Naturals I Need to Talk...

[Anew]

Okay, I have a question. I'm beginning to just think this is just my hair. So basically I did the BC in April, got my hair straightened for a trim in July and noticed my ends. I said Eeeeek, got them snipped off and all was right with the world. Fast forward to today, I went to get it straightened again to get them clipped again and bam, the same thing.

My hair, from root through the length is a breeze to straighten, it got semi perm straight with one pass, but the ends felt and looked different. My hair is soft, my ends aren't. My hair was straight, the ends aren't. So I wanted her to chop them off again but she said that she believes its still some of the perm. But I nearly balded myself (slight exageration (sp) ) when I cut them off the first time in July. She said to wait until the summer to let it grow out more then clip, she thinks problem will be solved. I'm not so sure. I wanted to know, is this normal? Here's some pics. The first set is from July, the second set from today.

July before the trim

July after the trim

Today

 

[Anew]

I'm saying, if this is my hair its just my hair. But its just weird that all of my hair feels one way but when you get to the ends it completely different. If this will be, I don't think I'll ever wear it straight. The purpose of me getting it straightened today was to check the length and to clip splits if there were any to clip and to make it easier for me to braid, I wear wigs 90% of the time.

 

[KurlyNinja]

Do you protective style? Do you moisturize your ends often? I know my moms hair gets like that and its because she doesnt hide her ends and on top of that she doesnt really moisturize her hair often. It could always be because of SSK that are breaking off the ends and making them rough.

 

[LuvlyRain3]

My friends ends you to look like that when she straightened. She started using the comb chase method when she flat ironed.now he ends look perfect straight

 

[sweetlaughter]

Anew, my hair used to look like that when I would straighten after becoming fully natural. What helped me was getting my moisture-protein in balance. Specifically I paid close attention to my hair and used protein more regularly and not just when my hair went mushy. Also, I started DCing more.

 

[Anew]

Do you protective style? Do you moisturize your ends often? I know my moms hair gets like that and its because she doesnt hide her ends and on top of that she doesnt really moisturize her hair often. It could always be because of SSK that are breaking off the ends and making them rough.

The past couple of months I've been in twists (extensions) and I'll admit I didn't properly moisturize. So maybe that's it? I definitely slacked off with my hair around August.

I used to DC once weekly, co wash once weekly and moisturize as needed. I need to get back on it I see.

 

[chebaby]

that doesnt look like split ends to me. did you do the comb chase method? maybe you just didnt get the ends straight enough. idk, the ends just looks like your hair, not split ends.
ive learned a while ago that natural ends always feels different than the top of the hair.

 

[bride91501]

I agree with Miryoku....my ends will look exactly the same way if I don't PS, moisturize and seal. Then I have to tuck my ends away; they're very much prone to dryness.

I say you should experiment for the next couple of weeks- PS your hair and moisturize and seal your ends, then find a way to tuck and hide them. After a couple of weeks, you can flat iron just a small section of your hair to see if these steps will help.

 

[Anew]

No, no comb chase method. Honestly it almost hurt to try and comb through those bad boys. As she combed through the length of it, it was easy sailing. But when she got to the ends I was like *timeout*

So I'm gonna get back on my regimen and see what happens. I wasn't sure if I should cut or not or if this was my doing lol

 

[Anew]

Thanks so much ladies..

 

[ThickHair]

Do you wear your hair in straight styles a lot? Do you wear your hair in a style that requires your hair to be even all around? If you answer no to both of these questions then there is no need to straighten to trim. I am very anti heat. Heat isn't required to trim your hair.

 

[mzteaze]

When my hair starts drying out, my ends are the worse hit with dryness. Thats why I try to up the moisture & take care to use extra JBCO on my ends. That tends to help the problem out. If you are going back and forth between straight and curly hair, consider using a protective method at night and pay extra attention to your ends.

 

[iri9109]

yeah when i havent DCd in a minute or my hair is extra dry, the ends look similar to that...i actually cut a few pieces off because i thought it was ssks or splits, but then realized my hair was back to normal all over after i did some treatments and upped my moisture...but its like the ends werent even split...just crunchy =/

 

[ActionActress]

When I used to press, I had the same EXACT problem. I no longer had the problem when I used a Maxiglide flatiron. ALL this time I would always cut it and then I found out, it was my method.

Do you use alot of glycerine in your hair? It was a culprit at one time in my hair also.

AA

 

[PPGbubbles]

yea Anew either comb chase or brush chase with a soft boar bristle brush. An I will second the other posters suggestion that nothing get my hair straighter than a maxi glide.

 

[Nonie]

I also remember having this problem a few years ago. I actually think I documented it and all the extra steps I took to try to fix it. I did eventually fix it, but I have to admit I didn't use heat protectants then and I didn't mind using grease either, so not sure if you want to be that daring. Here's what I wrote back then (2004):

After pressing my entire head with no products I then sectioned narrow parts and applied Lustrasilk Smooth Ends Leave-In then used my Jilbere flat iron once more over each saturated section. Till I'd done the entire head. But my hair didn't feel as smooth as I wanted so I went over again, this time with L'Oreal Vive Smooth Intense Anti-Frizz Serum. My hair felt much better but I thought the ends could use a bit of sealing so used Isoplus something--a pressing pomade whose full name has rubbed off LOL--on the ends. They looked so much better after that.

My ends looked less frizzy after I used L'Oreal Serum followed by Isoplus pressing pomade...or whatever the real name used to be before the label rubbed off. LOL

Last year when I pressed my hair, I didn't do anything different to my ends than I did to the rest of the length and they straighted nicely and smooth as the rest of the hair. Perhaps DCing made the difference. Or ACV rinsing. I don't remember if I did any of them in Sept 2004 which is when I did the press above.

