Anybody else w/ setbacks?

[dannie]

Hello ladies

,
Just wanted to share my setback with you all. If you guys read my sig line you'll see with my hair strecthed out I'm about an inch from brastrap. Well all that changed on Saturday. I pressed my hair out in preparation to head to the club and noticed a big gap in the back. It's was about 2 inches up my hair and if I combed it out it would dissapear but that area was still noticably thinner. How could I have not noticed this before I don't know. Maybe because I rarely press my hair. I was p.o'd. I was like "Why, why, why now of all times why". My mom said I was tripping and only I noticed it. After poking and

her she finally admitted she saw the thin part. She said "don't cut it though it's so long". Hello! i'm gonna have a big missing part in the back of my head but it's supposed to be o.k because it's long. Infact having long hair makes it look even worse. So relucantly (and I do mean reluctantly)I had my mom cut off about 1 1/2 of hair. The gap is gone. I think it was due to that bad perm a while back. When I rinsed out my hair after getting it permed clumps of hair ran down my leg. A feeling I'll never forget. Anyway so I guess I won't be brastrap till about December now.

But at least I'll have even thick hair when I get there. On the up note I'm loving the thickness and bounce my hair has now. My ends are always healthy but now they look even better. I guess I'm trying to focus on the positive.

Anybody else care to share any recent setbacks?

 

[sengschick]

Wow Dannie

! I'm so impressed that you are handling this setback w/such perspective and a wonderfully healthy attitude

. That is so dope!!! I love it, that whole don't speak defeat attitude is admirable. I'm sure w/this optimism you're going to reach bra strap before you realize it and your hair is going to be more beautiful than ever!!! I'm sending you lots of very warm wishes for a speedy 'rehab'

!

 

[Innocent_Kiss]

Girl! I know [/i]exactly[/i] what you're going through. But consider your self blessed! I took my kinky twist down over the weekend. My hair grew SOOOOOOO MUCH. When I started detangling my hair I noticed I had little knots where the kinky twist had started. I saturated the knots with conditioner hoping it'll help. Well, I had to get the knots out FAST because we had a family reunion trip the very next day. My stupid self used a rat-tail comb to get the knots out (mind you that I had little knots on each individual section of hair) and took the knots out

Soooooooooooo much of my hair came out it's awing

My hair is -- well was -- short. About neck length. After taking the knots out, it was only a SPIT of relaxed hair left and the rest was new growth (which was about an inch) ..so right now, Halle Barry damn near got me beat. I took care of my kinky twist so well, paid $200.00 for them bad fellas, and it was all in vain. Pshhh, my hair is damaged beyond thought, I really don't know where to go from here.

 

[Tai]

Dannie,

You are handling your setback so well. I commend you.
Before I joined the board, I suffered my own setback that I unintentionally caused. I decided that I wasn't going to trim my hair for six months to retain some growth. It was going well, about an inch or so past my shoulders. I was still using heat once a week but didn't think much of it. Then one day when I was curling my hair, the iron was up too high (I had curled someone else's hair the day before who had natural hair) and I burned out a huge plug of my hair.

When I went to trim it, my below shoulder length hair was cut up to an inch or so past chin length. I was destroyed.
I then stumbled upon LHCF and my hair is on the mend and is almost back to the length it was before my cut. It pays to focus on the positive and nurse your hair back to health.

 

[Ericka]

It's just hair, and it WILL grow back. That's good that you have a positive attitude about it, i was feeling the same way when i was in the same boat as you about a few months ago. But now i noticed that my hair is growing back and it's so thick and full. I LOVE IT. The best thing i did for my hair was cutting it.

 

[HoneyRockette]

I've had a few setbacks through the years ranging from bad perms to flat ironing snafus to an extension braid cut too short during removal, (every braid wearer's worst nightmare!). Most recently I had a big chunk on the side burned off during a pressing. That was last winter when I decided to go natural. I changed my mind after that. The chunk is two inches above my ear and about three inches long. It's frustrating considering all I have gone through to even out my hair. Sigh. I don't have enough patience to do anything to that spot to speed up the growth so to heck with it. I am just going to be more careful from now on.

 

[Tracy]

I've had a setback myself....self inflicted, but a setback nonetheles....

My problem stems from gradual overcoloring over the course of the past year (it all began when I went dark at the end of last summer....

). Because of the damage my ends need a serious trim. I've already taken off about an inch and a half myself bringing my hair back to just past my shoulder blades in the back fresh out of a rollerset, but I need about another 2 inches off and will probably need to trim semi frequently (every 3 or 4 months instead of every 6 or so) as the damages portions continue to grow out.

