Dry/Hard ends, advice?

[Auni]

To start off, my hair is pretty healthy. I henna, use coconut oil before every wash, hardly ever use heat to style, and haven't seen a white dot or a split end in 5 years. Lately, my ends are well, "hard" maybe dry, does that make any sense? The last inch or so of my length doesn't like to bend and just feels rough. You can actually see my ends fraying away from each other and doing funny acrobatics. I have about 4 different textures scattered about on my head, and I expect some of the ends twisting and turning on my 3a areas, but this seems to be the story throughout right now. I really don't want to trim as its counter productive to growing, and really, I don't think I need to. Any advice for concoctions? I did a SMT and well, not bad, but not great either. Also, my hair is high porosity, and I haven't quite figured out the best way to shove moisture into my strands. Help!

[gthlvrmx]

Have you ever tried oiling after you wash your hair? There is more moisture to retain right after you wash it (so apply the oil on damp/wet hair). Have you tried clarifying your hair?

[Nadine <3]

Have you clarified? M ends feel really dry when I get build up of coconut oil or any other product. I shampoo with a harsh cleanser all the way to the ends and then follow up with a SMT to put the moisture back into my hair.

[Auni]

Have you ever tried oiling after you wash your hair? There is more moisture to retain right after you wash it (so apply the oil on damp/wet hair). Have you tried clarifying your hair?

Oil post wash with my low porosity= oily hair, my hair just won't upload the moisture!

Have you clarified? M ends feel really dry when I get build up of coconut oil or any other product. I shampoo with a harsh cleanser all the way to the ends and then follow up with a SMT to put the moisture back into my hair.

I guess I could be do for a clarify, I usually try to stay away from the ends, but just maybe I should let the shampoo venture south!! I'll try tomorrow pre henna.

[Arctic]

Sounds like it could be buildup, like Nadine said, or too much protein (coconut oil and henna can act a bit like protein on some people's hair. If you use proteiny products on top of that, it might be too much).

And sometime a trim is what it's needed. Small trims every now and then won't slow your growth gaining that much.

[meteor]

This happens - just normal wear/fraying of ends, I'd give those ends a lot of TLC.

When this happens to me, I always clarify first, then do an SMT and a protein treatment (usually, just gelatin added to SMT) and then I oil those ends with whatever oil is around to add elasticity.

I like hydrolyzed proteins because they help frayed ends by giving them more "structure" and they are also mild humectants. They need to be balanced with oils, though.

For the long run, try to figure out which oils your ends like the most for softness and elasticity - some people get crunchy ends with certain oils (e.g. coconut) but get softness and shine from others... It's a pretty individual thing.

[Auni]

Sounds like it could be buildup, like Nadine said, or too much protein (coconut oil and henna can act a bit like protein on some people's hair. If you use proteiny products on top of that, it might be too much).

And sometime a trim is what it's needed. Small trims every now and then won't slow your growth gaining that much.

I was wondering if the henna could just be too "thick" down there.

This happens - just normal wear/fraying of ends, I'd give those ends a lot of TLC.

When this happens to me, I always clarify first, then do an SMT and a protein treatment (usually, just gelatin added to SMT) and then I oil those ends with whatever oil is around to add elasticity.

I like hydrolyzed proteins because they help frayed ends by giving them more "structure" and they are also mild humectants. They need to be balanced with oils, though.

For the long run, try to figure out which oils your ends like the most for softness and elasticity - some people get crunchy ends with certain oils (e.g. coconut) but get softness and shine from others... It's a pretty individual thing.

No protein for me. I found out pretty quick my hair and protein have a very bad relationship! Actually, it may have been about 2 years ago when I discovered coconut oil, after my last trim. I tried a protein deep condish for this same issue and oye, dry crackle city on my head!
I may rethink some new oil though, I guess I really didn't consider oil to build up in a way that would cause this!

[Anje]

For me, hard ends are symptomatic of too much protein in a product. Clarifying and SMT (my hair LOVES its humectants!) is my way through that. Too much coconut oil has historically given me hard ends too, but not so much since the quality of the hair there has improved. But it's pretty individual -- not all hair likes humectants and hates protein like mine does.

[meteor]

Oh, I can't believe I missed that you use henna...
Yeah, on hennaed hair it's very likely that you need more moisturizing ingredients than you normally would (more humectants, occlusives and emollients) - so more SMT and more oils. I'd definitely stay away from proteins in this case, and also from any herbal treatments that can be coating or potentially drying.
Quite a few people report that their hennaed hair needs more moisture and doesn't respond exactly the same way to their usual shampoos/conditioners/etc, so you might need to look for new products to fit your new hair needs.
Also, look into bumping up moisturizing ingredients in your henna mixes or glosses: maybe adding more oils, honey, coconut milk, stuff like that...?

[lapushka]

Maybe try the rinse-out oil method? The link is in my signature. You only need about 10 drops of MO in between shampoo and conditioner. That seems to be perfect for me.