I feel like an idiot asking this but.........

[girlyprincess23]

does anyone's hair seem to like moderate doses of heat and being combed? My hair seems to thrive and behave when I give it moderate doses of heat and comb it I know both of these are sort of LHCF no nos but my hair loves rollersets (w/ heat not airdried), I believe it likes being flat ironed, but I do not oblige that wish because I am scared of direct heat, and it loves DC's w/heat. It only seems to cooperate (soft, not tangled, manageable) if I have heat somewhere in the process and I comb it. If I do not thoroughly detangle it and style it with some sort of heat it becomes a tangled mess and hair starts getting ripped out! Is anyone else's hair like this? I just wonder because what seems to work for a lot of people (bunning, wet bunning, hard proteins, not combing, not brushing etc.) just leaves my hair broken off, damaged, rough, and unhappy. It seems the best when I do moisturizing DC's w/ heat, moisturize it, seal it, detangle it, rollerset it w/ heat, and leave it hanging or up in a hairzing. I am just wondering am I some sort of hair alien?

 

[msa]

You are not a hair alien. The golden rule is to do what works for you. If all that works, then do it and be happy you've found the things that will help your hair to thrive.

I don't see the big deal about combing. I think the issue is when people are not gentle when they comb their hair. I detangle my hair on a regular basis and I don't have any problems, I even use a fine tooth comb when necessary. Just be gentle.

 

[jaszymeen]

i wouldn't say its a lhcf no no. it's just that a lot of people's hair doesn't tolerate heat like yours may be able to. i know that i have very strong hair. heat wasn't my weapon of choice it was that blasted hair dye lol. but anywho don't feel bad because your hair likes heat. if it's not broke don't fix it.

 

[Reecie]

I don't think you're a hair alien at all. Infact, I am exactly like you. My hair LOVES rollersets (with heat) and deep conditioners (with heat). The important step that you're missing is.... that's the BEST kind of heat to use (indirect heat).

Now if you were said something like, my hair only does well when it's flat ironed or when a hot comb is run through it..... girl.... we'd have some problems.

 

[Mizani_Mrs]

nope ur not abnormal at all. My hair breaks and sheds tremendously when i airdry. Also when i do a strand test on airdried hair, my hair breaks easily. but when i do a strandtest on blowdried/flatironed hair, my hair has pretty good resistance before it snaps. So I use heat often, i'm just mindful to use it only after a fresh wash and use heat protectants.

as a matter of fact, this is week 9 of my stretch and since I BKT'd, I had the nerve to try to airdry.... MAJOR SHEDDING....

 

[brucebettye]

I don't use heat becasue I like to do curly hair styles and I don't need heat for that. However, I do have to comb my hair to remove the shed hair and I have to use a denam brush or a fine tooth comb to remove my shed hair since I comb my hair once a week.

 

[girlyprincess23]

You are not a hair alien. The golden rule is to do what works for you. If all that works, then do it and be happy you've found the things that will help your hair to thrive.

I don't see the big deal about combing. I think the issue is when people are not gentle when they comb their hair. I detangle my hair on a regular basis and I don't have any problems, I even use a fine tooth comb when necessary. Just be gentle.

This is what i was thinking!! Gently combing and holding your hair as you do it from the bottom up is completely different from ripping a comb through your hair fast and without holding it from the top down like you have 1a hair!!

 

[girlyprincess23]

I don't think you're a hair alien at all. Infact, I am exactly like you. My hair LOVES rollersets (with heat) and deep conditioners (with heat). The important step that you're missing is.... that's the BEST kind of heat to use (indirect heat).

Now if you were said something like, my hair only does well when it's flat ironed or when a hot comb is run through it..... girl.... we'd have some problems.

LOL... I wouldn't know if it did for sure (although it behaves suspiciously well when flat ironed). I just am not going to go there with it! One time (One time only!!!!) my friend washed it, did a L'anza protein like DC then blow dryed it and then flat ironed it and it behaved so soft and silky and shiny for days!!! But like I said I am not going there with it!!!

 

[girlyprincess23]

nope ur not abnormal at all. My hair breaks and sheds tremendously when i airdry. Also when i do a strand test on airdried hair, my hair breaks easily. but when i do a strandtest on blowdried/flatironed hair, my hair has pretty good resistance before it snaps. So I use heat often, i'm just mindful to use it only after a fresh wash and use heat protectants.

as a matter of fact, this is week 9 of my stretch and since I BKT'd, I had the nerve to try to airdry.... MAJOR SHEDDING....

Girl EXACTLY!!! I was trying to explain why airdrying and my hair did not get along and that is exactly why... It breaks easier, it sheds more, and then on top of that the shed hair gets tangled in the hair still attached to my head and causes more breakage on its way out, and if I don't get the shed hair out............FORGET ABOUT IT!! That mess will shed more, it will all get tangled in there like a friggin birds nest and then when I go to take it out...it's a mess.

