Mistakes You've Made With Your Natural Hair?

[ag00]

This thread was inspired by another site with a similar thread. Somebody said they put peanut butter in their hair as a deep conditioner. Lol! Ladies, what were your biggest hair mistakes?

Mine was putting a texturizer in my hair after bleaching it. Almost all my hair fell out and I had chemical burns. I managed to save what was left of my hair strands with pink lotion. Had to cut all my hair off. In my defense, I was in middle school and knew nothing about hair at the time. I also didn't read warning labels.

 

[GGsKin]

My biggest hair mistakes came late in (my) life lol. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I look back now. Sorry if this is a little long...

I enjoyed my cropped/ undercut 'do for some years and decided that I would take my top/middle section lower to have more of a pixie cut. I started flat ironing my relaxed hair daily (unconcerned because those bits were gonna get cut on the next salon visit anyway). I was obsessed with it looking fresh so relaxers and line ups were on point. But the heat was not.

My once thick-looking hair was looking fine, limp and lifeless. My hair could withstand a lot but this was just way too much. I decided to let it grow out.

I'd grown out my hair before successfully with human hair braids so what do I go and do? Put in clip-ins. I went from one or two, to whole clip in tracks just clipped onto my loose hair. I'd even sleep in them sometimes! *hangs/shakes head.

When I took them out and had a proper look, I discovered smooth patches where the metal from the clips had been. I was devastated. It's only hair but at the same time, it's not- I know you get me.

That prompted me to stop relaxing my hair and start transitioning and here we are now.

 

[Crackers Phinn]

Wearing a puff as my main style for years wasn't good for my ends or my hair line.

 

[TheGrimPhreaker]

Finger combing. Don't get me wrong it's good for maybe going through it for pre-detangling with my new boo the Denman brush (LOL) but , finger combing alone was a nightmare for my hair. It never got out all the shed hair, and then it(the shed hair) got tangling my my other hair , which is already curly and I ended up losing TONS of hair .

 

[krissyhair]

My biggest mistake was cutting my natural hair too much and wondering why it didn't grow.

From now on I will not get dramatic 6 inch hair trims, or let stylists cut off my lead layers.

 

[january noir]

My biggest mistake so far as a natural was not braiding or twisting my hair before going to bed. I left my hair loose (I did sleep on satin and silk) but, the daily manipulation to make it look good before leaving the house was too much.

 

[MilkChocolateOne]

letting my hair hair shrink and tangle. Never again, I keep my hair stretched at ALL times.

 

[tiffers]

Not keeping my hair stretched after going natural. SSKs every damn where.

 

[Harina]

Messing with janky stylists.

 

[mzteaze]

Letting the hair dresser who made me go natural continue putting in a weave without checking my hair's progress....for at least 4 years. Guess what I found after I finally decided to let the weave go?

Yep, patches where I was balding. I posted pictures years ago somewhere in another thread here. I'm just thankful that I found LHCF and was able to reverse the damage.

Let's not talk about the time (a year or so AFTER I fixed the problem above) I made the mistake of going BACK to that stylist for hair color which also was an unmitigated disaster.

 

[spacetygrss]

Leaving my hair in twists/braids for 3 or 4 weeks at a time as a protective style. My hair is a mixture of different textures and the coarser hair would just slice right through the finer hair. It was a mess and I'm still trying to fix the damage. Never again!

 

[kandake]

I'm trying to figure it out. Something is wrong and I don't know what. My hair has been about the same length for the last few years. I feel like my hair grows about 4 inches in a year and I usually have to trim about that much over the course of a year. Which equals very little retention. It's frustrating to see people that BC'd a year or two ago and their hair is longer than mine and I BC'd in Dec. 2010.

 

[nathansgirl1908]

Leaving my hair in twists/braids for 3 or 4 weeks at a time as a protective style. My hair is a mixture of different textures and the coarser hair would just slice right through the finer hair. It was a mess and I'm still trying to fix the damage. Never again!

Yeah I learned that twists can only be left in for a few days with my hair. I can't leave them in for even a week without problems.

 

[Joigirl]

Trying to stretch my styles for at least a week when it is clear my hair needs to be washed and conditioned. Refreshers don't work on my low porosity crown or my ends.

 

[ajargon02]

Not keeping up with regular trims. Once I did go for a trim, it ended up being a 5-6inch cut......

 

[SEMO]

Being to scared to trim my own hair at first, and having stylists cut off way too much.
Using a Tangle Teezer brush. It gave me mid shaft splits that it took years to grow out and cut off.

 

[YaniraNaturally]

I can laugh now, but I wanted to cry after each of these. I finally got something right though since my hair is almost 2 ft now!

1) Protein overload: while transitioning I tried Aveda be curly and instead of doing a test patch quickly put it all over my head. My hair was dreaded in some sections and I had to cut an inch or two.

2) Damaged edges + start of a bald spot: I used to sleep with a cotton head wrap and rip it off (along with my hairline) every morning.

3) Denman! It gave me every kind of split imaginable and very detangled hair.

