Rough, sticky ends...

[Anje]

Well, I clarified (old diluted clarifying shampoo + baking soda), which smelled awful. Reminiscent of perms, actually, which frightened me a bit. Rinsed with dilute vinegar afterward to see if the cuticle would seal up a little, then slathered on an SMT.

Result: my hair is super-slippery (as it always is post-shampoo) and clean, but the ends still feel "off." I'm sure they don't lack protein, and other than the occasional SMT I don't use honey, so I doubt either is the cause.

I wet them down and smeared olive oil on them, for now, in hopes of softening and smoothing them a bit, but it probably won't do much. I normally oil them.

Any other ideas?

[spidermom]

I wonder if it could be damage. Have you trimmed? In the past my ends have taken on a Velcro texture, which could be described as "sticky". They would cling/matt together and resist all efforts to comb; it was a nightmare. I had to have them cut off.

[missy60]

It could be the VO5 did you also use that in your SMT also? I would try another conditioner it maybe doesnt agree with your hair. Thats the only thing I can think of since its the only thing you have changed in your routine. My hair doesnt really get splits but the ends do get a lot of tangles and sort of glue together when I need a trim.

I would do a heavy overnight oiling on my ends wetting them first and literally dipping them in the oil and squeeze out. I would then bun your hair up for the night and wash out with a different conditioner.

[Anje]

Used a different conditioner for the SMT. I trimmed my ends about 0.5 inches just a few weeks ago, and they don't look damaged to me. For the most part the ends are straight (not kinked), and they aren't split. I've got my share of splits further up in my hair, but the ends look OK.

Maybe my hair has changed its mind about liking oil?

[Finoriel]

Hair? Not liking oil? *gasp* is it allowed to use that words in one sentence?

Is your hair feeling "off" in the same sticky way as before or is it feeling off in another way? I´ll not begin to ramble against BS again not this time at least, but in combination with shampoo there could go on quite some interesting chemical reactions... as the smell proofed. Which are most likely not improving weird feeling ends.
How diluted was the vinegar rinse afterwards? Maybe it was not strong enough to smoothen the cuticle... you could just try to dip your braid tassel into a cup with a stronger mixture, let it sit a minute and rinse with plain water. If it´s just the cuticle standing up this should smooth things down again.
But it´s really hard to say what´s going on from so far away. You do not have, by any chance, a microscope to examine your hair with? Build up or other hair problems are good to see with them and it would make clear if it is damage or build up or the bad weather fairys.

[chloeishere]

I don't know what's up with your ends (which is why I haven't posted...), but I remember one time, I mixed a shampoo that had ALS (It was Tresemme something-or-another-- I was using my mom's shampoo) with some baking soda, and it smelled like ammonia after a minute. It was awful! I resolved not to do that combination again. It didn't appear to do anything bad to my hair, but I rinsed it out as soon as it started smelling... blargh!

My ends hate SMT, for what it's worth. If they've worked for you in the past though, that really doesn't make sense, though.

Although, my hair now hates mayo treatments, and it used to love them!

[Curlsgirl]

It could be that the ends are still a bit dry from the BS. I have always had success except that it takes my ends a few conditionings to recover. In MY experience the smell is from old chemical coatings on the hair (haircolor or whatever) and the BS stripping it off. Missy suggested what I do too, maybe braid the tassle and soak with water and dip in coconut oil, press out the drips and leave overnight. If that doesn't work, I would agree maybe a trim is in order, maybe you could just start with a small one?

[Kirin]

Adding in my two cents. My ends always get gummy/weird after a V05 conditioner that contains protein (or any conditioner with protein for that matter). The new item in question is your conditioner.

If its the protein in the conditioner making them wonky, it can take a week to two weeks of your usual routine but devoid of protein to restore your hair. Extra protein-less moisture on the ends during that time will speed up the process.

[Anje]

Well, the problem was pre-BS, and this is the first time I've ever used it on my hair. Don't think I'll be mixing it with an ALS shampoo again, though! Kirin: I'm also thinking it might just be that they're ODed on protein -- thanks for the time frame for recovery, since I haven't been sure how long it should take.

I don't really want to trim again. I just trimmed about 2 weeks ago, thinking that it might fix this, but it didn't.

[Curlsgirl]

Sorry Anje, I have done that with great results. I do follow with lots of moisture and oil though to get it back to normal. I hope you find the answer! Didn't mean to lead you astray! Oh and I missed where you had already had a trim too. OOps!