Hi,
I'm a new poster/member to the LHCF, I've been reading posts for years and finally became active. I have a question/hair issue, and was wondering if anyone had had a similar experience. I've had a relaxer for 15 years...my hair was doing great, and after switching to male hairdressers, had grown quite long (in my experience, they are more conservative with the scissors). I had an impressive head of hair (probably 4a/4b) that was regularly complimented by people. The Domincans accused me of not having a perm and almost refused to do my hair at one point...Mucho pello they would say...no look like a perm...
At any rate, I had very bad hair year that ended all of that. In 1999, I was given a bad substitue for a highly recommended hairdresser at salon that I had never been to-so I didn't realize that I had the wrong girl until too late). She severely underprocessed my hair. I then made things worse by letting my younger sister apply my next retouch 8 weeks later. She's grown nearly waist length hair for herself, but let's say, she didn't really care about doing my perm properly, and left the relaxer on for 10 minutes too long....massive hair loss, overall effect that my hair was severely thinned out. I will have issues with her regarding this forever, but that's another story.
It was so thick that even after losing about 75% of it's volume, people still commented that it was so "nice and thick." I remember feeling physically ill anytime anyone mentioned it. I gave up relaxers for many months, and sure enough, the new hair started to grow in and fill out things pretty well.
I then went to another hair salon in Chicago, and although I told the woman what strength and brand (regular Affirm) to use, she ignored me and used super strength Bantu. Again, massive hair loss ensued, this time focused on the right side of my head. The witch even had the nerve to comment on my "excessive shedding" and suggested that I cut it all off. She later went on to totally burn the scalp of another friend (who I didn't know had plans on going to that salon or that hairdresser). That friend lost the hair on the crown of her head and was so badly damaged that a dermatologist recommended she go natural, and she cut off all of her past shoulder length hair and has had an afro ever since (very cute though).
So the result of the 2nd bad relaxer in 10 months was that the right side of my hair was severly thinned out...I still had a lot of length, but you could pretty much see through one side while the other side was still filling out from the previous year's bad perm.
Despite much TLC, I still have issues w/ the right side of my hair. Each time I go to get it done, the "good" side is about 2-3 inches longer. I should add that I regularly trim the good side in an effort to keep things even. The new growth on the "Bad" side feels different from the rest of my hair...much rougher, and does not add length as well, and seems to be brittle and breaks off.
Any ideas why a bad perm (i had no scalp damage) would change my hair texture? why does my newly grown hair continue to feel so strange, years after the effect? has anyone had a similar experience? everyone insists that it can't have changed things, but nearly 6 years out, i still cannot add much length on that side, no matter what i do. it's not short, but it's way shorter than i'm used to...I wouldn't mind if it was a choice, but it's annoying when it was kind of imposed, and hate to admit being jealous in watching friends who always had way less hair being able to pass me up (and get the compliments that i always got). i don't even like to wear my hair out now, b/c i miss what has been my trademark my whole life...
Thanks for any input that anyone has. On my last hairdresser visit last week, I had a bad spot in the middle, but I think that stress has been the issue...and I had to cut off even more.
I would love to just grow back my hair evenly to a nice length that I'm used to...I seem to keep moving backwards no matter what I do. My hair is the shortest it's been in about 15 years, after nearly a decade of hair that was always easily and comfortable beyond my brastrap (and when it was damaged, it was even longer).
I'm a new poster/member to the LHCF, I've been reading posts for years and finally became active. I have a question/hair issue, and was wondering if anyone had had a similar experience. I've had a relaxer for 15 years...my hair was doing great, and after switching to male hairdressers, had grown quite long (in my experience, they are more conservative with the scissors). I had an impressive head of hair (probably 4a/4b) that was regularly complimented by people. The Domincans accused me of not having a perm and almost refused to do my hair at one point...Mucho pello they would say...no look like a perm...
At any rate, I had very bad hair year that ended all of that. In 1999, I was given a bad substitue for a highly recommended hairdresser at salon that I had never been to-so I didn't realize that I had the wrong girl until too late). She severely underprocessed my hair. I then made things worse by letting my younger sister apply my next retouch 8 weeks later. She's grown nearly waist length hair for herself, but let's say, she didn't really care about doing my perm properly, and left the relaxer on for 10 minutes too long....massive hair loss, overall effect that my hair was severely thinned out. I will have issues with her regarding this forever, but that's another story.
It was so thick that even after losing about 75% of it's volume, people still commented that it was so "nice and thick." I remember feeling physically ill anytime anyone mentioned it. I gave up relaxers for many months, and sure enough, the new hair started to grow in and fill out things pretty well.
I then went to another hair salon in Chicago, and although I told the woman what strength and brand (regular Affirm) to use, she ignored me and used super strength Bantu. Again, massive hair loss ensued, this time focused on the right side of my head. The witch even had the nerve to comment on my "excessive shedding" and suggested that I cut it all off. She later went on to totally burn the scalp of another friend (who I didn't know had plans on going to that salon or that hairdresser). That friend lost the hair on the crown of her head and was so badly damaged that a dermatologist recommended she go natural, and she cut off all of her past shoulder length hair and has had an afro ever since (very cute though).
So the result of the 2nd bad relaxer in 10 months was that the right side of my hair was severly thinned out...I still had a lot of length, but you could pretty much see through one side while the other side was still filling out from the previous year's bad perm.
Despite much TLC, I still have issues w/ the right side of my hair. Each time I go to get it done, the "good" side is about 2-3 inches longer. I should add that I regularly trim the good side in an effort to keep things even. The new growth on the "Bad" side feels different from the rest of my hair...much rougher, and does not add length as well, and seems to be brittle and breaks off.
Any ideas why a bad perm (i had no scalp damage) would change my hair texture? why does my newly grown hair continue to feel so strange, years after the effect? has anyone had a similar experience? everyone insists that it can't have changed things, but nearly 6 years out, i still cannot add much length on that side, no matter what i do. it's not short, but it's way shorter than i'm used to...I wouldn't mind if it was a choice, but it's annoying when it was kind of imposed, and hate to admit being jealous in watching friends who always had way less hair being able to pass me up (and get the compliments that i always got). i don't even like to wear my hair out now, b/c i miss what has been my trademark my whole life...
Thanks for any input that anyone has. On my last hairdresser visit last week, I had a bad spot in the middle, but I think that stress has been the issue...and I had to cut off even more.
I would love to just grow back my hair evenly to a nice length that I'm used to...I seem to keep moving backwards no matter what I do. My hair is the shortest it's been in about 15 years, after nearly a decade of hair that was always easily and comfortable beyond my brastrap (and when it was damaged, it was even longer).
