Originally Posted by
dolphin
It's a bit of a long shot to buy more products but I'll recommend a few anyway. What shampoos/conditioners do you use?
What I would do is clarify your hair and see if that helps. "Clarifying" is a bit of a hyped word but the idea is that you strip the cuticle of the buildup of your various products and make a clean slate. You might not have much buildup, I don't know your hair - but if you're using different shampoos and conditioners you might actually have different layers of silicones on it. And oils. And waxes. All cause buildup. The idea is that when you're trying to add moisture to your hair the barrier these products create (to keep in moisture) actually keep out to a certain extent the moisture that you're trying to add. You want whatever deep treatment to really get as close to the cuticle as possible (I think the molecules will adhere to the cuticle depending on how porous your hair is. Don't quote me.) So you strip this layer from your hair and then you have a clean slate to come back and add a hopefully more consistent layer - diff brands of conditioner might not play nice together, oil and silicones might not play nice together depending on the product. Some people love silicones because they add slip and shine and moisture - don't hate on them for being "synthetic" unless they don't work for you - but they can tend to feel "product-y" and film-y. Personally I like my hair better silicone free - moisture and oil seems to get through to it better. To clarify, "Suave Naturals Clarifying Shampoo" is the best imo and its as cheap as a dollar depending on where you get it. Also, do you have hard or soft water? Hard water can def make hair more brittle and poofy, so you can get a water softener - Culligan makes a great one that I've bought on Amazon for about $30. If you're not interested in that much investment I think the clarifying shampoo will help with a hard water issue.
So use that and THEN go in with your moisturizing avocado treatment and moisturize the fuck out of your hair. The idea is that it no longer has any layer to defend itself and it will be completely vulnerable to you punching it in the cuticle with your treatment of choice. Look at the ingredient list. Anything that ends with a "cone" is a silicone. I like Nexxus Humectress as an effective deep conditioner though its rather expensive and does combine both oils and silicones. But what is my absolute favorite is Biolage Conditioning Balm and though its a bit spendy its totally worth it and will last a while. It smells amazing and kind of "green" rather than perfume-y but what's amazing about it is that it doesn't contain silicones. So you can add whatever moisturizing kick you want to it - honey, oil, avocado - and its perfect. You can get knockoff brands of both these products in discounted bulk at Sally's (not sure if you have those where you live though.) I would be happy to mail you my bottle of the Humectress if you're not weirded out by getting used conditioner.
There is another homemade clarifying treatment that I used to use on my hair when we had hard water. You use the product "Fruit Fresh" - the stuff that you sprinkle on fruit to stop it browning - the citric acid in that is the effective clarifying ingredient - that's also the ingredient in the Suave Clarifying. You get a cheap, cone free conditioner - say something light, V05 Tea Therapy (its a dollar or so) - or any of the V05 line as long as you check the ingredients list and it doesn't have cones listed. Mix a cup of that with a teaspoon of the Fruit Fresh - just a teaspoon - put it in something so you can shake it really well - and it will kind of foam up all over and get this aerated texture. Apply this on your hair and work it in like shampoo and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. It will smell slightly metallic and afterwards when you rinse it out your hair will be SO SOFT. Your hair will be your bitch. I wouldn't recommend using this constantly as citric acid can lighten hair over time but with a treatment once in a while to remove buildup it won't affect the color. This is obviously more for if you're interested in the homemade razzle dazzle and not so much to save time - although the process is actually not so time consuming once you've got it down.