How to prevent dry ends?

[Periwinkle]

I have a dry end problem.

I've taken up oiling my ends with coconut oil on a more or less daily basis but they're still dry. They feel fine with the oil on, but by the end of the day, they're dry again, and once I wash my hair, they're like straw.

I trimmed my hair in August because the ends were unbearable. Yesterday, I took off another centimetre (just the bottom, not the layers), which made it feel a bit better (they were incredibly dry again), but still not perfect. Because I have twenty million layers from shoulder length down, that's a lot of ends and a lot of dryness.

I've never been a heat styler. My hair is upstyled every day. I SC once a week and yes, I do use cones. The rest of my hair feels fine; it's just the ends that are dreadful.

What can I do to prevent this dryness?

[eyesofsummer]

Try leaving in a bit of conditioner? Or smooth some onto the dry parts whenever they're particularly bothersome? I find that even if I oil my hair with coconut oil, it tends to make my hair 'crunchy'...I need to have some moisture there already for the coconut oil to seal it in.

[aisling]

Use a better conditioner (not necessarily expensive, but better for your hair), use the C-W-C washing method, do deep treatments, use an additional leave in to the oil and remember to clarify those cones away once in a while.

[Shanarana]

I find that I get better results with jojoba oil on my ends and I scrunch it in. I use coconut oil on the rest.

[longinthehair]

I have read and re-read very carefully heidi's long hair oiling tutorial.. Some great advice. And I have been putting coconut oil (the slightest of amounts) on my length morning and evenings betw. washes and heavier oilings. It's helping tremendously with the condition of my length. The trick is very miniscule amounts!

[burns_erin]

Besides clarifying, try changing oils, i have better long term results with grapeseed oil than with coconut oil. I have also been using straight vegetable glycerin on the ends of my hair for a few weeks now and my hair quite likes it.

[Anje]

Do you oil wet or dry? Sometimes oiling wet hair can make the difference.

What I would recommend: clarify if you haven't recently. Then do an SMT or other heavy moisture treatment, concentrating on the ends.

Check your conditioner for protein. Silk amino acids in VO5 did awful things to my ends after a few weeks.

When you do your updos, consider wetting the ends with water (distilled is better, but tap water works), perhaps oiling them, then tucking them in, so that they stay damp for much of the day.

Finally, I think you might like Fox's shea butter conditioning cream, which is basically a blend of conditioner (I like cone-free on principle), oil (my recipe has coconut), and shea butter. It seems to do a better job of moisturizing and protecting ends than oil/shea butter alone, and is in the recipes section.

[willowcandra]

I was also going to suggest oiling over damp ends.
Damp bunning/misting. I would mist with water mixed with a spoon of conditioner or aloe vera. Or rosewater (alcohol free.)

Sometimes though it can be splits and damage that just can't be helped. In this case a teeny micro trim could make a world of difference.

Also I find that my ends turn to straw if I leave it too long between washes.

[Melisande]

Fox' sheabutter balsam. For me, there is nothing better in the world to make my ends soft and juicy. I can apply it generously and the ends just suck it up.

And misting with distilled water and oil (I use camellia oil). This is for my lengths, gives moisture and nice looks. And for the roots, too - gives a bit of volume....

But try the sheabutter balsam. It's one of the Two Huge LHC Discoveries That Rocked My World. (The other one is Jessie's essential oil ;-) )

[ljkforu]

I have a dry end problem.

I've taken up oiling my ends with coconut oil on a more or less daily basis but they're still dry. They feel fine with the oil on, but by the end of the day, they're dry again, and once I wash my hair, they're like straw.

I trimmed my hair in August because the ends were unbearable. Yesterday, I took off another centimetre (just the bottom, not the layers), which made it feel a bit better (they were incredibly dry again), but still not perfect. Because I have twenty million layers from shoulder length down, that's a lot of ends and a lot of dryness.

I've never been a heat styler. My hair is upstyled every day. I SC once a week and yes, I do use cones. The rest of my hair feels fine; it's just the ends that are dreadful.

What can I do to prevent this dryness?

Your hair is nice and long , I think I would condition with something like Aussie Deep conditioner (which is loaded with silicone). Just use it on the last 6 inches of your hair then rinse with an acid rinse. I like 1/4 of Vit C crystals to 16 oz of cool water then I rinse.

What this would do is fill in the roughened cuticle of damaged hair and then tighten it closed with the acid.

I am doing the no silicone like most of us but there is a time when it can prevent having to trim too much. Also, coconut oil is fantastic since it is a dry oil. I find that I get good penetration.