Products for asian or thick semi coarse hair

I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for a good hair products...shampoo, gels etc for coarse asian hair.

I constantly have problems with my hair looking dry, and frizzy. Conditioners tend to make my hair too flat. I`d like something that moisturizes and gives shine and thickness without weighing my hair down.

Also, I wish there were more resources for asian hair styles etc. Everywhere I go everything is about thin hair, african american hair. We Asians and Euroasians (me) would appreciate some more info related to our type of hair since it tends to be the most difficult to deal with next to African American hair. Also, more specific to asian "Male" hair cuts etc.

Wow thanks for the response...Wish you guys were located in my town

Thank you for the great responses. I`m a web developer and think your doing a great job! I`ll give you the low down on the products I have used with some good effects.

First off, I`m Euroasian. My Mother is German (blonde if you want to believe that!) and my father of Japanese descent. I constantly struggle with haircuts, because my hair will basically go through a period were I really like it, medium to semi long, but that lasts about a week or so and than it gets on the shaggy side. If I go get a haircut, the stylist will either cut it too short (gets spikey) or completely bowl cut it ugh.

I find cutting my hair short looks good, but only if I let it grow really long and then get a short cut. After that, if I went to have it trimmed to cut short on a regular basis it never quite looks as good as it did and I have what I call the buhddist monk style. if I let it grow real long and then cut it short the first time afterwards it looks pretty good depending on the stylist who cuts it. Overall, I like my hair medium to semi long, but the struggle is trying to keep it from getting to shaggy.

I`ve tried many types of hair products, and do find its worth the price for the salon quality products. For awhile I used Aussie Moist and yes no conditioner. Instead I would use hair products like mist sprays etc to condiditon. I would also use Nexus versatyle with a little VO5 thickening Mousse. Why the thickening Mouse? because the versatyle gave my hair a nice rich sheeny quality, but could cause my hair to flatten so I`d use a little of the VO5 mouse which added a bit of body so it wouldnt flatten out whew. I`d say I`ve become the whacky proffessor of hair products mixing this and that product to get the results I wanted.

Lately, I`ve fallen upon ABBA products and I`ve had the best results with them than any product I`ve tried yet. I use the Crememoist shampoo but rarely use a conditioner. I then blowdry my hair just a little. I know blowdrying can cause dryness, but if I put styling products in wet damp hair, it looks crusted and ugly. I get the best results by blowdrying my hair (slightly damp) and then using a gel etc. I use and love ABBA`s Botz product. What a discovery. Basically after drying my hair, I rub a dab of bots through ny hair like a gel and then top of with Paul Mitchell`s Extrabody sculpting gel. The botz helps give my hair a bit of that silky rich texture, and the Paul Mitchel gel gives a bit of the hold and body and sheen.

I noticed a big difference tha Abba products made, when I got cheap for a couple of weeks and use Pert plus shampoos. I will say I like some results I get with Pert plus. Theres something in that stuff that really works well to soften your hair and yet give body. I used the simply cleanse formula (just the shampoo) The problem , however, is the mpore I used it, my hair started getting dull and flat. I then started using the ABBA crememoist and within a week or so my hair started looking healthier again. Also, A friend of mine told me its not good to shampoo your hair everyday. Some days I just rinse my hair and dont shampoo. It seems to help a bit.

I am interested in trying the shampure you mentioned and thank you for the helpful information. Isnt the web great =)

quote:

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Bryan originally wrote:

Reply to message: 14.250.1

Thank you for the great responses. I'm a web developer and think your doing a great job! I'll give you the low down on the products I have used with some good effects.

First off, I'm Euroasian. My Mother is German (blonde if you want to believe that!) and my father of Japanese descent. I constantly struggle with haircuts, because my hair will basically go through a period were I really like it, medium to semi long, but that lasts about a week or so and than it gets on the shaggy side. If I go get a haircut, the stylist will either cut it too short (gets spikey) or completely bowl cut it ugh.

I find cutting my hair short looks good, but only if I let it grow really long and then get a short cut. After that, if I went to have it trimmed to cut short on a regular basis it never quite looks as good as it did and I have what I call the buhddist monk style. if I let it grow real long and then cut it short the first time afterwards it looks pretty good depending on the stylist who cuts it. Overall, I like my hair medium to semi long, but the struggle is trying to keep it from getting to shaggy.

I've tried many types of hair products, and do find its worth the price for the salon quality products. For awhile I used Aussie Moist and yes no conditioner. Instead I would use hair products like mist sprays etc to condiditon. I would also use Nexus versatyle with a little VO5 thickening Mousse. Why the thickening Mouse? because the versatyle gave my hair a nice rich sheeny quality, but could cause my hair to flatten so I'd use a little of the VO5 mouse which added a bit of body so it wouldnt flatten out whew. I'd say I've become the whacky proffessor of hair products mixing this and that product to get the results I wanted.

