I want an answer to a more specific question that isn't answered in the Hair Help Blog or in the Hair Wash Instructions. What should I do?

Q: Hi, I have a really specific question regarding my own personal hair history and scalp situation. I want to get an answer from Terressentials, but I'd rather email than call you guys so that way I have a record of your answer should I need to reference it again. What should I do?

A:

When we get emails from customers, we often run into the problem (as you said) of the customer not giving us enough information on their personal, individual, unique hair history (An analogous situation would be telling someone your stomach hurt and saying only “I last ate this particular food 3 hours ago” as opposed to saying “I haven't felt well the past few days and have eaten these specific things over the past day and tend to get an upset stomach when I eat a lot of this.” It's hard to help someone if you don't have all of their information!).

When you email us, please answer the following questions (and feel free to literally copy and paste this list and fill out your answers):

1. What is your hair type: thick, curly, thin, fine, straight, kinky, curly, wavy, frizzy, etc.?

2. What is your scalp type: oily, normal, dry, sensitive, dandruff/flaky, psoriasis, etc.?

3. What chemical hair treatments have you used: straighteners, perms, bleaches, dyes, etc.?

4. What styling products do you use: gels, mousse, creams, sprays, articulating, smoothers, etc.?

5. Do you blow dry your hair, or use heat to set curls or to straighten your hair?

6. How old are you?

7. Where do you live?

8. What is the source of your bathing water?

9. Do you swim? If yes, where do you swim? Do you swim in a chemically treated or naturally treated pool?

My child's hair became damaged by swimming in a chemically treated pool. What should I do?

Q: I am writing about my 10 year old daughter's hair.

It's been such a pain to brush her hair, it's all tangled up, and my mother keeps using junk on her hair, so I'm really trying to fix her hair problem.

This summer, we spent some time at a public pool (I know, GASP haha). Well, her hair was really damaged from the chemicals in the pool, and her hair never has seemed to recover (and our last visit was in September and it's now March).

She was getting her hair cut recently, and we found out that she has damaged, fine, hair. Her hair felt filmy, like built up residue was just never getting rinsed off. They suggested using a "clarifier" (a couple times a week) on her hair, maybe something with a little tea tree oil in it (though I haven't really researched this avenue, yet, I figured I'd come to you, first). I tried using Shea butter as a detangler, but it left her hair kind of stringy and oily looking (maybe I used too much?)

I went back to your website, and saw the blog on hair. I did the fragrance- free wash gentle gel wash with a vinegar rinse (as detailed in Step 5 of the Hair Wash Instructions). The results were immediate and AMAZING! So much easier to brush, and it seemed to leave her hair a little shiny. Well, my question is this: how often should I use the fragrance-free gel wash and vinegar rinse? Should I use it every day? Or a couple of times a week? Should I use any mud on her hair? If so, which "flavor?"

Also, when I use the gentle gel bath wash on her hair, do I want that to "lather" up? or just kind of massage it through?

Thank you for any advice or information you can give me.

A:

Thank you for your kind words!

Regarding your questions, many people have used our Gentle Gel and the vinegar rinse as their daily hair cleansing routine for years. You can certainly feel free to use it as frequently as needed. You can also try our Cool Mint Body Wash in place of the Gentle Gel in the hair washing process as, unlike the Gentle Gel which is super-fatted with organic jojoba oil, the Cool Mint has no added super-fatted oil. Some folks with fine and/or straight hair prefer having no added extra oil in their Hair Wash. You could even alternate between the Gentle Gel and the Cool Mint washes. FYI, the Gentle Gel doesn't really have much in the way of foaming capability as it contains no coconut oil – it is a traditional
true castile. Coconut and/or palm oils are the oils that can give a castile soap a sudsing effect, though it is important to note that this sudsing effect has no relation to how a real soap product cleanses. Our
Gentle Gel castile is primarily made from organic extra virgin olive oil and olive oils do not support much foaming. However, even without high lather the olive oil castile is very gentle and effective, and is an excellent cleansing choice for those with infantile, or sensitive, or dry or mature skin.

You can also certainly play with the Hair Wash! For fine, straight or thinner hair, our Fragrance-free or our Cool Mint Hair Wash formulas are the best options.

Unfortunately, pool chemicals and conventional shampoo chemicals can, as you've seen, permanently damage the hair cuticle making the hair very susceptible to splitting, breakage and tangling. Folks with fine hair don't often do well when conditioning with oils and butters unless just the tiniest amount is used. So, literally, use perhaps just one drop or two of an organic oil or butter rubbed between the palms of the hands and massaged or combed through the hair to help smooth splitting, damaged hair.

Truly though, the best remedy for people with finer, straighter and/or thinner hair (and everyone else, really!) to maintain healthy-looking hair is to stay away from chemical hair products (yes, there ain't
nothing natural about "all-natural" shampoos) including shampoos, hair bleaches and dyes, perms, etc.

