Uuuuuuuuuuuughhh..... That's all I will say!

[foxieroxienyc]

So just had to post this... You guuuuys! I realized some time last month that the back of my hair is either growing MUCH slower then the hair in the middle of my head, or that it was invisibly breaking off and I didnt realize it... Or that it was shorter all along and I didnt realize it.

So I only use heat 1x a week, I do protective styling, I use MN occassionally when I'm not lazy which is the case 99.9% of the time, I'm taking my vitamins (mostly just biotin), I DC weekly and cowash (so my hair is getting wet in some way and conditioned 2x a week). So I'm doing all I can. My ends are PEFECT. No splits, if I do see any it's usually like one or two here or there, and not even that often.

For a split second it felt like my ends were getting a little dry so I upped my moisture routine and it was taken care of. I realized at some point in March that my hair at the back (like the last 1/4 section of my hair) is about NL! Everywhere else I'm past SL, pretty even, I did do a trim on that section there which probably brought it to NL evenly because it seemed so uneven to me and I went crazy w/ the scissors. I haven't TOUCHED the silver devils since! When I wear my hair up, I variate it between clips and loose buns. I dont really use anything that catches the hair, I never see any breakage when I take my hair down.

I do wear my hair down from time to time but I alternate btw it being braidouts, or flexirod sets, or roller sets, again I only flat iron 1x a week and even that's been GREATLY reduced. I'm kinda bummed. I dont know what it is or what can be causing it. I am at 9.5 weeks post just about, so maybe shrinkage and such is causing it to be NL and it's just a half inch longer or so. Is this normal? I mean if it were true breakage wouldnt I see it ALL OVER my head including the long ends which is pretty much how the rest of my hair is. Everything else is thick and healthy. I'm sooooo angry and at a loss!!

I decided to up my moisture game and went out and bought Giovanni's Deeper Moisturizing conditioner today to switch it up and see if that will work for me. I usually use Nexxus Humectress, but I wanted to settle for something that says to leave it on for a while and then rinse.

Could my hair just be growing VERY slowly back there or is there something I can do better!? Please help me!

 

[locabouthair]

Maybe you can try massaging it.

 

[foxieroxienyc]

Yeah maybe I should try that. I'm also going to really focus on deliberately applying my moisturizers and conditioners there a little more... I think the texture of the hair back there is a bit coarser than the rest of my hair, and hence a bit drier. I mean it's like a whole 2 inch difference it seems. Like I have two completely different lengths of hair. What I don't like about it is that when my NG starts to poof up a bit, it makes my hair look like it's thinner or something.

When it's all relaxed of course you don't notice. I didnt take much notice of it before until again last month. And now that my hair is getting longer, I can really see the difference. My hair grows pretty fast which is why I was surprised by this.

 

[RosesBlack]

It might be growing slowly. My hair grows at a really uneven pace.

 

[nodisrespect]

I know for me even flat ironing once a week (on weekends after a shampoo and deep condition) was too much. I did this for about a month before I realized I was slowly erasing any progress I had made the previous month or so. Maybe your hair is like mine?

Another thing about where you said it's shorter. In my bad hair care days (when I flat ironed super frequently), there was a patch on my left side near the back of my head that had broken off really badly. I eventually realized that since I'm right handed, it was my hard to reach spot and I would flat iron it out to the side farther left when I could hardly reach it to begin with... so really in trying to see my hair to flat iron it I was pulling it out really badly.

 

[foxieroxienyc]

Thanks guys for the additional responses.

I'm not sure if it's just the flat ironing alone. I've stopped using it pretty much (I'm now in Bootcamp so it's no direct heat) and it's ALWAYS on the lowest setting (248 degrees) with Chi Silk Infusion. And I always do it all in the same direction, perpendicular to my head. The rest of my hair isnt acting all crazy. I'm sticking to the no heat thing though just to see what will happen with this section.

I dont really do a lot of claw clips, and if I do, my hair is usually freshly moisturized and sealed, never on wet hair, and my hair is gathered up into a loose bun or twist. Ponytail holders may be the culprit, although I try not to tie them around more than 2x...

 

[Soliel185]

My hair does the same thing. As it turns out, it was a combination of things - 1: My crown and sides grow WAY faster than the rest of my head. In the front it leaves me with chin length bangs and in the back I have to trim to keep things even 2: my hair type is different in the back, and it tends to become dry & brittle - at least while I'm relaxed - so it was especially vulnerable to breakage.


really concentrate on moisturizing the area, the take notice of the texture. Is it different from the rest of your hair? You may have to alter your care for just that section.

 

[foxieroxienyc]

My hair does the same thing. As it turns out, it was a combination of things - 1: My crown and sides grow WAY faster than the rest of my head. In the front it leaves me with chin length bangs and in the back I have to trim to keep things even 2: my hair type is different in the back, and it tends to become dry & brittle - at least while I'm relaxed - so it was especially vulnerable to breakage.


really concentrate on moisturizing the area, the take notice of the texture. Is it different from the rest of your hair? You may have to alter your care for just that section.

