Conditioner instead of Shampoo for Fragile Hair

Conditioner instead of Shampoo for Fragile Hair

After the Great Hair Disaster of 2010, I learned a great tip to care for fragile hair. The method is “Conditioner Only” or CO, which means instead of shampoo just use conditioner!

Shampoos can make hair more dry and brittle because it prevents the hair’s natural sebum from doing its job.

Conditioners have a cleansing agent like shampoo but they can be gentler on hair. Dry brittle hair is common with hypothyroidism so we need gently methods for our hair.

Choosing the Right Hair Conditioner 

Its important to use a Silicone-free conditioner because silicone flattens the hair and will end up greasy. Look for conditioners free of Parabens, Silicone, Dimethicone. Read the label to make sure they aren’t hidden in the ingredients.

Inexpensive conditioners can work just as well as expensive ones. My favorites are Garnier Pure Clean because I can get a huge bottle at Target for about $6, Nature’s Gate line from Whole Foods, and Suave and Alberto VO5.

How to Wash Hair with the Conditioner Only Method 

This method is so simple, it saves time and money, and for me the results were great.

  • Shower as usual, wet hair thoroughly using warm or hot water.
  • Use a good amount of condition (like 1/4 cup) and condition the roots liberally.
  • Massage your scalp like you would with shampoo. There will be no lather which might takes some adjusting but trust me it works.
  • Rinse thoroughly.
  • For added shine and silkiness use a tiny tiny bit of Moroccan Oil on damp hair ends.
  • Style as usual.

Tips:

  • It can take 3-4 washes before the natural hair oil start to work on their own again.
  • Every few months, using a gentle shampoo is okay.
  • If hair starts to get a little dull, use a silicone-free clarifying conditioner like Suave every so often.

Several friends have converted to conditioning only and really like it. If you try it, I would love to hear what you think and what conditioner works for you.

During the time that my hair was damaged, dry, brittle and fragile due to thyroid treatment, the conditioner only method helped my hair to feel soft, get stronger and eventually grow out again.

Miss LizzyConditioner instead of Shampoo for Fragile Hair
Supplements to Strengthen Dry, Brittle, Thin Hair

Supplements to Strengthen Dry, Brittle, Thin Hair

In May 2010, using myself as the usual experiment-test-dummy, I took DHEA to see if it would help with my thyroid and adrenal issues. Within three weeks I lost over half my hair volume, and what hair I had left broke almost to the root. Devastating? Yes!

At the time I had been taking Natural Desiccated Thyroid medicine, Hydrocortisone for adrenal fatigue which was going pretty well. But then added DHEA. The combination was a hair disaster.

Until it was gone, I had no idea how much I loved and identified with my long hair. For a year now I’ve been sulking and depressed, enviously watching women with long hair.

For a while I wore hair extensions which was great and helped me through the early trauma of losing almost 8 inches of hair. Finally I’ve recovered, and now embracing the short hair while it grows out.

That’s the backstory, now the goods news! I’ve done tons of research on how to grow and maintain healthy hair, which I am excited to share. Even if you have strong hair, you might know someone who has gone through a similar tragedy. If you have hair care tips, please share! In my research, it seems that growing strong and healthy hair has four key parts:

Hair Growth: Iron Supplements

My first concern was speed of hair growth. Every morning in the mirror, I desperately willed my hair to grow. Apparently healthy hair grows about 1/2 inch a month. So 6 inches a year! But for us hypothyroid people, I read we often have low iron which means hair grows slower! My iron was very low, so I made sure to take my iron (25 mg/day). From what I’ve read it takes about 3-4 months to get iron levels up so it was important for me to be diligent.

Hair Strength: Zinc

My hair had inches of terrible split ends. So I had to work on strengthening my hair. I read that Zinc was good for hair strength (also supposedly good for thyroid) so I added Zinc 10mg a day. My hair is no longer splitting, and the new growth is getting stronger. Thumbs up for the zinc. Plus I noticed an added bonus of less acne, woot!