Oh, and try to avoid swimming in pools treated with chemicals. (There are some pools out there that use salt and/or UV light to keep the water from being overrun with bacteria instead of using the conventional toxic pool chemicals.) To protect one's body and hair from toxic chemicals attacking the hair and skin and to help to prevent some chemicals from penetrating the body, we have often suggested the following:

1. Wear a bathing cap when swimming – there are some natural rubber ones out there.

2. Apply some of our Moisture Cream or, for even more protection, try a touch of our Cocoa Butter Body Creme (which contains organic beeswax and no added fragrance!) to the hair before swimming to help repel the water laced with chemicals. After swimming, to remove any chemical residues and excess Moisture Cream or Body Creme, cleanse the hair (and body) using one of our yummy Body Washes and vinegar rinse method, then repeat the process and/or use the Pure Earth Hair Wash as the second or third cleansing step.

3. Apply our Cocoa Butter Body Creme with organic beeswax to the face and body – all over as a gentle preventative/protective barrier – before swimming to help repel the water laced with chemicals. This has the added benefit of being moisturizing for the skin.

Can I use homemade conditioning oils in my hair while using the Hair Wash?

Q: I like to make my own conditioning oil out of organic cold-pressed, raw coconut oil. Is that ok to use with the Hair Wash?

A:

Organic coconut oil to moisturize one's hair? Sure! Sounds Yummy!

We also highly recommend taking a look at our delicious 100% Certified Organic Super Emollient Moisturizers which are delightful blends of aromatic virgin coconut oil that has been infused with nourishing organic herbs and then blended with heavenly mixes of organic essential oils and organic cocoa butter and sunflower oil! Our divine Super Emollient Moisturizers* are perfect for hair and scalp conditioning and smoothing rough hair. Check them out here .

Our Super Emollient Moisturizers are also wonderful for a warm oil treatment for your scalp and hair. Not only do you get the benefits of moisturizing your hair and scalp, but also you get the chance to wrap a warm, soothing towel around your head for as long as you like. Nothing feels better than that! You can read about the warm oil treatment in Step 6 of our Hair Wash Instructions .  

Also, you should try our 100% USDA Certified Organic Fragrance-free Moisture Cream (which can be found by scrolling down a little bit on this page here ). It is great for styling and conditioning the hair.  

Remember the fact of utmost importance: Only USDA certified organic products are compatible with our Hair Wash! So, hair spray, hair gel, silk protein, and other styling products that aren't USDA certified organic are not ok to use with our Hair Wash!

* Also, please note that our Certified Organic Super Emollient Moisturizers are also great all over your body for super deep moisturizing!

Protecting your hair while still swimming in chemically treated pools.

Q: My question is regarding chlorine in pools. I swim a lot as my main form of exercise. I soak my hair before my swim to prevent excessive absorption, and rinse it off afterwards, but I am curious if this counts as continual chemical treatment, as described on the FAQ page . Also, if you do recommend that I use your product, which line would best fit with my penchant for the lap pool?

A:

Try to avoid swimming in pools treated with chemicals. (There are some pools out there that use salt and/or UV light to keep the water from being overrun with bacteria instead of using the conventional toxic pool chemicals.) To protect one's body and hair from toxic chemicals attacking the hair and skin and to help to prevent some chemicals from penetrating the body, we have often suggested the following:

1. Wear a bathing cap when swimming – there are some natural rubber ones out there.

2. Apply some of our Moisture Cream (a product a little bit down on this Fragrance Free Facial Care Line page) or, better still, one of our Body Cremes with organic beeswax to the hair before swimming to help repel the water laced with chemicals. After swimming, to remove any chemical residues, cleanse the hair (and body) using the Body Wash and vinegar rinse method (as described in number five of our Hair Wash instructions article – link on the hair care page of our web site), then repeat the process and/or use the Pure Earth Hair Wash as the second cleansing step.

3. Apply one of our Body Cremes with organic beeswax to the face and body – use all over as a gentle preventative barrier – before swimming to help repel the water laced with chemicals. This has the added benefit of being moisturizing for the skin.

Hair Wash stored in cold temperatures?

Q: Hi! I was wondering if my Hair Wash would be negatively impacted by being stored in cold temperatures. It was accidentally left in a car for a few days (and it's winter). Please let me know!

A: 

No worries! Our Hair Wash is a very stable product and unlike some of our other, more delicate, products, the cold will not be a problem for the Hair Wash at all.

Why doesn't the Terressentials Hair Wash come in a wide mouthed jar?

Q: Why doesn't Terressentials Hair Wash come in a wide-mouthed jar that I can stick my fingers in and scoop the mud out of? It can be hard to get out of the bottles.

A:

Unfortunately, for such a large quantity of a water-based product to be packed in a jar that would require that fingers be repeatedly inserted into the product over several weeks to dispense it demands significant additions of chemical preservatives to maintain that product's stability. As we are a certified organic company, the use of such chemical preservatives is not in alignment with our organic mission or our natural philosophy and, importantly, the use of chemical preservatives in organic products is forbidden by the federal USDA National Organic Program regulations. Also, we are a very small company and packaging options that are available to us in the smaller quantities that we can afford to purchase are limited. After 20 years of business, we have found that the best bottle for the Hair Wash is the one we currently use. However, rest assured, as we do believe in constant improvement, we are always searching for and open to new and improved packaging ideas.

For now, here are a few tips that we can share with you for successful dispensing of the Hair Wash are:

1. Store your Hair Wash bottle upside down (with cap closed, of course!).

2. When the product gets low in the bottle, gently tap the bottle (cap down and closed) against a tabletop a few times to move the Hair Wash from the bottom of the bottle towards the cap.