Another Observation About Natural Hair...thinking about wearing it straight....

[Gryphyn]

I really, really feel for you. I understand how frustrating it is to feel like your hair has just stopped agreeing with you. We have the same hair type, and I seem to go through that phase every Spring until I get myself set into a new routine that works.

I definitely think you should be deep conditioning your hair, and perhaps also doing a moisture treatment. I use Aphogee Intense Moisture (I think that's what it's called), every 1-2 months, and deep condition about once each month.

I know this may be an unpopular opinion, but I agree that with our hair type, if you want to minimize damage to your ends, you need to wear your hair in a "straightened state". When our hair shrinks up and gets tangled, the knots and the detangling process damage and split our ends. This doesn't mean you have to flat iron it or anything, because that only causes more damage.

After I wash my hair, I rollerset it and pull it back in a bun when my hair dries. At night, I put my hair up in pin curls (which give almost the same result as a rollerset) and pull my hair back in a bun again in the morning. This way, day after day my hair is always "straightened out", I don't need to use heat, I don't have to detangle that often, and I don't get that many knots that cause damaged and split ends. I'm pretty sure your hair is long enough to go up in a bun because it looks longer than mine, if not the same length.

I don't think flat ironing your ends will solve your problem, it will only add to it. If your ends are as bad as you think, you should probably give yourself a trim, and wear styles that won't allow your hair to shrink up as much.

 

[wonderstar]

I recommend deep conditioning on a regular. Also if oils make your ends crunchy maybe you can try natural butters.

 

[jwhitley6]

For smooth ends after straightening, I recommend running a pressing comb through the ends. Do it old school, using a towel behind the hair and using the back of the comb. This works well. I find flat irons to be a bit rough on my ends.

 

[Gryphyn]

I use Infusium 23 Original Leave-in Treatment after washing my hair. I spray each section of my hair, detangle, then plait or twist my hair up. After my hair airdries, my hair is still crinkly and tangled in some areas.

Maybe I need to try that Qhemets Biologic stuff. And maybe I need to detangle with a finer tooth comb. The wide tooth comb just isn't doing it for my fine stranded densely compacted hair.

Honestly, I don't like Infusium 23 products. They leave my hair rough and caused a lot of breakage when I was relaxed. It was only years later that I found out they have proteins in them. Back then I didn't know that too much protein can damage your hair.

 

[sunshinebeautiful]

Hey Poohbear, I thought you were locking. Did you change your mind?

When I was natural and I had rough feeling ends, I clipped them up until the smooth part.

 

[Priss Pot]

Poohbear, I feel your pain. My ends are the same way.

I rollerset and flat-ironed my hair last week, and while the roots and shaft were smooth, the very ends were rough. At first I was only intending to do a roller-wrap, but after seeing my ends, I flat-ironed hoping they would smooth out. Well, they didn't. I gave myself about a 1" trim .

A few weeks ago, I tried putting my hair in bantu knots every night (moisturize and seal), and while it *seemed* to work, I got lazy with it, and stopped.

Right now, I just don't know what to do. I'd hate to grow my hair out and come to find out that the last 3 inches are rough and have to be clipped. Like you, I don't want to keep a short cut just to have healthy ends.

I'm going to take the suggestions here and up my deep conditioning treatments for my hair, continue to moisturize it's situation, and preserve its sexy .

 

[katote]

Poorbeah,

Thanks for starting this post. I am also having the same issues. Being natural over 5 yrs, and 2 of those years have been spent wearing a bun.
I straightened my hair a couple of times, and my ends did the same thing.
I do not DC my hair either. I must incorporate this into my schedule.

 

[BillsBackerz67]

I solved my rough ends problem by getting a professional trim and letting her slat iron my hair with a CHI. it only seemed to come out rough when I did iterplexed the longer I go without deep conditioning the worse my hair gets. 2x a month does the trick.

 

[Poohbear]

Hey Poohbear, I thought you were locking. Did you change your mind?

When I was natural and I had rough feeling ends, I clipped them up until the smooth part.

yep, I changed my mind (as always)!

If I clip my ends until the smooth part, that would be a good 2 inches off each layer of my hair.

 

[Poohbear]

Guess what ladies! My ends were fixed from wearing rollers on my ends after oiling them with Hot 6 Oil. I rolled the rollers in a way so my ends would flip up. Here are a few pics which are also in my hair album as well:

 

[jewel]

I suggest you don't put that much heat on your hair . You will only damage it in the long run. Just try moisturzing and conditioning it alittle extra.

These has helped for me:

Deep condition one a week with heat.
put castor oil on ends...this has helped me greatly
trim/dust ends every 4-6 weeks

Being natural is wonderful, but dealing with my ends is a real pain also . Hopefully, some of the tips on the board will help you.
Good luck!

