Have You Ever Had Damaged Hair?

starz

New Member
What was the cause of your damage? How did your hair act during that time(breakage, wouldn't hold a curl, etc.)? What was your first step to get your hair back on track? How long did it take for your hair to flourish?
TIA
 
Yes I did, before I damaged it it was BSL natural thick and curly.What really burns me up is that I did that to my hair by relaxing it too straight, blowfrying, curling irons etc.....otherwise I can't even think how much longer my hair could be now, but at least it's growing back. My hair is naturally super thick and very curly, alll that went flat, limp and stringy w/ the perms/relaxers, also I even highlighted it.
It took a good 2 years to even get my hair somewhat healthy and to SHLDR by just cutting that out going back to natural and braids and keeping it simple, then I found this board halelujah
 
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Lord Yes! I had always had shoulder length thick hair. When I went to college I started wearing my hair up in buns all the time and low and behold my hair started to grow! Well, I got greedy and stopped getting my ends trimmed and my hair broke like I had never seen before. It was mid back but just a shell of seethrough dry, severely damaged, brittle, hair. It was so pitiful. Well, I ended up getting it cut all the way back down shoulder length and starting over. That was about 5 years ago. It started growing again with me trimming with each relaxer (about every 6 weeks). Then I noticed as my hair started getting long again that my stylist started CUTTING my hair with each trim. It was like she didn't want my hair to get but so long. I switched stylists (her daugher actually) about 2 years ago and my hair is now almost waistlength. She TRIMS my hair and does such a wonderful job. I think some stylists are jealous and don't want their clients to have long hair. I definitely think that was happening in my case. I almost never use direct heat on my hair, wash ever, 1&1/2 to 2 weeks, wear my hair up alot to protect the ends, and hardly ever comb or brush. Basically if you leave your hair alone and let it do it's thing, it will flourish on it's own.
 
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luvalva30 said:
Lord Yes! I had always had shoulder length thick hair. When I went to college I started wearing my hair up in buns all the time and low and behold my hair started to grow! Well, I got greedy and stopped getting my ends trimmed and my hair broke like I had never seen before. It was mid back but just a shell of seethrough dry, severely damaged, brittle, hair. It was so pitiful. Well, I ended up getting it cut all the way back down shoulder length and starting over. That was about 5 years ago. It started growing again with me trimming with each relaxer (about every 6 weeks). Then I noticed as my hair started getting long again that my stylist started CUTTING my hair with each trim. It was like she didn't want my hair to get but so long. I switched stylists (her daugher actually) about 2 years ago and my hair is now almost waistlength. She TRIMS my hair and does such a wonderful job. I think some stylists are jealous and don't want their clients to have long hair. I definitely think that was happening in my case. I almost never use direct heat on my hair, wash ever, 1&1/2 to 2 weeks, wear my hair up alot to protect the ends, and hardly ever comb or brush. Basically if you leave your hair alone and let it do it's thing, it will flourish on it's own.

ITA my sytlists did that to me too after I had reached SHLDR, but I left him :cool: those stylists always want to keep your hair short and I do my hair myself and get $10 cuts when I need and they do what I ask them to.
Good for you you've foound a stylists that listens, I can't fully trust anyone w/ my hair cause they always want to cut it/keep it a certain length.
 
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YES!!!!! My hair is thick and I wanted to get it really straight. I tried Vitale about 6 years ago and I saw long strands of hair coming out when the relaxer was being washed out. The aftermath was see through ends and brittleness. I got a bob cut, used Wildgrowth hair oil and wore my hair in protective hairstyles. It was back to normal in a few months. :clapping:
 
starz said:
What was the cause of your damage? How did your hair act during that time(breakage, wouldn't hold a curl, etc.)? What was your first step to get your hair back on track? How long did it take for your hair to flourish?
TIA


Let's see...chemicals, weaves, and not moisturizing properly. My hair had mega breakage, raggedy ends, thin, splits, just bad. I actually have a photo up in my fotki. First thing I did was to incorporate protein and more moisture into my regimen then I started cutting the damaged parts. Then I began my transition to natural. I feel like I'm still in the process of getting my hair back on track. It isn't nearly as bad but it will be totally over once I chop.
 