Hair Shine: Omega 6

I read that Evening Primrose Oil Omega-6 was good for strength and shine, so I’ve been taking Evening Primrose Oil 1350mg 2/day for a year. It’s a little hard to tell if this made a difference with my hair, but it seems like it hasn’t hurt. And the Evening Primrose Oil definitely helped with PMS and mood swings! That was a huge bonus.

Stress: Vitamin C

When the body is in stress it draws from nutrients from the hair, skin and nails first. My hair tragedy was a clue that my body was not happy with me last year, and very stressed. In Adrenal Fatigue, James Wilson writes about the importance of Vitamin C to help the adrenals deal with stress.

Recently on Janie’s Blog on Stop the Thyroid Madness, she feels she never had adrenal fatigue because she has always taken lots of Vitamin C. This was great info! For the past year, I upped my dose of Vitamin C to 2k units a day with 1k units of bioflavinoid (for absorption). Spread into four doses a day of 500mg. When I take my Vitamin C, I feel really solid all around. The bonus for taking higher doses of Vitamin C, I wasn’t sick at all this year.

PS – Thanks to the ladies at the Yahoo Grow Hair Forum who saved me many times.

 

Miss LizzySupplements to Strengthen Dry, Brittle, Thin Hair
Hair Extensions for Hypothyroid Hair

Hair Extensions for Hypothyroid Hair

If you’ve been following my posts over the last few months, you probably already know about my experiment-gone-wrong with DHEA and the horrible things it did to my hair. Today the saga continues, but with a ray of hope for life after a hair disaster.

To recap, in case I wasn’t clear, DHEA was a disaster for my hair. The DHEA also interfered with my Adrenals and Thyroid medicine. This is not the case for everyone, but I want to share all of my experiences in case it helps someone else.

As I later read, when the body is the crisis it draws nutrients from the hair and nails first.  I only tried DHEA for three weeks, but in that short time I lost about half my hair volume (literally my ponytail is the thickness of a pencil now). My already fine hair turned to brittle straw with split ends all the way to the root. The result was dry, super thin, shorter hair, that barely styles. It was DEVASTATING.  I was heartbroken. Until this experience I had not realized how important my hair was to me. I was so sad I needed to find a grow-out solution.

Previously I wrote about Evening Primrose, Fish Oil and Iron supplementation to help with dry, brittle, fragile hair. But even with supplements hair takes a long time to grow. At a rate of 1/2 in growth per month, it’s going to take six months of longer to get back to the healthy long hair. Luckily there is an interim solution for long hair.

Buying Hair Extensions for Hypothyroid Hair

Nothing stops me from fixing a problem. Upon hearing about the hair disaster my sister, and accomplice-in-crime for all things beauty, suggested I try clip-in hair extensions. A revelation! Of course, that was the answer. I didn’t realize someone like me could use hair extensions.

Off I went to Sally Beauty Supply to buy a set of hair extensions and hair color. Hair extensions can be colored to look natural. This might mean adding low-lights or highlights. I did some simple low-light coloring at home. I used the basic hair root color I normally use on my hair and applied it to the extensions from the top down then blended in gradient to achieve an Ombre color affect. Good hair extensions are expensive! So only experiment with color if you know what you are doing.

Check out these photos showing my disastrous hair without extensions, compared to happy me with hair extensions. Look at the horror of my before hair. But then like magic, in less than 10 minutes my hair looks and feels normal again (at least good enough).

regular_hairenhanced_hair

I have to say, I love my extensions like I’ve never loved anything before. The wonders of modern beauty made it possible to get me through the next year while my hair grows back. For a woman to lose her hair is an incredibly upsetting experience. If you are in this situation, please know there are options to get you through.

 

 

Tips for Buying Hair Extensions

  • Only buy the real human hair kind, like Remy or Extensions.com
  • If you do the color yourself, makes sure to get a product line meant for hair coloring. Test the color first on a small section.
  • To put the extensions in, see this tutorial
  • Style and integrate with your own hair. A flat iron helps.
  • It seems like the clip-in kind is okay for longer term use and won’t cause hair loss, but it’s probably wise to be careful.

 

 

Miss LizzyHair Extensions for Hypothyroid Hair