Do you do hardcore conditioning?

[Ziggy]

My dreads are now in their seventh year.  My hair has always been thin and weak, and I live in the desert..dry, dry, dry. I'm having a lot of breakage and I'm afraid that I'm facing having some entire dreads break off in the future if I don't get my hair moisturized.

I wash every 5/6 days with a residue free shampoo.  Every six weeks or so I do a "rinse" where I mix a high quality hair conditioner in a cup of warm water, let it soak for a few minutes and then rinse.  This keeps them kind of soft.  I use aloe vera as a dressing sometimes.  I have NO buildup in my hair; I'm having to trim the ends off ever now and then, and when I trim I comb out first.  Even when I've combed out up to four inches, there's never been anything but hair in there...brittle hair that mostly breaks off.

Before dreading I had to deep condition my hip length hair once a week to prevent breakage, and I used products that just won't work for dreads, like packets of thick, disgusting hot fat.

So I want to do some hardcore conditioning.  Things like vinegar or Pantene aren't going to help this.  Do any of you do deep conditioning at salons, or with oils or anything?  I was thinking about something like an overnight coconut oil wrap.  I'd love t hear about any methods ya'll use to keep extremely dry mature dreads in good shape.  Does the kind of hardcore oil treatment that is good for kinky hair work well for smooth hair?

[jxbx]

I thought this was about crossfit...hehe.
I don't do hair conditioning and I can't help...but I'm interested in this too.

[Ziggy]

My scalp is in great shape and I don't want to mess with the balance up there...I love being able to shampoo infrequently!
My body is not in the greatest shape, but I'm not inspired towards hardcore conditioning there...

I'm giving coconut oil a try from ear level down. My hair is still damp from shampooing last night so I gave every dread a light coat of coconut oil, rubbing it in and scrunching it around a lot. It actually looks, feels and smells great right now. I think, since I have a real problem coming here that I shouldn't have ignored, that I'm going to use the winter methods for moisturizing and conditioning African type hair and see if it helps. I watched a lot of videos on youtube and honestly, those ladies know what they are talking about and they are caring for their dreads with generations of experience. I know the hair types are very different, but I kinda think once it's locked up a dread is a dread, especially since the issue isn't with my scalp but with the older parts of the dreads. Wish me luck!

[jxbx]

Where are you picking up said coconut oil? Does it smell like coconut?
Does you hair feel oily and will it leave an "oil spot" on the couch?
Sorry so many questions, I just never went down this route.

[Ziggy]

I buy organic virgin cold pressed coconut oil in the "asian food" section of the grocery store. It lives in the kitchen for cooking, but I keep a bowl full in my bathroom because it's an amazing skin moisturizer that soaks right in instead of leaving a greasy feeling. Since it's cold here, in the tub it's solid and white, but as soon as you scoop some out it melts. I scooped up a bit, rubbed my hands together, and then rubbed it up and down each dread to get kind of a light coating on it. It's important that the hair be a little damp because it's water that's critical for moisture, the oil helps seal in the water. The oil I use has ALMOST no scent but there is a tiny bit of smell, but it's a good gender neutral smell. I put a couple of drops of orange oil in with it, and now I smell awesome!

Coconut oil is a thin, light oil that absorbs quickly, it's not like olive or other vegetable oils.

My dreads feel very soft, and they have lost the greyish dry cast they had...but then, I only did this a few hours ago. They aren't greasy at all to the touch but they've only got the lightest coating. I'm not going to wash it out for many days, because I used so little. Oh, and my whispy tips are shiny and soft and beautiful, as are the spots where I got it on my bangs (fringe, for you non USAers). The loose hair doesn't look greasy at all.

We will see if it attracts dust and stuff. I don't think I'd try this if I had a residue problem, but I don't (when I use the "deep cleaning concoction", it's still clear at the end). The next thing I'm going to try is really coating the heck out of it with the coconut oil, and then wrapping it in a plastic bag, leaving it overnight, and shampooing well in the morning.

In the meantime, though, so far so good. Soft, gently scented, and at least temporarily healthier looking. If your hair and/or environment are dry, I recommend experimenting with *something* before you reach a crisis of breakable dryness, which is what I'm facing. And I'm jealous of the majority of you who have very thick, strong hair.

[espresso]

I did the coconut oil last year, when one of my kiddos had lice... as I heard it's supposed to suffocate them.
I put in quite a lot of the oil, kept my hair in a shower cap and rinsed the next morning. Obviously I have no idea if it works on lice since I actually never had any...just the panic of having them.
However my hair was very soft and deeply conditioned. So my guess is that coconut oil is a great conditioner! At least it was for me!
We have also been using coconut oil for years as a conditioner for the kiddo with African undreaded hair. And it works great!

[alethionaut]

I condition my hair with an off the shelf brand (usually L'Oréal sulphite free but I've also used whatever is on offer as I use around 400ml each colour) when I colour - every four/ five weeks. I cut one of my dreads the other day and there was no residue - so I've had no adverse effects for conditioning/ colouring and washing (every two/ three days)

[Ziggy]

I used Lush for the first four years or so. Now I mostly use a strongly scented Bath and Body Works orange ginger shampoo, because the smell is awesome, sometimes Neutrogena, every now and then the Lush I still have (a Jasmine conditioning bar). But seven years in the desert of the same hair always being exposed to the sun and wind has taken it's toll. I'm very happy so far with the coconut oil, there's been no greasiness, no residue on my pillow, and they are still soft and nice looking. The stuff gets so thin with heat I assume it will rinse out well. Watching more videos of dreads on ethnic hair, a lot of the women said they use a thin coconut conditioning every few days.

It's good to hear that very regular use of regular conditioner didn't do anything nasty!

[naricaution]

I did this lush treatment thing, made a post about it here.

dreadlocktruth.com/thread/362/lush-damaged-hot-oil-treatment

It was kind of frustrating to wash out but I think the treatment did help.