Caring For L-O-N-G Hair Tips
Several of you dear bloggy buddies have asked me how I take care of my hair. I have had *really* long hair for the past two years now, and right now my hair is just past my waist. In my "former life," I was very abusive to my hair, coloring with harsh chemicals, cutting my hair all of the time, heat styling daily, and using all sorts of icky chemicals on my head. When I began to "go crunchy" and grow my hair out, I had a lot of work to do. All of these tips below are little bits of info that I have picked up here and there, and have really found successful in repairing my poor, abused hair of the past. :o)
Some Tips I Have Picked Up:
1. No 'Poo-
I wash my hair using the no 'poo method twice a week. When I first began using the no 'poo routine, I had to wash four times a week, but after the initial adjustment period, two times a week, with a vinegar rinse an additional two times every week has been sufficient. Immediately following pregnancy, my hair does wind up being a little kooky, so for a few weeks I may need to re-adjust my routine, but my hair always returns to it's own normal with a bit of time.
If no 'poo does not work for you, using a shampoo that does not contain sodium laureth sulfate and other drying ingredients like alcohol may prove helpful. Aubrey Organics offers a whole array of different shampoos for different hair types, including this nourishing shampoo that works wonders on damaged hair.
2. No heat styling!!!-
Unless I am curling my hair for a very special occasion, I do not use heat styling tools. For daily drying, I use one of those Turbie Twist and find that my hair dries quickly. If I want to curl my hair, velcro or foam rollers are the items that I turn to to get the job done. Braiding the hair in different ways while wet and allowing to dry in this style can also produce pretty waves and curls sans heat.
3. Weekly Deep Conditioning-
I do a weekly deep conditioning on my hair using some sort of fatty food. Avocados, egg yolks, coconut milk, or olive oil/EVCO all work wonderfully, and I use whatever I happen to have handy on conditioning day. To do the conditioning treatment, I wash with my normal no 'poo routine and then rub conditioner into my hair. I cover with the Turbie Twist, plastic wrap, or shower cap, and leave on for an hour or two. Then, I wash out using water & plenty of scrubbing, followed with a bit of apple cider vinegar.
4. Sheen Treatment-
Every day, while my hair is still a bit damp, I rub a small it of coconut oil on my hair, concentrating on the ends. I have found this to work in a similar fashion to a product I used quite a bit in my "former life" called Biosilk, but does not dry out the hair, resulting in damage, as Biosilk and similar products do. The coconut oil not only provides a hint of shine and control, but also helps prevent frizz and smooth down any split ends & breakage.
5. Do Not Brush When Wet-
Brushing your hair while it is wet can be very damaging to the hair. Instead of brushing, use a wide tooth comb, and gently detangle hair in small sections, starting from the bottom, until you can easily comb through all hair from the top of your scalp to the ends. In addition to not brushing wet hair, be careful when towel drying hair, rather than vigorously drying hair, gently squeeze the water from your hair with the towel. This also helps prevent fragile hair from breaking.
6. Sleep In Scrunchie-
Before going to bed, pull your hair back into a loose pony tail, bun, or braid with a scrunchie. Along with preventing stress and breakage to your hair, this also keeps you from pulling your hair while sleeping. Pulling one's own hair and sitting on it seem to be the few downsides to having L-O-N-G hair ;o)
7. Henna-
If your hair is either damaged or does not appear as healthy as it could, coloring with a darker henna color may make your hair look quite a bit better. Henna is easy to use, will not damage your hair, looks natural, and will fade out very gradually, lasting much longer than chemical hair coloring agents do.