 

[SparklingFlame]

Well I think that wearing your hair in a wash and go too much will be damaging for anybody, not just for people with super tightly coiled hair. For me at least, I can only wear a WNG 3 or 4 days in a row before my ends take a beating. If I remember correctly, didnt you say that you were going to be on a WNG challenge or something, Pooh?

Straiting your hair a lot is only going to add to the frustration b/c again I think your ends are gonna take a beating. I havent read a single responce to your thread yet but I would suggest wearing twist/braids, or buns so you can keep your hands out of your hair and save your ends at the same time while wearing a cutsie hairstyle. This is all JMH little O. HTH!

 

[kellie7777]

I had the same thing happen to me.

i bought a flat iron was all excited and then my ends seemed to fry even though i had put all the heat protectant and stuff in my hair.
i could not get the rough ends to go away once i did that so i cut my ends off. and then i did a henna treatment and went back to extensions. i found that when i wear a fro or puffs my hair will only tolerate that style for a day or so then i have to DC to remoisturize. I use Queene Helene (cheap and works wonders) i would box braid my hair at night put BB castor oil cream (green bottle) on the ends and tuck it under in the braid to keep the ends good. (Helps with shrinkage too) This way i don't have to baggy so much. Flip on my night hat. Then i loose those braids in the am and rock my fro. After 2 weeks i need to get back in extensions otherwise i get knots at the ends..

Anyways hope it works out for you. your hair looks great to me from the pix.

 

[Poohbear]

Well I think that wearing your hair in a wash and go too much will be damaging for anybody, not just for people with super tightly coiled hair. For me at least, I can only wear a WNG 3 or 4 days in a row before my ends take a beating. If I remember correctly, didnt you say that you were going to be on a WNG challenge or something, Pooh?

Straiting your hair a lot is only going to add to the frustration b/c again I think your ends are gonna take a beating. I havent read a single responce to your thread yet but I would suggest wearing twist/braids, or buns so you can keep your hands out of your hair and save your ends at the same time while wearing a cutsie hairstyle. This is all JMH little O. HTH!

Yeah, I've been on so many challenges, LOL!

I will TRY to stick with twists and twistouts and just start deep conditioning and taking better care of my hair. I just wish my twists were as thick as yours naturallady!!! I will probably straighten every once in awhile (2-3 times a YEAR maybe). Thanks for your advice.

 

[Evolving78]

Thanks InnerSoul and BrownSkin. I feel like my hair has been at a standstill length ever since March of this year. I'm hoping to get over this "in-between length" hump soon.

Hey girl! It looks like you need a trim. Have you tried straw sets and rod sets? I think those would look nice on you. Those give a lot of moisture to the entire hair shaft.

 

[Evolving78]

Well I think that wearing your hair in a wash and go too much will be damaging for anybody, not just for people with super tightly coiled hair. For me at least, I can only wear a WNG 3 or 4 days in a row before my ends take a beating. If I remember correctly, didnt you say that you were going to be on a WNG challenge or something, Pooh?

I have noticed that some people are starting to have problems with the wash and go. I wonder why is that? I wash and go now, so I just wanted to ask so I don't get myself into trouble later on with my hair. Could you explain to me what are the potenial problems with that style?

 

[honeybadgirl]

i WAS natural for years but just texurized my hair 2wks ago. i was having the same problem as you. i noticed when i wore my hair wet/curly, my ends would be horrible. the ends would frizz all up and everything when i wore it str8. i just found that my hair does just fine with smoothing it out with a blow dryer and flat iron once a week.
i am going to start to try to rollerset now that i am texlaxed!!

 

[honeybadgirl]

Well I think that wearing your hair in a wash and go too much will be damaging for anybody, not just for people with super tightly coiled hair. For me at least, I can only wear a WNG 3 or 4 days in a row before my ends take a beating. If I remember correctly, didnt you say that you were going to be on a WNG challenge or something, Pooh?

I have noticed that some people are starting to have problems with the wash and go. I wonder why is that? I wash and go now, so I just wanted to ask so I don't get myself into trouble later on with my hair. Could you explain to me what are the potenial problems with that style?

maybe it over moisturizes some types of hair. i dont know but the wash and go's are not really for me. maybe if i wear it 1 or 2 days like that but for a period of time

 

[neenzmj]

Hey PB, we have discussed our natural hair before. And it looks like your ends are in need of some deep conditioning and moisture and then sealing. My idea of deep conditioning my hair is when I use Aveda DR treatment. I apply it to my hair after shampooig. Then I apply my shower cap and leave it on for 30 minutes. I do this every 3rd shampoo. And it keeps my ends smooth. I put heat in my hair twice a month, so I have to pay extra good care of my ends. I keep them moisturized by using a dab of Aveda USC and sealing my ends with Extra virgin coconut oil. And I protect my ends at night by wrapping my hair and then covering it with my satin turban. I cannot keep my hair in its 100% natural state too long because the ends will tangle and start to knot themselves together. I have to straighten my hair out to keep it from breaking. And I get my ends dusted as needed. If you are going to straighten your hair, make sure to stay on top of caring for your ends. I do this and my hair is really retaining its length. Good luck with your hair!

