I'm Really Depressed

[werenumber2]

Cosigning on the possible protein overload.

I think shtow might be onto something too. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the point of letting conditioner marinate on your head for hours and hours on end. I feel like, for the most part, a dc is going to do all it can for your hair within 20-30 minutes.

 

[chosen1]

this may have been brought up but have you changed your diet. last month my hair acted a little crazy too. I was so busy and not eating that much. Sometimes not eating at all. My hair started to shed. When I started eating regularly my hair stopped shedding.
I use aphogee 2 min but I dont keep it on my head more than 15 minutes.
But your hair is lovely. I hope you find out what's making you shed. erplexed

 

[winnettag]

Well your hair still looks thick and gorgeous to me judging by the pics you posted, but you know your hair better than anyone and I hope it gets back to a place that you are happy with it.
It'll get better.

 

[Angel of the North]

I hope you feel better soon Lucie, I can understand the frustration when your hair doesn't do what your're used to having it do. I don't really have any advice but was just offering my support. I do think that the protein con, stress and wrapping could all have contributed to the thinning of your hair, it could also just be your body changing, we're supposed to have a seven year cycle or something like that, I just hope you get your mojo back real soon

 

[Nya33]

Hey Lucie, hope your hair improves.

 

[Vshanell]

Wow...You use the Aphogee 2 min reconstructor weekly and for hours?? Do you use a moisturizing DC afterward? That seems like protein overload to me, which can cause breakage which could be making your hair feel less thick. Here's an article on protein reconstructors that might be helpful.

P.S. Hope your hair feels better .

I agree. Try cutting back your protein Lucie. Do aphogee maybe every 2 weeks and only for a few minutes.

What I would do before I got lazy with it, lol was to do protein with one wash and deep condition with the next. I go a week to two weeks between washes so I usually end up doing protein once a month and deep condition once a month.

I'm with shtow....I think dc'ing is over-rated, lol. Well frequent dc'ing I should say. I'm good with once or twice a month. I was shocked to hear people do this 2-3 times a week.

Hope things get better Lucie! ((((HUGS))))

 

[Vshanell]

Your hair looks gorgeous! Hopefully when you stop wrapping the issue will resolve. I know when I wrap too much my follicles on one side of my hair actually hurt, so I rarely do it now. Alter ego garlic is def not a protein conditioner.

Mine too. I'm trying to figure out what in the world causes that. It's not like my hair is wrapped or pulled super tight.

I don't think wrapping will thin out the hair but it can wreak havoc on the edges.

 

[flowinlocks]

I hope you find out whats causing the breakage before it gets to far along. Cosigning with everyone on the protein. Your hair still looks beautiful to me btw.

 

[Vshanell]

This is now. I also included what I normally find in the comb after combing my hair. And just miscellaneous loose hairs. I did not show you all the actual amount. What you see in my hand and in the comb is only 10% of what normally comes out. I didn't want to freak you guys out and show you what I swept up afterwards. I've always had this issue, even when my hair was natural looking like Rudy Huxtable. erplexed

Ummm....I don't see anything wrong with your hair, lol. But like other posters have said, we know our hair and when something's not right.

Girl is that a rollerset? It's georgeous.

 

[♥Lamaravilla♥]

I don't have any tips Lucie The only thing I would suggest is cutting back on the protein. You're so beautiful! And I think your hair still looks really pretty.

 

[Highly Favored8]

I am sorry this is happening. You might have to try out other methods of styling your hair.

 

[MummysGirl]

 

[nurseN98]

Hi cherie, sorry to hear you are having troubles. I know exactly what u mean, i've been having the same issue with a lot of shedding. It's been going on for a while & my hair is thinner but it looks the same to most ppl. I don't know what my problem is exactly, i'm now trying aloe vera on my scalp. I'm also hormonally imbalanced and my docs have recommended birth control but I want to see if I can balance them with natural remedies.

I agree with the ladies, the aphogee is a bit much. But I hope you can pinpoint your issue soon & remedy it.

 

[Fhrizzball]

For me and my mum who is relaxed 2min aphogee didn't really do anything to strengthen our strands. Henna helped with thickening up my hair and castor oil just helps to smooth down my ends. Hoped you and your hair feels better.

 

[*Muffin*]

This is now. I also included what I normally find in the comb after combing my hair. And just miscellaneous loose hairs. I did not show you all the actual amount. What you see in my hand and in the comb is only 10% of what normally comes out. I didn't want to freak you guys out and show you what I swept up afterwards. I've always had this issue, even when my hair was natural looking like Rudy Huxtable. erplexed

Wow, this brings me back to a post I did when I thought my hair was heat damaged. The people there a called me LHCF sensitive, or something like that. I think we suffer from the same illness, girl, cuz' your hair still looks the business to me. Good thing you caught it early enough .

