Bad hair days, those I can tolerate every once in awhile, but a bad hair MONTH!!?
I have very thick, curly, wavy hair that has a mind of it’s own most days. Usually it looks pretty decent and I get frequent compliments, such as “Wow, is that your natural curl?” (Always makes my day when someone says that!)
But lately my hair has been more on the frizzy side and it’s driving me crazy. It also seems to be kind of lifeless and not as healthy looking as usual. I’ve started taking vitamins daily to see if that helps, but still frizz city. Plus it feels dry and straw-like most days. I use conditioner every day and curl enhancing balms but they don’t seem to help. I don’t know if I’m using too much or too little.
A couple other things I have tried:
Have read somewhere that using shampoo daily contributes to frizziness, so I do a “conditioner wash” about every other day where I just wet down my hair and use light conditioner and rinse
Use a diffuser on my hair dryer so I’m not blowing the hair out straight
Have tried stuff like the John Frieda “Frizz-Ease” but I found those products totally ineffective
Any ideas on any other products or strategies I can use to get my hair back to it’s normal frizz-free curliness?
Have you tried Aussie’s Hair Insurance leave in conditioner? It’s very lightweight, but it helps tame my hair. My hair is quite long, very thick, of varying texture, and somewhat wavy. Give it a try and see if it at least improves things somewhat?
I’ve never used this one, but Infusium makes a leave-in that rocks. I have thin, fine, straight static-y hair and I used this back in my perm days with great results. It’s the consistency of water…'cept kinda milky looking. It’s awesome.
I have very naturally curly and frizzy hair and use Suave Professionals products. I use their curl control shampoo and conditioner, then their “Sleek” styling lotion, then their frizz control gel and hairspray. My hair has very minimal frizziness now. Plus, the products are cheap!
Er, I have frizzy hair also and I have a few tips for you. You’re correct not to use shampoo to cleanse your hair all the time. When you do use shampoo, check the label to make sure your shampoo doesn’t contain sodium lauryl sulfate. This is a detergent that makes the shampoo bubble but is very drying. Check the ethnic hair care lines for gentle shampoos and also check out the beauty aisles in health food stores for more products. When you use heat styling appliances, always use a styling aid that protects the hair from too much heat, limit the amount of time the hair is subjected to heat, and limit times per week that you use heated appliances. And for curly hair, never brush hair when it’s dry or it’ll just puff up. I always brush my hair a few strokes morning and night to increase circulation and right before a shampoo to loosen up any cells that need an extra push to vacate the premises. Hope this helps.
I was going to say leave-in conditioner. I have thick, wavy hair that *pings * when the humidity cranks up. I use leave-in conditioner (and almost never blow it dry!) and the frizz is kept down a great bit.
Aussie’s Hair Insurance is a spray too. It’s not very expensive at all, about three dollars here. (But it works exceedingly well, good quality, good price FTW!) I think Aussie also makes a curl taming product as well, but I wouldn’t know it’s name, or if it works.
Clawbane, as a woman with thick, wavy, hair, I second Zabali’s suggestion about the Aussie Hair Insurance Leave in Conditioner. It’s a wonderful product. If your local store doesn’t have it, you can order it from drugstore.com. It’s not expensive, maybe $4-$5 for a bottle that’ll last you a month or longer, and it does a great job. Another good product for taming frizzies is VO-5 hair pomade. I use it and it makes my hair look smooth and sleek.
Unless your hair is oily, or unless you live in a big city with polluted air, you probably don’t need to wash it more often than once a week. Once a week works fine for me; more often and it’d damage my hair. Here’s my shampooing routine:
One hour before shampooing: slather hair with conditioner. Work it well into the hair. Put a plasic shower cap on your head and spend an hour surfing the SDMB.
An hour later, jump in the shower. Rinse out the conditioner. Wash your hair with a good, mild shampoo for dry hair. Rinse and repeat if necessary (I only lather up once, usually.) Towel dry your hair. Put conditioner on your head and leave it on for about ten minutes. (This is when I shave my legs.) After ten minutes, rinse out the conditioner.
Towel dry your hair. Spray in the Aussie Hair Insurance and comb your hair. Let it air dry. Do not use a dryer. Dryers cause split ends and make frizz worse.
When your hair is dry, just before you go out, squeeze about 1/4 inch of VO-5 onto your palm. Rub both palms together, then run your hands throough your hair to apply the VO-5. Comb your hair into the desired style.
I’ve been getting a ot of compliments on my hair since I adopted this regime. Hope this helps you.
It’s very very expensive but Pureology makes products like these. I got some as a sample the last time I shopped at Planet Beauty…haven’t shelled out yet but I plan to very soon (puts my Aveda and Bumble & Bumble collection to shame).
The more I think about it, the more I wonder if I’ve been going the wrong way with my products. I used to always use Infusium leave-in conditioner along with Suave shampoos and conditioners. But with my frizziness latelly I’ve started going with more expensive stuff, of course thinking more $$ = better for you. It’s not always so.
I will also try out the Aussie Hair Insurance stuff, I have seen it at the drug stores but have hesitated for some reason.
Tomorrow when I’m in the shower I will have to check out my shampoos for that sodium laurel sulfate stuff…I wonder if that is also why my scalp is so dry! I never would have thought a moisturizing shampoo would dry out my hair…go figure.
So the Aussie Mega shampoo is SLS free?
Yep, it uses Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate. I don’t think any of the Aussie shampoos use SLS, and I am thinking you might want Aussie Moist shampoo for yourself. I use a normal formula shampoo, if I use a moisturizing shampoo with the conditioners it’s too much for me.