Before my HHJ I thought...

[ReignLocks]

that grease was moisture, all hair care products were created equal and washing my hair once every 2 weeks or longer was beneficial to my hair (I must say, however, my hair was below BSL when I was doing this).

You finish the sentence....

 

[MystiqueBabe]

Before my HHJ I thought...

I should only wash my hair once a month or once every two months. And I did.

Washing my hair dried it out and it did at the time (never heard of conditioner, lol)

That I needed grease, it did help stop my scalp from itching so I still use to this day

Only certain black woman can have long hair, I had long hair most of my life. only have had short hair for around 3 years now (I am 19) I just thought that some girls hair just didn't grow due to genetics and that I was a lucky one.

I didn't need to trim

I knew my hair was dry but never moisturized

Surprisingly my hair was long, thick, and healthy following those beliefs.

 

[ReignLocks]

I wonder if "old" practices really do work or if it was the low manipulation??? I think most black women were raised up on grease. I actually just stopped using grease just to see what my hair would do and I actually love the way it moves without it. It's exceptionally light and fluffy.

 

[NikkiQ]

Before my HHJ I thought....

*washing your hair too much as a relaxed head would "strip" your relaxer
*black women had to only use products geared towards black women
*you didn't need a heat protectant when flat ironing or curling (and no one ever used it)
*natural hair was way more work than it was worth
*black women couldn't grow hair longer than BSL
*there was no such thing as a trim. You got a cut or nothing at all
*cowashing? what's that?! had no idea what that was
*the more expensive the product, the better and nothing cheap was worth your money

...that's all I have for now

 

[KurlyNinja]

Before my HHJ I thought...

Relaxing my hair was actually helping to fight off my dandruff. Although it was doing the opposite.

I thought oil sheen was the holy grail product.

Full SL was the black girls WL.

A wet to dry flat iron was the BEST invention made.


Glad I've learned better. Still surprised I even had hair.

 

[MystiqueBabe]

I wonder if "old" practices really do work or if it was the low manipulation??? I think most black women were raised up on grease. I actually just stopped using grease just to see what my hair would do and I actually love the way it moves without it. It's exceptionally light and fluffy.

That has to be it. My hair was natural and was either braided or in a bun. Occasionally I would wear a braidout( didnt even know what those were before lhcf) or just a press & curl.

I know the infrequent washings made me have very bad dandruff though. Other than that my hair was happy.

After all I learned I will not give up grease. I love the greases that tingle

 

[ReignLocks]

Before my HHJ I thought...
I thought oil sheen was the holy grail product.

OMG I forgot about the oil sheen....lmbo! We used the one in the blue can.

What I hated was that when I had long hair, a lot of people thought that I was mixed (although I look every bit of black) and they would say that was the only reason why I had long hair. Even trying to help my family, they still think that if my hair isn't weighted down with grease that it's dry and needs "moisture". They can't get past the fact that grease is NOT moisture.

Before my HHJ I thought that if your hair wasn't dirty, that it wasn't growing...as if it were a flower or something!

 

[InBloom]

I thought Black women were ONLY supposed to use Black Hair care products..period

I thought that my hair never grew - not sure what I thought about my new growth (relaxed), just that my relaxer was wearing off...jeez

I thought that baby oil was good for hair

I thought that washing hair more than once every month was too much

I thought that Black women could never achieve bounce and swing once the relaxer was beyond a week old

I thought that the appearance of new growth was bad, something to dread

I thought that all relaxers were created equal - never realized lye vs. no lye

I thought that rinse-out conditioning was sufficient

Because of my "thoughts," I never had hair beyond beginning neck length. Sadly, I didn't learn better until a couple of years ago....and I'm still learning. Better late than never.

 

[Evolving78]

before my HHJ, i knew the majority of stuff i was doing was bad, but i thought my hair could handle the abuse. i didn't get hip to not using gel (pro-style) spritz, the curling iron daily, and grease until 2001. but i always washed my hair at least once or twice a week. I remember i used to use Salon Selectives in the pink bottles. i loved that shampoo and conditioner. i really wasn't deep conditioning my hair at home, but i would use some type of conditioner.

