to cause the "damaged" look Lady Hazel is reporting not fabric softener. Coarse textured hair is actually hard to damage that is why the girl has so much of it! Its also why she likes the fabric softener, it does make the hair feel softer if not more manageable. I'm not trying to be mean, textured hair is not damaged or fried because someone sees some fluff and frizz. Having textured hair myself, I prefer my brush and some fluff and frizz to doing the curly girl method. I can bother and fight frizz but why should I? My hair is just as healthy with it. The problem isn't my hair, it isn't the brush, its people who chose to discriminate based on texture and hide behind hair health claims! It like saying, "I don't hate black people but they carry diseases!!!" Just saying that attitude burns my behind.

[lapushka]

I have heard of rubbing dryer sheets on the hair to tame fly-aways and static hair.

[jacqueline101]

I've used the dryer sheets run across the entire length of your hair remove static.

[LadyHazel]

LOL I'm not a 'she' and yeah, I know what fried hair looks like and textured hair, I do live in a multi cultural society you know so I don't think it's very polite to constantly make a string of comments about me when I hang around this girl all the time AND her Turkish friends and family who all have textured, not fried hair.

It's pretty rash to say I've not noticed the difference when everyone on my street and almost everyone I know had a particular and individual texture which usually is shown in their parents hair also, thus I can make a comparison between splits and breakage and complete loss of texture as a pose to defined curls for example , i was raised with awareness thanks and considering her hairs as stiff as cardboard I wouldn't use the description of texture :)

I have taken a lot of offensive at your comment considering I recommended your thread to someone earlier, and it's pretty rude to assume if you have a problem you should personal message me instead of broadcasting what you think you know about me,

Further more, I study biochemistry and I can deduce fabric softener is not good for your hair, I'm not going into chemical structure or abrasives that will ruin keratin , but hey, I clearly have no idea according to people who haven't even met me.

In this comment no assumption has been made about you, oh an why is that? I don't know you!

[kitschy]

Back in the late 1960's when there really weren't many conditioners on the market, I used Downey fabric softener on my hair. I worked great, smelled great, and the blueing took the brassiness out of my sun-bleached hair.

What exactly do you think it would do to your hair?

[RitaCeleste]

Sorry, I use to get people all the time who thought my hair was damaged because I took a brush to it. I've got a stick up my butt about it. Its not fair to you. You wouldn't believe the number of people who really think anything with some frizz is damaged beyond all repair. I'm serious, I'd rather hear about fabric softner's chemical properties. I just don't trust opinions of whose hair is fried without having seen the hair in question at this point. Too many times, the hair wasn't fried at all. And I apologize very publicly about having a stick up my butt over this issue!!!

[Dovetail]

I haven't ever used actual liquid softener before, but I've used the sheets to try and tame my flyaways. It didn't help...

[Rufflebutt]

Fabric softener isn't formulated for hair in the slightest and probably has a ton of chemicals that are awful for hair. I would never ever try this.

[kitschy]

Fabric softener isn't formulated for hair in the slightest and probably has a ton of chemicals that are awful for hair. I would never ever try this.

Actually hair conditioner was introduced in the 1950's and was formulated from the technology used to create fabric softener which had been around since the 1920's.

Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History - Page 350 (http://books.google.com/books?id=9Z6vCGbf66YC&pg=PA350&dq=hair+conditioner+technology+fabric+softener&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tFziT_iABIi42QXcsZzKCw&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=hair%20c)

[elbow chic]

Might try it once, just to see. I never buy liquid fabric softener, though.

[Arden]

All I though when I first saw this thread was, "well people use ACV for fabric soften" ....but yea I dont see myself putting it on my head anytime soon... if for no other reason than I have allergies and just the smell makes my sinuses ache... I couldnt imagine it would be very good for you....

[Hosta]

I know a lot of girls who used fabric softener in the 70's. It did make their hair soft but it also really dried it out. Not a good idea.

[Miss Catrina]

Not that most conditioners are much better from a chemical standpoint, I'm sure, but I would NOT put something that toxic on my hair, certainly not as a leave-in.