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I don't have any good "before" pictures, but I have very thick, very damaged hair. I don't know what causes the damage, but I'm about ready to get a cut (not for length, just to rid the damage). This morning I was angry after my shower at how coarse my hair felt, so I grabbed a random bottle of "johnson's kids no more tangles spray" and let loose (hair was almost dry at this point, the damaged top layer behaving horribly). To my utter shock, after combing through with this stuff in, my hair immediately looked "normal." The nasty damaged layer went flat. The split ends were still a bit visible, but way better. Most of all, my fringe lay flat (this never happens) and I was able to flip/spike the sides a little bit.
This stuff seems magic. I know zilch about products, but here are the ingredients: waterm qyarerbuyn-18m cyclomethicone, potassium sorbate, disodium edta, peg-5 stearamine. This doesn't solve the problem with the top layer of my hair, but it certainly makes it way better. Can anybody explain which of these ingredients might help and any long-term bad side effects of using this?
The stuff that's your friend in there is the cyclomethicone (which sounds more like something powdery and illegal). It's a type of silicone. you have discovered a type of leave in conditioner. Go ahead and use it every day. eventually it will build up and your hair will be flat and tangly and lifeless. then employ a clarifier shampoo, which strips out all the buildup so you can start over.
you'll probably get some people warning you off of "the cones" - pay no heed - your hair is dead skin; people pick up unsubstantiated ideas about silicones that feed the suspicion that anything inorganic can't possibly be any good. You're not drinking the product or spraying it up your nose are you?
A few other items I've been trying recently with generally favorable results:
Thanks to a tip from Carol (I'm pretty sure it was Carol) I've been using Aloe Vera Jell (Lily of the Desert brand "Aloe Vera Gelly") on which the second ingredient after Aloe Vera is Dimethicone, as a leave-in conditioner, and from which I'm getting a lot of body and smooth hair, and a new product, Johnson's "no more tangles" leave-in conditioner in which the second ingredient (this time the first one is Water) is again Dimethicone. I like the Aloe Vera better because it seems to produce better results, better being more control over humidity, although the Aloe Vera gel wasn't cheap -- $4.29 (U.S.) at the local health food store for a 4 oz. (114 gm.) tube. You won't, or at least I didn't, find this at mass market retailers. Search for it at the nut and berry places.
I'm also still using Pantene "Protecting Damage Defender Spray" (the same as their detangler but in a bigger cheaper container) and Pantene "Pro V Restoratives Detangling Leave-in Creme" which is yet another conditioner that is lighter on the coating of silicone because it does its job mainly with panthenol and hydrogenated castor oil (yum!).
you might want to experiment with some of these. The Johnson's and Pantene products are not expensive and are available at the big retail places like Target in the U.S.
Upon reading this I went poking around in my bathroom closet, having thick and damaged hair myself, and sure enough I found a bottle of the Johnson's Kids stuff way in the back and it worked pretty well for me as well. Thanks for the product recommendations Rob, I'll have to try and find some of those, especially some kind of clarifier shampoo like you said to use. For the past year or so I've been using whatever shampoo/conditioner 2 in 1 "for men" thing I could find at a drugstore.
Vic, Suave "Daily Clarifier" is a good cheap shampoo that leaves no residue and is around $1 / bottle. It is widely available.
Avoid the 2 in 1 products if only because there should be days when you don't want to shampoo. Most people with long hair can go for 2 days maybe longer without it. Buy a copy of Don't Go Shopping for Hair Care Products Without Me (see link below). It's a great handbook on hair, hair care and product evaluations.