 

[Philippians413]

I thought I had "bad" hair.

 

[ms.blue]

Before my hhj

I thought you couldn't wash your hair while wearing braided extensions, for almost 2 yrs I only washed my hair 4x a yr....nasty.
I never used heat protectant to heat style my hair...just used plain ole dax grease and the snap crakle and pop was setting my style.
Getting 1" trims every two months will help my hair grow. I was the same length for a very long time.
Dominican shops were a relaxed hair best friend. All those smoke coming from the blowdryer was just to make my hair extra straight.
I didn't know the difference b/w a protein and moisture.
Oil sheen and oil moisturizers are healthy for the hair.
wrapping the hair perserves the straightness.

 

[isawstars]

Before my HHJ I thought....

*all hair stylists were trustworthy and knew what they were talking about
*SL was long
*I never even knew texlaxing or going natural was an option.
*there was some secret hair product to grow your hair long that I didn't know about...
*microbraids were the best (and only) way to grow my hair out

 

[growbaby]

I thought Black women were ONLY supposed to use Black Hair care products..period

I thought that all relaxers were created equal - never realized lye vs. no lye

Yes! I believed in my heart that these were true, I still dunno the difference between lye & no lye or which 1 I use off the top of my head, bad I know

I also thought wearing your hair up too often broke it off, because it was bent out of shape by the clip or holder n needed to be flat ironed to grow.

 

[isawstars]

Before my hhj

Getting 1" trims every two months will help my hair grow. I was the same length for a very long time.

Oh, I forgot about this! Every time I sat in a stylist's chair they told me I needed a trim and that it would help me grow my hair out. And I went to the same stylist once every 1 or 2 months!

 

[Philippians413]

Just thought of another one...I thought that my hair wasn't growing because it stayed the same length. In reality it was growing, it was just breaking off.

 

[ReignLocks]

I always thought that changing up products like shampoos and relaxers twice a year was the way to keep the hair from getting use to the product.

Thought that this was interesting:

Myth: Switching shampoos can make hair look healthier.
Truth: It may seem so, but experts scoff. "Hair can't tell the difference between brands or build up tolerance to any product," says London-based hair and scalp expert Philip Kingsley. "Your favorite shampoo will work the same every time you lather up, week after week, month after month." If you have very oily hair or favor a particularly sticky styling product that contains wax, it does pay to use a clarifying shampoo once every two weeks to wash away residue. Good Housekeeping's Beauty Department recommends Redken Hair Cleansing Cream and Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo.

 

[yaya24]

Before my HHJ I thought....

*black women couldn't grow hair longer than BSL.. *well actually APL* unless you were mixed and/or had that good hair.

This and many more

 

[longhairdreaming]

Before my HJ I thought:
-the millions of little pieces of hair on the sink was normal
-my hair was meant to be grazing SL
-my hair was just plain difficult
-the stomach turning burnt hair smell I had everytime I went to get my hair done was normal(I remember always driving home with the window down to air out my hair )
-washing my hair was a thing only done at the salon
-anything a stylist did just HAD to be good for my hair
-you either had long beautiful hair or you didn't and there was nothing you could do about it
*I didn't know anything about moisture/protein balance, m&s, or protective styles*

 

[KiWiStyle]

Before my HHJ:

I thought getting a relaxer touch up every 6 weeks would stop mybreakage and help my hair stay strong, healthy and grow.

I thought trimming the ends with every relaxer was for us smart people thus the reason I did it. I never put 2 & 2 together that I was cutting my progress every six weeks..

I never EVER DC or used leave-in conditioners.

I thought I had inherited bad, thin and slow growing hair from my father and that it will never grow long. (I learned my father has 3c hair and that I was blaming the wrong parent all my life for my 4a/b strands)

I thought the breakage at my nape was just a weak spot that won't grow any longer than 2" and mostly everyone had one somewhere on their head too.

