Need a new shampoo/conditioner

Fire_Fox

There_Goes_Trouble wrote: »

Fire Fox you know everything... I'm just gonna pm you all my questions in future if that's ok LOL!!

I have thought about CO washing and have tried it once or twice a week for a while now, is it something you can do all the time or does hair need shampoo once a week? It doesn't get greasy but it does get sweaty when I've been running. I have tried googling CO washing but read some quite conflicting info, some say use the cheapest conditioner you can get, some say use silicone free, some say you still need to shampoo and can't CO wash all the time, some say don't ever buy shampoo again.... and so on!!

I am drawn more to this company than the others for some reason, but can't back that up with a decent reason!! http://www.handmadenaturals.co.uk/ Some of their soap bars are suitable for hair too and they're cheaper than shampoo, I could then use the one product all over!!

I also thought I might also get something from one of those companies for a friends birthday present. However I noticed some of them said 'not suitable for use in pregnancy' and my friend is trying to conceive. Is there anything in particular I should avoid for her, or should I just leave that idea for next year and get her something else this year?

Biology geek at your service! :rotfl: Pharmacy plus laboratories plus lifestyle healthcare, it's not too difficult to apply that to skin and haircare.

It's personal with CO-washing, many curly girls never shampoo but some prefer to do so weekly - it partly depends on your hair type, baby fine hair can get weighed down. I am a naturally sweaty person with a sweaty job and find conditioner washing gets my hair clean to the point it subtly squeaks and I can get several tablespoons of oil out after a deep treatment. I now find shampoo feels unpleasant, the lather feels 'dry', my hair feels stripped and it's more difficult to run my fingers through when washing. But YMMV.

Cheap own brand conditioners are usually silicone free and oil free or low oil, you are basically looking for something that is an absolutely rubbish conditioner! Cheap conditioners are also packed with the ingredient that cleanses the hair, the cationic surfactants. If you use any silicones in your conditioner or styling products they will interfere with cleaning and can build up so you will need to shampoo sometimes.

Only use a soap if it is acidic pH (<7) - skin is ~5.5 and hair likes ~4.5. Traditional soap is pH anything up to 11 which is very alkaline so lifts the hair cuticle and damages the skin's protective acid mantle. Otherwise use a dilute vinegar rinse to close the cuticle.

Sooooo not an expert in pregnancy, there are reams of ingredients that are untested or unsafe. Maybe e-mail the company?

Fire_Fox

LondonDreamer wrote: »

I think it depends on the variety. I have the heat protectant one which is definitely SLS free. It's ok and smells lovely, but I don't think I'd repurchase it. But yes, there's loads in TK Maxx at the moment, I can't see the version I have on their website so I guess they're rebranding it all.

I'm thinking about switching to the curly girl method which I read about in another thread here. It's conditioner wash only as my natural hair is very curly - tired of forcing it to be straight!

:j:j:j Come to the dark side!! I now have two hair types, the old hair which is damaged and unmanageable (can be hidden with products) and the new growth which is more controllable and shiny even right after using chemicals on it. I had got to the 'sick to the back teeth of it/ anything is better than this' stage before switching to CG, now I get compliments on the style and feel good when I look in the mirror. :T

There_Goes_Trouble wrote: »

Yeah, I found the curly girl link too but also found it to be confusing. I don't have curly hair, it's naturally wavy but you wouldn't call it curly. However I was looking at the care methods recommended and for some reason just got confused by it all.... I'm not the brightest star in the sky!!

Maybe you are curlier than you think, anyway CG is also for wavies ... my own mother nearly fell off her chair when she first saw my hair curly, she had no idea. :rotfl: This is the thread that gave me my LBM - a couple of the befores look like my hair when left to its own devices, straight yet poofy.
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curltalk/general-discussion-about-curly-hair/47609-post-your-before-after-cg-pics.html

I honestly thought I had kinks and waves, but I actually have ringlets at the sides. Took me a couple of months to get the back to curl, I was letting it get too dry before styling (needs to be dripping). The thing is all the 'normal' things we do to hair pulls out curl, from brushing to towel turbans. If I mess with my hair it takes three washes to go curly again, but those who use straighteners say it takes longer.

thehappybutterfly

Fire Fox, may I pick your brain for a minute? My 15YO daughter uses Alberto Balsam Green Apple for greasy hair and she has lovely hair. The girls at the salon love doing her hair as it's so smooth and shiny! As you know it's cheap as chips - usually £1 a bottle. Reading what you said in your last post about cheap conditioners being silicone free, do you consider Alberto Balsam to be a good product despite it's low price?

