How do I stop breakage?

[mikimix]

I just realised how bad my breakage is. I mean, I knew it was bad, but I realised that it's REALLY bad. Everytime I do my hair there is hair EVERWHERE; on my shirt, on the bed, loads in the brush/comb. Even when I just brush my hair in the mornings to style it, I have to make sure to brush off all the broken off hair off of my shirt.

I do protein and moisturising treatments every week. But as long as I can remember, I have always had problems with breakage (even before I relaxed my hair).

What are some things that I can do to help with breakage?

 

[JJamiah]

You'll first need to target why your getting breakage.

Just because your doing the Protein and moisture treatment doesn't mean your hair needs it.

YOu might be protein sensitive

How do you style your hair?
Do you use heat?
How often do you shampoo/co-wash?
Have you tried to eliminate Protein?
When is the last time you had a trim?
Do you clarify?

Good thing is once you get the reason why your breaking, solving it will be more possible. COME on LHCF, I know if anyone can get the info you can.

 

[mzteaze]

If you are already doing protein and moisture treatments then perhaps you should consider other sources. Do you have health problems?

 

[greenandchic]

Along with what everyone else said:

Are you natural or relaxed? If you're natural do you straighten your hair with heat? How often?

I cannot use brushes on my hair - even to smooth back my edges because it breaks off my hair gradually.

ETA: I noticed that you said you relax your hair. How often do you use heat?

 

[topnotch1010]

If you are already doing protein and moisture treatments then perhaps you should consider other sources. Do you have health problems?

I was going to ask this too. Do you have health problems? Are you taking meds?


Sent from TopNotch1010's iPhone using LHCF

 

[mikimix]

The thing is, is that I've had these problems since I was a child, before I was relaxed and used heat. It just got worse when I started using heat and relaxer.

I dont have any health problems that I know of and I dont take any medication.

Maybe I need to drink more water?

 

[charmtreese]

Along with what everyone else has stated. Do you have FINE hair? Fine hair tends to be more finicky then other hair textures. Fine hair cannot be manipulated a lot and tends to be more fragile do to the fact it has less cuticle layers then coarser type hair.

If you do have fine hair, please do not over manipulate it.

Fine hair normally does okay with protein treatments because it needs all the strengthening it can get. On the other hand it can be hard to keep moisturized because of porosity issues. With that said cream based moisturizers tend to work best, but do not overload the hair with a lot a product. Again because it’s fine, too much product can cause the hair strands to become heavy and break.

 

[mikimix]

yeah my hair is very fine
I think that's what it is

I started doing protein treatments a couple of years ago because a hairdresser overprocessed my hair which lead to it falling out
so another hairdresser suggested I do protein treatments to strengthen the hair and then follow it up with moisture
and I've done that ever since

 

[hothair]

ITA if you have fine hair you do need protein. However, as I keep telling my sis you could be doing the right thing at the wrong time. Program your hard protein around your relaxers, I find my hair gets overmoisturised easily (I'm fine haired, relaxed) so when I do my overnight prepoos I have to incorporate a mild protein after DC-ing even for 5 mins.

What are your styling options? It may be too much manipulation?

 

[200AndOne]

what kind of protein & moisture treatments are you doing?

 

[mikimix]

I used to use Olive Oil Hair Mayonaisse for my protein but now I use Motions CPR treatment
for the moisturising treatment I've always used silk elements

hothair I used to be blow dry and flatiron my hair once a week
but i'm trying to stop doing that now

 

[bunnie82]

it took me a lonnnng loooooooonnnnnn time to get my breakage under control...i think it took about a year or so....maybe more....you have to figure out why your hair is having breakage and then baby it....

 

[hothair]

That may be your problem. Since your hair's relaxed have you tried air drying and flatironing at most twice a month? You could also rollerset/ wet wrap. I do a weekly wet wrap, rollersetting hurts my arm, but I alternate directions and only use a wide tooth comb and denman to smooth, I do a silk wrap afterwards and that gives a nice finish to it.

 

[charmtreese]

I used to use Olive Oil Hair Mayonaisse for my protein but now I use Motions CPR treatment
for the moisturising treatment I've always used silk elements

@hothair I used to be blow dry and flatiron my hair once a week
but i'm trying to stop doing that now

Since you have fine hair I would not recommend weekly blow drying and flat ironing. I have extremely fine hair with a really tight condense z pattern. Therefore my hair will tangle and know easily.

Several styling techniques work for me with minimal breakage (I always get some breakage…it’s just the nature of the beast):

• Roller sets---However when roller setting try to switch up your pattern from week to week to avoid stress breakage.
• Air Forming – after the hair is completely detangled and without using a comb or brush or attachments on low heat air form your hair - Pretty much the end result will not be smooth, but your hair will be dry and then you can bun it or do whatever you want. I normally apply leave-ins and fingercomb while air forming.
• Air drying – My one caveat with air drying fine relaxed hair is, if you have roots dry your roots a little bit first by either sitting under a hood or bonnet dryer with your hair combed down or by using your blow dryer on low heat.

