4a/b Naturals that cowash everyday...what other products do you use?

[Chiba_revolution]

I used to be relaxed, and BC'd last year, however, my hair has been in braids the entire time and I only see my hair every 2 months.
Everytime I take my hair out I deep condition it and straighten it to see how much it's grown.

All I do is cowash daily with Tresemme mositure condition, and leave my hair to airdry, but I am having a problem now. The longer my hair gets the drier and rougher it feels to touch.
Everytime I straighen my hair I wash it and leave it to air dry, apply Chi Silk Infusion and then straighen, my hair is rough to touch, dull looking, straw like, and is breaking easy even though I mositure constantly.

I first I thought I had a porous problem, but my hair strands float on a tub of water, they only sink when I push them in.

Please help me I don't understand my natural hair, do I need protein treatments? Poroursity control? More deep conditioning? Leave in conditioner?

I wrap my braided hair at night in a satin scarf and sleep on a silk pillow.

 

[bellecheveux]

I haven't worn braids for about two months and my hair actually has gotten softer. I think added hair dries out my own hair a little.

What's your regimen looking like right now? And what products are you using?

 

[Chiba_revolution]

Every day or two days I cowash with a tresemme conditioner, I leave it to air dry and apply unrefined shea butter on the ends.
I shampoo with Tresemme "Deep cleansing" once a week, and then Deep conditioner every week using Keracare.
I tried to keep it simple, but I don't think that's working..

 

[bellecheveux]

Have you tried using a different conditioner to co-wash with or using a gentler shampoo (your shampoo sounds like a clarifying shampoo)?
Aussie Moist (moisture) & Suave Tropical Coconut (a little protein) are my best friends.

Personally, I can't use pure shea butter, it dries my hair out. I prefer products with shea butter added. I use Castor oil after co-washing and my hair is soft all day.

I keep my regimen as simple as possible. I co-wash daily with Aussie one week and Suave the next. I apply a little of the conditioner as a leave-in and slap on some Castor oil. I rinse with baking soda & water or a sulfate-free shampoo weekly and deep condition with a moisture/protein dc.

 

[Chiba_revolution]

Okay, I'll try that thank you. I started co-washing daily because my hair really seemed to take off in terms of growth, but now it dries out too quickly.
What do you use to Deep Condition and for your protein treatment.

 

[sheba1]

I like to cowash daily and either wash n go or wet bun. As my BKT wears my favorite process is to cowash with either Vo5 clarifying conditioner or Tressemme moisture rich. Couple times a week I add Aphogee two min reconstructor after. When I rinse, I rub coconut oil all through my hair (a palm full maybe) and then Aussie Sidney Smooth conditioner as my leave in. To style I add some black n sassy cream set to help define and go. I only detangle once a week when my hair is full of conditioner and oil while in the shower.

My hair dries shiny and soft. I have no moisture retention issues at all, since I started leaving in a heavy conditioner like recommended by tightlycurly.com

When I shampoo I like to use a technique by this woman that has calf length hair. She puts about a quarter size of shampoo in an applicator bottle with warm water (I even add oil) and shakes it up. She says you can then squirt the soapy solution right down into your scalp and get a clean scalp without disturbing, tangling and breaking hair. I squeeze the suds through before rinsing. And I find this to be the gentlest way to shampoo. I only shampoo once every other week or so.

I then follow with a cowash and actually use my wash n go to DC. I just use a DC like Elasta QP intense or GVP matrix biolage before adding the oil and aussie sidney smooth and styling. The next day when I cowash my hair is like silk with amazing slip.

 

[Ronnieaj]

Every day or two days I cowash with a tresemme conditioner, I leave it to air dry and apply unrefined shea butter on the ends.
I shampoo with Tresemme "Deep cleansing" once a week, and then Deep conditioner every week using Keracare.
I tried to keep it simple, but I don't think that's working..

What are you using as a moisturizer on your hair after you cowash? You're sealing your ends with shea, but is there anything between the cowash on the hair and the shea butter on the ends? I think you're missing the moisturizing and sealing after the cowash, and that may be the problem.

I don't cowash everyday, but I do when my hair is loose, which is 2 days a week. This morning, for instance, I cowashed with HHTT conditioner, and used Shescentit's Green Tea and Hibiscus conditioner as a cream rinse while in the shower. When I got out, I applied QB Amla and Olive Heavy Cream throughout my hair and sealed with Afroveda Sunsilk Hair Oil.