 

[MA2010]

Lucie, cheri your hair looks great!!!

 

[Lucie]

Hey Lucie,

I'm going through the same thing. I have mentioned numerous time about my thinning sides and how I "feel" my right side is not as thick as my left. I just took my hair out of a doobie as we speak and said "WAIT MY HAIR LOOKS SHORTER THAN IT DID LAST NIGHT." I followed that quote with a "GET AN EFFIN GRIP LINZZ, AHORA!"

It sucks and we begin to obsess over it when we already obsess and worry about everything else which adds to it.

I would just listen to all of the ladies advice, continue evening scalp massages and try to lay off the worrying because it will just worsen your depression and your ALREADY VERY GORGEOUS hair.

HUGS!!

Thank you very much!!!

Honestly, I have never used it so dont know. But I've heard it is a good conditioner for shedding (not breakage though). Good luch

Thank you Mamato!

I think it's the wrapping, my hair was going through the same thing.

I think the wrapping is a part of it. I brush my hair down flat after I get the wrap in place.

Your hair looks gorgeous! Hopefully when you stop wrapping the issue will resolve. I know when I wrap too much my follicles on one side of my hair actually hurt, so I rarely do it now. Alter ego garlic is def not a protein conditioner.

I love the Alter Ego Garlic Conditoner. I am going to use it tomorrow when I DC. I will only DC for 20 minutes!

Lucie your hair is so pretty in the before and after shots. I'm having the same problem right now. I honestly think the culprit in my case is relaxer runoff and possible protein overload. I'm in the process of changing products to remedy the problem. I hope you stop the thinning soon

If you feel your hair dryer is the problem, try checking out some new ones. I saw your thread on Pibbs alternatives and I posted my review of a dryer in there. I got the salonsrus.com dryer for my birthday. I love it. Its just a regular dryer, no ionic features, but it works great. It completely dried my rollerset in 50 minutes and my hair is MBL.

I wanted the Pibbs 514 but you are the second person to recommend the salonrus.com dryer. Thank you sweetie!

Love you hair pitit! Have you tried using shea butter? I've been using shea butter on my ends for a year and thinning has amazingly reduced. I have less thin scraggly ends and more thicker ends

And defo agreeing with castor oil, if u can handle the smell of the raw haitian one, power to u lol My moms made a lighter version that I've also been using and my hair is now quite thick and full.

Hope that helps!

I actually don't mind the heavy duty Haitian castor oil. I use it all over my face at night. So, some in my hair would be no biggie. I have not used the shea butter. I am trying not to buy anything new, product-wise. Although, you do know that now that you told me, it will be in the back of my mind.

Just wanted to say that I'm an old-timer here too and up until this very year was doing stupid stuff/not doing what I should have been to my hair. Don't be too hard on yourself!

Thank you. I will stop. I notice that I am my biggest critic. No more though!

Lucie Aphogee stuff is specialty prod and is to be used as directed and only as needed. Nothing wrong w/ the prods, but you really must never go over what they recommend. Always better to do less than more w/ this stuff.

I have learned that the hard way. Thank you. At least I know better now.

Okay my hair isn't long but I'm just sliding out of this experience. I'd suggest:

futurebiotics hair skin and nails do a youtube search first if you like, it helped mine sooooooooo much BUT take the whole bottle if you like I can send u a bottle when I get mine second one which will be this month because I'm almost out.

Next try to follow the 2 min directions for aphogee because you can have damage from too much protein I did that with the cantu that so many people love and omg it ruined me but anyway. Try using a moisturizing conditioner like dpr 11 to make sure you have your moisture/protein balance on.

Also give your hair a rest. Stop thinking about it, I know it sounds crazy but really I'd worry and stay up 24/7 searching on youtube and on here because my hair felt sooooooo thin and that's not my hair at all so I feel your pain but you being depressed will only worsen the situation. When I stopped sweating it started to get better.

Make sure to massage "not scratch" your scalp when you shampoo.

Also a nice relaxing: walk, trip, bath, shower, etc will be great. Your hair feels good when your body feels great. I hth at least a lil

Thank you so much for your post. It really lifted my spirits. I am going to stop thinking about it and just baby my hair in the mean time.