Lately, I've fallen upon ABBA products and I've had the best results with them than any product I've tried yet. I use the Crememoist shampoo but rarely use a conditioner. I then blowdry my hair just a little. I know blowdrying can cause dryness, but if I put styling products in wet damp hair, it looks crusted and ugly. I get the best results by blowdrying my hair (slightly damp) and then using a gel etc. I use and love ABBA's Botz product. What a discovery. Basically after drying my hair, I rub a dab of bots through ny hair like a gel and then top of with Paul Mitchell's Extrabody sculpting gel. The botz helps give my hair a bit of that silky rich texture, and the Paul Mitchel gel gives a bit of the hold and body and sheen.

I noticed a big difference tha Abba products made, when I got cheap for a couple of weeks and use Pert plus shampoos. I will say I like some results I get with Pert plus. Theres something in that stuff that really works well to soften your hair and yet give body. I used the simply cleanse formula (just the shampoo) The problem , however, is the mpore I used it, my hair started getting dull and flat. I then started using the ABBA crememoist and within a week or so my hair started looking healthier again. Also, A friend of mine told me its not good to shampoo your hair everyday. Some days I just rinse my hair and dont shampoo. It seems to help a bit.

I am interested in trying the shampure you mentioned and thank you for the helpful information. Isnt the web great =)

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Hi Bryan,

Sorry to take so long getting back to this thread. I was working literally for 40 hours straight and finally crashed.

At any rate, thanks for sharing about being a web developer. I certainly could use your advice since we are in the process of redesigning HB.com and want to take it to a more friendly level. Thank you for the kind words, it means a lot.

As far as your hair goes, you have my sympathy. To have a combination of German and Japanese hair explains a lot of your issues with your hair.

I talked at length to several hairstylists about your hair texture and type. Many told me that it is just very hard to cut Asian hair because of the shape of the cuticle. Some told me flat out that they recommend just a super short shape.

I hate to lose so I called Barbara Lhotan again in New York and we talked about your hair. It is very interesting what she told me. She said that you would be a great candidate for a gentle straightening treatment to blow out your natural texture of your hair. Barbara does amazing things with hair and she told me that the key is to using a NON-THIO straightener that will be gentle yet change your hair`s texture.

As she explained, most of the problems you experience with dryness or shaping problems are because of your hair`s texture. So as she said, if you can alter the texture you can wear different styles. She also said that if you do work with straightening the hair, over time the bonds loosen and your hair will be overall easier to work with.

She said that the first thing she would do with your hair would be to apply the Paul Mitchell straightening treatment. It is very mild and she said that it does not damage normal to healthy hair. It is definitely not like the old fashioned straighteners that could probably remove paint. :-)

She said that once she straightened your hair, the new texture would allow softness, movement and flow. This also would allow for a wider range of styles that moved and could more fashionable.

She did say that it is true that many Asian people can not get perms. The perms fall right out of the hair. However, she said that she has not noticed this to be the case with straightening. In fact, the straightening process helps super straight hair to have some softness and bend. Flexibility helps so much.

I tell you what. I have been talking to Barbara for over 1 1/2 years. I have memorized her book and worked with her on several projects. If she recommends this treatment, I would definitely give it a whirl.

So if you want to try different styles (other than a bowl or super short choppy look) why not consider the option of this straightening technique. If it works you have found a new way to wear your hair. If it doesn`t work, you tried but there will probably not be any damage long term. The new softeners are definitely much easier on the hair.

Thank you for sharing about your products. I love the Paul Mitchell`s Extrabody scuplting gel. However I have never personally had any luck with the Abba products. I get lots of reports from people who love them but even though I have tried every one of the Abba products (including the Crememoist) I still have not had much luck.

Which is so important to note. Everyone has to find their own way with products. They can start by understanding their hair type and texture (thick, thin vs curly, straight, wavy) and try products designed for that type of hair. Ultimately it comes down to what works for you hair type. ARTec, Aveda, Edwin Paul, Phytologie and a few other lines work for me. Some of the Paul Mitchell works for styling and I like some of the Matrix. However, Abba just never does it although I would love for it to because I think their pricing is very good.

I think Botz is good as well. Not for me but I have heard great feedback from others.

You are right, some products will buildup on the hair. Especially the drugstore products which tend to have a lot cheaper ingredients and highter concentrations.

Washing your hair every other day, especially as it dries out is a good solution. I only wash my hair every other day most of the time in summer because it tends to be drier. Cornstarch makes a great dry shampoo for spot cleaning.

Thanks for taking the time to write everything down. I found it so helpful and fascinating. I hope the rest of the folks that visit this board did as well.

Yes...the web is great. =)

If you are going to try the Aveda Shampure you might also try to get a little bottle of ARTec Smoothing as well. If you ever want to be one of our testing guinea pigs please email me and I would love to have you give me your feedback on some other products.

Thanks again for posting here. We know from our traffic logs that a lot of men visit here but few post. So we appreciate the sharing of your hair issues.

Best wishes,
Karen

Do you know how I can talk to Karen, she had great ideas for you
G!