wow, this is great. the vinegar "dunk" works. and it doesn't smell. i've got one of those pink "barf buckets" from the hospital (food poisoning from a mexican restaurant), and it's the best size. thanks for all the suggestions and advice! yeah, PB after i went to your site, i dumped out my little container of baking soda and swore to NEVER touch it again (except for baking;)
Thanks again! ~~deb
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Suers, I think I heard/read recently that the labeling laws are going to change in Canada within the next year? Then you won't have to resort to extraordinary means of getting the info you need. I wonder how it is going to affect sales of certain products?
Aznmitsugrl - Do not use baking soda on your hair. Also, the acid base of vinegar helps retard growth of the bacteria that breaks down the sebum and results in that dirty hair smell. So rinsing your hair with diluted vinegar is good.
You don't have to be miffy about using vinegar. The smell goes away after everything is dry :) I do a vinegar soak every 1-2 weeks (aka every 2-3 washes. I would have said click on my link, but the clarifying section isn't done. Here's a modified copy from my journal:
As for vinegar soaks (ETA: not a soak, per se, but more of a dunk: it's still my same dilution process (1/2 cup ACV to 2 cups water in a soda bottle). On the scalp itself it's still a rinse. It's the length that I actually dunk and soak. My back can't take it if I dunk my whole head into a bin.
Basically I pour the soda bottle contents onto my scalp and into a runoff container. I then dunk my length into the runoff container and swish it around for 3-5 minutes or so. I find this method to be very effective for my hair type because of the naturally high porosity.... a lot of gunk can get stuck in Asian strands. The swishing and dunking helps.... not to mention, the dunking gets the ACV to more hair surface area.
wow, purple bubba, great site. i think that doing the baking soda thing screwed up my hair. baking soda is a base, so it's alkaline, right? i need to try that vinegar solution i hear people talking about. but will it leave me smelling like vinegar (i love it on salad, but i HATE the smell)?? and how often should i do it? gah, so many hair questions!
~~deb
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they all list the ingredients for the products but, be careful. Always pick up the bottle in the store and look at it. I know of at least 2 brands that have changed their formulas lately while keeping the same appearance.
One is Herbal Esssences. Let's take for example the Kiwi one they have. It's gone from the first non cone formula to one that said "Now with Hawafena" and had cones, now they say "with Palm" and the formula is new again and has a different cone.
Another example is V05. I recently bought Strawberries & Cream and Creamy Peaches. I went to one of those sites to check and the formulas there were different. On my bottles they now both say Moisture Milks and one difference I noticed was the newer ones have Biotin in them.
So no matter what list you do find you have to check the bottle in the store.
Suers, I don't know of any particular site, but if you go to google and type in the product name and the word ingredients, usually the first one or two pages that pops up lists the ingredients of that product. (Admittedly I've only tried it with american products - hope it works for you).
Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com
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Does anyone have a source for an extensive list of conditioners with or without "cones"????
Living in Canada, we have the benefit of learning French and English from consumer product labels. The Frenglish language takes up so much room on the packaging that there is no room for the ingredients. It is not required by law for manufactuers to label contents of cosmetic products. So unless I am going to eat my conditioner, I don't know what is in it.
If "cones" are what helps detangle, then I want them. I think it would help if we knew more about the chemistry of our hair and hair products and what they do to each other. I used to know more when I worked in a lab of a place that made cheap cosmetics/soap etc. I forget so much.
yeah, infusium and aussie both have cones. aussie isn't as cone-intensive as infusium, but i only use those when i heat-style. i've decided to try doing cone-free. ::applause here:: but not forever. i bought some VO5 (it's some strawberries and milk scent... i'm too lazy to go look) and cone-free mousse, so i'm all set for a few weeks of no cones or heat styling. i'd like to find some good cone-free leave-in conditioners, cause that's what i really rely on to cut down on frizz. but anyways, suggestions are great!
~~deb
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It's my understanding that the Infusium23 is loaded with -cones, though I haven't looked at their packaging lately to confirm that this is still the case. So if your hair seems to like fewer cones, this may be a condition you want to avoid using (at least, avoid using every time you wash & condition). I know nothing about the -cone content of the Aussie conditioner you're using. Check the ingredients list. Are any -cones at or near the beginning of the list?
well, i read somewhere that mixing a little baking soda with shampoo about once a week helps to eliminate buildup.
also, i'm currently using either infusium 23 original leave-in conditioner or the one from aussie. i was wondering if anyone gets good results with a cream leave-in, and what are some good ones to use.
I was on a cone free kick for the past year, then I tried them again and my hair tangled SO much less! So now I alternate with no cone conditioners and cone conditioners.
I don't anymore think that cones are that bad as long as you clarify once in awhile to remove the buildup. If they buildup, they can start to break off and break your hair off with it...and the buildup also looks dull. So, clarifying once every 2 weeks or once a week can make hair more shiny and remove that buildup...and at least for me, seems to make cones okay (and maybe even better, because my hair tangles less). Probably worse than cones is the alcohol that's usually in conditioners, but I haven't yet found any with cones and without alcohol. Anybody know of one?
Clarify with a very diluted vinegar rinse, or a clarifying shampoo.
Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com
For me at least, it depends on porosity. Typical Asian hair has high porosity, and the cuticle scales never lay completely flat. Cones do protect our hair type by covering those openings in the scales. Cones also weigh my hair down and give a better second-day look. Depends also on the fineness/coarseness of the hair strand. Coarse hair usually does BETTER with cones, and vice versa.
but if cone-free works for you then by all means use cone-free.
You also compared two different kinds of hair, flat ironed and non. You'll probably want to (1) go cone-free WITHOUT flat ironing within the week, take note of the results, and then (2) go cone, again WITHOUT flat ironing, and take more notes. That way you can eliminate a variable.
yeah, i've seen a lot of stuff on here about cones and no cones... i know what cones are now, but i'm still not sure when or for who it's best to go cone-free. i know that i used Suave for about 3 months, and a lot of the ingredients ended in "cone" and my hair got frizzy and dry-looking, without heat-styling. i quit and i use herbal essences shampoo and Aussie 3-minute deeeeep conditioner, and i have better looking and feeling hair with air-dried, flat ironed hair. this confused me because i'm reading posts about how it's better for some people without cones. what is good and bad about them? my hair is just about waist-length, and that's where i plan on keeping it. i do flat-iron my hair with a gold-plated straightener an average of twice a week (i wash every other day, straighten half the time, scrunch and air dry half the time). i'm 1/2 korean, so my hair is very thick (i have to use multiple HAIR FRIENDLY elastics to make a ponytail), with a semi-oily scalp and slightly drier ends. i know this is a long post, but i'm just trying to explain my hair situation and my questions... but yeah, what are your opinions?
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