 

[girlyprincess23]

I don't use heat becasue I like to do curly hair styles and I don't need heat for that. However, I do have to comb my hair to remove the shed hair and I have to use a denam brush or a fine tooth comb to remove my shed hair since I comb my hair once a week.

I was thinking that to. Since my hair is so fine already and silky if it is straight (and even not so straight) the large tooth comb will just glide through and get large tangles out but not those shed hairs!! I feel guilty but I need that little comb to get all those fine little shed hairs out!! I just try to be sooooo gentle.

 

[foxieroxienyc]

My hair really loves heat. Direct heat at that. I can flat iron and blow dry and be just fine. In fact for me what I realize stunted my hair growth was self relaxing and not doing it right. I would put the relaxer all the way to the ends when I did it, and then use heat daily on top of that to maintain straight styles. But even still, my hair always reached (and stayed at) shoulder length.

I also comb my hair daily. I use a wide tooth comb mostly, however to get sheds out I use a denman brush. I use the brush whenever I feel the need to. I will use a boar bristle brush at times to finish up and smooth down a wrap at night if I do one, I first use a wide tooth comb and my denman to get it up though. My hair is just fine. So you just have to experiment with what works. There are no real set rules, just guidelines for you to build upon.

 

[hillytmj]

I am one of the ladies here who has more problems than benefits with airdrying. It gets super tangled and sheds everywhere. Back in the day, I had a lot of breakage that led to a BC due to airdrying.

Low mani/no combing has worked really well for me in the past; however, the longer it gets, the more I feel a need to comb. I've been nervous about returning to daily combing (I know that sounds corny) because honestly, when I stopped combing, my retention increased tremendously.

But then again, I also incorporated other things at the same time that I stopped combing, such as daily moisturizing and sealing on my ends. and protective styling/keeping my hair off my shoulders. I may slowly start incorporating the comb again, LOL!

 

[Hairsnob]

I always believe the products I use work better with heat. I may be wrong but I think they're kinda heat activated. I airdry faithfully but I flat-iron once weekly after each wash and I'm in love with my hair when I do that. I like to twirl the ends around my fingers and feel how smoothe it is However, if I don't flat-iron my hair it's just like BLAAAH and never gets that slippery feeling and I don't feel the need to twirl it with fear of coming up with splinters on my fingers.

Before LHCF I used to ....get ready for this..... flat-iron my hair probably seven days out of the week without heat protection...EEEK! It stayed the same length (barely shoulder-length) but the ends were choppy. People used to cringe when I told them that and I cringe myself now but I'm still surprised there wasn't much more damage than I had at the time. I know much better now though

 

[Fine 4s]

This is what i was thinking!! Gently combing and holding your hair as you do it from the bottom up is completely different from ripping a comb through your hair fast and without holding it from the top down like you have 1a hair!!

I actually prefer detangling from the top down but either way I don't rake though my hair.

I start at the root and comb down just enough to give me room to hold on to the top (or the section that has just been combed). The hair is less tangled at the root then midway or at the end.

Here's my key process: I move around, I don't stay only at the top. I put the comb right beneath the tangled 'ball' and apply pressure downward, the comb grabs a lil' bit of hair in tangled section/ball and spreads it out. I move up the ball, move down the ball, move up the ball, move IN the ball, spreading the hair, stretching it out as if opening the hair...works for me.

IMO starting from the bottom produces more broken hairs, as the ends are more fragile b/c whatever I'm combing from the top is shedded hairs coming out anyway. I also get less frustrated that way. The key is to move around though b/c the hair that sheds will stay stuck mid way.

This process is in addition to detanglers, softeners and conditioners applied on the hair. I like this process better on dry hair rather than wet hair.

 

[girlyprincess23]

Yes Fine 4s. When my hair is dry I start probably midway or maybe even the top. I was more referring to the raking from top to bottom than doing it softly from top to bottom. I feel I should start at the bottom but sometimes that is not where the tangles are so I start from the top. With my transitioning hair I am doing this more where as when I was relaxed fully I usually started from the bottom. I tend to detangle the natural part first and then the relazed ends.......if that makes any sense.

 

[girlyprincess23]

I always believe the products I use work better with heat. I may be wrong but I think they're kinda heat activated. I airdry faithfully but I flat-iron once weekly after each wash and I'm in love with my hair when I do that. I like to twirl the ends around my fingers and feel how smoothe it is However, if I don't flat-iron my hair it's just like BLAAAH and never gets that slippery feeling and I don't feel the need to twirl it with fear of coming up with splinters on my fingers.

Before LHCF I used to ....get ready for this..... flat-iron my hair probably seven days out of the week without heat protection...EEEK! It stayed the same length (barely shoulder-length) but the ends were choppy. People used to cringe when I told them that and I cringe myself now but I'm still surprised there wasn't much more damage than I had at the time. I know much better now though

This occured to me also. I wonder if it could be. I mean I don't look for heat activated products