Hair's a Mess-What Should I Do?

[MzLady78]

Okay, here's the deal.

I'm experiencing A LOT of bad breakage. I literally can't touch my hair without pieces breaking off. I thought maybe it was because I was stretching my relaxer so I attempted to relax it myself. I was unsucessful, because I couldn't part my hair well because the new growth was so nappy (the back is exactly the same as it was before the attempt and the front isn't much better). I did the wet assesment and I figured maybe I needed a protein treatment so I ordered some Aphogee. I've been really stressed out the past 3 months and I'm sure that's been contributing to the breakage as well. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I can try to salvage what's left of my hair? I was thinking of trying to braid it myself so that I'm not manipulating it so much but I've never done it before and I don't know how good a job I'll do.

 

[dlewis]

Can you tell us a little bit more about your regime?

 

[MzLady78]

Well, I'm fairly new to this so I don't really have a consistant one, it really depends on the state of my hair on a day to day basis. The only thing I do regularly is apply either NTM leave in cream or ORS Olive Oil and seal with either WGO or EVOO. I've been bagging every night. When my hair starts to feel dry, I co-wash. Normally I don't use heat but because my relaxer was such a bust, I've flat ironed a few times because it looks terrible when it's airdried. It gets real puffy because of all the broken hairs and doesn't lay down when put in a ponytail. I do use a heat protectant when I flat iron, though.
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[atlien11]

What relaxer are you using?

 

[dlewis]

How long is your hair? Is it long enough to cw and bun for a while to nurture it until it's is a more healthy state?

 

[MzLady78]

I don't exactly how long in inches but I can put it in a decent ponytail and baggie the ends, which is basically what I've been pretty much been doing everyday. I just hate the way it looks because like I said, there so many broken hairs that it's not smooth and it doesn't lay down right even if I keep my scarf on all day. And I don't know how to cornrow, unfortunately.

 

[dlewis]

Maybe you should get the hair cut into a style, get rid of those bad ends and just start over. I know you may hate to do that. And go to a stylist and get a relaxer since as you said you were unsuccessful at relaxing it yourself. Once you get it cut and relaxed you can better care for your hair. And stretching is not for everyone and have to learn your limit.

You may decide that you want to go natural or texlax.

 

[Softresses]

MzLady,

I agree with the advice from dLewis. I also tried to copy and paste you a post from here that an old member put together with excellent tips on taking care of severely damaged hair. I could not get it down to a amall enough size to pm you.

If you would like, check in my journal and it is listed there. It is a rather long post but there are some excellent tips in there about treating damage.

HTH

Softresses

 

[smitmarv]

I'm with dlewis. I just cut my hair off so that I can start over. It is now about 4 inches and I cut off about 5 inches. I just want to start over and have heathy hair instead of just having hair for hairs sake. I think in the long run this will be better for me and it problably will be for you too.

 

[Tee]

I am sorry to hear you are going through this. You may have to go to a trusted stylist to take a look at the damage. I am sorry to say you may endup having to cut somewhat. But in the mean time, try deep conditioners and protein as need. there is also thread here on breakage. I will look for it and come back to post it. I hope you get it all under control.

 

[Tee]

I bumped it up to the top for you.

You can also.... Click Here

 

[MzLady78]

You may decide that you want to go natural or texlax.[/quote]

The funny thing is that I JUST grew it back after doing the bc two years ago. It was in pretty good shape too until recently.

 

[MzLady78]

What relaxer are you using?

Sorry, meant to answer you earlier. I used SE lye.

 

[MzLady78]

MzLady,

I agree with the advice from dLewis. I also tried to copy and paste you a post from here that an old member put together with excellent tips on taking care of severely damaged hair. I could not get it down to a amall enough size to pm you.

If you would like, check in my journal and it is listed there. It is a rather long post but there are some excellent tips in there about treating damage.

HTH

Softresses

Thanks Softresses, I'll check it out.

 

[Softresses]

You are welcome. Also are you sure that what you see is breakage? If the hairs are all over and are not split or ragged, it may be new growth of hair that is not as long as the older strands. On some of the other boards they call this a halo.

Softresses

 

[MzLady78]

You are welcome. Also are you sure that what you see is breakage? If the hairs are all over and are not split or ragged, it may be new growth of hair that is not as long as the older strands. On some of the other boards they call this a halo.

Softresses

No, I'm sure it's breakage. The strands vary in size but some are almost the actual length of my hair.

I was just about to ask you, for the Special Emergency procedure, can I use Emergencee or Aphogee for the protein treatment and S-Curl for the spray on moisturizer, I'm on a tight budget since I'm not working and I already have these products.

Oh and is there something I can use instead of Keraphixx, isn't that kind of expensive?

 

[Softresses]

I took a look at the special emergency portion,

Yes, Emergencee or Aphogee could could be used at this step. A lot of the ladies on the board use either of these conditioners. They are very strong proteins, please do not forget the moisture step though, or you may get more breakage. Whatever you do, when you put in the Aphogee and are allowing it to dry do not manipulate the hair while it is in, It will be stiff until you wash it out.

Also The Scurl should be fine, I use Sta Sof Fro, if you are putting it up, it should be ok.

Also the creamy protein that I use (not a really strong one like Aphogee,) is Motions CPR. You may be able to substitute it in.

Softresses

 

[MzLady78]

Thanks! I'll give this a shot and see what happens.
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I'm not totally opposed to cutting it. I had a short cut years ago that looked really good on me, and I've been told by many people that didn't know me back then that I have the face for it. But I'm gonna try to salvage it first and take it from there.