I had damaged hair, and was forced to chop my shoulder blade length hair to shorter than ear-length as a result, about a year ago. My hair was damaged from wearing braids back to back for about 10 months, and not knowing how to properly care for them. My hair grew a lot during that time, but I didn't realize that it was very porous and dry. Then, a stylist overprocessed my hair when the first relaxer she put in didn't take. I hung onto my length from August until January, but damaged it more from too much heat styling and improper care and the unavoidable hard water in my school's residence. My hair was brittle, and long strands would break off each time I styled it.

I found hair boards soon after I chopped my hair, and a year later my hair is longer than when I had to cut it off.
 
The list of what caused my damaged hair seems endless, overprocessing, overlapping, not moisturizing at all, never deep conditioning. My hair would always grow to about shoulder length and then stop. It always broke and felt dry.
The only thing I was always good at was relaxing every 3 months because my mother taught me that. After these tri-monthly relaxers, I would simply slather on some petroleum jelly and call it a day:eek: ...I cant believe Im the same girl.

I simply try to do the opposite of all the bad things I did to keep it healthy now.
 
starz said:
What was the cause of your damage? How did your hair act during that time(breakage, wouldn't hold a curl, etc.)? What was your first step to get your hair back on track? How long did it take for your hair to flourish?
TIA

By hair broke from heat and a lack of moisture. It would shed and the split ends would have split ends.I am not afraid of the scissors so I would get a cut and have a good conditioning treatment. I also started trimming every 6-8 weeks.
 
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hard presses every two weeks from the salon...Thinned it out dramtically and my hair would not curl up when washed :nono:. Now that I look back Im supirsed my hair stayed shoulder length with all of that.
 
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starz said:
What was the cause of your damage? How did your hair act during that time(breakage, wouldn't hold a curl, etc.)? What was your first step to get your hair back on track? How long did it take for your hair to flourish?
TIA

Relaxing and coloring. It made my hair thin and broke off. It was so thin it wouldnt hold a curl for longe rthan a few minutes. My first step was to take care of it as best I could. No or low heat styling and lots of deep conditioing. Once I got my routine on trakc it took about 6 months fr a complete turn around.

Now Im transitioing and its doing even better.
 
Oh my so many time I have damaged my hair before I got married. Oh here is one for my wedding I wanted to get a fresh touch up, and then a semi perm color, my hair was arm pit length. After the color, it was badly damage, shedding badly, I had a ball spot at the top of my head. So I had to Alphogee and we did spiral curls to hide the bald spot and shedding.:lachen::lachen::eek:

But when I came back from the honey moon I got a inverted bob, so my hair was shaved and cut to get that bald spot growing... That was over 7 years ago, after that I promised I would never do something stupid like that again.

But since thing little things, I did some small damage, when I was very sick and was going from one med to another, I had meds conflicting with each other and alot of shedding and last reacting to meds with chemicals to your hair will do some or alot of damage.

So girls even antibonics will change your hair alot and cause a relaxer not take.
 
Unfortunately I have :mad:. Here's my story might be long.

I had braids on and off for about a year and a half. My grew a lot from the braids. My hair was the longest it had ever been. When I would take the braids out I would perm my hair the day after. I did this a couple of time because at the time I did not know any better and my hairdresser never told me. Now I know its a big no-no.


A couple of days after the last relaxer I noticed my hair kept breaking and shedding within days of the perm. This breakage and sheeding continued for the next 2 and a half years. I tried almost every anti breakage treatment. Aphogee was the only thing that actually worked. But it only worked for a couple of days and then the breakage returned. Thats how damaged my hair was. It got to the point where my hair was soooooooooo thin from all the breakage. Which I wasn't used to because my hair was very thick before. I had no choice but to cut off the thin ends.

