5 Reasons Why Your Hair is Sticky After Leave-in Conditioner

You’ve heard raving reviews of leave-in conditioners.

Nowadays everyone and their mom is using conditioner or leave-in conditioner. It’s the hair care product nobody skips.

But instead of having buttery soft hair, your hair is sticky and feels like you’ve put honey or maple syrup in it.

It happened to me once or twice and I realized I was making a couple of mistakes.

I’m going to cover those in this post.

So, why is your hair sticky after using a leave-in conditioner?

The possible reasons why your hair is sticky after using leave-in conditioner may be that you are using one with too many silicones or you may be using too much leave-in conditioner for your hair. You may have low-porosity hair and the conditioner is too heavy for your hair or you may have fine-textured hair that doesn’t need a leave-in conditioner but a milder more watery product for moisture.

You also have to consider that you may have product build-up or the product is not suitable for the environment you are currently in. It may be very humid outside and the product has too many heavy ingredients.

Let me explain this further. I’ll also explain how to fix this.

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1. You are using too much of the leave-in conditioner

If your hair is dry and frizzy, using a lot of product is not the way you should go about moisturizing.

Your hair follicles can only absorb so much product before swelling up.

So, moisturizing hair takes time.

You can’t repair hair or moisturize it overnight – that’s not how it works.

It may take weeks/months for your hair to get back to its stable and healthy state. So we need to be very patient.

Always start with using little product and work your way up.

How to fix it?

I have curly hair that’s till my mid-back. This is how much leave-in conditioner I use.

I just use a dollop of leave-in conditioner for my whole hair.

Make sure you apply a leave-in conditioner on clean hair that’s shampooed and rinsed properly.

2. You are using a very heavy leave-in conditioner

the leave-in conditioner is too heavy for your hair

If your hair is fine (when I say fine, I mean the diameter of each hair follicle is smaller than most, also referred to as thin hair), then you can’t use heavy leave-in conditioner.

If a leave-in conditioner is too heavy for your hair, it could weigh down your hair and make your hair more greasy, sticky and gooey.

So, if you are using very little product but still find your hair very sticky – chances are you aren’t using the right leave-in conditioner for your hair.

How to fix it?

If you have fine hair, dry and damaged hair, or bleached hair, use this leave-in conditioner.

This is one of the best leave-in conditioners on the market.

It doesn’t contain any silicones, is vegan and cruelty-free, and is hypoallergic.

It is even suitable for children because this product is that delicate.

And the best part is you will find your hair super soft, frizz-free, and glossy after using it.

It even smells great and doesn’t have that weird chemical smell that a lot of leave-in conditioners have.

Check it out here.

Now, if you have curly or coily hair, then only use the Shea Butter Leave-in Conditioner. This is the holy-grail smoothening product for curly hair and I absolutely adore this.

I rave about this product in several posts only because I’ve finished tubs and tubs of this stuff.

3. There is too much product build-up in your hair

Now, if you apply your leave-in conditioner to hair that already has other products, chances are that it’s mixing with the other products and becoming more gooey and sticky.

So, always apply a leave-in conditioner to freshly shampooed hair that’s been rinsed thoroughly.

Never apply this product to hair that already has creams and other things in it – it is going to mix and form some weird substance.

Yes, it does take a while to understand which products go together with what, but that’s one of the cons of living in a world with a hundred thousand products.

This is one of the main reasons I don’t use many hair products even though I have very curly hair.

I only use a total of 4 products and I am happy with what I have.

Once you find what works for you, stick with it.

4. You have low-porosity hair

Low-porosity hair basically means your hair doesn’t absorb much product.

So, if you apply heavy hair products, most of it is going to sit on top of your hair instead of seeping in.

This is why it’s crucial to use products that actually suit your hair. Here are some tests you can do to determine your hair porosity.

How to fix it?

Now, if you have low-porosity hair, you may not need a leave-in conditioner. Just use a simple hair moisturizing serum after getting out of the shower.

Additionally, if you feel that’s not enough – do a hair mask once in 1-2 weeks. This will make sure that your hair is moisturized throughout the week so you don’t have to keep putting in extra products.

How do you use a hair mask?

Get a hair mask that’s absolutely moisturizing with good, natural ingredients. After you’ve cleaned your hair with shampoo and rinsed it thoroughly, apply the hair mask to your already wet hair. Put on a plastic cap and keep it on for 30 minutes. Rinse it off completely.

That’s it!

That’s how simple it is.

I do a hair mask once in 2 weeks and sometimes once a week if I feel my hair needs more moisture – this has drastically reduced my hair fall.

I do not recommend anything else other than this Argan Oil Hair Mask.

5. You have hard water

Hard water is water that contains high levels of dissolved minerals, such as calcium and magnesium.

This can cause a lot of buildup of mineral deposits that stick to your hair and scalp. It can also react with your hair leave-in conditioner and add to that weird, sticky feeling.

Additionally, if it reacts with the ingredients in your conditioner, it can cause the product to become less effective in softening your hair.

So, if you have hard water in your area, use a water-softening showerhead filter. I have heard raving reviews of this showerhead filter and it comes with 2 cartridges that you need to change every once in a few months.

A lot of people use this when their hair and skin become too dry with hard water.

I hope this helps!

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