^^^I agree with mslittlelala...I think worrying about your hair sometimes makes us see things that aren't there...or at least make us believe our hair is worse off than it really is...your hair is gorgeous. If you believe wrapping is the problem (although I don't personally), maybe try just wrapping loosely with a wide-tooth comb and don't worry so much about smoothing it...and I'd go with the vitamins too...lol, I just ordered that same kind she mentioned above...

Thank you. I am going to lay off the wrapping but I am going to baby my hair. I don't think I ever have, LOL. Better late than n
ever.

have you had a physical lately? you sure its not your thyroid, hormones, vitamin/mineral deficiency or something else serious?

No, I have not but I will. Thanks for the suggestion. I had not thought of it. I had my levels tested back in March but that was 9 months ago.

 

[Lucie]

Lucie, I hope you are feeling better. You and your hair are beautiful but you gotta let the stress go...try meditation (prayer) or at least a day at the spa for a massage..I little pampering always makes me feel revived.

Thank you. I have never been to a spa. That can all change. I wonder if I missed Spa Week.

This thread was very helpful to me, Lucie.

I am experiencing some of the same things you are.

Correct me if I'm wrong: reading between the lines, it seems that before you really paid attention to your haircare "game," your hair was coasting along looking and feeling same as always (i.e. doing fine). When you started recently to try and pay it more attention and follow some of the common regimen advice, you ended up with your current problems.

Well, that's what's been happening with me.

My hair was never "doing fine" because it is too FINE, THIN , and hereditarily thinning for my tastes. However, since I've been trying to take extra special care of my hair via hair boards, I have experienced more problems.

I have been experimenting with proteins and deep conditioning over the past 2 months. Some here might remember when like a 1/4 of my curls refused to revert back after I washed out a press. People recommended protein to try to get them to spring back to their genetic curl pattern.

I began doing a protein treatment (Emergencee once a week for 2 weeks and then Joico J PAK every other week afterward) and always following with several hours' worth of a low or no-protein Deep Conditioning (like Biolage Hydrating Balm mixed with something like shea butter or honey or coconut oil). The weeks I didn't do the above protein treatments, I would just use ORS Mayo by itself (because I heard it was a mixture of moisture and light protein) and also leave it on for several hours or overnight.

Anyway, the past two washes, I used the Mane and Tail conditioner as a light leave-in and put coconut oil over it.

My goal has been to try to fortify my naturally mushy, soft, too-fine hair so that it gets some backbone, LOL. I knew I should be careful with proteins because I heard of the side effects, but my hair was so soft and mushy to begin with, so I thought the protein would correct for that.

This past wash, I decided to prepare the top of my head for a drawstring ponytail by slicking back the wet curls into a bun. The next day, my dried hair had been stretched out so that you can't see the indiivdual curls; it looks almost like a very shoddy, half-baked blow-dry that left a lot of texture in the straightened hair.

This is the scary part: every time I run my fingers through this artifically stretched hair, at least ten long hairs snap out of my scalp (I can hear them snap!) and lodge themselves in the webs between my fingers. My sister began yelling at me telling me not to get hair all over her carpet, and I told her in a bewildered voice that I didn't mean to lose this hair and that this was unusual even for me.

Like you, I have always lost a lot of hair in my comb, throughout my life. I lose an insane amount, IMO (a tennis ball each weekly wet detangling/conditioning session). But I usually do not have DRY hairs snapping off when I gently finger comb my hair. And certainly not in this amount!

I don't know if this is protein overload or if it's just because it's artifically stretched or what.

I'm trying to figure out what the culprit is. I plan to isolate the problem by removing everything I've been doing except for one product. I think I will ditch the Mane and Tail as a leave-in, continue NOT using Emergencee or J-PAK, stop using ORS Mayo, and stick to low-protein deep conditioning once a week.

About castor oil: you are right that it is SO thick and gloppy, especially the white stuff from the drugstore (JBCO is a little bit thinner, IMO). In fact, I believe that my scalp massages with either/both have encouraged MORE hairs snap out at my edges...because it is so thick and sticky, that it pulls the hairs at the scalp. I know I must be using it wrong.

Sorry to go into so much detail, but I wanted you to know that I agree that even if others can't see a change, you know your own hair and can just FEEL that something's wrong.

Please update us on your progess.

Thank you so much for sharing. I always wonder how women comb and don't see a ton of hair. When my hair was natural, I had hair like Rudy Huxtable. Big, massive amount of hair. And even when my mom used to do my hair and put a little bit of Blue Magic on it, I had a golf ball of hair to always throw away when she was done. I am grateful that people cannot tell the difference but I can. I know that my hair will be back to normal with all of the wonderful tips you all shared. You have no idea how much I love the ladies of LHCF!!!! Y'all are better than Google x infinity!!!!

