Have I Lost my Natural Kinky Curly Hair because of Striaghtening my Hair???

[Meli]

Recently I had an important event where I needed to straighten my hair. I am 4bzzz hair type, and I have been natural for a year. Last month, I straightened my hair myself by blowing it out, and using the FHI and Maxiglide flat irons. I did a horrible job cause it never got straight--it looked like a fro. So I went to a professional salon in nyc, who blew my hair out, flat ironed my hair using the chi and then pressed it. She performed this procedure twice for me.

Well, now I try wetting my hair and expecting it to curl the same and there are parts of my hair that literally are bone straight..i.e. the hair at my temples. The back of my hair on my head is looser...which I kinda like. The crown of my head is still reflecting the original natural state. But when I wash and do my twists, there's different curl patterns....some straight, others natural looking but frizzy, and others straight near the scalp but then forming a different curl pattern.

Can someone explain what happened? Will I get my kinky curly 4b hair back? Was it the pressing that destroyed my curl pattern?erplexed What should I do?

thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Meli]

Re: Have I Lost my Natural Kinky Curly Hair because of Straightening my Hair???

Sorry ...I spelled Straightening wrong in the title. I am a stickler for spelling things correctly.

 

[mkstar826]

What's happening is heat trauma/damage. You need to moisturize and deep condition A LOT and see if your curls bounce back. If they don't then the parts that remain straight are probably permanently damaged and you'll need to cut the damage off OR grow the damage out.

ETA: You also might want to do a milder protein treatment...it might help.

 

[CurliDiva]

Wow, I haven't straighten my hair in over 2 years, but plan to when I reach a major length goal - APL.

How can you prevent this damage? erplexed

 

[bLackButtaFly]

The only way to prevent the damage, is either to not use heat, or to no use so much. I straighten my hair, but never witha pressing comb, and only using low settings, or w/out heat. It taes longer, btu i don't have the heat damage i used to. I got my hair straightened once professionally w/ a pressign comb and I still have one part of my hair that's forever straight .

 

[mscocoface]

High heat or intense heat is what destroyed your curl pattern. I am sorry to say the only thing that can be done is that you grow it out and cut it.

There is no way to revert it back. You have to be very careful and protect natural hair with products that protect your hair when pressing or curling with hot irons and curling irons. Even then some of us still have hair that won't revert back.

When using heat you have to use a certain temp on natural hair if you want to press it. It cannot handle the strong heat and then revert back. It will lose it's curl pattern.

I know this from experience. Heat from the hot comb, blow dryer and curling iron can damage the hair.

Some of the ladies on this site have mastered using heat at a certain temp. I have not put heat in my head for the past few years. It has been a while.

My top is very funny and not as kinky as the rest of my hair so my damage was always at the top of my head. It reacted the most to heat.

Hopefully it was not a lot of hair that did not revert back to its natural state.

 

[PinkSkates]

I'm sorry that happen to you. Sounds like she put too much heat in your hair. (she may have heat-damaged your hair) I press my hair once a month with a hot comb and my hair reverts back to its natural state as soon as I wet it. Unfortunately when it comes to pressing my hair, I trust no one but myself. You really have to know how to gauge the uncontrolled heat when you are dealing with a hot comb. I would try deep conditioning every week for a month; and if your curl pattern does not return after that, then you will have to cut away the damaged hair.

 

[Meli]

What's happening is heat trauma/damage. You need to moisturize and deep condition A LOT and see if your curls bounce back. If they don't then the parts that remain straight are probably permanently damaged and you'll need to cut the damage off OR grow the damage out.

Now when you say damage ....do you mean like damage that my hair will begin breaking or damage that my hair will never be curly again in those parts?

In addition, I have not used henna in long time. Should I not use it cause henna tends to loosen up the curl pattern? I definitely won't be straightening my hair, but what about even doing a Aphogee protein treatment followed by deep conditioning?