Fire_Fox

thehappybutterfly wrote: »

Fire Fox, may I pick your brain for a minute? My 15YO daughter uses Alberto Balsam Green Apple for greasy hair and she has lovely hair. The girls at the salon love doing her hair as it's so smooth and shiny! As you know it's cheap as chips - usually £1 a bottle. Reading what you said in your last post about cheap conditioners being silicone free, do you consider Alberto Balsam to be a good product despite it's low price?

If it's working for your daughter great, I am all for cheap and effective! :T That product does contain silicones, the third ingredient is cyclomethicone. I assume she doesn't use permanent dye or a hot straightening iron to often?

Silicones don't do anything much for hair, they give faux softness slip and shine, make us think our hair is less damaged than it is or believe it has been magically 'repaired' which is why they are in so many conditioners and styling products. They do have their place in heat protection products tho.

There_Goes_Trouble

Thanks Fire Fox. I have seen that curly girl thread before actually and I am tempted... I kinda like my hair straight though too! I'm thinking I'll give the curly a try for a while and see how it goes. My main concern is my fringe if I'm honest, it's totally a law unto itself if I don't straighten it, especially when it rains!

So, I'm struggling with the curly girl website to find instructions on how to CO wash my hair, but I think I'm getting there: Use conditioner only to wash the hair, then rinse it as you would with shampoo. Towel dry and run some leave in conditioner through with fingers. Leave to dry naturally. Am I on the right lines?

maman

Hope you don't mind me asking a question cos I'm curious:):

How do you do the wash with just conditioner, is it just like using shampoo?


My hair is fine and floppy, would it be suitable for this?


Did I read right and a cheap conditioner can be best because I'm just about to buy some?

Fire_Fox

CO WASH
Cheapo light, silicone free conditioner - Inecto, VO5, many own brands especially the Value/ Essentials ones, there is a list somewhere on the British Curlies website.

Before you start you need to do one last sulphate shampoo wash to clean off the silicones, you might want to do two good shampoos. Next time you wash soak you hair with water as normal, start applying large blobs of conditioner to your root area, several large blobs so expect to use quite a bit, first time I thought it was the slimiest grossest thing ever. _pale_

Then plenty of massage, maybe twice as much as normal depending how dirty your hair is. The conditioner should start subtly foaming and stop feeling slimy, then bulldog clip your hair on your head for a few minutes whilst you cleanse you face or brush your teeth or whatever, rinse rinse and rinse some more, if you get it right your hair should be feel squeaky but in a more subtle way than shampoo. You can comb or finger comb during washing but try not to thereafter. Mistakes I made at the start including missing a patch at the back or not rinsing enough so hair felt slightly sticky instead of soft and clean.

REST OF FULL CG ROUTINE
- Condition the lengths/ ends the regular way with a rich silicone free conditioner, but don't rinse all the conditioner out (I don't do this step tho, waste of time and product)
- squeeze the water out of your hair by scrunching, don't pull your hair into a straight ponytail or wring. Should still be dripping
- scrunch in a leave in silicone free conditioner, pump each section a few times so the conditioner mixes with the water in your hair and distributes evenly (this step is optional, better for dry or damaged or coarser hair)
- no brushing, combing, finger combing
- scrunch in loads of styling gel to dripping wet hair! Mine looks medusa-ish and feels super slimy-sticky at this point
- now gently scrunch-squeeze out excess water or plunk/ plop with a microfibre or woven linen type towel, DO NOT use a regular fluffy terry towel
- air dry no touching OR diffuser on low
- hair may well go rats taily, stiff or crunchy as it dries, when it is dry just gently squash the curls or waves to get rid of that.

I know it's backwards removing the excess water after applying the products!! :rotfl: But you need the water to help the individual strands of hair clump into a defined wave or curl, encourage waves to become curlier as the hair dries, stop frizz.

maman

Thanks firefox, I'll give it a go.

Bella_b

http://uk.lizearle.com/haircare/botanical-shine-shampoo.html?ingredients have you tried the Liz Earle Shampoo?

thehappybutterfly

Fire_Fox wrote: »

If it's working for your daughter great, I am all for cheap and effective! :T That product does contain silicones, the third ingredient is cyclomethicone. I assume she doesn't use permanent dye or a hot straightening iron to often?

Silicones don't do anything much for hair, they give faux softness slip and shine, make us think our hair is less damaged than it is or believe it has been magically 'repaired' which is why they are in so many conditioners and styling products. They do have their place in heat protection products tho.

Aagh, yes she does! Not dye (she has in the past) but she straightens her hair nearly every day and doesn't use a barrier spray even though I bought her one. What's the problem there then?