Have you ever felt like you’ve treated and treated your hair, and nothing works to make it clean and shiny? I certainly have. Over time, I found that I was actually over-treating my hair. The beautiful hair picture is of course not of my hair, as I am Anonymeows and am not here to share selfies.
As you can see, the hair in the picture is super shiny and healthy-looking compared to dry and coloured hair, which is what I used to have many years ago.
When I decided to grow my hair out, it turned out to be very difficult to get the correct treatment products. I went to a number of upmarket hairdressers for advice. They all recommended that I use some quite heavy and expensive products. In fact, only one of the several I asked was able to admit that they did not have a single paraben-free shampoo. The rest did not seem to understand why I would even care about parabens, because zomg shexy hair is the most important thing in the world.
In fact, there are even well-respected hairdresser bloggers have top lists about “lies” which basically encourage readers to buy expensive, salon-quality shampoo and conditioner without even questioning the paraben content inside of the bottles. I mean, even if they were right about the effectiveness of the shampoo (which have arguably been designed to treat hair that has been damaged… by them), are we humans as stupid as thinking that the distant mirage of “perfect” hair is less important than the risk of getting cancer? We’re not stupid, but I digress.
The point is, is that once I grew out my natural hair and it became thick and healthy again; after I stopped going to the hairdresser for anything except for basic trims to get rid of the remnants of the split ends obtained from dyeing my hair for years, it was a very confusing experience. I started to use new shampoos recommended to me. My hair went insane, it was like I had bathed in a tub of oil. I kept trying different salon-quality shampoos. Then I started trying supermarket ones, something I had previously snobbed under the guise that they will simply not be able to clean my hair without damaging it. Boy, was I wrong this time.
I had previously tried some of the “Light” shampoos on the market .Years ago, they had tangled my then-brittle hair and so I gave up on them. With my newfound hair strength, I was able to try these shampoos again. Alas – they worked! They were the only thing that actually works right now. Despite being inexpensive compared to their salon quality counterparts, my hair has never looked as good as it does now. The only thing that has worked to improve it is to apply less treatments (none right now, actually), wash my hair less frequently and use a lighter shampoo.
If you are having similar issues, perhaps it’s worth trying something different. I’ve also noticed that having a healthier diet helps, but I have had a relatively healthy diet for a long time now. So natural, grown out hair with a light shampoo turns out to be the cheapest and healthiest combination. I learned that listening to hairdressers and other well-meaning or money-grubbing professions (you choose which one you believe) can sometimes lead you to more damage and it’s important to try options that are best suited to you. The best option for you may not always be the most obvious. Plus, I’d love to avoid cancer (or at least to try and not to get it for the sake of vanity!)
Note: Image from Pixabay @ https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/10/15/21/01/hair-490403_960_720.jpg