My hair was now really short but it looked fuller. But my hair nightmare didn't end here though. A couple of months later I noticed two bald spots in my hair and my hair was still breaking. I went to a new hairdresser and she told me my hair was overprocessed. She said she would help me get my hair on the right track which she did. I did notice less breakage when she was doing my hair. And the bald spots started filling in.

A couple of months later I decided to wear braids to grow my hair. My hair did grow back but not as long as it was before. I decided to grow out my perm by pressing the roots and wearing braids. And now I am fully natural.

Having damaged hair was very depressing. I got a lot of bad comments. People would say, "OMG look at her hair", "When is your hair going to grow back". I was only around 14 which to me was too me was too young to be going through major hair loss. Besides perming after taking out my braids, I never used to trim, and never moisturized. I wish I had found LHCF during that time. My hair has never been the same since then and that was 7 years ago. Even when I get my hair pressed it's not nearly as thick and long as it was when I had the perm before the damage. But I am still trying.
 
Yes I did and I am damaging it now....by my lazniess and lack of sleeping a silk pillowcase every night. I desperately need to purchase on but I have been so scatterbrained for so long that I have forgotten. My hair is suffering b/c of this especially the back and crown from sleepin on regualr ole cotton cases. My fix would would be to moisturize before bedtime with a creamy leave-in and sleep on silk cases.
 
There was a point where the front of my hair, one spot at the "bang" broke off. It was an even break, almost like someone took scissors and chopped it straight across. If you parted a bang, the section of hair would be long on the left and right side, but in the center, short and broken. Till this day I don't know what caused it, but I just used Aphogee and deep conditioning treatements and waited the grow out period.
 
Well, I didn't know my hair was damaged, but recently discovered that my hairline baldness is not hereditary, but just burnt out.

I stopped relaxing, and finally, eleven months later, that area has started growing. I think that stimulating that area (with massage, essential oils, sulfur, etc.) has helped a lot too.
 
I had damaged hair when I started the Forum. I used to relax my hair every 6 weeks. :eek:

I would wash it every two weeks and still after two weeks w/out any moisture touching my head use curling irons thinking the longer I went with out washing it the better off I would be.:nono:

If I even thought about combing my hair it would fall off in bits and pieces all over the floor. My BF once made a joke and told me I was "shedding" at night b/c I would leave bits and pieces of my hair all over my pillowcase and bed.

What Did I Do?
I read Cathy Howse's Ultra Black Hair Care Book and started following her advise - Washing 2X Week, Deep conditioning w/heat weekly, stimulating scalp, moisturising ends, no direct heat. - Its a really good book and a simple read Makes you go --"Ah, thats why xyz happened to my hair"

I found this wonderful website that supported 90% of her book. I would say 7 months later, I had a healthy head of hair. There is a comparison pic in my fotki profile.

Thats my story and I am sticking to it!
 
PLEASE...!!!!!!!! I think my hair was beyond damaged at one point... Back in 1999, I allowed this hair stylist to put this permanent coloring in my hair. It was a pretty reddish-brown color...I thought I was just too cute... lol...Lo and behold, about six months later, my hair became terribly dry looking and felt like straw.....a few months later, I had incredible length with dry-looking straw-like hair with see-through ends....I was highly disappointed when I realized that the deep conditioning treatments were not working... My hair was beyond repair...I knew at that point that, unfortunately, a good hair cut was in order. I continued to get deep conditiong treatments to keep my new growth strong and moisturized. I allowed my hair to grow out some more, and I did a big chop once the length of my new growth reached the bottom of my ear... In May of 2000, I chopped off about a good thirteen inches.. Words could not explain how angry I was......I wanted to annihilate that hair stylist and vowed to never again get a permanent coloring in my hair.......lol.....Well, since the day of that "big chop," a sound haircare regimen, and good eating habits, Sherrylove's hair has been in fairly good condition, with just a couple of cuts here and there..... smile....
 
