Coarse, unmanageable, frequently colored hair? - advice for my mom!
 

Hello ladies! My mother is 40+ years old and has issues managing her hair. She has very dense hair (high density on the top!) and has basically been gray/white since sometime in her 30's. She colors her hair about every 3 weeks (the white grows in pretty quickly). Her hair is very hard to manage. She's considered doing a keratin treatment, but she wants her curls, not straight hair.

Any advice for my beautiful mother?!

She might want to colour less often, or not at all - it is very soul-destroying to hair...or change over to henna...also maybe use a protein treatment weekly, followed by a deep moisturising treatment? She might also check out the Techniques stickies here at the top of the Newbies and General Hair discussion forums. And to check out the Hair Types column above on the menu bar, on the left. Then there is livecurlylivefree.com, where she can read up on stuff and also have her hair tested to see what she needs.

Also to choose low or no sulfate hair products. There are so many small things she can do to change the state of her hair...research is everything, imo. And since no two people's hair reacts the same way to anything, it is rather an adventure in trying stuff out to see what works. Hth, and good luck to your mom!

I'm even worse than your mom - I color my roots every two weeks. Of course Knotty is right - if your mom can color less frequently, it's better for the hair - but since I color more frequently, here's my advice.

This is what I've found helpful to keep my curls lively.

Use Curl Junkie Repair Me as a protein treatment the time before you color, in other words, if you color on a Saturday use the CJ Repair me when you wash your hair the time before that like on the preceding Wed., or Thurs. Right after the protein treatment, in the same shower, use a deep conditioner like Curl Junkie Curl Rehab.

Then when you color your hair, use a mild color protecting sulfate shampoo to get out all the color and more Curl Rehab, or if your mom uses cones, she can use whatever conditioner comes in the box of color.

Every other time I shampoo, I use a non-sulfate poo and lots of non-sulfate conditioner and I avoid cones in my stylers. Once a week I repeat the protein treatment, deep treatment, even if I'm not going to color that week.

Hope this helps!

Hey CP - What's your favorite non-sulfate poo and your favorite color-protective sulfate poo to use before the color? TIA!!

Hi 2Poodles. My favorite non-sulfate shampoo is Deva No-Poo and sometimes LoPoo if I've been a bad girl and used cones.

My favorite sulfate shampoo which I use to get out the dye is L'oreal Vive-Pro High Gloss for Dry or Damaged, Color Treated Hair. It's quite mild. You can find it in any drugstore in the US.

ColormeMichelle - How is your mom's hair these days?

I not only color my hair, but I permanently straighten it ( it is pretty damaged.) What helps me the most is henna...it really keeps my hair strong and younger looking. I don't know if your mom would be interested, but there are different henna mixtures beyond red. You have to use a quality body henna though, and I highly recommend hennaforhair.com. Justforredheads.com also has a decent selection. Good luck!