4) General stupidity: blow drying and flat ironing 2-3x a week, monthly root to tip perms and being very rough with my hair.

 

[SweetSunshine]

My biggest mistake as a natural was trying to implement everyone's regimen into my own..... I literally was trying every product, making my own products, stretched styles, protective styles, doing the most while actually harming my hair in the process.

Didn't realize until years later I had to do what was best for MY hair.

 

[silverbuttons]

Not paying attention to my hair as it got finer and finer.

 

[yaya24]

Definitely letting my hair shrink all the way...

Some times i just don't feel like taking the TIME to do a stretched style and I think I can get away with it for a couple of days.. or a week..lol

4b hair disagrees. The end result is always bad.

 

[ms.blue]

1. Putting a Brazilian keratin treatment. My hair didn't revert and thinned out.

2. Getting a Dominican blowout. Splits and more splits.

3. Cutting my hair a lot and then wonder why my hair as been the same length for yrs.

4. Tight braids and sew ins...permanent bald spot.

5. Going to get my weave based braided at an African braiding shop that I never went before. Ripped out so much hair and purposely hiding the hair when I complained out the the technique she was using to braid my hair. Suffered so much breakage and losing a couple of inches.

 

[Britt]

So far, bad stylists and heat damage from 2 isolated incidents. Other than that, nothing that I've done on my own doing. So far, I stick to the products and methods that work for me. Before I went natural I spent TONS of time studying YouTube, reading blogs, old threads, you name it .... Now I see I just do what works for my hair. My challenge will come in styling it.

 

[january noir]

Another one of my personal regrets.... Deciding to have my hair curled with a curling iron ... No Bueno. I could almost hear my hair crying! I'll have my hair blow dried but that will be about it. If I want a different hairstyle, I'll wear a wig (at least for now).

 

[JudithO]

The number killer of my super fine, super kinky 4C natural hair? Heat Damage!!! I could never recover from that one.

- Not using protein on my hair

- Not deep conditioning

- Not washing my hair weekly.

- Not leaving my hair alone.

Now I've BC'd, and doing all of the above and retaining well. I'm an inch or 2 from APL, and 16 months post relaxer/BC.

 

[Prettymetty]

I overmoisturized my hair for months, because I thought my hair was dry. I actually needed protein. After one Emergencee treatment the breakage stopped. Now I do weekly Kerastase protein treatments.

 

[nerdography]

Co-washing. My scalp and the skin on my face had a fit. I had acne, and I'm not acne prone and my scalp was always greasy.
Removing Heat. I have to keep my hair stretched or it will form a bud and start locing.

 

[DarkJoy]

Thinking that super soft kinks was healthy. My 4c needs to have a little wirey to it or else it means mousture overload. My hair would just break and break and thin out.

Ignoring ssk. Seek and destroys have become my hair's bestie. I BC twice in a year for sleeping on ssk they just rip my fine strands up.

Listening to advice that henna acts as protein treatment. Uh no. She had otherthings to say about that. See the first moisture overload mistake.

 

[Dee Raven]

Ooh, what have I done to my hair. First and foremost, thinking that my hair was somehow drastically different from when it was relaxed. I've wasted entirely too much time thinking that my hair was so fragile and while yes, it does need to be cared for, it really isn't that serious. Wash w/ shampoo, deep condition, style. It doesn't get better than this.

One mistake that I made, was putting ACV on my hair undiluted or very lightly diluted. I had heard about it here on the board, but didn't read up enough to know that it needed to be diluted. And my hair was dry for a minute. It did recover though so again, natural hair is not that fragile.

The other mistake that I made, and will never do again, is to let a stylist or anyone other than myself straighten my hair. Anyone who believes in "taming" natural hair, will never be anywhere near my head ever. The only real permanent damage that I've experienced with my natural hair, was heat damage from a stylist. And when I say that's a wrap. 8 years in, that's a wrap.

 

[nothidden]

(1) Not listening to MY hair. After a year of conditioner junky-ism, I know what products work. (2) Skimping on protein treatments. General upkeep is damaging, I'm now being proactive and implement a light strengthening treatment every two weeks.

 

[ClassyJSP]

LORD knows my list is long but let me start with the MAJOR things I've done.

1. Go to a kitchen beautician and let her put a quick weave in with my hair molded down with the black gel and then covered with a stocking cap. (that was 2 years ago and I still have two bald spots near my hair line) I didn't wash my real hair for 3 weeks to "keep the style"

2. The first time I self relaxed I didn't get the new growth in the middle of my head (go figure) so two days later my mom gave me a second perm to get ALL of my new growth. Glad my hair didn't fall out.

3. Glued in a few pieces in the middle of my hair for length.. took them out with oil sheen and baby oil and then proceeded with another perm. (I found BHM forums right after this) mind you clumps of glue were still in my hair even after the perm.

4. I would shampoo my hair and not follow up with any conditioner (majority of the time) and I washed my hair once a month.

I'll stop at 4 because I can't even believe half of the things I did...