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I'm going to tell you all about my hair revelation!

40 replies

gaggiagirl · 21/09/2017 22:10

I had never found my holy grail shampoo and conditioner.
So three years ago started using SLS free products, silicone free products, organic, non foaming products.
I stuck with it. Always trying new brands. Never sticking to each brand because my hair wasn't feeling it.
So for three years I've had fly away, dull, limp, brittle, rough feeling hair.
Anyway 2 weeks ago I bought some shampoo and conditioner that is full of lovely chemicals and SLS and silicone and my hair is transformed! Shiny, bouncy, smooth and soft.
The only difference is that I'm now back to washing it twice a week instead of once every 10 days.
Thanks for listening, I was desperate to share that.

OP posts:
timshortfforthalia · 23/09/2017 10:38

Really pleased for you!

I have loads of frizzy curly hair and for ages tried to go for silicone etc free products. It was such a faff. Nowadays I just use whatever is on offer and NEVER have to read lists of ingredients.

The secret for me is to only use shampoo on my scalp, and use conditioner to cover wash the rest of my hair. The reality is that shampoo ends up on the first two inches if may hair, but never below that. I've been dingbat this for three years and my hair looks ace.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 23/09/2017 10:39

That sounds good Buster. I'm a sucker for a new hair product! Will give it a go.
I bought the deep conditioner from Lee Stafford's CoCo Loco range just because it was on offer and was quite impressed.

user1955 · 23/09/2017 10:39

Thank you.

Tameagobairanois · 23/09/2017 10:47

I have tried following lo poo and so on, but now I just only use shampoo every second time I was it, so it's just getting rinsed and conditioned every second wash. It is less frizzy than it used to be for sure.

alltouchedout · 23/09/2017 10:49

I think people go for the 'healthy hair' grail fighting that most of us don't care whether our hair is actually healthy as long as it looks like it is.

alltouchedout · 23/09/2017 10:49

*forgetting. Not fighting.

Frequency · 23/09/2017 11:03

I’m sorry but silicones do not build up on hair. This is all part of the myths and legends of the marketing department of the shampoo manufacturers

Silicones are washed off completely when you shampoo your hair, particularly if you use a decent surfactant such as SLS, but even a secondary surfactant will do so as well. There is absolutely no need for a ‘clarifying shampoo’ which is just plain shampoo. Which you can see if you read the ingredients list

In theory, this is all true. Silicones in conditioners are designed to be washed off the hair and they are pretty easy to remove. In practise, most people don't wash their hair properly and most shampoos are not designed to remove everything from the hair. They'll do something secondary to cleaning, which means leaving something behind. For example, my shampoo has argon oil and keratin in it. There's no point putting that in if it's gonna be washed out at the same time. It leaves a residue on the hair. It's what it's designed to do. There are no targeted cleansing ingredients that remove everything except argon oil and keratin, so to work it has to not remove all of everything, including silicones.

A clarifying shampoos only job is to cleanse the hair. It doesn't leave anything else behind and generally has a higher level of cleansing ingredients.

I use mine when my hair starts feeling 'heavy' straight after a wash.

Proteins, oils, silicones and anything else your shampoo or conditioner claims to 'infuse' or 'nourish' your hair with, will (mostly) wash out the next time you shampoo. You cannot permanently repair damaged hair. Anything that tells you you can, is lying. You can disguise damage and prevent it travelling up the hair shaft by coating your hair in X, Y or Z but the only way to truly fix it is cutting the damage off.

If your hair needs protein, it depends why it needs it as to whether you eat it or coat your hair in it. Hair that is growing weak, doesn't have enough protein when it is forming, so you need to eat more protein. Hair that is chemically or heat damaged needs to be coated with protein. For severe chemical damage i.e your hair is mushy and hard to comb when wet, there are treatments that seal protein onto the hair shaft with heat (aphogee two step is what we use) but even they wash out over time.

If you do have chemical or heat damage and you can afford it, it's worth finding a local salon that offers Olaplex treatments. Olaplex is the only product to date that can actually repair the hair but it can get quite pricey. Even then, it's a hair product, not a magic wand. If you've bleached the absolute crap outta your hair, Olaplex will reverse some of the damage but it's not gonna take your hair back to it's virgin condition.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 23/09/2017 11:11

My hairdresser gasped in horror when I told her I use Pantene. Apparently it "suffocates" your hair Grin

ShizzleYoDrizzle · 23/09/2017 11:24

Pantene does result in a silicone build up over time. My friend's hair started to smell like it was burning as she straightened it. Apparently it was just the Pantene.

So I avoid Pantene but other than that am happy to use whatever shampoo comes to hand. The key for flippy swishy hair for me is to only use conditioner once a week or so rather than at every wash.

gaggiagirl · 24/09/2017 08:06

frequency that's really interesting reading. Olaplex sounds good.

OP posts:
AdalindSchade · 24/09/2017 08:13

Interesting thread, thanks!
Pantene left my hair feeling greasy so I can believe that it has more of the silicone or whatever in it.
I've tried using expensive sls free shampoo and it left my hair feeling dry as if I'd used washing up liquid or something. I need conditioner every wash or it is too hard to comb.
Glad to know that cheap stuff is not killing my hair!

Justchillaxing · 27/09/2017 23:52

I've been trying to go no 'poo for half a year but my hair doesn't look or feel any better for it sadly, nor is my skin any better (I have psoriasis). After reading this thread I washed my hair with shampoo and used Aussie 3 minute conditioner and it looks much better! My hair's very curly and quite dry.

heron98 · 28/09/2017 11:22

Another one here whose hair dresser physically recoiled when I told her I use Pantene.

But this was about 5 minutes after she'd told me what great condition my hair was in.

So go figure.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 28/09/2017 20:38

Never say the word "Pantene" in a hairdressers. It's basically a swear word. Grin

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 28/09/2017 20:53

My hair is appalling without silicones, like strawGrin

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