I'm doing my best with it, but it takes MUCH longer to make my hair look good now, and I'm trying not to overmanipulate it either, so the biggest part of the setback for me isn't so much the length, but it's having hair that looked and felt super healthy, that now looks just ok, but is not nearly as vibrant and healthy as it was....

I'm very optimistic though. I know from past experience that the hair responds to diligent care and I've been really good about minimizing heat, limiting styling (I love the South, there ain't NO reason to be cute here!

) and conditioning it alot. I've been self trimming to avoid a SHS mishap now that I'm in a new place without a regular stylist. And my hair looks TONS better than it did when I arrived a month ago. I'm looking forward to my hair being much closer to it's old happy self by Christmas.

 

[Rainy101]

Yes I too just suffered a set back.

Last nite I washed and pressed my hair. My hair was about 3 to 4 inches from waist length. However, my hair is not even. Also my hair looked incredibly thin when I combed it all straigh down. It just looked so "raggedy". So at first I was getting frustrated because I thought that my hair was falling out.

And I had said to my self. That I started this hair journey about 5 years ago. Now I have been tracking my hair growth by what Wanakee had once said. And I have found my hair journey to be somewhat different than what she said.I mean after 5 years well it will be 5 years in December 2004. My hair looks nothing like hers or Piers. And they both claim that it took about 5 years for them to have the results they have.


So I was becoming so angry..and felt like I had done all this stuff for my hair for nothing. Just to have stringy long hair that is all uneven and it just looked bad.

So I decided to just give my self a good trim. Which I was so nervous about doing. But then again I just sucked it up and did it. I cut about 3 to 4 inches of my hair off. And I must say that immediately, my hair looked thicker and had bounce. My hair has not had bounce in YEARS. and I attribute all this to doing THE BIG CHOP. And now I am ssssssssssssssssooooooooooooo
Glad I did!!! My hair looks 110% better. I have all even cut hair, that ends are thick and healthy. I am so pleased with my results that I have started a new Challenge for my self.

No heat for the next 6 months!!! Only cornrows that I will wear under a wig (with a wig cap to prevent breakage)

 

[Tracy]

Wow Rainy....had you been doing the Wanakee regimen all along?

 

[Rainy101]

Well actually all I have been doing is ..(not trimming my hair) I would do a light trim here and there..but I didn't trim the way Wanakee suggested, because I was trying to retain lenghth.

But I have worn braids off and on faithfully throughout the process in hopes of protecting my ends.

Now according to Wanakees calculation, her hair grows 5 inches a year. And so does mine. So when I began this process I calculated 5 inches of hair growth a year. 5 years should have given me 25 inches. However, I didn't consider how my hair would grow uneven, like some strands are longer than others..etc....

So although my hair would grow long. The ends looked horrible. I was basically using Wanakees results as a inspiration to keep my self encouraged.

In all honesty, I thnk that it takes longer than 5 years to grow waist length hair (that is thick from root to end). And thats what she has)

Before I put my hair back up in the braids, I will buy a disposable camera (Im a cheap scape) and have my lil sis post my pics.

This will be the first time I have EVER posted pics of hair since I've began this journey.

 

[Angelicus]

i need a permmmmmmmmm!

 

[henrilou]

Wow. We must be hair trims, b/c I WAS at b/s and I started to notice that I also had a "gap" on the back right side. It bugged me so much that I asked my hubby everyday, trying to convince myself it wasn't there. I stopped wearing it down even on wash/press days because I was so concious of the gap. My stylist offered to cut it but I didn't trust that she would listen to me. So I cut it myself. It was the best thing I ever did. Now I am about 3.5 inches from b/s but it looks so much nicer. It is thick to the ends, and it looks much closer to being all one length. So when it finally gets to b/s it'll look so much nicer. But I am glad that I cut it myself, because I would not have trusted or been satisfied with anyone else doing it.

 

[chellee]

I have a setback (or I should say a jumpstart?) I wanted the wavy look so I purchased a crimping iron from the BSS (the one that looks like three barrel curling irons). Knowing nothing about heat protectants, I proceeded to crimp my hair. I got many compliments on it for the first few days and loved them so much, I refused to let them go. I touched them up twice using a little spritz

, curl wax

and gel in the front and on the ends to keep them neat

. My hair looked great . . . until I washed it. I can't begin to explain the amount of hair that went down the drain

. I must have toasted it with the iron and it held together with all the junk I packed on it. I had long and short strands all over my head. It gets worse guys . . . I had somewhere to go that weekend and didn't know of any salons (I had been doing my hair myself for YEARS) so I ran to the BSS and purchased a weave. I used a quick-weave in the back but added a few strands in the front with glue to blend the uneveness better. (Keep in mind I am a pro at doing sew-in weaves on both myself and others.) Laziness

. My hair never had a fighting chance.