 

[Ms Lala]

Oh no, they used way too much heat. Why would they flat iron then press it? Is this a normal practice in beauty salons. I am able to get my hair straight at home by blowdrying and flat ironing. Please deep condition regularly to help prevent breakage.

 

[DeepBluSea]

I have wanted to ask the naturals who wear their hair straightened most of the time if their hair reverts or has it been "trained." It's funny because when I was a kid, we got hard presses and our hair always reverted. But as adults, most people seem to have encountered some form of heat damage.

I'm sorry about your hair. I have read that some people recommend Conditioning and someone mentioned using beer. But I don't think it worked for most people.

 

[mscocoface]

Now when you say damage ....do you mean like damage that my hair will begin breaking or damage that my hair will never be curly again in those parts?

In addition, I have not used henna in long time. Should I not use it cause henna tends to loosen up the curl pattern? I definitely won't be straightening my hair, but what about even doing a protein treatment followed by deep conditioning?

I use Henna and my curl patterned isn't what I would call loosened and it only seems to be temporary. I guess the best way to put it is that when I use it I don't have the 99.9% shrinkage factor happening as much it is more like 95%

You can try the treatments but I have never known anyone to get the original curl pattern back once it has been damaged. It's original texture is gone for good. When it grows out you will get the original texture back.

Here is a picture of what has taken place.


Bubble hair

Bubbles formed within hair as a result of water boiling within the cortex

This one finally burst it looks like, not sure.

Except #1
We have seen the importance of the moisture content of hair to the hair's condition. Processes like blow drying reduce the moisture content below its normal level and can in themselves be harmful. Hair dryers and other heated appliances first soften the keratin of the hair. If they are too hot, they can actually cause the water in the hair to boil, and tiny bubbles of steam then form inside the softened hair shaft. The hair is thereby weakened, and may break altogether. There is no treatment for seriously heat-damaged hair, although trimming the damaged hair can reduce the formation of split ends.

Exerpt #2
People will tell you that their bubble hair 'just happened', quite suddenly, after they had been doing the same things to their hair for a long time. Then all at once they noticed tiny 'bubbles' in the ends of their hair.

Invariably, bubble hair is caused by some kind of heating appliance, most often curling irons. These operate somewhere between 120 and 180 °C, roughly speaking. Water boils at 100 °C. If a hot curling iron is put on to wet hair, it boils the water inside the hair. The boiling water softens the keratin of the cortex; then the steam from the boiling water expands and forms tiny bubbles inside the hair. Eventually the hair breaks off, either at or somewhere near a bubble.

Every woman who has used curling irons knows that they work better on some days than others. One day she may have them just a little hotter than usual: that might be just enough to cause bubble hair, and for the affected hair to break off.

Although the sufferer usually claims that her hair was perfectly normal until she changed the hair product she was using, further inquiry always uncovers a history of increased or excessive cosmetic treatments. Usually bubble hair happens to people who are doing a lot of styling to their hair at home. And it is always, always associated with the use of heated appliances on damp hair.

The Life Cycle of Damaged Hair
Usually hair damage takes place gradually, stage by stage, as follows:

*The hair is weakened

*The cuticle begins to break down

*The cuticle disappears, layer by layer

*The cortex is exposed

*Split ends appear

*The hair breaks.



Hope it helps. The best thing to remember is that it will grow back!

 

[sweetwhispers]

Do an ACV. Deep condition weekly.Wait a while before cutting though, like pinkskates said maybe a month or 2, i know my sisters hair started to revert back but some parts stayed straight.

 

[EMJazzy]

What mscocoface posted is the EXACT reason why I airdry my hair before applying heat.

 

[glamazon386]

It sounds like you've burned your hair straight. Have you tried DCing to see if the pattern will come back?

 

[dillard]

when i was natural, ONE bad pressing experience changed some of my hair forever. It never reverted, my hair is fine 4a/b, I had to cut the damage off...