I definitely don't think you need the Deep Cleansing shampoo once a week; that's too drying on your hair. Maybe once a month or even less, depending on your hair's needs. And if you hair is really dry, you may want to temporarily increase your deep conditioning until it's soft again; then you may be able to take it back down some. HTH.

 

[HauteHairGurl]

OP I'm so glad you posted this!! My hair has been really dry too and I've tried everything and it's still DRY! At first I thought it was silicones so I eliminated that,then I tried using more natural products so I could try and easily ID what is causing the dry hair. Then I thought it might be protein in my daily cowash cons (VO5 moisture milk papaya, suave naturals vanilla floral). I just got my She Scent It order so I'm going to try leaving some of the Honey Rinse conditioner in when I spray my hair with water in the morning and see if that helps.

Does it matter if the distilled water I spray on my hair in the morning is a little cool? Does it have to be warm?

When I baggy my hair is damp/wet in the morning but as soon as it dries, it's hard and dry.

 

[HauteHairGurl]

What are you using as a moisturizer on your hair after you cowash? You're sealing your ends with shea, but is there anything between the cowash on the hair and the shea butter on the ends? I think you're missing the moisturizing and sealing after the cowash, and that may be the problem.

I don't cowash everyday, but I do when my hair is loose, which is 2 days a week. This morning, for instance, I cowashed with HHTT conditioner, and used Shescentit's Green Tea and Hibiscus conditioner as a cream rinse while in the shower. When I got out, I applied QB Amla and Olive Heavy Cream throughout my hair and sealed with Afroveda Sunsilk Hair Oil.

What is HHTT? Sorry if I missed something obvious

 

[Ronnieaj]

What are you using as a moisturizer on your hair after you cowash? You're sealing your ends with shea, but is there anything between the cowash on the hair and the shea butter on the ends? I think you're missing the moisturizing and sealing after the cowash, and that may be the problem.

I don't cowash everyday, but I do when my hair is loose, which is 2 days a week. This morning, for instance, I cowashed with HHTT conditioner, and used Shescentit's Green Tea and Hibiscus conditioner as a cream rinse while in the shower. When I got out, I applied QB Amla and Olive Heavy Cream throughout my hair and sealed with Afroveda Sunsilk Hair Oil.

What is HHTT? Sorry if I missed something obvious

Oops. Should've been HETT: Herbal Essence Totally Twisted. I have a bit of an Herbal Essences crush: I have Long-term relationship, totally twisted, break's over, and hello hydration. Have I mentioned that I'm a serious Product Junkie?!?

 

[Chiba_revolution]

Oh wow! Thank you for the replies, I actually don't put anything to moisture my hair between the shea butter... I was thinking of buying G Direct leave in, and to start with that. Must I reapply this everyday with the shea butter? I think I may switch the shea butter to coconut oil.

Since my hair is at the dry and brittle stage should I start using light protein treatments? From the threads on this board I assumed my hair was too porous and wanted to buy Roux Porous Control, but my hair didn't sink.

 

[TrendySocialite]

I co-wash daily and I was experiencing the same thing. I did switch products to Giovanni (which my hair seems to like) and Nature's Gate. However because I had a BUTT LOAD of Aussie Moist left, I decided to use that to co-wash my scalp. I put that in an applicator bottle and apply directly to scalp.

I do the CG method like what is on tightlycurly.com. I think it can be beneficial no matter your hair type.

I've realized my hair doesn't like raw shea butter so I now use that on my body and in my MN mix.

I detail my CG method here...

 

[jazzysweet]

Thanks for posting this topic. I too have the same problem. Im starting to think that daily cowashing is not the best thing for my hair.

Also, I realize that when I did the BC (after 1.3 years of transitioning), because of the way I cut my hair, my ends are all over the place which makes it harder to achieve that sleek look. Its only been about 4 months since the BC so Im still learning my natural hair but I really think wetting my hair all the time takes away from its luster.

 

[naijamerican]

Chiba, I wanted to reiterate something that Bellecheveaux said before, which is that the addition of the extensions to your hair is probably drying it out. I had my hair in microbraids for 6 months. Fortunately I didn't have too much damage to the edges of my hair, but it left my hair feeling terribly, horrifically dry. Even when I take care of my hair in braids it's still a dry crackly mess. I have been out of braids now for about two months and my hair is much healthier now. I don't even know if you need to change your products so much as you need to give it some time to recover and gain a proper moisture balance. I do agree that you need to moisturize before you put the shea butter on and to investigate other methods of sealing, since shea doesn't moisturize. I am a Qhemet Biologics stan and it's pretty preposterous how many times I recommend it to people, but I do strongly believe that it would benefit you to try some of the moisturizers, like the Burdock Root cream and the Amla and Olive Heavy Cream. Some other good lines to consider are Oyin Handmade and Jane Carter Solutions. Again, you need to give your hair time and multiple deep conditioning treatments to recover the moisture lost from the braids. I hope this helps.