I am still recovering. Nevertheless, my hair issues have since forced me to get a much needed haircut and begin my journey towards healthy hair. Never thought I had it in me . . .

 

[dannie]

[ QUOTE ]
sengschick said:
Wow Dannie

! I'm so impressed that you are handling this setback w/such perspective and a wonderfully healthy attitude

. That is so dope!!! I love it, that whole don't speak defeat attitude is admirable. I'm sure w/this optimism you're going to reach bra strap before you realize it and your hair is going to be more beautiful than ever!!! I'm sending you lots of very warm wishes for a speedy 'rehab'

!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you so much! No, I'm not estatic about it. At times I wanna give up, but I know I'll reach my goal in time. Thanks again for the kind words.

 

[dannie]

[ QUOTE ]
Innocent_Kiss said:
Girl! I know [/i]exactly[/i] what you're going through. But consider your self blessed! I took my kinky twist down over the weekend. My hair grew SOOOOOOO MUCH. When I started detangling my hair I noticed I had little knots where the kinky twist had started. I saturated the knots with conditioner hoping it'll help. Well, I had to get the knots out FAST because we had a family reunion trip the very next day. My stupid self used a rat-tail comb to get the knots out (mind you that I had little knots on each individual section of hair) and took the knots out

Soooooooooooo much of my hair came out it's awing

My hair is -- well was -- short. About neck length. After taking the knots out, it was only a SPIT of relaxed hair left and the rest was new growth (which was about an inch) ..so right now, Halle Barry damn near got me beat. I took care of my kinky twist so well, paid $200.00 for them bad fellas, and it was all in vain. Pshhh, my hair is damaged beyond thought, I really don't know where to go from here.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm so sorry!! Girl you KNOW I feel your pain. I'm in my own hair rut right now so I don't even know how to offer you help! Just keep your head up and take care of your mane. Doesn't it p.o when you pay and someone jacks up your hair? Gosh

! Anywhoo, good luck and I hope your hair grows back in no time.

P.S- R you considering just going natural?

 

[dannie]

[ QUOTE ]
chellee said:
I have a setback (or I should say a jumpstart?) I wanted the wavy look so I purchased a crimping iron from the BSS (the one that looks like three barrel curling irons). Knowing nothing about heat protectants, I proceeded to crimp my hair. I got many compliments on it for the first few days and loved them so much, I refused to let them go. I touched them up twice using a little spritz

, curl wax

and gel in the front and on the ends to keep them neat

. My hair looked great . . . until I washed it. I can't begin to explain the amount of hair that went down the drain

. I must have toasted it with the iron and it held together with all the junk I packed on it. I had long and short strands all over my head. It gets worse guys . . . I had somewhere to go that weekend and didn't know of any salons (I had been doing my hair myself for YEARS) so I ran to the BSS and purchased a weave. I used a quick-weave in the back but added a few strands in the front with glue to blend the uneveness better. (Keep in mind I am a pro at doing sew-in weaves on both myself and others.) Laziness

. My hair never had a fighting chance.

I am still recovering. Nevertheless, my hair issues have since forced me to get a much needed haircut and begin my journey towards healthy hair. Never thought I had it in me . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

Girl, I've read everybody's post and I totally sympathize and relate but when I read yours.. I just felt moved. I swear when I saw my gap I was gonna use my cripping iron(3 barreled like yours). Now I'm glad I didn't because no telling where I would be. Gosh... heating tools are the devils candy! Hope you recover and realize that healthy hair you've always dreamed of!

 

[dannie]

Ladies after reading all your post I just have to say one thing. I'm SO happy we are able to let go and not hold on to a few measly strands for the sake of having long hair! I guess this board has taught us something.

 

[sengschick]

[ QUOTE ]
chellee said:
I have a setback (or I should say a jumpstart?) I wanted the wavy look so I purchased a crimping iron from the BSS (the one that looks like three barrel curling irons). Knowing nothing about heat protectants, I proceeded to crimp my hair. I got many compliments on it for the first few days and loved them so much, I refused to let them go. I touched them up twice using a little spritz

, curl wax

and gel in the front and on the ends to keep them neat

. My hair looked great . . . until I washed it. I can't begin to explain the amount of hair that went down the drain

. I must have toasted it with the iron and it held together with all the junk I packed on it. I had long and short strands all over my head. It gets worse guys . . . I had somewhere to go that weekend and didn't know of any salons (I had been doing my hair myself for YEARS) so I ran to the BSS and purchased a weave. I used a quick-weave in the back but added a few strands in the front with glue to blend the uneveness better. (Keep in mind I am a pro at doing sew-in weaves on both myself and others.) Laziness

. My hair never had a fighting chance.

