i love style needs to get their hair did

you're welcome! i hope it works for you.

i really think you should go for it, e!

i am officially over my hair today. keep wearing it up bc it looks so crappy. down today but even after a brief blow dry it's looking idiotic again because of the heat/commute. how do all these people keep their hair so perfect while commuting in the summer? it boggles me. since i told myself i would grow it out and i never last this long, i may keep growing but dye it (which i haven't done since december). also i wish it would be less hot so i can have the cool fringe bangs again bc i combed them that way this morning and liked it but they completely cover my eyes right now and it's too hot to keep them looking good. ugh. i feel vain right now.

also i realized this am that i am in flat iron withdrawal but it is just too hot to deal with that + blow dryer right now.

Hey rrrobyn (or anyone else who remembers), iirc you got some kind of bitchin' hairdryer a while back. what kind was it again?

ooh yeah and bell what was that straightener-dryer thing you got and how is it working out?

this is the one i have, sunny - elchim pro - not that i have even turned it on in the last couple of months... lol summer hair

do you love it?

i hate the flat iron i got, i think it has ruined my hair. i have never had so many split ends. it's this one here:
http://www.overstock.com/Health-Wellness/Turbo-Ions-Croc-Wet-to-Dry-Flat-Iron/2387100/product.html?cid=123620&fp=F&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=10623869

i never really use it on wet hair because it makes a sizzling noise that scares me. it worked fine for a couple of weeks but since i have been using it the texture of my hair has actually become more coarse.

i miss the crappy old iron that i have, which i think worked well with my hair because it didn't get as hot. now even all of the cheap ones at the drugstores advertise that they get super, super hot. so i'm not really sure what i should use.

I think a lot of them have dials where you can turn the temp to where you like it.

mine has a digital heat setting - but the lowest heat it allows is 290 degrees, which is apparently still too hot for my hair.

yes i totally love the elchim! it's greatness - hot & v fast. i'm just into my 70s style curly summer hair these days, plus it's been too hot/humid for blowdrying, for me.
xposts

i have been trying the past couple weeks to stop using a flat iron because it seems like it is just frying my poor hair. i have some heat protectant coming in the mail though, so maybe that will make a difference.

i'm still lusting after the solano platinum that my hairstylist uses. i've found for as low as $85, but i can't quite bring myself to purchase it.

yay, rrrobyn! ill check it out.

bell, i think my flat iron has a max temp of 200 degrees. Ill check later.

guys: i think i may have HYPERKARITOSIS like the neutrogena t-gel commercial says. actually, i've had persistent dry scalp for over a decade but it comes & goes depending on weather & the length of my hair. medicated shampoos make my hair as dry & manageable as straw so I refuse to use them on a regular basis, besides which they make one's head smell like a nursing home.

any help? i'm don't think i'm allergic to anything that would cause this and no dermatologist has ever given any diagnosis of what might be causing this. i'd prefer to solve this by taking supplements or adjusting my diet rather than medicating my head.

you know lauren, i've spent at least $50 on two dryers in the course of the last year, so if it is a good dryer that won't break maybe it's worth it?

use devacurl!
xpost

or a less stripping sulfate-free shampoo? perhaps? might help?

OK. I bleached my hair and I think it's sort of too brassy but just a little. I want to fix it before Friday when I get a haircut so the stylist doesn't yell at me!

i don't think it has to do with my current shampoo use -- i only shampoo every 3 or 4 days so i don't think i'm stripping my hair

try a toner? you can find them at beauty supply stores.

Yeah that's what I think I need. I wonder if they come in diff colors or if toner is just toner.

they come in different shades so you can pick the right blonde you are aiming for - ashy, strawberry, etc. - iirc

persistent dry scalp for over a decade but it comes & goes

This is what I had until I recognized it was the SLS doing it. The coal tar in the T-gel (which I used daily for years even though you shouldn't) would numb the itching and keeps the flakes down, but since I quit that, went to SLS free shampoo and only shampoo once a week or so (but rinse every day), my scalp is so much happier.

hm!

i had never heard about the perils of shampooing with sulphur compounds! do a lot of shampoos include them? thanks tza & jaq, i will look into this

wait does this mean that shampooing with selsun blue (which is v. sulphated iirc) has actually exacerbated the problem rather than helping??

possibly - that's what was happening to me with the T-gel. Some people are sensitized to SLS, but it's in so many things. Toothpaste is another major one that can cause trouble for some.

