what are symptoms of damaged hair?

[BeautifulFlower]

how can you determine heat damage?
how can you determine chemical damage?

 

[kiesha8185]

Excellent excellent question, one I have been pondering for a while myself.

I am totally totally guessing here, so if any one reads this and thinks I'm wron, please jump in and shut me up

I think for natural hair, it's easier to assess heat damage. Like the strands stay straight and/or it's difficult to get back a naturally curly texture, especially when wet. This is what happened to my mom. She was growing out her natural hair for four years and one trip to an inexperienced Dominican salon effed up her hair Now she has peices that are either very very very rough and frizzy, and some that stay completely straight.

I have no idea how to determine heat/chemical damage on relaxed hair other than noticing more breakage after excessive heat use or bad chemical process (rough application of the relaxer, or leaving the relaxer in for too long).

A lot of split ends *may* be a symptom of damaged hair. I know a lot of people get them a lot, and may be considered normal for them. I never get them, so if I did, it would definitely be a situation I'd be concerned about.

These are all my humble and uneducated opinions, of course

 

[Je Ne Sais Quoi]

Excellent excellent question, one I have been pondering for a while myself.

I am totally totally guessing here, so if any one reads this and thinks I'm wron, please jump in and shut me up

I think for natural hair, it's easier to assess heat damage. Like the strands stay straight and/or it's difficult to get back a naturally curly texture, especially when wet. This is what happened to my mom. She was growing out her natural hair for four years and one trip to an inexperienced Dominican salon effed up her hair Now she has peices that are either very very very rough and frizzy, and some that stay completely straight.

I have no idea how to determine heat/chemical damage on relaxed hair other than noticing more breakage after excessive heat use or bad chemical process (rough application of the relaxer, or leaving the relaxer in for too long).

A lot of split ends *may* be a symptom of damaged hair. I know a lot of people get them a lot, and may be considered normal for them. I never get them, so if I did, it would definitely be a situation I'd be concerned about.

These are all my humble and uneducated opinions, of course

Your hair is very very pretty

 

[Cincysweetie]

Dry, brittle hair

Hair that breaks easily or has a lot of split ends

A head of hair with breakage

Thinning or bald edges

Abnormally high amount of shedding (not seasonal shedding or the amount of shedding that is common for you)

Some might say a dry, flaking scalp is a sign that the hair is damaged/unhealthy

Hair that is not being cut on a regular basis but does not grow or seems to be getting shorter

I'm sure there are more...those are the ones that I can think of.

 

[locabouthair]

hair has problems holding moisture

and reddish ends (at least for me)

 

[nappity]

Porous hair- is sign of damage- This means the cuticle is no longer protecting the cortex ( like a tear protects an eye.)
For naturals- Our curly hair needs more water to get it soaking wet. If it doesn't take a good drenching or spraying before its truly dripping wet, and just drinks it up- its damaged .

 

[virgo_chinwe]

Porous hair- is sign of damage- This means the cuticle is no longer protecting the cortex ( like a tear protects an eye.)
For naturals- Our curly hair needs more water to get it soaking wet. If it doesn't take a good drenching or spraying before its truly dripping wet, and just drinks it up- its damaged .

I didn't really understand this concept. Could you explain? How can your hair drink up the water and still be damaged?

 

[candy1214]

[/b]


I didn't really understand this concept. Could you explain? How can your hair drink up the water and still be damaged?

Picture a sponge with many holes in it. Instead of absorbing the moisture and retaining it, the water goes straight through it. So although it appears that your hair has absorbed the water, it passes through it.

 

[locabouthair]

[/B]


I didn't really understand this concept. Could you explain? How can your hair drink up the water and still be damaged?

i think of it like this. damaged hair is so desparate for moisture that it cant get enough of it. it's never satisfied. as you give it some it dries out and needs some more. it wont hold moisture.

 

[nappity]

i think of it like this. damaged hair is so desparate for moisture that it cant get enough of it. it's never satisfied. as you give it some it dries out and needs some more. it wont hold moisture.

or to add the two- damaged hair is so porous it can only absorb- so it stays dry because it cannot retain the level of moisture needed .
[SIZE=-1]www.hairfinder.com/tips/damagedhair[/SIZE]

 

[nappity]

Picture a sponge with many holes in it. Instead of absorbing the moisture and retaining it, the water goes straight through it. So although it appears that your hair has absorbed the water, it passes through it.

This is a great description!!!

