A Lost Newbie... Please HELP!!!

[krikit96]

This is all so wonderful, ladies who are interested in healthy hair! I just signed up yesterday, but I am so confused! I didn't even know how to post a new thread, I've been trying since YESTERDAY!!!

Is there some way that I can get someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong with my hair? I'm between SL and APL right now, and I haven't had a perm in about 10 weeks - My new growth is OFF THE CHAIN!! I can't get the caruso rollers everyone is raving about to work for me, and I've done just what everyone says! I think my flat iron may end up making my hair fall out if I keep using it everyday... I have to use that on the 410 degree level... I just realized that I'm somewhere around a 4 a/b hairtype... I really want to be like so many of you wonderful ladies who have gotten control of their hair, but I'm so lost! I was a tomboy all my life and am just getting into the whole makeup and hair thing, but I REALLY want to be competant and unafraid, I feel like a fool for not knowing how to make my hair be obedient...

Also, I wanna try MegaTek, but I can't find it anywhere... My ends are dry and scraggly (I just had a baby like, 8 weeks ago) and my hair is falling out all over the floor! I really want it to be to BSL but I feel that dream slipping away! I can't get a comb thru my roots... Somebody please help me???


BTW... what the heck is a FOKTI or FOTKI???

 

[poookie]

This is all so wonderful, ladies who are interested in healthy hair! I just signed up yesterday, but I am so confused! I didn't even know how to post a new thread, I've been trying since YESTERDAY!!!

Is there some way that I can get someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong with my hair? I'm between SL and APL right now, and I haven't had a perm in about 10 weeks - My new growth is OFF THE CHAIN!! I can't get the caruso rollers everyone is raving about to work for me, and I've done just what everyone says! I think my flat iron may end up making my hair fall out if I keep using it everyday... I have to use that on the 410 degree level... I just realized that I'm somewhere around a 4 a/b hairtype... I really want to be like so many of you wonderful ladies who have gotten control of their hair, but I'm so lost! I was a tomboy all my life and am just getting into the whole makeup and hair thing, but I REALLY want to be competant and unafraid, I feel like a fool for not knowing how to make my hair be obedient...

Also, I wanna try MegaTek, but I can't find it anywhere... My ends are dry and scraggly (I just had a baby like, 8 weeks ago) and my hair is falling out all over the floor! I really want it to be to BSL but I feel that dream slipping away! I can't get a comb thru my roots... Somebody please help me???


BTW... what the heck is a FOKTI or FOTKI???

well first of all, WELCOME!!!

let me see... you can purchase megatek cell rebuilder on ebay. that's where i got mine from.
- try and cut down the flat iron usage!!! too much heat can really damage the hair, especially when used every day. lots of ladies here, even those that are natural, have had success flat-ironing their hair on low levels.
- NO COMBING YOUR ROOTS!!!!! combing through new growth is one way people can experience a lot of breakage when stretching a relaxer. do a search on "rollersets", and discover how some of the ladies here are drying their hair on rollers, and getting the roots straight without direct heat (a.k.a., a heat styling appliance).
- the first thing you're going to want to do is build a regimen. look here: http://www.healthytextures.com, and look for the link that says "beginning your hair journey". that should give you a good bit of information to start off with.
- a fotki is an online photo album. it's free to sign up for. http://www.fotki.com

hope that helped! when i was a newbie, i took the time to really READ through every bit of information on the board! stick around, and you'll soak it all in soon enough!

 

[krikit96]

Thank you Thank you! I thought I was supposed to comb my new growth! I read on someone's thread that some website called crown & glory helped them and they now wash their hair in jumbo braids (?) that thought is very intriguing to me! I also have been reading for about a week now, soaking in everything I can.
Is their any way to grow your hair WITHOUT having to trim? My stylist has very long hair, but I think she doesn't want anyone else to have long hair... she always "trims" about 3 inches off of it when it's starting to get long... she says I have split ends but DANG!!!

 

[krikit96]

Also... and this question may be gross but...

My hair seems to be happiest when I have not washed in a while... It grows like crazy when I have greased it and left it alone... or keep adding grease to my scalp for like 2 weeks straight. Is that weird? Does dirt help your hair grow??? Seriously

 

[poookie]

Thank you Thank you! I thought I was supposed to comb my new growth! I read on someone's thread that some website called crown & glory helped them and they now wash their hair in jumbo braids (?) that thought is very intriguing to me! I also have been reading for about a week now, soaking in everything I can.
Is their any way to grow your hair WITHOUT having to trim? My stylist has very long hair, but I think she doesn't want anyone else to have long hair... she always "trims" about 3 inches off of it when it's starting to get long... she says I have split ends but DANG!!!

the "split ends" thing is something stylists will tell you to keep you in their chair. if your ends are relatively healthy, then you don't need trims. a lot of ladies here haven't had trims in months, or even years, and their hair is fine. what they do is the "search and destroy" method, where you literally snip out the splits, and nothing else. the crown and glory website was one i looked at for a WHILE before i actually came to LHCF. it has a lot of good information, though it's geared towards those who keep their hair in braids.

