THEN & NOW: before LHCF, what "bad habits" were you doing to your hair??

[Alisha08]

I seperate my hair care in three phases, when I was relaxed (childhood-high school), then natural, then relaxed again (now). So I'll just talk about the third and current phase because its bad enough by itself:

NO MOISTURE ever!!! (its crazy how normal I thought it was to have a billion hairs, and long ones too, fall out my head every time I combed) I just used hair polish for shine, and boy was I fooled by the shine. Thank God for this board and Sistaslick's article and advice on breaking vs shedding, seriously, it saved my hair!!

Too much heat, and I'm talking everytime after washing and conditioning (not deep conditioning either, I hadn't deep conditioned literally for years before finding this board) I would BLOWDRY on HIGH and then put my CERAMIC FLAT-IRON between 400-475 degrees!!!!! Now that's hair torture!!! And I ain't gone lie, my hair was lookin good too, sleek, straight as a pin, and shiny (check avatar), but it just appauls me at how stupid that sh*t was!!! And the fact that I thought it was okay because I wasn't doing it everyday. Sooooo stupid!!!

 

[atemeus_itali]

i didn't really know how to take care of my hair until recently. i used to:

• use grease instead of natural moisturizers
• use weave continuously without giving my hair a break or moisturizing often enough
• tie my hair up irregularly
• moisturize irregularly
• wash my hair irregularly

 

[sexyeyes3616]

Got micro braids right after i had a relaxer.
Scratched the hell out my scalp before i got a relaxer and of course the result was a scab farm on my hair.
Brushing my hair while it is wet. Big no no.
Putting a permanent color and relaxer in the same day. ​

 

[HoneyA]

When I think about it, I used to do some crap to my hair.

- Remove weave, perm hair the next day and reweave the following day
-Kept weave in for more than 2 months
-Never took care of my hair under the weave, all the products I bought were for the weave
-Perm hair and put rubber bands in immediately to style flat twists at the front. Hair which was in the bands fell out in clumps two days later
-Used "grease"
-Never moisturised the ends
-Never Dced or even used conditioner
-Never had a protein treatment
-Washed it when I felt like it

Thank God those days are over!

 

[SpiritJunkie]

funny to see this thread. just earlier today i was thinking how blessed i was to find these hair boards.

I did whatever the hairstylist suggested (come every 6 weeks) and what they didn't (how to manager away from the salon)

• relaxing every 6 weeks
• no moisturizing
• weaves and not taking care of MY hair underneath
• weaving & braiding right after a touch up
• reconstructer being used when relaxing..never
• sealing moisture...never heard of it
• protein treatments...never heard of it
• deep conditioning..hardly ever!!!!
• clarifying...never heard of it
• babying the ends of my hair..never thought of it
• sooo many things

Whomever thought of these hairboards I gotta thank because they really and truly helped schooled me and SAVED my hair!!!

never met any of ya...but THANK YOU for real.

 

[chica_canella]

funny to see this thread. just earlier today i was thinking how blessed i was to find these hair boards.

I did whatever the hairstylist suggested (come every 6 weeks) and what they didn't (how to manager away from the salon)

• relaxing every 6 weeks
• no moisturizing
• weaves and not taking care of MY hair underneath
• weaving & braiding right after a touch up
• reconstructer being used when relaxing..never
• sealing moisture...never heard of it
• protein treatments...never heard of it
• deep conditioning..hardly ever!!!!
• clarifying...never heard of it
• babying the ends of my hair..never thought of it
• sooo many things

Whomever thought of these hairboards I gotta thank because they really and truly helped schooled me and SAVED my hair!!!

never met any of ya...but THANK YOU for real.

yes, yes, and yes. I don't know what I would've done if it wasn't for lhcf or bhm.


Thanks

 

[Amber_moon]

Heat ALL THE DAMN TIME. And WAYYYY too much products. I was ALWAYS greasy head.

 

[Meli]

Well I guess I'm still learning...cause there were a couple of things that I still do that I just learned not to do anymore after reading this thread....e.g need to buy a professional scissor to trim my ends, need to not use a cheap small teeth comb, not that this matters cause I'm natural but just for learning purposes 'reconstructor after a relaxer,' retwisting hair every night--dont know how to correct that one without my hair looking bushy in the morning.