FYI - adding permanent color can also damage natural curl pattern so be very careful!!

 

[WhipEffectz1]

I have wanted to ask the naturals who wear their hair straightened most of the time if their hair reverts or has it been "trained." It's funny because when I was a kid, we got hard presses and our hair always reverted. But as adults, most people seem to have encountered some form of heat damage.

I'm sorry about your hair. I have read that some people recommend Conditioning and someone mentioned using beer. But I don't think it worked for most people.

Half of my bangs are straight and the other half is normal looking. I try not to lose that much sleep over it because I can always cut it but its just as healthy as my curly hair so its whatever........

 

[PinkSkates]

Hi, DeepBlueSea, you know what..., there is no such thing as "Training" natural hair to stay straight once moisture and water gets to it. If natural hair says straight after getting wet, then the hair is permanently damaged. And has to be cut off and regrown. I think unscrupouls haridressers made that term up after damaging unsuspecting customers' hair when they ask why their hair wont revert back.

 

[mkstar826]

Now when you say damage ....do you mean like damage that my hair will begin breaking or damage that my hair will never be curly again in those parts?

It could be both...I don't know how much heat they used but it could cause breakage. The parts that are straight now will grow out and the new growth will come in curly but the parts that have been fried straight will probably never be curly again. But it won't hurt to try deep conditioning and lots of TLC to see.

In addition, I have not used henna in long time. Should I not use it cause henna tends to loosen up the curl pattern? I definitely won't be straightening my hair, but what about even doing a Aphogee protein treatment followed by deep conditioning?

I would go w/ the aphogee and deep conditioning first.

 

[Meli]

Re: Have I Lost my Natural Kinky Curly Hair because of Straightening my Hair???

Okay, I had decided after all of your responses to simply put some Aphogee protein treatment this weekend and deep condition weekly.

But then I had a thought...

I remembered that when I was growing out my hair the relaxed straightened part of my hair eventually broke off. Am I to expect that no matter how much I care for my hair, once enough natural growth appears, my hair will break off not because of damage necessarily but because of the point between the straightened hair and the natural portion?

 

[LovetheLord]

You should go back to the salon you went to and tell her wnat happened to your hair, so that she will not do this again. (Maybe she will offer some DC treatments) Why would she flat iron and press that's ignorant!

 

[bgyrl]

You know what the same thing happened to me and I am a 4a. I pressed my hair for years and then tried to go natural and the curls didn't bounce back. I then put some braids in my hair for a couple of months and that did the trick. I didn't have to cut my hair and start over; just give it some time.

 

[Meli]

You should go back to the salon you went to and tell her wnat happened to your hair, so that she will not do this again. (Maybe she will offer some DC treatments) Why would she flat iron and press that's ignorant!

You know I was thinking of doing this but I am so heated. I don't know if this would be a good idea. At the time, I even said something to her about it and she had the attitude of 'I know what I am doing.' I am really sick of people doing a service for a customer but wanting to just do it there way and not keeping the customer's request in mind, especially when the requests are attainable. Yuo know what, I will give her a call but I will do it without anger. Thanks for that.

 

[Meli]

You know what the same thing happened to me and I am a 4a. I pressed my hair for years and then tried to go natural and the curls didn't bounce back. I then put some braids in my hair for a couple of months and that did the trick. I didn't have to cut my hair and start over; just give it some time.

Thanks for giving me hope.

 

[Enchantmt]

When this happened to me, mine wasnt damaged, the person that pressed my hair used a marcel wax, so until I got all the build up out, I had straight looking ends. I can touch my hair and tell if its coated, tho. Adding honey to my conditioner covering it up with a shower cap for a couple of hours made my curls pop again. Good luck!

 

[Jessica Rabbit]

My old hair dresser pressed my hair too hard and permanently damaged some parts so I had to cut a nice portion of my hair and I am growing it back now.