Cosigning on the possible protein overload.

I think shtow might be onto something too. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the point of letting conditioner marinate on your head for hours and hours on end. I feel like, for the most part, a dc is going to do all it can for your hair within 20-30 minutes.

You're right! I guess it's like people who exercise for hours a day. After about 40 minutes, your body doesn't care and you don't get any additional benefits.

this may have been brought up but have you changed your diet. last month my hair acted a little crazy too. I was so busy and not eating that much. Sometimes not eating at all. My hair started to shed. When I started eating regularly my hair stopped shedding.

I use aphogee 2 min but I dont keep it on my head more than 15 minutes.
But your hair is lovely. I hope you find out what's making you shed.

Nah, my diet is still the same but I really was nuts to leave that mess on my hair for 6/7 hours. WTH was I thinking?

Well your hair still looks thick and gorgeous to me judging by the pics you posted, but you know your hair better than anyone and I hope it gets back to a place that you are happy with it.

It'll get better.

Thank you very much winnettag!

I hope you feel better soon Lucie, I can understand the frustration when your hair doesn't do what your're used to having it do. I don't really have any advice but was just offering my support. I do think that the protein con, stress and wrapping could all have contributed to the thinning of your hair, it could also just be your body changing, we're supposed to have a seven year cycle or something like that, I just hope you get your mojo back real soon

Thank you! My father always told me about how our bodies change every 7 years. I know my hair will be fine. I know LHCF will get me back on track!

Hey Lucie, hope your hair improves.

Thank you. I know it will!

 

[Lucie]

I agree. Try cutting back your protein Lucie. Do aphogee maybe every 2 weeks and only for a few minutes.

What I would do before I got lazy with it, lol was to do protein with one wash and deep condition with the next. I go a week to two weeks between washes so I usually end up doing protein once a month and deep condition once a month.

I'm with shtow....I think dc'ing is over-rated, lol. Well frequent dc'ing I should say. I'm good with once or twice a month . I was shocked to hear people do this 2-3 times a week .

Hope things get better Lucie! ((((HUGS))))

Thank you Pokahontas!!!

Mine too. I'm trying to figure out what in the world causes that. It's not like my hair is wrapped or pulled super tight.

I don't think wrapping will thin out the hair but it can wreak havoc on the edges.

I heard the same thing Poka but I am going to play it safe and go back to my normal night time methods.

I hope you find out whats causing the breakage before it gets to far along. Cosigning with everyone on the protein. Your hair still looks beautiful to me btw.

Thank you!!!!

Ummm....I don't see anything wrong with your hair, lol. But like other posters have said, we know our hair and when something's not right.

Girl is that a rollerset? It's georgeous.

Yes, it is. Thanks! I don't know how to do many things with hair. I finally learned to rollerset and do not own a curling iron or flat iron. I am a LHCF loser!

I don't have any tips Lucie The only thing I would suggest is cutting back on the protein. You're so beautiful! And I think your hair still looks really pretty.

I am. I need to stop trying everything in this section, LOL. I will do protein but probably not for another 5-6 weeks! Thank you for the compliments.

I am sorry this is happening. You might have to try out other methods of styling your hair.

((( HUGS ))) Thank you!

Hi cherie, sorry to hear you are having troubles. I know exactly what u mean, i've been having the same issue with a lot of shedding. It's been going on for a while & my hair is thinner but it looks the same to most ppl. I don't know what my problem is exactly, i'm now trying aloe vera on my scalp. I'm also hormonally imbalanced and my docs have recommended birth control but I want to see if I can balance them with natural remedies.

I agree with the ladies, the aphogee is a bit much. But I hope you can pinpoint your issue soon & remedy it.

Thank you. I really believe my problem is the protein overload. Can you believe I am really LOLing about it. Why not just slap a relaxer on my head and go to sleep? At least I learned from it. I don't know why I don't like to follow directions but I sure will now!!!

For me and my mum who is relaxed 2min aphogee didn't really do anything to strengthen our strands. Henna helped with thickening up my hair and castor oil just helps to smooth down my ends. Hoped you and your hair feels better.

Thank you!!!

Wow, this brings me back to a post I did when I thought my hair was heat damaged. The people there a called me LHCF sensitive, or something like that. I think we suffer from the same illness, girl, cuz' your hair still looks the business to me. Good thing you caught it early enough .

Thank you, I appreciate that. I am still grateful that I did learn from it. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS LUCIE!!!

Lucie, cheri your hair looks great!!!

Thank you sweetheart!!!