A new person in need of advice

**lemongravy** · June 1st, 2020, 06:43 AM

Hello everyone, thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but I'm hoping to get some help as I'm feeling a little desperate with my hair situation. I'll try and keep this as short as possible!

Since childhood, I pretty much stuck to the same hair/styling routine - shampoo + conditioner every morning and blow dry with heat. My hair was straight and silky and I had no complaints until the past year or so. Occasionally I'd let it air dry; it would go loosely wavy and still looked good.

Recently I've been on a bit of an eco mission, and one of the things I tried was switching to a bar shampoo to cut down on plastic waste. I was happy with the results and then switched to a bar conditioner as well. After a couple of weeks I noticed that my hair had become really thin, dry and curlier than it used to be. I attributed it to the bar conditioner and went back to bottled ones but the issue remains...

Now I have no idea where I'm at with my hair. It's so flyaway, thin, feels like straw and seems to be all different lengths. At the moment I shampoo every other day, condition every day and let it air dry. I try to go longer between washes but it gets really greasy and looks disgusting. I can't tell if it's actually curly, wavy or just damaged? The waves don't go in the same direction so it just sticks out everywhere. It seems the only thing I can do to make it look sleeker is to blow dry it. There are also tons of short hairs on the top of my head, which I think is new growth as the hairs are tapered, so that is at least promising. Since we're under lockdown in the UK I have the opportunity to mess around with my routine a bit without people seeing me, but I'm not sure what to do!

My mum had a similar thing happen around 30, and her hair never recovered. Now I've hit 30 and I don't know whether I'm going in the same direction, or whether I just damaged my hair due to malpractice. I want it long but now I'm wondering if I should chop it and hope for the best when it regrows? Here are some pics below (somehow it looks better in the pics than it does in person). Any help would be so greatly appreciated, thank you!!!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Eik4vYMN5WjBTCP6

TL;DR Hair is thin, straw-like, flyaway and all different lengths. Pics above - please give advice xx

**lapushka** · June 1st, 2020, 08:20 AM

I would go back to what worked for you. The bars seem not to be working out, I don't think.

It's about what our hair wants not about what we want for our hair, I always say. Meaning, you have to go by how your hair and scalp react to your products and if that's bad, then the solution is easy.

Welcome to the forum, BTW!

**Ylva** · June 1st, 2020, 10:16 AM

Welcome here!

Seconding lapushka, maybe go back to what worked for you, and make up for the eco impact in some other aspect of your life.

**elfynity** · June 1st, 2020, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by lemongravy

I've seen this before - I'd recommend that you clarify your hair with a sulphate shampoo to reset everything and then check back here - I'm pretty sure it may even have been your advice when I first started here Lapushka and it worked for me.

I'm no expert except for what I've experienced with my hair, but your ends seem super dry, like they are begging for avocado or coconut oil!

**Feral_** · June 1st, 2020, 11:20 AM

Have you tried a deep conditioning treatment using oils before washing? That might make the ends a bit happier. Make sure your diet contains enough essential fatty acids (lack of fat and absorption of fat soluble vitamins contributes to dry thin hair), and you’re drinking enough water. Also stress affects hair condition... I’ve seen a few alarming hairdos since lockdown in the UK. Your hair is a lovely colour though.

**bparnell75** · June 1st, 2020, 12:32 PM

I think your hair is probably not as bad as you think. Do some conditioning. My way is to put a pony tail and with a baggie mix beat up raw egg and oil, put the pony in the baggy and wear it for as long as you can..several hours. it is an easy way to do a condition. Then perhaps do a half inch trim to even the hem a bit. Don't cut just because it is thin or straw-like. Always try something else before scissors if you want it long ad it looks lovely on you.

**lemongravy** · June 2nd, 2020, 06:54 AM

Thank you all so much for the responses. Just to clarify, I haven't been using bar shampoo or conditioner for a couple of months now but my hair didn't go back to how it was.

I shampooed with a sulfate shampoo yesterday and blow dried it cool. It looked decent though still a lot of flyaways and very dry ends. I'll try deep conditioning before my next wash...

Thanks again

X

**TatsuOni** · June 2nd, 2020, 08:56 AM

Welcome!

You've already gotten some good advice

**elfynity** · June 2nd, 2020, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by lemongravy

Thank you all so much for the responses. Just to clarify, I haven't been using bar shampoo or conditioner for a couple of months now but my hair didn't go back to how it was.

I shampooed with a sulfate shampoo yesterday and blow dried it cool. It looked decent though still a lot of flyaways and very dry ends. I'll try deep conditioning before my next wash...

Thanks again

X

Another thing to look at is the hardness of your water? did the type of water you use to wash your hair change recently?

**BleachedBerry** · June 3rd, 2020, 04:32 AM

Hi there,
I second clarifying, going back to what works may be a good idea but you said you've done that for over a month now.
Hopefully those short hairs are new hairs and not breakage

I would recommend trying the nioxin products considering you have a family history of similar issues . The 3 step system is great.
I have had good luck with Biotin gummy's, and liquid drops. They seem to work better for me then tablets or adding more biotin through diet.
If all fails I would try to get a blood work up to check your thyroid hormones.