Yeah I really think both of these is the major case here. I just got hip to the fact that the crown and front edges of my hair are all fine curls probably like a 3c/4a combo. And my nape is a coarse 4b. Funny thing is that I noticed this at some point in the past, but totally forgot. So yeah it's going to look like more moisture and massages back there for me.

I decided not to trim, just to keep babying it and maybe do some MN back there to speed the process along, and add massage. To cut all of my hair will defeat my progress. Everything else looks pretty thick, you can't even tell by looking. But since my hair is my obsession I can see it.

 

[LovedAlot]

Hi Foxy. I have the same issue as you do. Although I have different lenghts of hair, I don't think is due to breakage. I think its that my hair grows at different paces. My crown grows much faster than the rest of my hair and the crown is the thickest and the nappiest part of my hair. I hope this helps you somewhat.

 

[foxieroxienyc]

Hi Foxy. I have the same issue as you do. Although I have different lenghts of hair, I don't think is due to breakage. I think its that my hair grows at different paces. My crown grows much faster than the rest of my hair and the crown is the thickest and the nappiest part of my hair. I hope this helps you somewhat.

Yeah, after my wash today I was inspecting my head. I've got a patch of 4b in top front, 4a's on the sides, 4b's in the back, and a HUGE AMOUNT OF SUPER DEFINED COILS - likely a 3c/4a mix all over the middle and majority of my hair. What he-double hockey sticks am I supposed to do with all those folks up in my head!? LOL, gosh!

 

[anon123]

Does your protective style involve putting your hair in a tight ponytail or anything like that?

 

[Mook's hair]

Do you take any vitamins?

I just love my Flinstones Complete. I stay away from all the trendy hair vitamins. I'm a Flinstone-chick.

 

[Aggie]

My nape area used to shorter than the rest of my hair until I started cornrowing my hair and wearing wigs for over a year and a half. I noticed a marked difference in the growth of my nape area and that was pre-LHCF. I didn't even know about a term called protective styling then. To this day I still pay special attention to this area when washing, conditioning, moisturizing and massaging. Right now, I'm not having any probelms in this area but I do think it is the continuous use of heat that causes the delicate hairs in this area to fall out. If you are going to massage your nape area, maybe you should add some essential oils to a carrier oil like castor oil or jojoba oil for added stimulation.

 

[foxieroxienyc]

I probably could stand to take a regular vitamin because my diet is likely lacking things. So I need to add this.

Tight ponytails, not at all, I hate the feeling of my scalp being pulled back really tight. It could possibly be from just wearing it up a lot though really... I usually take my hair and twist it around once like I'm doing a twisted bun and then put it up. Or I'll do a ponytail with the ouchless bands and put it up. Maybe even that was to much for it. Damned if you DO and damned if you DON'T huh... Perhaps protective styling is actually hurting... My ends though are absolutely PERFECT. So I'm happy about that. I will definitely be buying some essential oils from the health food store today in fact for massaging specifically.

As for the wigs, I just can't do that. I never look normal in a wig and I'd be too worried about it falling off with all the dancing I do, lol. I've never been a fan of wigs, I did purchase a half wig, wore it once, it look great, and then I threw it away, the combs in them freak me out. Even the phony ponies. I'm just really into wearing my own hair out now, I cant even fathom going back to weaves completely...

I cut down on the heat a lot, so I'm not using it weekly or anything -- now... I realize today it has grown in quite a bit since the last time I length checked it. It's full length is about the same as the Dec 07 pic in my siggy. The downside is that I can never eliminate heat completely from my hair. I'm in the entertainment industry, and when I'm on camera they need to style my hair, and because I'm still a small fry I cant really request that my stylist is hired for me, lol. Orrrr maybe I can... lol. But in any case, I'm always sure that MINIMAL heat is used if any at all. But I havent had to worry about this lately because I put things on hold til I'm out in LA in 2 months. This shows exactly why actresses and models are all wearing weaves, if we don't you run into these exact problems... Catch 22 . I'm finding too that my hair sheds more and strangely feels drier if some sort of light/low heat isnt used. I cant explain it. I'm not sure why my hair likes it. I have a great flat iron - temp control, ceramic, tourmaline, and far infared technologies.

I just switched up products again, making some rotations focusing on DEEP moisture. I washed with a small amout of diluted mix of Suave Strawberries and Cream Conditioner and Nexxus Therappe. Then I did a DC with Giovanni Deeper Moisturizing Conditioner since it's cone free (trying this for a change for my DCs - no cones), then I did a quick rinse out with Nexxus Humectress. Applied my Sebastian potion 9 and Salerm 21 for my leave-ins. And then sealed with coconut oil. My hair is SUPER soft and moisturized, more so than it's been as I dont like to use too many products, but my hair needs the extra products right now.

Hopefully it will hold up.