I have hair down to my waist, and I need a good shampoo and conditioner. I use a blow-dryer, so it tends to dry out very easily.
What have you had luck with?
I like L’Anza’s ‘be long’ shampoo. The ‘be long’ conditioner is OK, not great. Alternatively, I like the banana shampoo and conditioner from The Body Shop
Infusium-24 (you can get it at Wal-Mart) makes probably the best conditioner I’ve ever used.
Pantene or Thermasilk after that.
It may not hurt to talk to a hairstylist and see what they recommend. If you’re gonna have long hair you may as well spend the dough to keep it looking good (nothing uglier than really long hair that has about 8 inches of split ends, IMHO). Salon shampoos are pricey, but you get what you pay for.
I have hair the same length as yours and use Alberto V05 Fresia shampoo and conditioner… have no complaints at all. Before that, I used Suave and didn’t have any problems there either. I’ve never splurged on the fancy salon stuff… I just keep the ends trimmed and don’t use a lot of styling products like hairspray, gel, etc. I also don’t blowdry except for special situations, but as long as you condition I don’t think you should have a problem.
-BK
Jeez, I have hair down to the middle of my back, and it tends to dry, but Suave seems to work just fine.
I have extremely long, fine hair, and Suave/VO5 works just fine for me, too. I really think the trick is as bobkitty says…stay away from excessive styling products and blowdry rarely, if ever.
Have you ever tried oiling your hair? I like sweet almond and coconut oil. I mix them with my conditioner and do a deep conditioning once or twice a week. Just apply from the ears down. You can also use a little bit on the ends when your hair is dry.
OOOOOH, I have been searching for years and I myself have long hair. The ends were always dry. Well, I found Frederic Fekkai shea butter shampoo, conditioner and hair mask. I use the mask once weekly. I love it. My hair is so shiny and full and soft. I tell everyone about it and I am always getting compliments.
In my experience, I use a small dab of a cheap shampoo and splurge on conditioner, such as Feria conditioner at Sally Beauty Supply. I only wash with shampoo twice a week and deep condition once a week. I blow dry infrequently, as well. This regimen seems to work well for me.
How to kill your hair:
Shampoo every day, and blow dry. Guarantees splt ends, and hair like straw.
Not a worry if you have it cut frequently, but terrible with long hair.
I’m pretty much like medstar. Brush well every day, making sure you get the scalp well massaged. Wash twice a week, do a deep condition/moisture/hot oil treatment about once a month. Trim the ends about once a year.
Almost never blow dry. I don’t even own a dryer. I usually plait it (braid) and let it dry naturally overnight (going to bed with damp hair causes me no problems despite urban myths about it making you sick). Or on a nice weekend, just let it dry loose in the sun.
I use Pantene’s moisturising conditioner. Shampoo I’m not fussy about. The Body Shop has some palm oil and shea butter conditioners that seem good, too.
When mine was that long I always used the Revlon Outrageous because it’s cheap and I needed so much of it. Avoiding shampoos with sodium lauryl sulfate is my only real advice aside from the rule of not blowdrying unless you’re really desperate.
It’s been my exprience that most shampoo/conditioner is just a gimmicky waste of money. For ages I would switch brands trying to find ones that would not stop working until I finally realized that most products will build up and most build-up reducing shampoos defeat the purpose of using the conditioner. So now what I do is use the gentle, cheap shampoo, use the cheap conditioner, and then when I feel I have buildup I use a harsher shampoo like Head and Shoulders to get my hair back to square one.
If you have to blowdry, putting something on afterwards can be helpful in getting it back to normal. Those clear silicone serums are good if you can spread them out enough. Really the best thing is to wash it in the evening and go to bed with it wet like cajela said. What I always did was wrap a towel around it, not turban style but sort of like Mother Theresa (but sexier!) and it kept the damp off my back and neck. I will tell you one thing, it’s amazing how much faster your hair dries when it’s only to the middle of your back.
[hijack]
My hair never ever dries in a braid unless it’s mostly dry to begin with, and it always comes out looking nasty, unwashed slept-in, and still damp if I try to dry it over night. Is there a reason for this? [/hijack]
And just to answer the OP, I only use herbal essence shampoo and a deep conditioner (Burt’s Bees Avocado) once a week.
