I think I burnt my hair..Help

[newbiemom]

I bc in April and I decided to flat iron my hair for a different look. I bought a ceramic flat iron with tourmaline plates I think and I set it at 410 with QCLasta heat protectant. But now my ends feel rough and yucky. I realized I don't even like my hair straight that much anymoreerplexed. I am going to wash it today. I am a 4ab texlaxd but my hair looks like its natural. What do you ladies think? Did I kill it?

 

[Keedah]

Could it be that you need a trim??

 

[newbiemom]

I trimmed the endsand they still feel weird. Also I noticed more breakage than normal. I am used to wash an gos. Maybe I not used to combing my hair anymore. It doesn't feel soft it feels fried at the ends.

 

[NerdSauce]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but as someone who recently went natural (little over a year and a half ago....recent-ish) If you haven't been used to your hair in a very textured state, sometimes you can't really tell whats wrong with it.

I used to wonder if I could ever get my hair properly straight or if my ends would ever feel good straight and then I later realized that my hair wasn't in optimal condition anyways... And seeing it straight had sort of just revealed it in a way that I was used to seeing (though I didn't recognize it because i had little to no confidence in my straightening skills.)

I'm not texlaxed but I am a type 4 and I can definitely say that while my hair seemed to grow pretty well and retention was OK back when I used to do mainly (almost exclusively) wash n gos, my hair is in far better condition now. Partly because of the quality of my products and partly because I work harder to protect my (unfortunately) fine strands.

 

[Bubblingbrownshuga]

Time will tell if you've really suffered heat damage.

 

[Aggie]

It is possible to chemically alter the hair with a hot tool set far too high for your hair texture. I believe that you did kill your hair. I never use a 410 degree iron on my hair. I would on a weave, but not my natural hair which is fine-textured by the way. I always go for 310 degrees.

I honestly don't know how to correct this type of problem other than cutting it off and starting over again. Sorry this happened to you.

 

[SimplyBlessed]

After u wash ur hair watch it and look at it really good to see if it reverts back to its natural state

 

[Katherina]

after straightening my hair or trying something new, i've often felt this way as well. i felt like it was so damaged that i would have to cut it all off. but in the end i didnt have to. it could be a fewthings. maybe there are still split ends left, but another thing that could make it feel this way are knots. these often happen farther up the strand than splits, so they could be missed by a trim. cut them out if you see / feel them!

if you've checked your hair for knots and can't find any, it may just be that your hair is very dried out from the flat iron. i've never flat ironed my hair at 410, but here's what i do when my hair is super dry from a flat iron. COwash your hair and do a DT. moisturize your hair as normal and see if it's better. your hair may still not completely revert (looser than normal curl), but thats normal. i would worry, however, if you had bone straight pieces. but the looser curls should hopefully be back to normal after a few more washes. if its stilll dry, do a nightly DT (oil or conditioner) for a couple of weeks until your hair feels better. HTH...

 

[lovenharmony]

This is my ultimate nightmare - going to straighten my hair, then burning it and having to BC and lose all my progress! It's one of the reasons why my foolish behind bought the BKT and am now just staring at it and the 450 degree professional hot iron to do the process like if they were Edward Scissorhands and Freddy Kruegar!

Yeah, but seriously, I hope you didn't damage your hair to the point that you have to start all over again. Usually 410 degrees is a bit much. When I do straighten (and that's once in a blue moon) I don't go over 250! I'm chicken when it comes to direct heat.

The only thing I would suggest is to deep condition like crazy, and lay off the heat until your hair feels better. Maybe the heat gurus will chime in soon to give you more advice.

 

[newbiemom]

I thought the hot it ws the straighter I could get it. Duh. I am going to wash my hair and see what happens. I was feeling it again and it is not as bad as I thought. My hair always reverts back. I am going to deep condition tonight. Should I use protein ?

 

[prettybyrd]

Hi, Newbiemom, I think that I had something similar happen to me around the same time as you (April).

After I noticed the damage, only on one side, I went to Sally's and bought an Aphogee 2 in 1. I used the treatment and followed up with a DC under the dryer and then I baggied my hair overnight with light oil. This stopped the breakage, as I began to DC twice a week after that just to give my hair as much moisture as possible.

I hope that if you try this it works for you too! Good luck!

ETA: This was a temporary fix. I ended up cutting my hair because of the damage. It was easier than trying to "preserve" the damaged hair.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

I did a deep condition with ORS replenishing conditioner and ORS mayo over night when I thought I had did the same thing. I was fortunate to have less damage than I thought. I am transitioning now and hope to not repeat the same mistakes again. Deep conditioning and moisturize is the only advice I can give.

 

[ThickHair]

If you have washed your hair and the ends are still straight then you have damage and you will have to cut it off or it will fall off, you pick.

Also no matter what anyone tells you, you can not repair damaged hair. You can put stuff on it to make it look better but you CAN NOT FIX DAMAGED HAIR. Don't believe the hype, you will just be wasting money.