Hair won't clump anymore.

ttoosday

What is happening when my hair stops clumping well? I clarify regularly once every couple weeks. I cowash some, I low-poo some. I always use leave in and I apply styling products on wet hair. I scrunch gently, I use a t-shirt to dry. 
But for some reason my hair splits into tiny tiny stringy clumps which is kind of a new thing. Is my hair getting too low density? I've tried to venture off to new products but always end up coming back to tried and true favorites. But now these holy grails aren't doing much to clump anymore. Any ideas? 

WavyKfromNJ

Your lo-poo is rather hash it is more of a clarifying shampoo.  I would look for a different lo-poo and use the Ion shampoo to clarify.

Moisture, moisture, moisture.

Guide 65

Maybe you need a protein treatment?  I don't know...I'm having the same problem on one side of my hair.  I haven't been able to figure out how to fix it yet.  One side looks great with nicely defined curls, the other side is all frizzed out. 

ttoosday

WavyKfromNJ said:

Your lo-poo is rather hash it is more of a clarifying shampoo.  I would look for a different lo-poo and use the Ion shampoo to clarify.

Moisture, moisture, moisture.

Ya I switch around my products quite a bit. The Ion shampoo is not really a regular in my routine, but since I have really hard water I do use that once a month maybe. My usual low poos are one of the Maui Moisture shampoos, shea moisture Jamaican black castor oil strengthen and grow shampoo or the shea moisture curl and shine. 

I have the most unresponsive hair of anyone I've seen on this forum in 3.5 years, so knowing if I'm getting any moisture is pretty much impossible. I'll switch to cowash only for awhile in order to get the moisturization whether it shows or not. 

ttoosday

Guide 65 said:

Maybe you need a protein treatment?  I don't know...I'm having the same problem on one side of my hair.  I haven't been able to figure out how to fix it yet.  One side looks great with nicely defined curls, the other side is all frizzed out. 

So frustrating huh. I could do a protein treatment. Worth a shot. I have no idea what it could be seeing as I do everything the way I'm supposed to. I got a trim not too long ago, I detangle in the shower with tons of conditioner and wide tooth combs, I squish to condish. I've tried products frontwards and backwards, upside down and right-side up, I've tried every technique there is. Since my hair is mostly 2b and low density, it's really neither curly enough or thick enough to look good in its natural state. And now it wont really even clump. I guess it's getting too long and too low density is the only think I can think of. 

WavyKfromNJ

Here is a good blog post about protein and moisture
http://rockyncurls.blogspot.com/search/label/Protein and Overconditioning

Here is one for hard water
http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/hard-water-and-your-hair.html

I would suggest reading all of the science-y hair blog, it is very informative and helped me a bunch.

Also if you search around NC there is a love/hate relationship with Shea Moisture products, some find it to be to heavy for their hair.  That may be the case in your situation.  And others complain about Maui Moisture.

Also do you know your hair's porosity?  That could help you find the right products.

ttoosday

Oh I've almost memorized the science-y hair blog. I've also asked some specific questions directly to Wendy as well. 

Ya product choices are hard to diagnose, that's true. Again, my hair won't reveal if anything worked or didn't work, it never has, so I just have to pick something and go with it. The products I keep coming back to are the ones that have generally worked to at least clump and get rid of frizz. But something recent has changed with my results. I've never had super fat clumpd but all of a sudden all I've got are tiny strings and my products are pretty much what have always provided clumps at the very least. 8
Oh and porosity, ya I'm sure it's high since it's getting longer. 

WavyKfromNJ

I would clarify then not use any more products.  Let your hair air dry.  Then take a serious look at your hair.  Pay attention to the RockyNCurls post I sent you, that really made a difference for me - I kept thinking my hair was dry, but it needed protein.  This will let you get a look at your hair without having products interfere with the results.

After you do that then you can wet your hair and add leave in  and styling products.  Then take another serious look at how the products affected your hair.  When you re-wet your hair note how quickly it absorbs the water to help you determine the porosity.

When you examine your hair you need to look and feel your hair.  Don't look at the style as much as how your hair is acting

Therese1

Just to confuse things, when my hair gets like this, it's because I have used a product that made my hair's porosity lower. It might be a hidden protein in a product, or sometimes herbal extracts can have protein-like effects on the hair that can be cumulative (at least in my experience).

I would suggest clarifying (if you haven't recently) and then doing a deep conditioning treatment with a conditioner that has no protein or grain extracts in it. I would leave the DT on for at least 30 minutes. If you need a product rec, I use the Jessicurl Deep Conditioning Treatment, and that hasn't ever caused me any problems (my hair is highly protein sensitive).

I would do a DT to get moisture rather than switching to co-washing, because if your recent problems are due to lowering porosity, the co-washing will probably just coat your hair shaft and weigh your hair down.

Along the lines of what @WavyKfromNJ was saying, for determining porosity, I saw a video on nc.com (I think) where they showed that you are likely to be low porosity if you spritz your hair with water and the water just beads up on top of the hair and you have to work it in with your hands to get it to penetrate. High porosity: the water absorbs almost immediately. Normal: the water initially beads but then sinks in.

I spritzed my hair, and the water beaded up. I waited over ten seconds, and it did not absorb in. That to me supports that my hair is indeed low porosity.

ttoosday

Hmm ya it would be super confusing to be having a bout of low porosity. My hair does wet immediately but I can try the spritz test.

BrittanyM

You might want to try a sulfate clarifying shampoo if you haven't already followed up with a deep conditioning treatment. For my hair, the only time it wouldn't clump was when I had buildup that only a sulfate clarifying shampoo got rid of.
Second would be  tilting your head back (looking up at the ceiling) the scrunching your hair up and pumping your fists (I think this is called pump and scrunch... I did it before I knew it was a thing). I find that scrunching upside down caused stringiness in my hair and scrunching too much caused the same.
If you had clumps before, you just have to figure out what changed. Products, protein as others suggested, or buildup. Best of luck!