Crazy Things You Thought About Your Hair Before Your Journey That Make You Laugh Now

[irisak]

What are some crazy things you thought about your hair that your journey proved wrong? Things you might have thought were good but really meant your hair was trying to end your relationship. Crazy styling practices that made you look fly but made your hair mad in the long run.

 

[irisak]

I'll go first. A few years before my healthy hair journey I grew my hair out under weaves to about apl. I learned enough about my hair to be using mild relaxers instead of the super strength I thought I needed as a teen but I still had a lot to learn.

I started wearing my hair down and flat ironed, which is cool because my hair can handle heat. I even used a heat protector which is great. What my hair could not handle was my technique. I would blow dry my hair three times on high with a paddle brush and tension. Then turn my flat iron on 440° go over it once with multiple passes to straighten them one more time to style. I would rinse and repeat and do this every 1-2 weeks. My hair was shiny and bouncy and we were all good for a few months. The saddest part is when my hair broke up with me I thought the little pieces of hair on my desk, my shirt, my bathroom floor, was my hair shedding even though each piece was 2 cm long. I didn't notice an issue until people started asking me why I cut my hair.

I can laugh about it now but thank God for lhcf. Otherwise I would have continued my adult cycle of grow, break, repeat.

 

[IDareT'sHair]

That I could actually 'repair' irrepairable damage.

 

[knt1229]

I thought that I would never be able to stop relaxing because I thought my hair would be dry and broken off without a relaxer. I'm so glad I found all the info I needed online to be able to free myself from relaxers for good.

 

[LivingInPeace]

I thought if I went natural I would have to press my hair or wear a twa.

 

[SmilingElephant]

I thought relaxers were a requirement for Black girls.

I had no clue that I had options.

I used to relax ever 4 weeks, went to salons and had my hair fried, died, and laid to the side. My hair was always between SL and APL as a teen.

I had highlights, went blonde for a day lol (I hated it), I used to dye my hair jet black or red. All kinds of marcell crimps...pump it up spray, pink lotion...you name it!!

I've never been one to really do weaves. I've had one sew in in my whole life, if anything I did braid extensions.

I thought my hair was just indestructible bc it was always long. (From a non-lhcf perspective )


I don't do all that mess now! Wash n go and bun. Conditioner and gel and oil and bun life!

 

[xmsxtashax]

Leaving the relaxer in til it burrrrned. Smh thinking about all those strands of hair that 'melted' away in the process.

I used to think my hair was thick with a relaxer, boy was I wrong. I'm 4yr natural now and I pop at least two scrunchies a week trying to get my hair in a ponytail.

 

[Prettymetty]

I thought my hair was dry, coarse, difficult to manage and impossible to grow. Shoulder length was the longest my hair grew before hair boards.

Within 6 months of bunning my hair was apl and after a few good deep treatments my hair was soft, shiny and easy to comb. My hair did a 180 when my attitude about it changed.

 

[irisak]

I'm still relaxed but back in the day I used to think my perm wore off because my hair still curled when wet. So I would use a super strength relaxer and use it from root to tip, smooth repeatedly, and I never worried about timing because I didn't burn. All this on color treated hair. I'm still not sure how I wasn't bald.

 

[Blessed&higlyflavoured]

That I would live in twist outs. I did for the first year and lost so much hair to over manipulation.

 

[nothidden]

That my hair was only capable of being an undefined 'fro...
What difference moisture makes.

 

[ag00]

That I could only straighten once or twice per month.

 

[SunnyDelight]

I thought I could brush my hair daily without doing damage ... and the strands in my brush were "dead" and gonna fall out anyway.

 

[Prudent1]

Probably just that it was not able to grow past a certain length for some unknown reason. My hair stayed APL-ish at the longest then it would be thin and scraggly at the ends because as an adult I wanted it "down" and on display all the times. My hair eventually was so parched it would break off with the slightest provocation. Finding this site and understanding how to interpret when I needed moisture and when I needed protein was HUGE for me. Then I had to pray for patience so that I could learn how to style my hair at all of the in between stages. SL to APL especially seemed to be tricky. Now I'm WL when flat ironed and MBL with dry un-manipulated curly hair.

 

[irisak]

Probably just that it was not able to grow past a certain length for some unknown reason. My hair stayed APL-ish at the longest then it would be thin and scraggly at the ends because as an adult I wanted it "down" and on display all the times. My hair eventually was so parched it would break off with the slightest provocation. Finding this site and understanding how to interpret when I needed moisture and when I needed protein was HUGE for me. Then I had to pray for patience so that I could learn how to style my hair at all of the in between stages. SL to APL especially seemed to be tricky. Now I'm WL when flat ironed and MBL with dry un-manipulated curly hair.

Yep I tell everybody that finding MY moisture protein balance was the key my retention.

 

[havilland]

that i couldn't live without a relaxer

that i needed a relaxer every 4-6 weeks

that i could relax just my edges every 2 weeks

that APL was my terminal length

that i needed shampoo every time i wet my hair ( i still use shampoo but i don't use it daily)

that i could repair damage ( you can only prolong the strand life, but eventually you have to cut the damage off to get maximum retention)

that i needed a trim every 6 weeks

that i could relax my whole head and then immediately braid it up for a weave! (ugh,.....)

that those scraggly damaged ends that i was hanging on to made my hair look "long"

that i didn't need a scarf or a satin pillowcase

that i should scratch my scalp with my fingernails or a comb weekly (what was i thinking???)

that products with cheap ingredients were the same as products with quality ingredients

 

[julzinha]

I thought every full black girl I saw with hair past APL was using a secret hair product that was getting their hair super long. Now, I know proper technique is key and not some special product. That belief is what prompted me to google how to grow black hair and it led me to this site

 

[ItsMeLilLucky]

I thought you had to apply the relaxer from root to tip every time you got a relaxer. Mind you I lived in a house full of women...apparently none of them were knowledgeable about proper hair care.

 

[GGsKin]

I thought relaxers were a requirement for Black girls.

I had no clue that I had options.

I used to relax ever 4 weeks, went to salons and had my hair fried, died, and laid to the side. My hair was always between SL and APL as a teen.

I had highlights, went blonde for a day lol (I hated it), I used to dye my hair jet black or red. All kinds of marcell crimps...pump it up spray, pink lotion...you name it!!

I've never been one to really do weaves. I've had one sew in in my whole life, if anything I did braid extensions.

I thought my hair was just indestructible bc it was always long. (From a non-lhcf perspective )


I don't do all that mess now! Wash n go and bun. Conditioner and gel and oil and bun life!

This was totally me before lhcf, even down to the blonde for a day part.

I would blow out my hair on high with a roundbrush every morning, oh the abuse. What differs is I would self-relax new growth bone straight every 6 weeks. And I don't bun. I've never liked them on me.

I was obsessed with flatness. I used to think that my hair had to be sleek and straight to look good.

 

[sky035]

I didn't know that the curling iron was frying my hair and that heat was making it impossible for my hair to grow beyond SL. I also didn't realize that shampoos with alcohol was bad for my hair and that the ingredients in hair products actually mattered. I was a mess and so was my hair.

 

[mzteaze]

That I couldn't live without going to the hairdresser. My hair would suffer without it.

That my hair needed a relaxer. (Only to find I can get my hair straight enough with a tiny bit of heat and tension)

I only needed to DC maybe 2-3 times over 8 weeks plus.