Could I be wrong about this?

[AmyRose92]

Hey LHCF!

So, the other night, my mother offered to cornrow my hair as a PS for a couple of weeks. While doing the right side of my head, she suddenly said: "I don't know what you're doing to your hair, but this part of your hair can't even reach the crown of your head! It did two/three weeks ago!"

Now, naturally, whenever my mom says something about hair, I'm quick to refute it because almost everything that she knows has been proven wrong. So, when she says this, different explanations came to mind:

1. My hair is a coarse 4a/b type that has a ton of shrinkage.
2. Because of shrinkage, it is hard to tell whether my hair is growing.
3. That night, I pre-pooed, washed, and conditioned my hair but for lack of time, I let it shrink up 100% instead of having a couple of twists.
4. My hair would grow maybe a 1/4 of an inch in two-three weeks
5. Dealing with shrunken hair is different than stretched hair (from twists) so it may have seem shorter while she cornrowed.

But my mother is rarely convinced and she continues to say that my "excessive" washing/conditioning routine is doing nothing for my hair and says only "white people" wash their hair that much. Apparently, washing my hair every TWO weeks is still too much.

So, the important thing about all of this is that my mom apparently believes I'm experiencing enough breakage in a small portion of my hair that she's able to see a noticeable difference. Oh, and don't forget she also says "I don't see your hair growing at all." Wow, Mom.

So do you think it's possible that I have breakage or is my mom just using her highly misinformed expertise on hair to pass judgments on my hair practices?

 

[~~HoneyComb~~]

You want to know if we can tell if you have breakage? We really can't tell you if you have breakage or not, and from what I read, I don't see where your mom passed judgment on you, she noticed something going on with your hair, something that she hadn't noticed 2-3 weeks ago.

Do you mom do your hair often? I do my daughters' hair, so I will notice if there is breakage, growth, etc. So if your mom is doing your hair regularly, she will notice what's going on with it.

 

[AHeadOfCoils]

You could be wrong and so could she. I wouldn't worry about it until, you take the braids out and see if it's damaged or not.

 

[MsChelle]

Are you noticing broken hairs at all? Not sure if she is right or wrong. When she pointed her concern out to you what did you think? Did you see a significant change in the length?

 

[lovenharmony]

Does your mom do your hair on the regular? If so, what styling tools is your mom using to do your hair and what products? If she's using the typical fine tooth comb and grease, then that could be the reason why your hair might be breaking.

If you are primarily taking care of your hair, I feel you should be able to tell whether or not your hair is breaking. None of us here would know maybe if you give us your (or your mom's) regimen, then we might be able to tell if you're hair is being properly moisturized and maintained.

 

[AmyRose92]

@~~HoneyComb~~
Well I didn't take pictures when she said it so I can't really expect anyone to tell whether or not I have breakage. I guess my question is: could it be breakage if it's that significant over a span of two/three weeks or was it because my hair was in a shrunken state? My mom does my hair fairly often, but she's also been the one to say that she can never see progress, even when I personally feel that my hair is growing. Plus, she feels the fact that I take down my cornrows every two weeks to pre-poo/wash/detangle/condition with steam is too much.

@SkysMommy
Thanks. I guess I'll just use the wait-and-see approach.

@MsChelle
I couldn't really tell since she had already cornrowed it and it was pretty late so I just shrugged it off. But it felt pretty unnerving because I looked at the ends and they didn't seem horribly split. It was really only a section of hair--maybe two-three inches in diameter--so I was skeptical to believe that only that section of hair would be breaking off. She didn't say anything about the other sections. I get broken hairs here and there but I've always seen just about the same amount of hair every time I detangle so I didn't think much of it.

 

[MsChelle]

It is possible to have breakage in just one area of your hair. My suggestion would be to get a really good look at it for yourself when you take it down and see if you can notice what she was talking about. Do you tend to favor a certain style that may have put tension on that area and caused some breakage?

 

[AmyRose92]

lovenharmony
The most my mom does is style my hair. I do just about everything else. She uses a typicall small-toothed (but not fine-toothed) comb to detangle small sections at a time. I only allow this when I properly detangled my hair with a wide-toothed comb beforehand and when my hair is fairly moisturized (I use the Kimmaytube mixture). Maybe I should tell her to stop using the small-toothed comb?

My reggie is pretty simple:
Pre-poo with a mixture of bhrami powder/Aussie Moist/other oils
Wash with SLS-free AO shampoo
Deep condition with ORS Replenishing conditioner under steamer for 20-30 minutes.
Moisturize with Kimmaytube mixture

My mom would typically cornrow my hair after this, and I'd leave them if for two weeks at a time. Every two-three days, I'd moisturize with my KT leave in and seal with Vatika oil.

MsChelle
Well, the only thing I can think of is using a phony afro puff and pinning it with hair pins around the crown. I would take down the puff nightly and pin it back in the morning. Could that cause breakage?

 

[MsChelle]

@MsChelle
Well, the only thing I can think of is using a phony afro puff and pinning it with hair pins around the crown. I would take down the puff nightly and pin it back in the morning. Could that cause breakage?[/QUOTE]


If you are pinning it in the same spot it each time it could be causing some breakage. I am lazy (my lil secret) and would put my hair in a ponytail, not even a tight one, daily for months and one day I realized that it looked like and entire section of my hair had been hacked off. I thought because I would take the ponytail down at night everything was all good. I am no expert but I think maybe your should alternate the positioning of your puff so you are not constantly putting stress on the same section of your hair.

 

[AmyRose92]

MsChelle
That makes a ton of sense. Thank you very much!