Was the nettle tea the problem?

Pennefeather

Well-Known Member
I had a terrible experience today, and lost a lot of hair to ssk. I'm trying to determine why everything suddenly went wrong. The only new item that I haven't used before is the nettle tea.

I started out by prepooing overnight with a combination of Nubian Heritage Indian Hemp and Tamanu growth and strengthen treatment masque, honey, and a small amount of KeraVeda alter ego ayurvedic oil. I used this conditioner last week as my deep conditioner. Frankly, I've never been impressed by it, but it thought that it might be helpful since I am experiencing a lot of breaking lately.

This morning, I began by washing my hair with Chagrin Valley henna shampoo bar twice. I have used this for the last month regularly with no problems. It doesn't detangle like AsIAm, but it also doesn't leave my hair terribly tangled. Then I did a green tea/nettle tea rinse. I added in a little fenugreek. Hibiscus , and brahmi. I used this same mix last week without the nettle tea, which I just picked up yesterday at Whole Foods. I let that sit for ten minutes, and then added ORS hair mayonnaise, honey, some more Alter Ego, and sat under the dryer for 40 minutes.

When I rinse out my hair, I used added some of Naturelle Growth's deep conditioner, and let that sit a few minutes. I love all of her conditioners, and normally find that they detangle my hair like magic, but not today.

My hair was tangled before I used the Chi serum that I use weekly, and tangled afterwards. I couldn't comb it because there were so many SSKs. In addition, the areas that I could comb through felt stiff, and rough - a far cry from the way my hair normally feels.

I don't have a lot of patience compared to some people who say that they spend forty minutes or hours detangling their hair. I was having such a hard time that I slather some more conditioner on my hair and was able to slowly get the comb through. The. I rinsed again, and put some more Chi on my hair.

The whole experience was terrible. I know that I ripped out a lot of hair. There was easily four or five times as much hair in my comb as usual. This damage was on top of the damage that I had in the spring when I had a six month relaxer stretch. I'm just trying to figure out how this happened since my wash sessions as usually not problems. Is it possible that adding the nettle tea made my hair so rough and tangled?
 
Sounds like too much protein somewhere, or protein buildup. This happened to once when I used henna, and again when I washed with an ayurvedic shampoo bar.
 
PatTodd,

I thought about that, but it didn't seem like I had a lot of protein. If that is the case, I wonder if it would help if I wash and deep condition tomorrow?:perplexed
 
I've done Nettle Tea Rinses plain & with another Tea.....never had a problem.

Wish I could be more help, but I've never had an issue rinsing with Nettle Tea.

Hope you get it figured out though? *Sorry*
 
Pennefeather

Did you decide to re-wash/re-condition tomorrow?

What is your plan of action for recovery?

IDareT'sHair,

I'm not sure. I wet bun my hair, so I need to see how it responds when it take it down later. I'm pretty strict about washing just once a week, but I am wondering if a second washing, followed by a good deep conditioning will help.

It's funny, that I was so concerned this week that I was seeing shedding, and wanted to increase my protein. That was the reason that I choose to prepoo with this particular conditioner. :ohwell:
 
IIRC, When I had my problem, I lightly shampooed and deep conditioned (with a NO PROTEIN conditioner) and that went a long way toward solving the problem.
 
Iwas in a similar situation.
It's the henna + proteins + Brahmi combination that caused the SSKs.

The CV soap probably has alot of henna

The ORS hair mayonnaise has hydrolyzed collagen in the first 5 ingredients.

NH EVOO & Moringa masque has henna powder, vegetable protein & quinoa extract.

Brahmi coats the hair & can be drying.

Protein + henna + Brahmi = a hard, tangled disaster.

Using LHCF via smartphone. Can't see mentions.
 
To me it sounds like too much of everything and I agree with possible protein buildup. I do nettle rinses without problem. It's actually a little moisturizing. With that said, anyone can have an allergy BUT this does not sound like an allergy which would be scalp related. Instead we're talking hair tangling.

You're using Brahmi and henna together? Not a good thing. Even if you got away with it before, you could eventually dry out the hair and give it a "protein-like" build up over time. I'm betting on your combo more than the nettle.
 
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Well, I took my bun down, and more hair continued to fall into the sink. This was loose hair that was probably clinging when all of it was wet. I'm also continuing to see some hair come out when just gently combing it.

I just got my APB ayuevedic oil, so I put that in my hair along with some vatika frosting. I also used my Green Magic on my scalp. I'll decide after church tomorrow if I want to wash it again.

It does sound like it just may have been too much if a good thing (protein).:sad:
 
After several days of no real improvement, and more broken ends, i decided that I needed to wash my hair again. Last night, I prepooed with Annabelle's Ayurvedic oil and a little ORS replenishing conditioner. When I felt my hair this morning, there was a definite improvement just from the prepoo.

I washed with AsIAm cowash , and used the aryuvedic oil for a quick hot oil treatment. Then I mixed more replenishing conditioner with honey and sat under the dryer for 15 minutes. There was a big improvement. My hair isn't back to normal, but it is a heck of a lot better. I will follow a similar routine Friday night/Saturday night, and hope to see continued softness.

I'm still debating if I want to do a tea rinse as well on Saturday. I'm considerating green tea, nettle, and hibiscus for moisture and condition.
 
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