Also... and this question may be gross but...

My hair seems to be happiest when I have not washed in a while... It grows like crazy when I have greased it and left it alone... or keep adding grease to my scalp for like 2 weeks straight. Is that weird? Does dirt help your hair grow??? Seriously

and this is another lie! while there are a handful of women that use grease here with no problems (let me reiterate-- a tiny handful), the majority of us put nothing on our scalps. many of the "greases" sold in the black hair care aisles contain unhealthy products that are not meant to be put on human skin. i.e., petrolatum (which is fine for the length of the hair in small amounts, but not so much on the scalp, because it can block the pores in the hair, and cause buildup), mineral oil, paraffin wax, etc. using these in excess can literally block the hair from growing out of your scalp!

i used to think the same thing. that grease made my hair grow. i'm so glad i found this board, and discovered that no specific product can make your hair grow; it's in your hair care techniques that'll help you retain every inch of the .5 inches the average head of hair grows per month.

if you think your hair feels good after 2 weeks of bein greased up, it'll feel AMAZING when it's 100% free of buildup. personally, i wash my hair every 2 - 3 days, and only use shampoo once or twice a month. i don't put anything on my scalp besides mega-tek, and my hair and scalp have never felt this healthy.

search on this thread for bad ingredients in hair care products, and also start reading the labels on all the products you use. sulfates, mineral oil, parabens, silicones, etc. are all key ingredients that can have a negative impact on your hair if you're not careful.

 

[Eclass215]

I'm only here because I'm still a newbie looking for a lot of answers myself! Good luck on your hair journey! I just ordered megatek last night so I'll be tracking my progress. And congrats on the baby!!

 

[hairmaster]

Grease dirty hair does not grow hair it just flattens it and sticks it to your head to look longer, happier healthy hair , is a clean scalp and conditioned hair. Try it you will like it..
and WELCOME.

 

[pear]

Welcome!

As pookie mentioned, PLEASE don't comb through your roots. I just got a relaxer this morning and if I had tried to comb through all that new growth I had it would have been complete disaster!

If you have so much new growth that you can't get the comb through it then it may be time to get a relaxer. If you are trying to stretch your relaxers then this may be something that you will have to ease into once you have discovered the right products to use to help soften your new growth and reduce breakage. Everyone can't go for months without relaxing without experiencing a great deal of breakage.

 

[Platinum]

 

[msa]

Hi and Welcome.


This thread may be of some help. It's located in the "favorite stickies" thread at the beginning of the forum threads. There are some other really good threads in there as well that may help you.

A Newcomer's Guide To Starting Out (a one stop thread for newbies-with tutorial and loads of information)

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=50291

 

[*Muffin*]

Welcome! It's very refreshing to have a newbie like you on board. So many times I feel like a student running around to different teachers asking for help, and it's nice to play the teacher every now and again. My NG is a 3c/4a hair type and I know how it is when you got a heck of a lot of NG. I usually stretch my relaxers 3-4 months. One thing that helps me is co-washing my hair every other day when I have a lot of NG and only combing it when my hair is wet with a lot of conditioner in it (and with a wide-toothed comb). This helps you detangle your NG and your relaxed ends and prevents matting and unnecessary breakage. And Fotki is like an online photo gallary where you can make albums and post pictures of how your hair is progressing. A lot of us have our Fotki and/or our PictureTrail (another type of photo journal site) addressed at the bottom of our posts in the signiture section. Feel free to check them out so you can get an idea of how everything works. And of course if you're looking for specific advice from anybody on this forum, feel free to ask. All of us are happy to help. Happy Growing !

 

[krikit96]

You all are so NICE!!! Thank you for helping me feel welcome! I was frustrated only being able to access certain areas of the site and not being able to ask questions or run searches, so I finally joined! Anything else that you all think would be useful to me as a newbie, please feel free to post! Also, is anyone planning on starting a growth challenge anytime soon? I'd like to join if possible... or if you are already involved in one???

 

[shmmr]

Hi,

I'm still relatively new here but one of the most important things that I've learned is that I have to take the time to figure out what works for my hair. I can't always just jump into doing something that works for someone else and expect to get the same results. So my advice (as green as it may be) is to treat your hair gently, avoid setbacks as much as possible, and learn what works for you.