How does your hair feel when it needs chelating?

**MedusaWarrior** · July 11th, 2014, 08:55 AM

I'm just wondering how you know if your hair has hard water build up.

Since I've been back home I'm having trouble with the feel of my hair, more towards my roots. I thought this may have been because I used a product with protein and my hair's low porosity and coarse - doesn't react well to protein. And that would explain why the problem was more towards the root of my hair than the ends which would be more medium - high porosity. But them I washed with a low sulfate shampoo and conditioned as usual and then styled my hair but that feeling was still there. I left it a couple of days to see if it would improve but it didn't. I thought maybe I used too much of my styler. I washed it yesterday with a sulfate shampoo thinking maybe I had build up but the feeling's still there. I even used less product than normal but it still persists. It's not even in a place where I put any product.

So maybe I have hard water build up? But about a month ago I thought this too and I did an ACV rinse. Didn't help so much but my hair went back to normal after the next wash. I'm always careful making sure I rinse everything out.

It's just so frustrating. I can take my hair looking crappy - I can put it up. But touching it makes my skin crawl. It kinda feels like there's too much product and my fingers can't glide over it without meeting some resistance, if that makes sense.

The only other thing I can think of is that I need a better conditioner but I've been trying to use up the ones I've bought. Alternatively, using a heavier conditioner might make everything worse and coat my hair more.

I just don't know what to do

And I don't know of any chelating shampoos in the UK and when I find one it's going to be expensive and is it really worth spending that money on it if it doesn't even help?

**cathair** · July 11th, 2014, 09:09 AM

I think any swimming shampoo is chelating? I have a kids one from Poundland. Swimming shampoos aren't so hard to find an that one was very cheap. Savers do some swimming shampoos too. I hope you find something that helps.

**MedusaWarrior** · July 11th, 2014, 09:13 AM

Omg I didn't know swimming shampoos were chelating shampoos. Well that makes my search easier

**molljo** · July 11th, 2014, 11:36 AM

Since you've already gotten a recommendation for a product, I'd thought I'd say what my hair feels like when I need to chelate (I live in a very hard water area). My hair looks dull and dingy, my ends stick together even right after detangling, and no amount of conditioner feels like it's doing anything, like nothing I'm putting on my hair is absorbing, which is the number one sign I need to chelate.

**oatmealpie** · July 11th, 2014, 11:40 AM

Yep, swimming shampoos are chelating. Look for EDTA on the ingredients list.

**Anje** · July 11th, 2014, 11:52 AM

Citric acid is another good chelator you'll often find in significant quantities, though it's low-tech compared to EDTA.

My hair sometimes needs a deep conditioning when the texture feels a bit grabby and squeaky when I run my fingers over it. If I've clarified and chelated and oiled and it's still giving me trouble, I go for the treatments. For me, SMTs are like magic (sometimes with modifications, latest one involved a dab of soy sauce for a bit of hydrolyzed protein). Chelate first, but if that's not doing it, there are other things to try.

**Panth** · July 11th, 2014, 12:48 PM

Swimming shampoos are chelating. Although it's true that EDTA is often the chelating agent, you can't just look for EDTA in the ingredients as it's often used at low concentrations in non-chelating shampoos.

I'm in the UK and I use Pantene Classic Clarifying shampoo. Although it only advertises clarifying properties, it definitely also chelates (took all the limescale off my sink when I used it to handwash some laundry).

As for what hair in need of chelating feels like... to me, it's very similar to hair that needs clarifying. I.e. dull, tangly (particularly ends), coated-feeling. Basically like product build-up. However, I know that it's mineral build-up (needing chelating) because a) I live in a very hard water area and b) regular clarifying shampoos don't fix the problem.

**LongCurlyTress** · August 7th, 2014, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by MedusaWarrior

I'm just wondering how you know if your hair has hard water build up.

Since I've been back home I'm having trouble with the feel of my hair, more towards my roots. I thought this may have been because I used a product with protein and my hair's low porosity and coarse - doesn't react well to protein. And that would explain why the problem was more towards the root of my hair than the ends which would be more medium - high porosity. But them I washed with a low sulfate shampoo and conditioned as usual and then styled my hair but that feeling was still there. I left it a couple of days to see if it would improve but it didn't. I thought maybe I used too much of my styler. I washed it yesterday with a sulfate shampoo thinking maybe I had build up but the feeling's still there. I even used less product than normal but it still persists. It's not even in a place where I put any product.

So maybe I have hard water build up? But about a month ago I thought this too and I did an ACV rinse. Didn't help so much but my hair went back to normal after the next wash. I'm always careful making sure I rinse everything out.

It's just so frustrating. I can take my hair looking crappy - I can put it up. But touching it makes my skin crawl. It kinda feels like there's too much product and my fingers can't glide over it without meeting some resistance, if that makes sense.

The only other thing I can think of is that I need a better conditioner but I've been trying to use up the ones I've bought. Alternatively, using a heavier conditioner might make everything worse and coat my hair more.

I just don't know what to do

And I don't know of any chelating shampoos in the UK and when I find one it's going to be expensive and is it really worth spending that money on it if it doesn't even help?

Hi Medusa Warrior! I was hoping to friend you here also on LHC, but didn't see a friend request link on your LHC profile page. I am over here on LHC threads alot these days. Please come find me and friend me!! Would love to hear how everything is going for you! Please take good care! ttus I hope!

Sorry, I don't know too much if anything about chelating shampoos, except that clarifying shampoos contain sodium laureth sulfates. Good luck with your hard water problem if that is what the problem is.

**Larki** · August 7th, 2014, 07:42 PM

I just bought Malibu C's hard water shampoo, in preparation for returning to college and the Land of Hard Water.

**Syren_Curls** · August 7th, 2014, 10:05 PM

Sorry to hear this is going on for you

My first post on LHC was related and I described what my hair was doing. A chelant worked well. I suspect that might be the case for you because you mentioned that ACV works briefly. ACV chelates some minerals but not all, so that might have been part of the improvement you saw. Club soda is another thing that chelates some minerals (different ones than ACV but I can't remember which ones each do). Maybe that can help your search a bit.