I hope these might work as well for you as they did for me! :o)
Picture Credit
21 comments:
I am also crunchy. ;-)
I haven't used shampoo in over a year and it is wonderful. I started with baking soda, but it didn't work for me. I now use homemade soap bars and the vinegar rinse. I also make my own vinegar and it makes my hair so soft. I use about 1/4 cup of vinegar to a pint of hot water and pour it over my head after washing. I wash it about twice a week. If I can stand it, I will let it go for a whole week, sometimes. And, just recently, I went a full two weeks, brushing vigorously for a long time every night before bed. I applied coconut oil to my hair before washing it, after that two weeks. It was wonderful. I haven't tried putting coconut oil on it just every day, though. I might try that. :-D
Thanks for the tips.
Ginny- How do you make your own vinegar? That sounds neat!
I am fairly natural in my personal care, but have curly/frizzy hair and find that pure shea butter is great. I put it on similar to a pomnade on dry hair, its great for fly-aways and helping keep curls formed. It's pricey but I get mine here: http://www.loccitane.com/
Their soaps double as a great shave lather too.
Thanks for sharing you no 'poo method, I may start trying the vinegar rinse.
Thanks for the good advice...my hair's pretty long, but not nearly as long as yours! Down to your waist?? Wow! How long did it take you to grow it that long? By the way, thank you for your prayers, they are much appreciated.
Mrs. Kaos- Thank you for sharing. I will have to pass your tip into my sister. She has super curly, thick hair that is a bit difficult to manage, so perhaps shea butter would work for her too.
Rebekah- My hair took just about 2.5 years to get down to my waist. When I was pregnant, it seemed as if my hair grew super fast--from shoulder length to just past my mid-back in just eight months time.
We're continuing to pray for your little guy and your entire family. May God Bless!
Thanks for the tip! As I am growing my hair out, I recognize a lot of these, though with my psoriasis, it complicates my washing schedule. I wash every day but I deep condition with an oil (a medicated oil that helps with the psoriasis) and then I condition with conditioner in the shower after I shampoo (I leave it on until I am finished with everything else, then I rinse). Wonderful tips! Thank yous o much!
Thanks for the tips! I tried the deep conditioning last week and thought it worked really well, helped a lot!
Do you wet your hair each time you shower, then? I tried that for a while but didn't see any benefit from it, so I just kept it dry between washings. I do, however, still need to wash my hair every two or three days. I keep trying to extend it to twice a week but it doesn't seem to like that. :)
My hair (and my four girls waist long hair) has responded really well to a small amount of BioSilk (a less expensive brand called Schwarzkopt's Zero Frizz Corrective Hair Serum @ Walmart) hair serum rubbed in after each shower. I do shampoo, but do not condition other than the hair serum. My hair is very glossy (not oily), and has amazing stretchiness (is that a word?), looks and acts very healthy using it. I have even colored strands of my hair beofre. I get best results with BioSilk, but it does cost like four times what Zero Frizz does.
Annie- I do wet my hair and do a good scrubbing every time I take a shower, even when I am not no 'pooing. My hair is wavy and would wind up frizzy from the humidity if I didn't wet it. :o(
Thanks for the "no poo" link. I'm very interested in trying this out. I only buy natural shampoos, and these are fairly costly, so I would love to be able to cut down our use of them, entirely if possible!
As well, I have greasy, somewhat flat and blah hair, and was quite intrigued the Babyslime's statements about how her hair has new volume and manageability to it! That would make it definitely worth giving this method a try!
My hair is a few inches short of my knees and I love using this method of "no'poo". It works great! I will have to try the coconut oil. That sounds like it would work good. :)
I have very thick, (baby-like texture) hip length hair. I spend a ton on shampoo and conditioner and find that even the best stuff eventually dries it out. I've wanted to go no-poo for at least 6 months, but wonder what conditioner to use. I feel like using a commercial product would defeat the whole purpose. I need to condition daily (for detangling). Any suggestions?
ccsmomma- Your hair texture sounds similar to mine. A few suggestions you might like to try-
If you want to try no 'poo, I would highly recommend giving the coconut oil (olive oil would work too, and you could use a cheaper, non-virgin oil without a problem, rather than the "good stuff") post drying a try. The coconut oil conditions, detangles, and smooths the hair, and without it, my poor hair would be a tangly fly-away mess.