I thought hair products sold at Sally's and Ulta was for everyone but black people and products that read " for black hair" was made especially for me.

I thought satin/silk pillowcases and bonnets were for booji people.

I thought the little broken hairs all over the bathroom floor and sink was normal.

I thought breakage and shedding was one and the same.

As y'll can see, I was pretty darn ignorant about hair before my HHJ.

 

[Your Cheeziness]

...I never heard of beauty supply stores.

...New growth was "bad hair".

...Washing African American hair damaged it.

...Heat settings had to be on high to work.

...Heat styling dirty has was the only way to make the style stay.

...Dirt made hair grow.

 

[LucieLoo12]

I thought if my hair wasn't bone straight, it was considered messy

 

[jessicarabbit]

Kinda like a previous poster said, I thought that the little broken hairs at the back of my shirt were normal.

I'd always wondered how to get a big afro, but didnt know about "going natural".

I never moisturized my hair.

I never, ever, thought Id ever be able to obtain long hair.

 

[caliscurls]

Before my HHJ I thought....

- relaxers were the debil!!!
- my hair would never get past my shoulders...look Ma, I'm scratching BSL!!!
- there were no products available for me...my hair was "special"
- manufacturers didn't make combs or brushes strong enough to withstand black hair!!
- I was destined to walk around with my hair in a poof unless I was brave enough to let a stylist deal with it....and then regret it (oh how many times was I told I had too much hair!)
- shampoo was like acid...seriously!
- I would never be able to do my own hair successfully - oh how I've been proven wrong and love it!

Great thread!

 

[ReignLocks]

....that coochie cream had no bizness being on your head!

-oils were best used in a frying pan heating up for some fish!

-brushing your hair is what kept the kinks out and if you let some water run on the brush and smoothed in some heavy grease with it that made your hair look like you had "good" hair!

 

[lamaria211]

....that coochie cream had no bizness being on your head!

-oils were best used in a frying pan heating up for some fish!

-brushing your hair is what kept the kinks out and if you let some water run on the brush and smoothed in some heavy grease with it that made your hair look like you had "good" hair!

Lol
I second everything you stated plus
you had to be mixed to have long hair

 

[FoxxyLocs]

-relaxers were mandatory
-my scalp needed grease
-the proud lady was the mark of a quality product

*I figured out in high school that washing my hair more often was actually a good thing. That was a shock, but that was before my HHJ

 

[NaiyaAi]

...that everyone's hair broke off when they did it in the morning.
...that oil had no place in your hair because it would make it greasy, meanwhile I was loading my scalp up with grease all the time. No wonder my hair was so stiff.
...that it was perfectly normal to use direct heat every single morning.
...that my hair would never get to its pre-relaxer length unless I went natural (was SL for years, now grazing BSL).

 

[ManiiSweetheart]

1. Washing your hair more than once a week was a white girl thing
2. you had to have Indian to have long beautiful hair
3. you absolutely cannot leave in conditioner!
4. Detangling = rat tail comb on dry hair only
5. Split ends = myth
6. My hair = nappy hot mess that needed a relaxer ( or that's what my mom subliminally told every hairdresser i ever went too)

 

[Angelinhell]

Before my HHJ I thought....

*there was some secret hair product to grow your hair long that I didn't know about...

This was most definitely my main problem, because when my mom would ask stylists what to use and how to treat my hair they would say no they were not going to give out their "secrets", or they did not know. Yet their daughters always had long beautiful, healthy looking hair, and my mom would just take me to another stylist, so they lost the business anyway. looking back I realize how petty and ridiculous they sounded.

 

[xu93texas]

There were so many myths that I believed before embarking upon my healthy hair journey. The two that come to mind are:

1.) I thought that I was destined to always have short hair (NL or shorter). I always thought that my family just had the "short hair genes"

and

2.) I didn't know "our hair" needed water and constant moisture. I thought washing my hair every 2 weeks was normal.

Thank God I found this forum and YT.