Oh - and rosewater is a great moisturizer, too.

ETA: I co-wash every day with a third Shescentit Avocado Conditioner, a third Oyin Honey Hemp Conditioner, and a third Elucence Balancing Conditioner.

 

[sheba1]

The last time I wore extension hair, I removed the alkaline base like the crown and glory method and had no problems with keeping my hair moisturized. Maybe it'll work for you, OP?

It's in the 20 minute free video of how to do braid extensions here.

 

[lashannasmall]

Shea butter did not work for my hair or my daughter's hair. I would change your moisturizing step. Also, even after changing the moisturizing step, it may take a while for the moisture to come back.

I posted a similar question about dryness about a week or so ago because I was having a problem with it too. It took about a week or so of stepping up my moisture to see results. If you did a deep conditioner you may see results faster but I am too lazy for all that.

I am now currently going back and forth between Hawaiian Silky and Devacurl Set It Free as my moisturizer. I will seal with oil from time to time but I can't stand greasy hair. I changed my conditioner also to DevaCare as well and it did the trick.

 

[Chiba_revolution]

Thank you so much for the replies, I shall and cut out the shea butter...I am thinking of changing my deep conditioner to NTM, as I have heard good reviews about this.

The weather in England is awfu lat the moment so I put my hair in single braids, I 've never a moisture problem with my braids in the past. Everytime I took down my braids in the past my hair felt nice and soft, even after I washed and straightened it.

It's only when I started to daily co-wash did my hair dry out like crazy, I thought my hair loves moisture?!?!

 

[lashannasmall]

Thank you so much for the replies, I shall and cut out the shea butter...I am thinking of changing my deep conditioner to NTM, as I have heard good reviews about this.

The weather in England is awfu lat the moment so I put my hair in single braids, I 've never a moisture problem with my braids in the past. Everytime I took down my braids in the past my hair felt nice and soft, even after I washed and straightened it.

It's only when I started to daily co-wash did my hair dry out like crazy, I thought my hair loves moisture?!?!

Some people's hair cannot tolerate daily washing. I even hear stylists telling white people not to wash their hair every day and theirs tends to be oily. You have to figure out what works for you.

 

[Chiba_revolution]

Thank you, I'll try co-washing every 3-4 days.

 

[suburbanbushbabe]

Your ahir is getting rougher probably because you are not washing the silcones in your products out. Try shampooing and if you want to not shampoo and continue just cowashing, switch to conditioners that don't have silicones.

 

[aa9746]

When I came out of braids last year my hair was very dry also. I deep conditoned overnight with cholesterol and I used AO White Camellia Conditoner.

Adding vegetable glycerin to my various leave in conditioners helps to keep my hair soft and moisturized. For example, I'll add vege glycerin to my Infusium. I add vege glycerin and Castor oil to my deep conditioners also.

 

[bellecheveux]

Okay, I'll try that thank you. I started co-washing daily because my hair really seemed to take off in terms of growth, but now it dries out too quickly.
What do you use to Deep Condition and for your protein treatment.

I use the old formula of Organic Root Stimulator Replenishing Conditioner to dc every week. And once every few months, I'll use ApHogee 2 Minute or Affirm 5-in-1.

 

[harrison]

I'm not 100% natural, but I co wash daily with sallys GVP moisturizing conditioner( the nexxus knock-off) and I leave in lustrasilk mango deep conditioner. I mix a little jojoba and coconut oils into the conditioner when I apply it.

 

[sheba1]

I'm not 100% natural, but I co wash daily with sallys GVP moisturizing conditioner( the nexxus knock-off) and I leave in lustrasilk mango deep conditioner. I mix a little jojoba and coconut oils into the conditioner when I apply it.

OT: Harrison your progress is amazing! If you don't mind me asking, how do you style your hair after your daily cowash? I've begun daily cowashing over the last 12 weeks and my hair seems to be thriving. If I gain nearly the length and thickness your have over the same period of time, I might just pass out! Of course, when I wake up, I'll be fierce and no one will be able to tell me a thing cuz my hair is so gorgeous!