Twice in my life, I had severely damaged hair. The first time was in 98/99. I wanted microbraids so bad. My hair up to this point, was mid back. I thought that braids would help me reach my BSL goal. First off, because my hair was so long, the hair stylist charged my $250 plus I had to buy my own hair. I had no idea what type of hair was best for micros so I had the stylist accompany me to the BSS. After 8 hours of braiding, my hair was finally done. She told me that when I was ready to wash it, gather the hair together into 4 big plaits then wash and condition it. Well, I followed the instructions exactly and when I got out and tried to un-plait, I realized that the hair had "fused" together:eek: I sat up along with my mother half the night trying to get the hair un plaited. It didn't work. I ended up going to my beautician first thing the next morning and to make a very long story short, my stylist had to cut the braids out. Oh, I forgot to mention that I only had the braids in for a week and a half :mad: . Side note: When I went back to the braid shop, the woman that braided my hair was supposedly in Africa:perplexed . My hair went from mid back to above my shoulders (the shortest it's ever been). Because of the stress the microbraids put on my hair, my hair was severly damaged...I'm still trying to recover from that (meaning that I still have weak areas in my head).

The second time was when I began taking Depo-Provera. I took the shot for one year and noticed that I was having too many adverse side effects, so after much deliberation, I stopped. A week later my hair line receded, I had no hair in the very front of my head (one of those side effects in the fine print):( My second mishap happened a couple of years after the first incident, so together that made a very weak head of hair.

I'm now transitioning to natural, not because my hair "looks" bad, but because I want thick, healthy, long hair.
 
Oh yes.. Definately Damaged..Many Times..
Beware ----LONG Story

When I was in college I started putting in my own relaxers. My hair was Armpit length(APL) then. I don't know if it was me or if it was the relaxer I used at the time(gentle treatment).
All I know.. is one day I looked and the whole half of my crown had broken off to ear length while the rest was still APL. :eek: I was devastated to say the least and obviously hair could not be saved:nono: So I cut it all off to a Halle Berry pixie cut and just started over. I cut it in summer 95 and by Jan 96 it grew out to earlobes. I still put in my own relaxers, so far it was fine.
So... I went to the salon just to have it trimmed a little to even it up.
Why did I walk out of there with another pixie cut and she had shaved off the back:eek::mad:
Lawd..oh Lawd had to start all over again.
It was hell growing this out because I did not wear any type of protective styles. I had a shaggy do everyday:lol:
In Spr 97 finally made it a few inches past earlobes. I went to this salon I had heard of. Haitians. Best thing ever. $12 rollersets and $20 touchups. I had hair washed, set and dry wrapped every week while using Keraphix to deep condition. By Winter 97 I was back to APL.
Then hair got Damaged AGAIN
Winter 97 I moved from NY down to DC where I could not find a good stylist to save my life. By end of 98 I was brastrap but hair was dry,brittle, split ends etc I didn't have time to care for it or find out, I was working 50-60 hours a week.. so I had to start putting in own touchups again.
By end of 99, hair was breaking off again on the ends and ends were also frizzy. Not really bad like b4.
So I went to this salon Jan 2000.
She said because I was putting in my own touchups, half my hair was overprocessed and half was underprocessed.
She cut my hair from BSL to Neck Length(yes she did).
Then she said I had to come every single week and had to get a touchup every 4 weeks. So every single week she would cut my hair.,
Every 4 weeks she would put a touchup in it. My hair as thick as it was seemed like it was getting thin.
I went to her for an entire year and hair still did not grow.
i still had not reached shoulderlength by the next year 2001. I got fed up and said to her one day when she was getting ready to cut, that I didn't want a trim this week, I'm trying to grow my hair. Did you know she got loud with me in front of the entire salon. I just let her cut it, left and never went back.
I started just driving back up to NYC every other month to get my hair done I was desperate. I decided to spend more time on my hair too.
So by 2003 I finally found a stylist down here in DC(Dominican).
I only went to them for touchups. Definatley don't do my own touchups anymore:lol:
They were expensive $85 but at least my hair was doing and I was back to Brastrap 2004. I was getting touchups every 6 weeks.
Well AGAIN
I decided that price was just to costly and went to a cheaper salon that charged $65. They overprocessed my hair like crazy and it started breaking off at that line where relaxed meets new growth. NO WAY was I letting my hair be damaged once again. . I went to salon had them cut about 4 inches off. Then I went into babying mode. Hair was #1 Priority.
I looked online for hair sites. I found LHCF and BHM and started lurking, reading like crazy, read hair books.
No relaxers, nothing. Just babying my hair. I went on a 6 month relaxer stretch. I did an aphogee treatment which stopped the breakage immediately. It was frustrating at first but the best thing EVER for my hair because I found what really worked for my hair and what it takes. I finally found a steady Regimen, which I never ever had.
Now I only go to the salon for my touchups which I get every 3-4 months and get them whenever I go back up to NY now.
Sorry this was soooo long, I can't believe I just wrote that book
 