A friend of mine swears by this recipe for a homemade detangler. I have considered trying it myself, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Her hair always looks nice, so this recipe has to be some good stuff. :o)
You might also hunt and see if you might be able to find a conditioner made of natural substances (coconut oil, shea butter, and the like) without sodium laureth sulfate, alcohol, and any other chemical sounding name. SLS and alcohol are notorious for drying out the hair, and also the skin, yet sadly are contained in nearly every mainstream hair or skin care product on the market, and also many "natural" products.
I hope one of this might help you, or may help you brainstorm a different solution! :o)
Thanks for taking the time to answer my comment. I made it sound like I currently wash and condition my hair daily. I am down to only 2-3 time a week depending on how bad it looks. (i notice hormones affect the oil production.) I have been on a search for 'cone free, and sls free shampoo for quite a while, without paying a ton. I've tried JASON although I read recently they aren't as friendly as they seem. I just bought some Giovanni and like it pretty well. I oil my hair (I just use the %100 hair oil meant for afro- american hair. It smells pretty good too.) I also use coconut oil. I'm finding that I'm less dependant on conditoner than I previously thought. I think shampooing less, and using friendlier products has helped along with the oiling.
What I really wanted to pop over and say was that tonight I finally gave the no 'poo a try. I was sceptical to be quite honest. I was tempted to use some conditioner but decided to wait until after I got out of the shower to see if I really needed it. My hair felt like a sticky mess. Well, to my surprise, not only was my hair softer (thankyou ACV) but i didn't need a detangler. I combed through as usual, in fact a bit easier than normal, and added a bit of oil to the ends for sheen. I let you know how it goes.
Do put the coconut oil in your hair when it is at room temperature and is solid, or when it is warmed up and is liquid?
Elizabeth- I put the coconut oil in when the oil is mostly solid. I leave the container in the bathroom, so the heat & humdiity from the shower tends to warm up the oil just a tad bit. I did try using the liquidy oil one time, and my hair looked like a big greasy mess, so needless to say, I didn't do that again! :P
Thank you.
Sorry this is my 3rd comment on this post, but you are one of the few people I "know" (in the internet, blog reading sense of the word) that do no 'poo. Have you noticed lightening of your hair from ACV? I have switched to a sls free shampoo (BS dried my scalp so terribly I was afraid to try it again) and have been using ACV rinses on mine and my daughters' hair. I have noticed quite a bit of lightening affect on all 3 of our hair. I don't think this can be attributed to not using BS as I do water only wash/ACV rinses on the youngest. Do you find your hair has lightened any? I like my deep red brown color and don't want to bleach out my L-O-N-G hair. Any tips?
ccsmomma- Apologies for taking so long to answer your comment! It was stuck in my moderation queue until today. I didn't even know such a thing could happen!
I did notice a bit of lightening in the beginning, but attributed this to the baking soda, rather than the ACV. I also became pregnant for the first time during this time, so hormones was something else I considered. The ACV could probably be possible though...I just don't know enough to say either way. :o(
Great ideas! Thanks. I'm going to link to this article for my blog today. I also have long hair - to my waist currently. I have had it longer though, almost to my knees before.
I am intrigued with the no 'poo hair care. I have not tried it yet, but I do want to soon. We are in the middle of getting ready for a move - from Africa back to the states.
Thanks again.
Loretta
http://veganfootprints.blogspot.com/
I just saw the "no poo" arguments tonight. I'm probably going to try it out. Do you have any suggestions for a first time "no pooer"? I'm scared to going to school/work with greasy hair. Should I start this experiment over a weekend? Where do you buy coconut oil? And is it just pure coconut oil? Sorry, I know that's a lot of questions, but I'm very interested in going "no poo". Thanks for your help!
Katie
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