 

[ajoyfuljoy]

-relaxing every 6 weeks
-blow drying, then flat ironing and/or curling, and then curling every day to maintain the style
-hardly NO moisture
-using a normal conditioner that I thought was a DC but wasn't
-getting permanent color

Boy, it's a wonder that I had any head on my hair at all!

 

[BrownSkin2]

Wow there were so many things I was doing wrong.

1. Relaxing every 6 weeks.
2. Getting highlights and permanent color on relaxed hair.
3. No moisture. Used grease for moisturizing.
4. Never used a reconstructor.
5. Used regular siccors for trimming.
6. Combed all the time.
7. Wrapped in same direction nightly.
8. Went to stylist every two weeks and let them handle my hair roughly.
9. Let the stylist trim me every 6 weeks at touchup time.
10.Had breakage and didn't realize it.

Coming to this board had helped me tremendously. I have learned so much and my hair is thicker and heathier than it's been in years. Thanks so much!

 

[bellesocialite]

I took relatively good care of my hair. I always learned from my mother to use little to no heat and other stuff (using a bonnet before going to bed, rollersetting, leave in conditioner). I just didn't know the importance of moisture and deep conditioning. I also wrapped my hair EVERY night with a comb then followed it up with a brush.

 

[chica_canella]

What is a reconstructor?


I feel embarrased for asking after being on her for one year.

 

[northernbelle]

I voted for excessive use of heat. I experienced my hair to the double threat: blow drying followed by flat ironing. I also wasn't very diligent and conscientious with the moisturizing, or using protein.

 

[NYAmicas]

Hmmmm......I know I've always been very hair ignorant when I was younger and I never really could do much. I used to look at Wanakee's (sp) website and UBH and nevr think my hair could grow past my chin and now...

I used to try to straighten every strand and root of my hair with a blow dryer and brush using excessive heat.

Relax (I dont remember how often) from root to tip and wonder why my hair would break off like crazy.

Shampoo and not give a hoot about conditioner (A LOT of black women I know dont think conditioner is important)

Let people style my hair and put mass amounts of holding sprays and whatever else that led to breakage.

Oh and definetly bleaching my hair (I had it done at the salon) was what led to me coming here.

 

[LayneJ]

I'm still trying to get it together, but as a natural, I'm taking a lot better care of my hair. Relaxed though:

* Didn't use heat much, but when I did, I never used heat protectants
* Relaxed from root to tip
* Used gel daily, but only washed once a month (disguisting, I know)
* Never used conditioner
* Never, ever trimmed
* Never moisturized
* Wore ponytails extra tight, and put the holder in the same spot daily

The list goes on...

 

[Diya]

I never knew what a good moisturizer was before I joined LHCF. I would use oil cream moisturizers and wonder why my hair was still always dry. I also blew dry and flat ironed my hair after every wash. As a consequence of these and other cardinal hair care sins, the health of my hair (although it usally looked good on the surface) suffered and I would have to get heavy trims (at least 1") at every relaxer to cut off the ends that I tortured.

Thank goodness I found this forum. With the knowledge I've gained about haircare, nothing can stop me now! :superman:

 

[Imani]

Middle School (when it got my first relaxer):
- Isoplus Spritz. the cool thing to do was carry it to school and respray during the bathroom breaks and after gym class. My hair was a dry crispy mess Eventually had to cut it all off and shave the back by 9th grade.

-Using curling irons daily
- Small tooth combs
- cottom scarfs
-beautician letting relaxer sit on my hair when my scalp was on fire so it would get straight. had scalp sores for days. i thought this was normal


High school:
-taking out micros and getting a relaxer the next day
-small tooth combs
-setting the temp way too high on those old school flat irons

some kind of way my hair looked pretty nice most of high school. started using silk/satin scarves at night. i cut back on the heat and wore my hair in a flat wrap blunt bob mostly which got to right above SL and hadn't made it back to that length since.

College:
-getting salon blow dry's weekly, followed by hairspray, then hot curling and reapplying hair spray EVERY DAY so i could be fly and flashy on campus! Maaann, you couldn't tell me NOTHING!
-taking out micros and getting relaxer the next day
-relaxing every 5-6 weeks
-using hair polisher as my "moisturizer" bc i didn't want to weigh it down and mess up my "do"
-small tooth combs

Good thing i stumbled across this site!!!

 

[CHECKMATE!]