Pinkskates, I'm glad you mentioned the part I bolded. I've found that the longer my hair gets, the more difficult it is to wear it in its naturally curly state because it tangles so much and I end up having to cut off the knots. I've decided I'm probably going to have to do more rollersets.

 

[Bublin]

I am having the same issues and quite frankly i'm fed up with my hair.

I'm going against all the advice i often read on this board and i blow dry and use 'grease'. This is what my Mum did to my hair and it was long.

Wash n Go's are tearing my hair up. Detangling is near-on impossible. Twists encourage locks and no-longer seem to look good anyway. Plaits just look silly on me and cornrows expose my big-head shape!
Extensions thin my hair. But i will not use chemicals.

Like Pooh Bear, i'm thinking of using the flat irons once in a while.

 

[cocoberry10]

Congratulations

Guess what ladies! My ends were fixed from wearing rollers on my ends after oiling them with Hot 6 Oil. I rolled the rollers in a way so my ends would flip up. Here are a few pics which are also in my hair album as well:

 

[zzirvingj]

Guess what ladies! My ends were fixed from wearing rollers on my ends after oiling them with Hot 6 Oil. I rolled the rollers in a way so my ends would flip up. Here are a few pics which are also in my hair album as well:

You look gorgeous!

 

[Bublin]

PoohBear, Your hair looks great. Did you blowdry first and what rollers did you use?

 

[MissJ]

I have the same problem. I plan on wearing braids for a few months to gain some length without the headache of knots and tangles.

What happened with your decision to lock?

 

[WhipEffectz1]

I can't handle the tangles either which is one of the main reasons i keep it in protective styles off and on. My hair sheds/TANGLES less when its straight but I'm working on making it that way when its curly also because I'm about to give up straight styles for a couple months.....that's if I can go that long.

 

[Poohbear]

PoohBear, Your hair looks great. Did you blowdry first and what rollers did you use?

No blowdrying at all. I just soaked my ends with Hot 6 Oil and put pink magnetic rollers on my ends. Chicoro was right, I don't need a trim afterall.

 

[Poohbear]

I can't handle the tangles either which is one of the main reasons i keep it in protective styles off and on. My hair sheds/TANGLES less when its straight but I'm working on making it that way when its curly also because I'm about to give up straight styles for a couple months.....that's if I can go that long.

This is what I have noticed as well...less shedding and tangling. I think that's because when our hair is in it's coily state, it sheds and then the shedded hair gets trapped in with the coily hair strands causing tangles.

 

[Poohbear]

I have the same problem. I plan on wearing braids for a few months to gain some length without the headache of knots and tangles.

What happened with your decision to lock?

I felt like my hair wasn't free with locs. And I felt like it was going to me a hassle... merging roots and trying to keep the locs in the same parts was not something I wanted to deal with.

 

[Poohbear]

I am having the same issues and quite frankly i'm fed up with my hair.

I'm going against all the advice i often read on this board and i blow dry and use 'grease'. This is what my Mum did to my hair and it was long.

Wash n Go's are tearing my hair up. Detangling is near-on impossible. Twists encourage locks and no-longer seem to look good anyway. Plaits just look silly on me and cornrows expose my big-head shape!
Extensions thin my hair. But i will not use chemicals.

Like Pooh Bear, i'm thinking of using the flat irons once in a while.

That's how my mom took care of my hair... she would wash, apply grease, blowdry, apply more grease, then press it.

I've only had my hair blowdried twice when natural and didn't like it. Hopefully I can figure out how to do it if I want to try it again. I may need a different blowdryer or comb attachment.

Plaits and cornrows look silly on me too and make my head look extra large, especially since they don't hang long enough. If I want braids, I want all of my braids to hang passed my shoulders, not shrink up to my chin and nose. Same with twists... I've noticed as my hair gets longer with twists, they try to loc as well.

And I have no desire to use chemicals again so that's out of the question. That's the reason I went natural - no more chemical applications.

 

[Poohbear]

I have noticed that some people are starting to have problems with the wash and go. I wonder why is that? I wash and go now, so I just wanted to ask so I don't get myself into trouble later on with my hair. Could you explain to me what are the potenial problems with that style?

Hey shortdub... wash n gos were fine for my hair when my hair was like 1 to 6 inches. Now that my hair is 9-10 inches, it's not working for me anymore because of the clumping and coiling action going on with my hair. As my hair has gotten longer, it hasn't loosen in texture nor has it gotten heavier like some naturals. My hair is still light and feathery and still very tightly coiled. When I wear a shrunken fro, it still shrinks to 2-3 inches in length!!! It doesn't hang at all.