Hair Breakage. Could someone please help?

[angelanderson]

Okay, I did the big chop a couple of months ago. After I finally cut off the rest of my permed hair, I started wearing braids a lot. But, I took out my braids a month ago and I don't want to wear weaves anymore. I have experienced a lot of breakage in the middle and towards the front of my hair.

Products I use:
Doo Gro Mega Thick Shampoo
Garnier Fructis Body Boost

Pantene Relaxed and Natural Breakage Defense Mask Deep Conditioning
Spectrum Naturals - Coconut Oil Organic---Pre-poo
CPR---Protein treatment

My current regimen:

I shampoo once a week. I do the protein treatment twice a month, followed by deep conditioning. When I am not doing the protein treatment or deep conditioning, I just condition with Garnier Fructis.

I am running low on my products, so I will be buying some more in a week or two. Are the products I'm currently using all right or should I switch to something else? Could someone also suggest some hairstyles.

 

[Dposh167]

well have you done a strand test? its hard to tell based on what you said if you're too much over protein side...or moisture. esp. since you said that you dc after your protein treatments

 

[angelanderson]

well have you done a strand test? its hard to tell based on what you said if you're too much over protein side...or moisture. esp. since you said that you dc after your protein treatments

Could you tell me how to do a strand test?

 

[Dposh167]

www.associatedcontent.com/article/278612/the_fine_art_of_protein_and_moisture.html

this is an article by a member here that explains it. i think the strand test is later in the article. but the article itself is worth the read

 

[Miamori]

The strand test is a good idea; you also say you follow you protein (CPR, right?) with deep conditioning. Why conditioner?

If you follow with the Pantene R&N, I don't use it, but when I was reading threads on it at one point (was considering buying), I really feel as though I recall there being protein in it. Is there? Take a look at the ingredients. I know if I'm not using mild protein, my hair needs conditioning with as much moisture as possible, and I try to avoid other things that contain protein at all.

As a result, it's easier for me to mostly use products that have a bit of both, instead of something made for straight protein. It's worked out for me - I used to use protein as often as you do, or at least once a month, and now I hardly ever need to do it at all, and rarely have breakage due to either protein or moisture issues.

In any case, to begin, do the strand test and let us know what you follow your CPR with.

I mentioned perhaps stopping straight protein treatments in case you have protein issues currently, which could go beyond needing something more moisturizing, to not needing hard protein at al, or having only needed it as a boost to get your hair on the right track initially.

 

[angelanderson]

The strand test is a good idea; you also say you follow you protein (CPR, right?) with deep conditioning. Why conditioner?

If you follow with the Pantene R&N, I don't use it, but when I was reading threads on it at one point (was considering buying), I really feel as though I recall there being protein in it. Is there? Take a look at the ingredients. I know if I'm not using mild protein, my hair needs conditioning with as much moisture as possible, and I try to avoid other things that contain protein at all.

As a result, it's easier for me to mostly use products that have a bit of both, instead of something made for straight protein. It's worked out for me - I used to use protein as often as you do, or at least once a month, and now I hardly ever need to do it at all, and rarely have breakage due to either protein or moisture issues.

In any case, to begin, do the strand test and let us know what you follow your CPR with.

I mentioned perhaps stopping straight protein treatments in case you have protein issues currently, which could go beyond needing something more moisturizing, to not needing hard protein at al, or having only needed it as a boost to get your hair on the right track initially.

Thanks for commenting. Anyway, I just checked the Pantene R&N ingredients and I didn't see anything about protein. The reason I DC after the protein treatment is because I ran across this article about how to care for African American hair and it said that it is important to do so. Here is the link: http://hairfinity.com/BlackHairGrowth.htm