***My hair grew really fast with air drying but because I was not drying my roots I got awful tangles in my roots once it was fully dried….and being that I have fine hair detangling those knots always lead to more breakage.

If you choose to flat iron, make sure it is on the right temp for fine hair, also make sure you use heat protectant.

Oh and hot rollers are really great for preserving the style on fine hair.

 

[greenandchic]

I used to use Olive Oil Hair Mayonaisse for my protein but now I use Motions CPR treatment
for the moisturising treatment I've always used silk elements

hothair I used to be blow dry and flatiron my hair once a week
but i'm trying to stop doing that now

I used to blow dry and flat iron weekly too and my hair was a hot mess in the long run - which is why I went natural in the first place (though I was already technically natural). I lost tons of hair daily. My hair is on the finer side and cant take too much "abuse".

 

[mikimix]

Thanks for all your help.
I really want to start roller setting my hair but I keep failing at it lol
I bought some magnetic rollers and it came out much better than with the pin ones but it's still not smooth

I basically want it to come out like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-SvpEQkQ6E&feature=channel_video_title

I dont know what I'm doing wrong

 

[Minty]

great advice charmtreese!

 

[hothair]

Thanks for all your help.
I really want to start roller setting my hair ...I dont know what I'm doing wrong

It's mostly practice, it took me aaaggess to get but it gets easier. The silk wrap afterwards really helps with smooth everything out.

 

[mikimix]

With airdrying, do you literally just leave it out to dry?

 

[thecurlycamshow]

mikimix you leave the air to dry. If you have problems with your hair drying you can get a Turbie Twist or use a T-shirt to soak up the excess water. HHG!

 

[VirGoViXxEn]

Have you tried prepooing?I rotate my prepoo's with Nurtine Garlic Conditioner and Cantu Shea Butter over night. Both work great in preventing shedding/breakage!

 

[mikimix]

No, I had never heard of pre-pooing before I joined this forum a few weeks ago xD
I might try that

 

[bb09]

Since you have fine hair I would not recommend weekly blow drying and flat ironing. I have extremely fine hair with a really tight condense z pattern. Therefore my hair will tangle and know easily.

Several styling techniques work for me with minimal breakage (I always get some breakage…it’s just the nature of the beast):

• Roller sets---However when roller setting try to switch up your pattern from week to week to avoid stress breakage.
• Air Forming – after the hair is completely detangled and without using a comb or brush or attachments on low heat air form your hair - Pretty much the end result will not be smooth, but your hair will be dry and then you can bun it or do whatever you want. I normally apply leave-ins and fingercomb while air forming.
• Air drying – My one caveat with air drying fine relaxed hair is, if you have roots dry your roots a little bit first by either sitting under a hood or bonnet dryer with your hair combed down or by using your blow dryer on low heat.

***My hair grew really fast with air drying but because I was not drying my roots I got awful tangles in my roots once it was fully dried….and being that I have fine hair detangling those knots always lead to more breakage.

If you choose to flat iron, make sure it is on the right temp for fine hair, also make sure you use heat protectant.

Oh and hot rollers are really great for preserving the style on fine hair.

@charmtreese -is air forming basically (blow)drying the NG only?
My NG tangles when it's fully dry as well -esp now that I'm 2+ months post

 

[charmtreese]

@charmtreese -is air forming basically (blow)drying the NG only?
My NG tangles when it's fully dry as well -esp now that I'm 2+ months post

Pretty much!

 

[bb09]

Pretty much!

Thanks! I'm trying to picture it. Is it like blowdrying the roots after a rollerset, or do you do it in sections?

 

[sapphire18]

I just realised how bad my breakage is. I mean, I knew it was bad, but I realised that it's REALLY bad. Everytime I do my hair there is hair EVERWHERE; on my shirt, on the bed, loads in the brush/comb. Even when I just brush my hair in the mornings to style it, I have to make sure to brush off all the broken off hair off of my shirt.

I do protein and moisturising treatments every week. But as long as I can remember, I have always had problems with breakage (even before I relaxed my hair).

What are some things that I can do to help with breakage?

mikimix I answered a similar question posted by abcd09 (http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?p=13713733#post13713733).

To stop breakage I avoid using too much heat. Have you considered a soft bonnet attachment for your dryer? Every time I straighten my hair a lot breaks off. When I don't straighten I lose about 20 hairs when detangling (which is hardly any). Getting your hair wet more than once a week should also help. Do you use a leave in conditioner and seal with oil?