Hair care dillema!

[Marigold]

I've used that one before and didn't like it.  But I don't recall why. 

[Kaeldre]

Well.

Amazon has the giant 23 oz bottles of every other Herbal Essences flavour EXCEPT for Drama Clean. -___-

[Beldarna]

I have the same problem. My favorite schampoo got discontinued a few years ago and I'm still struggling to find a new one. I've been going through a lot of them, from cheap supermarket brands to expensive hairsaloon ones and none's ok. I found a conditioner I really liked from Lee Stafford and decided to try out the schampoo and I got rashes allover my head which I'm still trying to heal while using my boyfriends antidandruff schampoo for sensitive scalp.
I did try and really liked a schampoo from Kerstin Florian (swedish brand), that I got to use at a spa but paying more than 60 dollars for a bottle feels too much. I'm stil considering it tho.. just wondering where to get that funding from.

[Marigold]

I'm using Totally Twisted right now (even though my hair is straight).  It seems lightweight.

Can you buy mini travel bottles to test different kinds?

[Bee-chan]

I haven't used shampoo or conditioner in over a year now, so I couldn't recommend any good ones. I cleanse my hair with a water and baking soda blend, and rinse with a apple cider vinegar, water, and rosemary oil rinse. My hair has NEVER been this healthy before when I was still using shampoo and conditioner. However, I'm finding that I need to add more rosemary oil to the ACV rinse during winter than during the summer. Especially with this seriously cold and snowy winter we've been dealing with here in NJ this year.

[flutterwry]

I haven't used shampoo or conditioner in over a year now, so I couldn't recommend any good ones. I cleanse my hair with a water and baking soda blend, and rinse with a apple cider vinegar, water, and rosemary oil rinse.

May I ask what kind of hair you have? Fine, thick, curly, straight?
I'd love to break my "vicious cycle" of having to wash it almost daily... it's become very thin recently, and I don't want to torture my last few strands with all those chemicals any more. Maybe your method works with them, too...
Oh, and can rosemary oil be replaced by something else, say, a blend of orange or lemongrass and lavender oil or something like that?

By the way: the one hair product I can kind of recommend is "American Cream" from Lush, which should be available in the US, too. This strange stuff seems to work with any kind of hair... but the big, nasty downside is: it costs a fortune. Thus I can only use it on very special occasions and have to stick with something more affordable for the regular use, where I tried many, many things but still haven't found the holy grail...

[CupidStrikes]

Do you have a LUSH near you? Their hair stuff is great, and they'll give you free samples of the products, and offer refunds if the product doesn't work out for you My hair is so short I don't use conditioner but I can vouce for their other products working like a charm!

[OLumeVaSti]

I tried a new brand today. I got it from Natural Grocers called Desert Essence. It smells good and it seeming to tame my dry, frizzy, curly, thick hair.

[Bee-chan]

I haven't used shampoo or conditioner in over a year now, so I couldn't recommend any good ones. I cleanse my hair with a water and baking soda blend, and rinse with a apple cider vinegar, water, and rosemary oil rinse.

May I ask what kind of hair you have? Fine, thick, curly, straight?
I'd love to break my "vicious cycle" of having to wash it almost daily... it's become very thin recently, and I don't want to torture my last few strands with all those chemicals any more. Maybe your method works with them, too...
Oh, and can rosemary oil be replaced by something else, say, a blend of orange or lemongrass and lavender oil or something like that?

By the way: the one hair product I can kind of recommend is "American Cream" from Lush, which should be available in the US, too. This strange stuff seems to work with any kind of hair... but the big, nasty downside is: it costs a fortune. Thus I can only use it on very special occasions and have to stick with something more affordable for the regular use, where I tried many, many things but still haven't found the holy grail...

I have very fine sand blonde hair, and it's getting curlier as I get older, but I have a LOT of it and it's very long ( about mid back right now. ).

I've noticed that since I've been using the baking soda / water, and ACV rinse, stopped using a hair dryer, and use nothing but a wide toothed comb and a paddle brush, I'm not getting the crazy split ends I used to get AND my hair feels like it's growing faster and has a thicker feel to it. I fiiiinally have my, "Princess Bride", hair that I've been longing for! I do need to go in for the annual trim soon, though, and maybe a coloring, before Big Apple Ponycon next month.

You might really want to research that. I personally use the rosemary oil because it's helped add a bit of shine, body, and bounce, it's helped to darken my hair a little bit, and it also helps to get rid of dandruff and itchies.

http://babyslime.livejournal.com/174054.html

Babyslime on Livejournal has an AWESOME journal entry on going, "no 'poo", and she explains everything. Just a warning, though: if you DO decide to try this out, be prepared to stick with it for the first few weeks. The transition period can be crazy. It'll take your hair, scalp, and oil glands a bit of time to get used to not being stripped of all it's natural oils. And like with shampoos and conditioners, everyone is going to need to use a different recipe. My transition period gave me a rats nest of hair until my hair became used to having it's own natural oils and it calmed down. It also took several trial recipes before I came up with one that worked for me.