Before LHCF:
*blowdry from root to end,and never applying a heat protetant or moisturizer
*cut my hair myself whenever I felt like having "layers"
*letting my hair blow in the cold a$$ 25 degree New York wind
*never nourishing my scalp with treatments or oils (jojoba,evoo,coconut,emu)
* wrapping my hair every night with pins
*wearing my hair down when I wore wool shirts
* using hard metal ponytail holders
Wow,I use to f*&k my hair up!!...lol...this list is extensive...I digress

 

[chavascandy]

Before I seriously started taking advice from the LHCF, I used to blow dry my hair after every wash, while using a 1875 watt blow dryer w/ fine tooth comb attachment.

Man what was I thinking! I bet my hair would have been at least brimming my shoulders by now.

I thought it didn't cause any damage,But it did because I didn't see any growth.

Boy, did I learn my lesson!

 

[GoldenBreeze]

What is a reconstructor?


I feel embarrased for asking after being on her for one year.

A reconstructor is essentially a conditioner that is designed to repair badly damaged hair. They are usually deep conditioners with moderate to high protein.

Examples:
-Joico K-Pak Hair Reconstructor Deep-Penetrating Treatment
-Aphogee Intensive Two Minute Keratin Reconstructor
-Nexus Emergencee Strengthening Reconstructor
-Giovonni NutaFix Hair Reconstructor
-Kera Care Super Reconstructor
-CB Smoothie 6 in 1 Reconstructor

There are many others. There is no need to be embarrassed. There are hundreds of products talked about on this board. You can't expect to know them all. Not even in a year.

 

[AwesomelyNappy]

*no scarf or bonnet at night
*if i did wear a scarf, it was cotton
*greasing my scalp to make it grow
*not using conditioners after i washed my hair.... instead... i used grease thinking it would moisturize my hair...
*using pink moisturizer instead of conditioners after a wash
*washing once every 2 weeks (i was under the impression that blacks didn't need to wash that often???)
*never clarified hair
*never deep conditioning
*only used products marketed towards blacks because i thought "others" products would damage my hair
*putting hair in ponytails while wet (would cause serious damage/breakage around area of ponytail holder)
*using ponytail holders with little metal pieces that would break my hair off
*using tons of gel on newgrowth to get hair in said ponytail
*when gel ran low, i'd add water to it and let it sit and firm back up to stretch it... (i was cheap)
*speaking of cheap... using cheap products... (thought all products were the same and it was a waste to pay over 15 dollars for something)
*using gallons of spritz or hairspray
*brushing gel or hairspray out of hair (instead of gently washing it out)
*using small tooth combs
*relaxing every 4 to 5 weeks
*relaxed from root to tip
*leaving relaxer on for xtra 10 min...
*only washing hair with neutralizing shampoo once or twice after a relaxer (i'd use a lot of water, so i thought it HAD to be all out... riiiiiigght?)
*relaxer hopping (one month one brand, next month another etc)
*using hotcomb on newgrowth to straighten it when i couldn't get to a relaxer
*dying hair within 2 weeks after relaxing
*using curling irons (on high, or near high heat) every day
*letting other people "help" take down braids by cutting where they think my hair stopped to make the takedown quicker, only thing is... they were cutting my real hair because they "didn't think my hair was that long"
*Glue in weaves (the thing about that was, the areas that werent glued would grow... the areas that got glued... broke off terriblly)
*glue in weaves on freshly relaxed hair (happened once... was last straw with glue)
*Let people (Auntie's friends niece, best friends coworker, cousin on my moms side, friends from school, uncles girlfrends, girl on the block etc... ) "hook up" my hair without seeing any of their previous works because they were cheaper than going to shops
*letting inexperienced people do my micros
*not speaking up at salons, or at "hook up's" houses about hair
*letting sewins stay in hair longer than 2 weeks only to get newgrowth tangled in the threads so when i got someone to take them out for me by cutting the thread, they'd also cut my hair off at the newgrowth
*cutting my own hair
*thinking i had "bad hair"


after writing this... i think the shorter list would be what i did right before LHCF... thank god i found you guys... because i'd be balder than montell if i'd kept this lifestyle up.... either that or constantly in braids/weaves....

 

[BlkOnyx488]

I had given up on my hair, for the last 5 years I use to tell people the only purpose for my real hair is to hold my fake hair in place.

Althought I am still wearing wigs and braids, the purpose is to help my hair maintain the length as oppose to just pretending it's not there.

