Product recommendations Please for 3a!

learning2luvmycurls · 09-18-2008, 07:15 AM

My hair is 3a, I regularly color and I co-wash and diffuse daily(I've tried washing at night and letting air dry and styling in the a.m. but it never looks right). I've been using curl keeper daily and sometimes use a leave in conditioner(Suave Aloe or Burts Bees sugarbeet, and also sometimes layer with CG friendly cheap gel). I've backed off from the gel because I thought that was what was drying my hair out but it still looks dry. I hate how my hair is looking lately....it seems to look so dry!! I've been trying to use coconut oil at night to help the dryness and I also recently did a DT(by jessicurl) but it still looks dry. Anyone have any suggestions? I also think I'm protein sensitive so I try to stay away from products with that in it.....but maybe I'm wrong. I'm just at a loss!

My hair is most likely 3a and is thin. Anyone have any suggestions?

MimsTX · 09-18-2008, 07:25 AM

My hair doesn't seem to have much 'in between' by way of dryness. Either it feels a touch dry, or it's MASSIVELY overconditioned. My curls seem to like it best when it's just a tad dry though, so I'm just trying to accept that it might not be silky to the touch lol.

The best things I've found for getting it really conditioned is curl cremes. Conditioners only work so well for me... my hair feels fine while it's wet, but it doesn't ever seem to make TOO big of a difference once it's dry. Curl cremes are, to me anyways, kind of like an extra thick leave-in conditioner. They give me a little bit of hold, but mostly they give my hair the slip it needs and define the curls.

Maybe you could try LOOB (L'oreal out of bed) under your gel and see if it makes a difference. I also got some of the Boot's Pink Curl Creme recently and REALLY love it, but you have to order it from the UK

If you're protein sensitive, your hair will feel like straw even while wet. If that's not the case, you might actually NEED protein. I color my hair a lot too, and found that my hair was really happy after I did a protein treatment. Damaged hair really seems to respond well most of the time.

kathymack · 09-18-2008, 07:27 AM

I love the products in my signature. Since I've gone to more natural products my hair has been curlier with less frizz.

onethousandcurls · 09-18-2008, 08:22 AM

learning2luvmycurls, try looking through the 3a forum, that might give you product ideas as well as methods from curlies experienced in dealing with your kind of hair. I found great info on my 3b hair in the 3b forum.

whatsercurl · 09-18-2008, 08:29 AM

Like mims, I have nothing between way overconditioned and dry. My hair, too, is better a little dry.

What conditioner are you using? Yours may not be moisturizing enough for your hair.

The dryness could also indicate a sensitivity of some sort to one of your products.

Colouring could be causing part of your problem depending what you do before and after and how often you do it. I do highlights once every 3-4 months. I do a DT a couple days before and a couple days after to counteract the drying effects.

There are so many things to consider and look at when you experience negative results.