Mine not work for you, so try out different ones until you find one that works for you. Everyone once in a blue moon, I'll even deep condition with a catnip tea rinse. My cat LOVES me when I do this and tries to nest in my hair at night, but my hair comes out soooooooo soft afterwards.

Though since you do have fine hair, I'll warn against using avocado and olive oil. Don't do it. You'll become a grease truck and it takes having to use dish detergent to wash it out. Fine hair doesn't require a lot of conditioning, as our hair can't soak up moisture like thick hair can. It just ends up sitting on the strand.

Google long hair community as well. They have an excellent subforum for natural hair home made products.

[Meru-desu]

Lets us know how you get on with Aussie. My hair isn't thick or long, but i have damage from coloring it a lot, and I've found it works wonders for me.

[flutterwry]

I have very fine sand blonde hair, and it's getting curlier as I get older, but I have a LOT of it and it's very long ( about mid back right now. ).

I've noticed that since I've been using the baking soda / water, and ACV rinse, stopped using a hair dryer, and use nothing but a wide toothed comb and a paddle brush, I'm not getting the crazy split ends I used to get AND my hair feels like it's growing faster and has a thicker feel to it. I fiiiinally have my, "Princess Bride", hair that I've been longing for! I do need to go in for the annual trim soon, though, and maybe a coloring, before Big Apple Ponycon next month.

You might really want to research that. I personally use the rosemary oil because it's helped add a bit of shine, body, and bounce, it's helped to darken my hair a little bit, and it also helps to get rid of dandruff and itchies.

http://babyslime.livejournal.com/174054.html

Babyslime on Livejournal has an AWESOME journal entry on going, "no 'poo", and she explains everything. Just a warning, though: if you DO decide to try this out, be prepared to stick with it for the first few weeks. The transition period can be crazy. It'll take your hair, scalp, and oil glands a bit of time to get used to not being stripped of all it's natural oils. And like with shampoos and conditioners, everyone is going to need to use a different recipe. My transition period gave me a rats nest of hair until my hair became used to having it's own natural oils and it calmed down. It also took several trial recipes before I came up with one that worked for me.

Mine not work for you, so try out different ones until you find one that works for you. Everyone once in a blue moon, I'll even deep condition with a catnip tea rinse. My cat LOVES me when I do this and tries to nest in my hair at night, but my hair comes out soooooooo soft afterwards.

Though since you do have fine hair, I'll warn against using avocado and olive oil. Don't do it. You'll become a grease truck and it takes having to use dish detergent to wash it out. Fine hair doesn't require a lot of conditioning, as our hair can't soak up moisture like thick hair can. It just ends up sitting on the strand.

Google long hair community as well. They have an excellent subforum for natural hair home made products.

Wow, Bee-Chan! Thank you so much for your nice and comprehensive answer, and thank you for the link! So it seems our hair is, well, not the same but similar.
Mine is very fine, but there aren't many of them left. They're somewhat dishwater blonde, and currently shoulder length. Indeed, Olive Oil is not my thing. Tried it once - what a mess!
I knew already a German long hair community - sadly most of the users there seem to have rather thick hair, so most of the recommendations I read there (such as oil treatments ) didn't work for me. I've even got a husband with waist length hair - but things which are great for him make me but a greasehead. So I'm really, really glad you gave me some usable information for fine hair!

Catnip sounds fun, by the way. Mr. Cat loves my hair already without it... when I'm on the sofa, he sometimes jumps on the backrest, holds my head in his paws and rubs his head on my hair, tries to lick it and purrs...   I wonder what happens if I rinsed it with catnip. Rosemary, however, doesn't exactly seem right for me - I don't have dandruff (fortunately) and I wish my hair was a bit lighter...

A big, big thank you again! 

[keikokukien]

I've heard great things about Mane and Tail, but all the store here always sold out. I have bad timing or it really that good. I currently use Suave professional. I would take the kind you like and compare the ingredient list with others. Find one that has the same stuff in the same order. Most likely to get the same result.

Herbal essence is a big let down. They had one product for frizz control that I like and they got rid of it; so I used another frizz control by them and loved it till they added some mango oil crap and it smells awful and leave my hair oily. Lots of bad review for them on there wed page cause they changed ingredient on their products.

This may sound odd, but if you have any feed and seed type stores for horse supplies, I've used that before. ; Hope that might be helpful...

[Kaeldre]

I think Aussie's Confidently Clean conditioner has won me over. :3

I was a little skeptical at first when I saw how runny it was, but after I used it I was amazed at how soft and clean it made my hair feel! No icky buildup to speak of.

[LightingElectricDream]

I make my own as I do have hair that's past my butt 
It is clean and has kept me from getting split ends..

1 tea spoon of olive oil,
Half a Banana,
1 table spoon of honey,
2 table spoons of green tea,
and a bit of any conditioner,

Put it in the blender. poor it it in a Cup/Bottle and use it like you would any normal conditioner.