 

[nikki2229]

My ends looked like that when I first started straightening. I kept clipping them. Now, that section is 5 inches shorter than the rest of my hair.

I realized that 1) I needed to thoroughly detangle my hair before flat ironing.
2) Moisturize my ends more often and tie my hair down at night
3) Stop ripping trough my hair with the comb
4) Airdrying is really not my friend for hair expected to be styled more
than 2 days
5) The comb chase method has been heaven sent. It really changed look of my hair. If your ends are tangled while trying to do the comb chase, it means they aren't properly detangled and flat ironing over them will just cause matting.

Good luck.

 

[LovelyNaps26]

i did the comb chase method and it really helped. also i applied the kimmaytube leave in to help smooth out my hair before adding my heat protectant (maybe just spritz a little aloe vera juice on your hair if you don't want to do the leave in.) i got the best flatironed results i've EVER had when i did my hair this week. if you're interested you can see what i did here.

 

[classychic1908]

Try using a boar bristle brush on the ends to chase the iron. My son's ends have the tendency to look bushy, but it's not damage, I've cut them enough times to know...

 

[wednesday]

My ends looked like that when I first started straightening. I kept clipping them. Now, that section is 5 inches shorter than the rest of my hair.

I realized that 1) I needed to thoroughly detangle my hair before flat ironing.
2) Moisturize my ends more often and tie my hair down at night
3) Stop ripping trough my hair with the comb
4) Airdrying is really not my friend for hair expected to be styled more
than 2 days
5) The comb chase method has been heaven sent. It really changed look of my hair. If your ends are tangled while trying to do the comb chase, it means they aren't properly detangled and flat ironing over them will just cause matting.

Good luck.

I second this completely.

 

[EllePixie]

Did you deep condition before you had it straightened? A really moisture rich DC will help, and comb chasing it help too definitely.

 

[Mook's hair]

My ends looked like that when I first started straightening. I kept clipping them. Now, that section is 5 inches shorter than the rest of my hair.

I realized that 1) I needed to thoroughly detangle my hair before flat ironing.
2) Moisturize my ends more often and tie my hair down at night
3) Stop ripping trough my hair with the comb
4) Airdrying is really not my friend for hair expected to be styled more
than 2 days
5) The comb chase method has been heaven sent. It really changed look of my hair. If your ends are tangled while trying to do the comb chase, it means they aren't properly detangled and flat ironing over them will just cause matting.

Good luck.

Yeah, same for me.. but I don't use the comb chase, I use the maxiglide with teeth..

Also.. do you blow dry first? when you blow dry start with the ends, not the roots.

 

[Iluvsmuhgrass]

Yeah, same for me.. but I don't use the comb chase, I use the maxiglide with teeth..

Also.. do you blow dry first? when you blow dry start with the ends, not the roots.

Mook... Really? What's your technique? I always hold my ends and blow dry (always low to medium heat) them last.

 

[ActionActress]

Yeah, same for me.. but I don't use the comb chase, I use the maxiglide with teeth..

Also.. do you blow dry first? when you blow dry start with the ends, not the roots.

Agreed. Maxiglide....when used properly on small sections of hair....will straighten very well. Eliminating the extra comb chase method...with steam moisture to boot!

AA

 

[mostamaziing]

im glad yu posted this. inoticed when iuse to get my natural hair flat ironed my ends felt stiff and clumpy like your pics 0_O

iplan on getting it straightened next week so im glad ihave an idea whats goin on when isee my hair lookin kinda like yours did =) ithink ineed more protein..

 

[SelfStyled]

Hey- I am being nosey. I am relaxed, but my ends have looked like this before. I am a little clumsy with my flat iron, and can't do a proper comb chase method. But what I do is take a section of hair that I am ready to flat iron and I use a comb at the ends, to detangle, and then run the FI over that section. That has changed my FI results dramatically.

The other thing that was an aha moment for me. After ALWAYS cutting my hair ends, because my ends did not "feel right", it got me to start thinking about my porosity. My ends were porous, they are the oldest part of you hair, kind makes sense, ya know? I started using porosity control on just my ends, and finally felt like- wow this is how ends are supposed to look and feel.

 

[Duchesse]

My ends do the same thing. After cutting off needless hair, I realized that my hair just gets "bigger/poofier/snagglier" at the ends. But their not damaged.

 

[LoveLongLocks]

Seal your ends with a heavier oil or butter. Natural or straight.
I also agree with the comb and chase.

 

[MissLadie]

My hair use to do the same thing, the comb chase method works wonders! It took me a while to get the hang of it at first. So until I could get that I did a modified version. I'd go over a section with one pass, comb through with a fine tooth comb, then do another pass. It didn't work as well as the comb chase method, but it did help reduce the puffiness of the ends.

 

[bb09]

My ends looked like that when I first started straightening. I kept clipping them. Now, that section is 5 inches shorter than the rest of my hair.

I realized that 1) I needed to thoroughly detangle my hair before flat ironing.
2) Moisturize my ends more often and tie my hair down at night
3) Stop ripping through my hair with the comb
4) Airdrying is really not my friend for hair expected to be styled more than 2 days
5) The comb chase method has been heaven sent. It really changed look of my hair. If your ends are tangled while trying to do the comb chase, it means they aren't properly detangled and flat ironing over them will just cause matting.

Good luck.

Can you explain this further pls?
I'm not actually natural, but would love to know more on that