SLS is sodium laurel sulphate, which is really a cheap detergent btw, not the same as the stuff that lets go of free sulphur ions. You'll also see SLES (sodium laureth sulphate) which is milder than SLS.

what kind of shampoo do you use again, jaq?

i've gotten down to washing hair once a week! it is better, hair hardly looks oily by the end of the week too but i do need to rinse a couple times in btwn b/c of biking and exercise. scalp still dry in places, however :/ and i don't use sls or anything. i think that taking salmon oil really helps! i just remembered that! and i haven't taken it in months - ahaa

well shit. if this continues i will have sourced my entire personal toilet from $$ whole foods $$

I've been using the Miss Treated from Kiss Your Face rrrobyn, smells like rosemary + mint. I had been doing the baking soda thing, which also really calms down irritation, but stopped that when I got some in my eye (OW!) - it worked well though and I'll probably go back to it. I think fish oil, or just eating more oily fish, can be good for skin/nails/hair.

many xposts here but I have a super solano (it's red) recommended by my hair dude--at first I was put off by how heavy it is, but now I'm used to it and like it a lot. It has been much more reliable than the many cheapie dryers I've gone through over the years.

i think i'll probably cave and get one when my current dryer breaks. that's the real issue - there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the one i have now, which is about 2yrs old and going strong.

what is the benefit of more expensive hairdryers? do they just dry your hair faster? or is there less damage?

I doubt there is less damage--in fact stronger motor + killer heat levels probably are MORE damaging, but make for faster and more, er, professional-looking results due to SHEER POWER.

it takes about 15 seconds for the solano my hairstylist uses to dry my (short) hair, and it looks more polished.

and speaking of polished, i'm liking garnier's surf hair. i got it last week after finding out that kusco-murphy's beach hair has been discontinued (in the u.s., at least). it's quite cheap, and it seems to cover all the bases for me (gives slight hold, some texture, some smoothing, and an overall matte but not dull finish).

yeah i <3 surf hair.

i think the advantages of a more expensive hairdryer is that it drys hair faster(which, for me at least, = less frizz and less time with a flat iron) and, more importantly, the temperature is more likely to be even.
Cheap hairdryers tend to fluctate greatly in temperature which can equal a bad styling job and, even worse, a drastic temp spike which is a 2 second route to burnt hair.

'dries' and 'fluctuate', of course

so, yeah, i think they do less damage

less time drying definitely equals straighter, smoother hair. with a pro dryer, i don't need to use the flat iron at all.

WANT

remember how i got that 'great' haircut like less than 2 months ago? well, i was wrong and i hate it. it's so blah and i can't do anything with it, and my fringe - sorry, 'bangs'- is really awful and never looks good no matter how hard i try. i'm thinking about going a lot shorter, maybe to mid-neck length.

also, i used to have this great remington hairdryer that i sacrificed before coming to the US (different plug thingy, would need an adaptor) and my bf bought me a revlon before i arrived... but i don't really like it. it's only 1875w and i want at least 2000 and the cool shot is really weak (and cool shot is super important for my hair).

I got my hair cut today by my awesome ex-junkie pirate looking hairdresser who CORRECTED MY COLOR FIASCO FOR FREE. I <3 him. A lot. I am now very blonde but not at all brassy. It's sooooooo much better.

hey guys! i started using an SLS-free shampoo earlier this week and am already starting to see less dryness and flaking on my scalp -- hopefully this is the solution i've been seeking for over a decade! so awesome.

pics pls, e!

glad sulfate free stuff seems to help so far! i really don't think i can ever go back to sulfate-y shampoos, and there are plenty of affordable ones other than devacurl, too.

i bought regular devacurl this time, as opposed to devabrown, which i got last time, and i think i don't like it as much, which is odd since it is the one w/out extra 'color-depositing' stuff in it...

The haircolor I've been using looks like it's been discontinued :{ (Hydrience). I bought some Feria yesterday, though won't use it for several weeks.

Good news on the shampoo, elmo! I know it was a revelation and a relief when I got it sorted out, and something so simple as changing shampoos.

i am now trying to figure out if i should go have my hair dyed or try to do it myself which may be difficult since it's somewhat longer now and may require two boxes. it is v frustrating because i let it go so long to find out my 'true' color only to be kind of underwhelmed by it. if it was naturally like 2.5 shades darker i'd be ^_^ bc then i wouldn't have to lose the tiny gold strands by using an allover color :(

I'm tempted to get mine done professionally, but oh the $$$. I've got so much gray that I end up with highlight/lowlight effects with a level 3 all over color.