 

[OneInAMillion]

It was that awful color then 2 week later overprocessed relaxer combo that did me in. Other than that, I would have been close to WSL by now

ETA: Other than that, I followed generally good hair care practices like deep conditioning, heavy protein treatments (though I didn't know what they were for), protecting my hair at night, and taking Biotin.

 

[aurora3140]

-Not washing my hair at least once a week
-When I was younger, I used grease that claimed they would grow my hair. Then, I would comb my hair for hours. I guess I thought the pulling would encourage my hair to grow.
-Flat-ironing after each rollerset to get my ends extra straight. Sometimes I would even flat-iron once or twice between sets.
-For a long time, I used any old thing to tie my hair up at night, even cotton bandanas.
-Relaxing every 5-6 weeks and getting my ends clipped with each touch-up.

Thankfully, my Nana is a beautician, so I never did anything truly awful to my hair. Still, it never really grew past my shoulders until I found the old Yahoo! hair groups. Adrienne was my first inspiration!

 

[yodie]

Always used grease
Never used oil on my hair or ends erplexed
Used the blowdryer whenever I did my hair
Never used or knew anything about products!! Shampoo, conditioner and that was it.

No wonder my hair was jacked up!

 

[LeeC23]

Hmmm...
* Using a marcel iron 4x a week in HS so that I looked cute for this guy--who turned out to be gay. But we won't discuss that now.

* Brushing my hair every five minutes during lunch, class, walking down the hallway so that people would pay more attention to my BSL hair

* Cutting my hair in that God awful mullet style that was so popular back then.

* Slicking my short front hair down with ampro EVERYDAY for months waiting for it to grow back.

*Not using scarfs because I thought it looked country, even though nobody was watching me sleep

*Pink moisturizer, man I used to slather that mess on like 25/7. Bought a bottle a week. And I had a secret stash I kept for "hard times". LOL

*Perming my hair myself and not using a timer.

* Letting my mom perm it 8 weeks later. I wanted to go natural back then in Sept 2004. Lordy I could have been at my goal by now.

*Listening to my mom for 19+years, bless her heart, who has had the same 'bald spot' from a perm malfunction 7 years ago and the same length for 10 years. She gets a perm every 5 weeks without fail, and for a time, permed me and my sis' hair every weekend one summer. It was that "Hawaiian Surprise or Sunrise" stuff that the BSS has for like 3 bucks a tub. It didn't count because it wasn't in the box. No joke--that's what she told us.

I still have to get this moisture thing worked out, but I'm glad I stumbled on this site. Thanks, ladies!

 

[baby42]

NO moisture at all and if i did use something at night it wasnt what i use nowit grew but i never knew how to keep hair longer then 3 months on my headbut i did use good old sulfer8i didnt even think a bout deep con or clarifiying i could write a book on what i didnt knowbut thanks to lhcf i am going to be alright

 

[tada1]

ooooohhhhh so excited!!! This is my very first post...been on this board almost EVERYDAY since June...
I'm glad people dont get thrown into jail for doing bad things to their hair.

First of all, i would pile my hair on my head, wash with the cheapest shampoo i could find (actually scrubbing the strands of the hair like a pair of jeans to get it "clean"), slap conditioner on for a couple of seconds, rinse, blow dry on the highest setting from wet to dry (to make the process faster). Then braid all my hair back. After all this once in 2 weeks "special treatment", i will proceed to grease my scalp

Oh yeah, then whine about having short hair with 1 inch long edges...lol

 

[Extremus]

Didn't wash my hair until I got my hair done, which was every 5-6 weeks. [Yea, I know! ] At that time, my hair was passed APL tho

 

[vivEz daNs lamouR]

ooooohhhhh so excited!!! This is my very first post...been on this board almost EVERYDAY since June...
I'm glad people dont get thrown into jail for doing bad things to their hair.

First of all, i would pile my hair on my head, wash with the cheapest shampoo i could find (actually scrubbing the strands of the hair like a pair of jeans to get it "clean"), slap conditioner on for a couple of seconds, rinse, blow dry on the highest setting from wet to dry (to make the process faster). Then braid all my hair back. After all this once in 2 weeks "special treatment", i will proceed to grease my scalp

Oh yeah, then whine about having short hair with 1 inch long edges...lol

i used to do the EXACT same thing!!!! LOL you take the hair and rub it against each other with the greatest force to scrub them suckas clean! I used to also scrub my scalp with my fingerNAILS, acrylic fingernails at that...