 

[Leslie_C]

Porous hair- is sign of damage- This means the cuticle is no longer protecting the cortex ( like a tear protects an eye.)
For naturals- Our curly hair needs more water to get it soaking wet. If it doesn't take a good drenching or spraying before its truly dripping wet, and just drinks it up- its damaged .

But dont some people naturally have porous hair? I consider my hair pretty healthy and I do all the right things(DC like crazy, rarely use heat, stretch relaxers to prevent overprocessing) but its always been porous and probably always will be. Its always soaked up the moisture in the air like a sponge and swells up in humidity in a heartbeat. Isnt that due to it being porous?

 

[BeautifulFlower]

Excellent excellent question, one I have been pondering for a while myself.

I am totally totally guessing here, so if any one reads this and thinks I'm wron, please jump in and shut me up

I think for natural hair, it's easier to assess heat damage. Like the strands stay straight and/or it's difficult to get back a naturally curly texture, especially when wet. This is what happened to my mom. She was growing out her natural hair for four years and one trip to an inexperienced Dominican salon effed up her hair Now she has peices that are either very very very rough and frizzy, and some that stay completely straight.

I have no idea how to determine heat/chemical damage on relaxed hair other than noticing more breakage after excessive heat use or bad chemical process (rough application of the relaxer, or leaving the relaxer in for too long).

A lot of split ends *may* be a symptom of damaged hair. I know a lot of people get them a lot, and may be considered normal for them. I never get them, so if I did, it would definitely be a situation I'd be concerned about.

These are all my humble and uneducated opinions, of course

Sounds educated to me thank you.

 

[BeautifulFlower]

But I wanna know what kind of hair needs to be CUT off? Any biters?

 

[glamazon386]

But I wanna know what kind of hair needs to be CUT off?

Damaged hair has to be cut off eventually. Heat damage. Chemical damaged. Whatever kind of damage it is. Once it's damaged beyond repair there is nothing else you can do with it. I truly think that is the reason why when people come here to the board their hair stays the same length for a period of time but it gradually gets healthier overall. The damaged ends are limiting progress. Hanging on to damaged ends does not help you at all. More often than not it makes it worse.

I remember when my hair was damaged I would go to the hairdresser every two weeks and while it did start to gradually become healthier you couldn't really tell looking from the outside. Once it was styled you couldn't even tell it was damaged. But it would stay the same length bc it was still breaking off faster than it was growing. Once I chopped I started instantly seeing progress.

 

[nappity]

But dont some people naturally have porous hair? I consider my hair pretty healthy and I do all the right things(DC like crazy, rarely use heat, stretch relaxers to prevent overprocessing) but its always been porous and probably always will be. Its always soaked up the moisture in the air like a sponge and swells up in humidity in a heartbeat. Isnt that due to it being porous?

Whats up Girl
Yep its porous- It also means that you have curly hair. If it swells up its not necessarily porous- its holding the humidity. - we ALL have damaged hair. I dye- You relax, others blow dry, some rollerset. others flat iron. and Ethnic care is the most fragile of them all and even running a comb or brush through it for some if us is damaging. The end is whether we identify it as being damaged and treat it with silk gloves cause we know its frail.. I wasn't saying run out and cut it(LOL)
Now what needs to be cut is hair that is frayed also known as fried!!-ends that have many tears and breaks that have damaged the cortex- the inner part of the hair. Thats why I had to cut 2 inches off in November- cause on top of my hair being dry- a round brush and an evil blow dryer FRIED my ends.

 

[BeautifulFlower]

Oh Ok. I think I get it.

 

[Leslie_C]

Whats up Girl
Yep its porous- It also means that you have curly hair. If it swells up its not necessarily porous- its holding the humidity. - we ALL have damaged hair. I dye- You relax, others blow dry, some rollerset. others flat iron. and Ethnic care is the most fragile of them all and even running a comb or brush through it for some if us is damaging. The end is whether we identify it as being damaged and treat it with silk gloves cause we know its frail.. I wasn't saying run out and cut it(LOL)
Now what needs to be cut is hair that is frayed also known as fried!!-ends that have many tears and breaks that have damaged the cortex- the inner part of the hair. Thats why I had to cut 2 inches off in November- cause on top of my hair being dry- a round brush and an evil blow dryer FRIED my ends.

lol ok thx hun, that makes sense

 

[Crackers Phinn]

I refer back to pamplet religiously when I think something has gone wrong with my hair.

http://www.pg.com/science/haircare/hair_twh_67.htm

 

[nappity]

I refer back to pamplet religiously when I think something has gone wrong with my hair.

http://www.pg.com/science/haircare/hair_twh_67.htm

Thats a grest resource! Thanks