I am still recovering. Nevertheless, my hair issues have since forced me to get a much needed haircut and begin my journey towards healthy hair. Never thought I had it in me . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

I think they should ban the sale of those three barrel irons!!! I loved how they looked too, but they are torture on your hair. I had no idea I should use heat protectants either while I was using it (which was sparingly, but I used a blow dryer and flat iron before crimping

!!!), I did know I needed SPRITZ!!! Please forgive me hair, please. I'm taking my vitamins right now!!!

Best Wishes on your rehad Chellee!!!

 

[ubavka123]

[ QUOTE ]
chellee said:
I have a setback (or I should say a jumpstart?) I wanted the wavy look so I purchased a crimping iron from the BSS (the one that looks like three barrel curling irons). Knowing nothing about heat protectants, I proceeded to crimp my hair. I got many compliments on it for the first few days and loved them so much, I refused to let them go. I touched them up twice using a little spritz

, curl wax

and gel in the front and on the ends to keep them neat

. My hair looked great . . . until I washed it. I can't begin to explain the amount of hair that went down the drain

. I must have toasted it with the iron and it held together with all the junk I packed on it. I had long and short strands all over my head. It gets worse guys . . . I had somewhere to go that weekend and didn't know of any salons (I had been doing my hair myself for YEARS) so I ran to the BSS and purchased a weave. I used a quick-weave in the back but added a few strands in the front with glue to blend the uneveness better. (Keep in mind I am a pro at doing sew-in weaves on both myself and others.) Laziness

. My hair never had a fighting chance.

I am still recovering. Nevertheless, my hair issues have since forced me to get a much needed haircut and begin my journey towards healthy hair. Never thought I had it in me . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

As soon as I get back home, I am throwing the three-barreled monster out! I knew something wasn't right about that thing. It just looks dangerous, which is why I have never used it. I would offer it to someone, but I think after this, the trash is the best place for it. Good luck to you and I am sure your hair will grow back soon enough.

 

[sengschick]

[ QUOTE ]
ubavka123 said:
As soon as I get back home, I am throwing the three-barreled monster out! I knew something wasn't right about that thing. It just looks dangerous, which is why I have never used it. I would offer it to someone, but I think after this, the trash is the best place for it. Good luck to you and I am sure your hair will grow back soon enough.

[/ QUOTE ]
I thought about giving mine away @ the next area hair board meeting, but I thought why pass the demon along to one of my LHCF sisters?

It'll just keep collecting dust I guess.

 

[jainygirl]

it's not an extreme setback but i did my first REAL dusting/trim since being on the site and my hair was the same length after my touchup last week that it was after my april touchup. 3 months and no progress. i'm on the summer growout challenge so now i'm hoping to gain 1.5 inches by the time we wrap this thing up in october. Please dont get discouraged everyone

even though we all had to cut, the bright side is that we KNOW that the hair that we do have is healthy.

Better we snip now instead of later. Also as far as heat damaged, for those that had it happen to them, dont feel bad, now you know what not to use in the future and are most likely babying your hair that much more

-- jainygirl

 

[AllAboutTheHair]

Yep MAJOR setback...I wore twists for too long, or rinsed too often or something and I had knots, tangles, dryness, roughness, so I just cut about 3 inches off. It will grow back in about 4-5 months. I shouldn't have waited so long to trim. But I am all the wiser now, I am on the lunar cycle bang wagon

. Happy Hair Growing!!

 

[Sapphire]

Unfortunately yes. I called myself "experimenting" last night with a conditioning wash. I mixed the Suave Coconut conditioner with olive oil and worked it in my head.

It smelled really good and my hair felt nice. Then I put a shower cap on and let it "sink in" for about 10-15 minutes. Then w/o rinsing I put AO henna conditioning rinse and worked it through and after that did a complete rinse with water. Anyways I thought I had "discovered" a new routine for my hair regimen but my hair hated and rejected it. When I tried to comb it after working in a leave-in it was a tangled mess and a lot of hair was shedding and my wide tooth comb was full of hair. By this time it was almost one o'clock in the morning and I was dead tired, plus I had to get up for work early in the morning so I did my best to pull it back in a bun. It was VERY difficult because of all the tangles. So now today I'm having an extrememly bad hair day and can't wait to go home and try to repair the damage.

I think I may have to get a trim sooner than expected cuz now my ends look terrible. I hope I don't have to get too much cut.

 

[Isis]

[ QUOTE ]
dannie_19 said:
Gosh... heating tools are the devils candy!

[/ QUOTE ]
Ain't that the truth! That's why I threw mine out when I came to the hair boards!