My hair is rather badly behaved here in Suisse. I thought it was because it's so darn dry here, but a lady in the shops suggested it could be the calcium (scale?) in the water. Is this likely true?

I imagine it would cost a fortune to install a water softener, so what's a girl to do? Rinse my head with distilled water every time I shower??

And what about my skin? Is it so dry also as a result of the hard water?

Suggestions?

Have the same problem. Dry and falling hair ever since I came here
What to do?

I am not a female, just a hair-conscious male

Rinse hair well with vinegar or lemon juice in the final rinse. About the skin: Borage (Borretsch) oil capsules from a good Apotheke or Drogerie work wonders on a dry skin

Invest in an intensive conditioner. It will be worth it, it has helped my hair go back to its shiney self.
I have read that rinsing your hair with an apple cider or vinegar will also get rid of the calc but I find that a really intensive conditioner keeps it in good health so I have not tried that.

I can only confirm one trick doing well: Put some vinegar in rincing water, then apply after-shampoo the usual way. Subjective observation: works better on dark hair, for the shine.
The odor does not stick long, but let your hair wave in the fresh air half an hour before your date.

I had heard of the vinegar rinse, but dread the smell. I use vinegar in my laundry for softener and add essential oils to it to make the smell nice. Think that would be ok for the hair rinse too?

I have long hair - this is going to be a lot of vinegar. Can I cut it down with distilled water?

No, try two tea spoon of vinegar first. See what happens.
I use one spoon for menwise not-short-not-long hair.
My aftershampoo and fresh air is enough against the smell. White vinegar. But use Lemon juice, it works too... my hair is just shinier with venegar. I'm vain.

Vanilla is a very powerful masker of smell. You may wish to think about doing the vinegar hair thing, then using some form of vanilla-based cleaning agent to cover any smell (assuming there is any).

Wasn't there a thread about hair care... <scratches head> oh yes... it was about dry/static hair. Although unconnected, you might find some ideas here.

no hair- no worries

well, there are literally tons of products all over the place, in shops that is, to soften up anything and everything from hair to toe are there not?!!

Hey, is this solution of 3% boric acid? We normally use it to clean baby's skin, had it prepared here in the pharmacy and it was done 10fr a tiny bottle (10mil), we had to have a minimum order of 10 bottles. When it is 1fr back home for 30mil. Cwazy. I hope it is not the same thing

Like this?




Seriously, though, vinegar is great, I have been using the vinegar rince for blond hair, Klorane (does not smell), while it works great on naturally blond hair and makes it shiny and very light, it strips off the natural oils even more and it seems to make the hair even drier ...So, I do use a lot more Klorane conditioner, but watch out for conditioners, they either build up the residues, or weigh the hair down, or are packed with silicone. If someone has a good idea for conditioner for 2ft long hair, gimme, s'il vous plait. I will get the Body Shop new natural line and report.

ok - I'll try with less vinegar first. I don't really want to get into squeezing lemons and I don't like the preservative in the stuff they sell in bottles at the store.

Thanks Carlos. I'll see if I can find that thread.

Products are not working - I use a pretty heavy hair masque and my poor hair is still dry. That's why I thought I'd ask about the water.

Have you tried washing it less frequently? Maybe twice a week or so...I know I know. The dryness does not bug me so much (although the water in our tap is extremely extremely hard, makes my skin itch) it's all the knots one gets during the day..

well then I don't think its the water ... what about, oh now I can't think of the word in English, you know that stuff one uses to make the dough rise, yes that, isn't that also something hair likes? or beer, a lovely nice beer rinse ... some beer on the head and some beer into the mouth ...

My shampoo and conditioner are from the Kérastase Nutritive line, Bain Satin and Nutridéfense. Maybe I need to change it?

I agree with the vinegar rinse. I think you'd normally dilute it a lot (1:10 say) and you can keep it in a bottle in your shower and use at the end of the shower.
Once it dries you won't smell anything anymore (though maybe test this on a weekend...?)

I installed a filter (got my mom to send it) but I haven't noticed any big difference to be honest. I got it for the chlorine and other chemicals though (bad for asthma when the chemicals turn to vapour and can be inhaled).

If you google about the vinegar rinse you should find loads of tips. I wouldn’t use lemons, they will dry your hair out even more. As it is, with the vinegar it is touch and go and best to start with a much diluted mix because if you use too much your hair will be very coarse and stringy…


totally! do you have any wave/curl to your hair, this makes it worse, IMHO. I try not to use any silicone products (only use non SLS shampoos) but if I don't use something with silicone, my hair doesnt have that 'slip' and gets mad knots by the end of the day

there is even the school of thought that one shouldnt use shampoo at all, and should only massage the roots when in the shower (the root is where the grime is and once lossened can be rinsed away) and apply a conditioner. But in this method you really have to be careful of any products you use because anything that ends in "-cone" can not be rinced away and will build up and give you greasy hair!

... should be the title of a country and western track really.

so thats why my hair has started falling out since i moved here!

Yep - have tried that. Am at wits end. Maybe a wig would be a good solution.

I think I'll try the vinegar. Hey - I could rinse only 1/2 of my head to see if there's a difference.