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Of course. I let this "friend" of mine who did hair well do a touch-up. Why did this ***** put the relaxer on the ENDS of my hair? Did she sabotage me or what?!! That fool knew better! My hair was past BSL and semi-healthy (this is Jan of 2002). My hair was coming out so bad as she rinsed out the relaxer. By the time she finished, it was so see-through and thin. OVERPROCESSED!!!

I went to the salon the same day and got it cut to 3 inches past the shoulders with layers around ear length. Beautiful cut. My hair was shiny and actually looked full again since the cut. I let my mom do my touch-ups from then on, and I eventually taught myself how to do them correctly.

It grew out to BSL again in a short amount of time and I got it cut into layers twice more. After my last set of layers in April 2004, I let it grow out even and maintained a blunt cut right at or right above BSL. I decided to grow it longer in March 2005. I cut about 3-4 inches off total last year. Since that cut in Jan 2002, things have been nice.
 
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starz said:
What was the cause of your damage? How did your hair act during that time(breakage, wouldn't hold a curl, etc.)? What was your first step to get your hair back on track? How long did it take for your hair to flourish?
TIA

Yes!!!!
1) the cause of damage = blowdrying
2) I cut off the damaged hair, and started over
3) took 2 yrs. to grow to current length, which is longer than what I started with
 
getting a texturizer damaged my hair. to undamage it, i cut off the parts where the most damage had been done. aphogee treatments every 6 weeks helped and using keraphix worked wonders. and mtg helped my hair grow quicker so i wasnt too afraid to cut off the damaged ends
it took about 1 year for it to get back 2 normal
 
Ha! Oh wow I used to have a head full of damage hair. I used to color, relax, blowdry, and curl my hair. I also almost never deep conditioned because i thought a rinse out conditioner would be enough. I had split ends galore,ends were breaking, and it would not hold the curl i tried to put into it.

Once I deep conditioned with olive oil cholesterol, i noticed an instant improvement. What also helped me is Emergencee and getting my hair trims.
 
I think I am the queen of damaged hair....seriously, I have had more damaged hair than non damaged hair. So far I have did the BC twice due to damage and both times I failed to 'baby' my hair back to a healthy state & said the heck w/it and chopped it off.....BIG mistake for me.
 
I've had terribly over-processed hair since moving to France: relaxer left on too long, combed through to the ends, and scalp burns - all done by "professional" stylists. In the space of a year I went from APL to chin length bob because the damage had to be cut off.

I finally found a decent stylist who treats my hair properly, the over- processed ends are gone and my hair is doing much better.
 
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