Thank you ladies for all your responses. I have lots of the oils I will start using again.
MileHighDiva, I think I have either normal or low porosity I really don't know for sure. Sometimes my hair floats on top of the bowl of water and sometimes it goes down real slow. Is there another way to tell? Oh, it dries pretty quickly as well...
Kinky4Agirl
That water test is not accurate, there's too many variables that can skew the results i.e. if you have product etc. in/on your hair. I have normal to hi po hair. The high po part is the older hair towards the ends. I try to make sure my leave in products have aloe vera gel and/or juice within the first five ingredients, such as, Oyin Hair Dew and Whipped Pudding. Also, I like leave ins with ceramides i.e. SD Wheat Germ Butter Condish.
Also, make sure your DC treatments are full of ceramides and aloe, if you like natural products I recommend Silk Dreams Hair Care.
If you don't care about natural products and prefer buying on the ground (OTG), try anything made by Loreal. They have a couple of patents on ceramide formulations that they've put a lot of money into. In addition, they have a lot of brands and price points. Loreal owns Redken, Mizani, Matrix Biolage, Kerastase, and they have a drug store line. The majority of their DC and and leave in products have ceramides in them look for the bolded when your reading the label.
This is an example from the Redken Anti Snap ingredients list:
Water (Aqua), Cyclopentasiloxane, Phenoxyethanol, Polyacrylamide, Dimethiconol, C13 14 Isoparaffin, Laureth 23, Laureth 4, Laureth 7, Methylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Ethylparaben, PPG 5 Ceteth 20, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Wheat Amino Acid, Arginine HCl, Taurine, Oleth 10, Disodium Cocoamidopropionate, Lecithin, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Phosphoric Acid,
2 Oleamido 1, 3 Octadecanediol, Trehalose
Another example from Mizani Therasmooth Serum:
Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, C12 15 Alkyl Benzoate, Parfum (Fragrance), Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil), Trimethylsilylamodimethicone, Hexylcinnamal, Limonene, Butylphenyl Methlyproprional, Benzyl Salicylate, Coumarin, Alpha Isomethyl Ionone,
2 Oleamido 1, 3 Octadecanediol
The bolded is their synthetic ceramide blend, it's in a lot of their products.
Loreal Total Repair 5 Erasing Balm:
Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Amodimethicone, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla Cera) Wax, Cetyl Esters, Glycerin, Isopropyl Alcohol, Fragrance, Phenoxyethanol, Trideceth 6, Hydroxypropyl Guar, Arginine, Glutamic Acid, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Cetrimonium Chloride, Serine, Chlorhexidine Dihydrochloride, Benzyl Salicylate, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Benzyl Alcohol, Limonene, Amyl Cinnamal, Citronellol,
2 Oleamido 1,3 Octadecanediol, Alpha Isomethyl Ionone, Yellow 5 (CI 19140), Yellow 6 (CI 15985, D54157/1)
However, you don't have to run out and spend any money start sealing with the ceramide oils that you already have at home, such as, GSO, Sunflower, Safflower, Rice Bran and Wheat Germ oils. Also, go check your products for ceramides and aloe.
The other ladies are correct, EVCO will bring the bling as well, plus it's a penetrating oil.
Please report back and let us/me know if any of these suggestions help. Also, use a gentle sulfate free poo unless you need to clarify and keep your hair cuticles facing downward using smoothing action while cleansing to minimize the lifting of your cuticles.
Girl, I'm lazy! I make my products do the heavy lifting for me, smooth cuticles and ceramides = bling.
Watch this
video on how to cleanse.
I'm sorry, I feel like I'm rambling. I'll come back and try to clean up and edit this post a lil' bit later.
ETA: How do you typically style your hair? Are you air drying or using heat?
Thank you so much for saying exactly what you use and what to look for!