Mine’s waist length, very thick and naturally curly. I rely on Umberto Gianni Deeply Moisturing mask once a week (I don’t wash my hair more often than that, it dries it out) and a couple of times a week I’ll condition it without washing it - don’t believe the hype, this does not do your hair any harm. I have to blow dry - it takes too long to dry naturally and looks a mess, so I use a diffuser so the heat isn’t concentrated on one area. As for shampoo, I just use any decent brand for dry hair - it doesn’t seem to make a great deal of difference.
Waist-length slightly wavy thick hair, here, and my husband has mid-back fine hair. We use Pantene, but I’ve been thinking about experimenting. I’ll try some of the recommended brands.
Oh, I don’t own a blow-dryer, either.
long hair here.
I prefer Nexxus products when i can afford them.
I stopped blow drying last year, also.
Hair about halfway down my back, very fine, quite thick.
I’ve used expensive stuff and cheap stuff and never noticed much of a difference. Various Suaves have worked just fine, and being on a budget, that’s fine by me. Their “professional” lines are pretty good.
I don’t wash my hair more than every three days, unless I’ve done a lot of sweating or something and it really needs it. Otherwise it dries out like crazy. The same goes for my skin – I can’t shower (whether I’m using soap or some body wash stuff) more than every couple of days. I don’t know where the American custom of washing your hair and your body EVERY DAY came from, since if I did that it’d be horrible. It’s not like I stink up the room if I don’t.
I only use a dryer if it’s below freezing and I’ll be going outside, just because it makes me feel that much colder to have wet hair. Otherwise I just let it dry. That’s, oh, 99% of the time.
Hi Liirogue I think you can get these products in OK, but if they don’t I’m sorry…
Toni & Guy Oatmeal and Honey Treatment Shampoo and Conditioner…smells yummy and seems to work for me although my hair is very fine it tangles a lot and also dries out quickly…but the best thing is a leave in gelly conditioner they have that you use in conjunction w/ normal conditioner…I can’t remember the exact name, but it’s in an almost triangular container and the bottle is hot pink w/ a green pump…I’ll look and post it tomorrow…
My best friend is a ‘ritzy’ stylist in LA (I think he has even been on a ‘makeover story’ or something like that), here is the biggest magic secret for long dry hair…
Dont wash your hair more than once a month!!
I have mega thick red wavy hair past the top of my butt crack. Barie used to tell me back in middle school he would rather be bald than have hair like me becasue it was so ugly, and he was right. Dead frizzy nasty stuff. Now, if I do say so myself, I am a walking hair commercial. Panteen ProV shampoo and conditioner have been my saving grace since 9th grade, but I have stoped using it more than once every 2 months (I can go longer than some becasue I have extreemly dry hair). The trick is to stand under the shower and massage your scalp for a few minuts about once a week or as needed but with NO shampoo! And never brush your hair when it’s wet EXCEPT for on the occation when you condition it, then pick it with a large pick (the kind we used to see sticking out of afros, but bigger) while your sitting there letting the conditioner set in. I dont think I’v used a brush, hair dryer or hair spray on my hair since 9th grade. This is what you HAVE to do if you want truly beautifully health hair thats long… or you can just keep it short and not have to care about how you treat it. If you must use a hair dryer (there really is no reason) just use it on the ‘air’ setting, not using the heat.
I have oily scalp and long, fine, extra curly, dry hair. Not a good combo. My hair is waist length and I have it trimmed every 6 weeks. I deep treat with olive oil once a month.
I comb my hair out every night and sleep in a braid. I shampoo daily with a mild shampoo, and Pantene conditioner. I pick out the tangles and floof my hair. I never use the hair dryer more than 2 minutes, but I rarely need to use it. The best advise given me for thin curly hair? I use VO5 hairdressing conditioner in the tube to control frizzies. I had been using just about anything I could find, including expensive salon stuff when my stylist told me about this. I had been afraid of “weighing” my hair down, but that’s exactly what my curls needed. They are now well defined, shiny and healthy, but keeping my hair trimmed gets rid of the split ends.
I’ve had long hair all my life. I used to think shampoos were all the same.
Then I discovered Aveda’s Shampure products.
It’s $26 for a liter of shampoo and another $26 for the conditioner, but you need very little of the stuff and it lasts me at least a couple months.
Ever since I switched, I get people asking me all the time what shampoo I use. Also, everyone I’ve ever known who tried it said it was hands down their favorite shampoo.
I think it’s worth the price tag.