Naturals: Where Does Your Damage/Breakage Come From?

[EllePixie]

I was just thinking about this - out of all the things I have done to my hair, what caused me the most damage? While most naturals fear color, for me it seemed to be when I blew my hair out that I got the most breakage. I've done two blow outs, and while I love the look of them, I definitely won't be doing one again.

So what about you?

 

[Evolving78]

heat and rough handling.

 

[Bubblingbrownshuga]

Mishandling my crown area.

 

[djanae]

I voted tension styles (having the same pony or puff too tight and in the same location) and combing/brushing.

I used to mishandle my hair all the time using brushes - Now I try to only use my Denman (and I've removed half the rows in the brush, at that) for slicking hair back. A scarf, leave in and spray of water does wonders.

 

[freecurl]

Waiting too long to detangle
Being impatient and rough with detangling
Not trimming often enough
Not protecting ends enough

 

[choctaw]

Stretchy headbands still managed to snag hair, especially in the nape and crown. I replaced those with combs (oiled the teeth) and wear chunky frohawk, twistout, braidout instead of puffs.

 

[JDenni81]

I actually just found out I had dermatitis. I was buying all these products to combat my hair loss and come to find out its a medical issue for which I was prescribed a medicated mousse. Also I recently stopped taking birth control pills which caused my hair to break as well. Now that I know, I can fix it! Yay!

 

[nikolite]

Mainly from detangling improperly and combing my hair. It took me way too long to get a good technique down that works, and it still ain't perfect. Puffs and just plain wearing my hair out too much was also an issue area--I've mainly stopped with the puffs for that reason and will never go around with my hair in its shrunken state except once in a green moon.

 

[barbie87]

Waiting too long to detangle
Being impatient and rough with detangling
Not trimming often enough
Not protecting ends enough

DITTO

But my new years Res is to change the way I do things. my shedding has decreased drastically with my MTG and bee mine products so I will be more patient and and lets see what happens

 

[SND411]

I was just thinking about this - out of all the things I have done to my hair, what caused me the most damage? While most naturals fear color, for me it seemed to be when I blew my hair out that I got the most breakage. I've done two blow outs, and while I love the look of them, I definitely won't be doing one again.

So what about you?

Aww man! I'm planning to do a blow out at a natural hair salon later this month! Did you use heat protectant? Looks like I might not be getting it done either since you had breakage

 

[EllePixie]

Aww man! I'm planning to do a blow out at a natural hair salon later this month! Did you use heat protectant? Looks like I might not be getting it done either since you had breakage

Yep, definitely. My hair just didn't like getting pulled on with the heat, and it made my hair rough, even blow drying on low. Then, because my hair kept wanting to shrink back up, my ends got all snarled, so when I went back to my natural texture my hair was ridiculously tangled. I noticed a couple of curls (like an entire curl, not just a strand) by my temples were shorter, like I had cut them. I was p.o.ed.

 

[Long-n-Strong_Naturally]

Whenever I've air dried naturally without braiding (rocked super curly) and went to sleep without combing/moisterizing or protecting in any way (have you ever gotten home and been like ugh, need sleep NOW!), I've had serious knots and tangling in the morning. I've been very good as far as that goes for the last several months. I think the challenges I've joined will help keep me on the ball.

I didn't vote, since none of the options really described my situation. I experience the most hair damage from neglect.

 

[Iluvsmuhgrass]

1. Not co-washing every other day when my grass LOVED it. (It's too cold to walk around with a wet head )
2. Rough handling. I was tired and tried to rush to get done and in the process, ripped through my hair. Just because it's thick doesn't mean it's invincible. :burning:
3. Switching products (aka looking for the next holy grail.) When you find something that works. STICK WITH IT!
4. Not enough hot oils/DCing. For some reason I thought that my hair would need LESS pampering because I'm natural. Not so.
5. Using the wrong products. If cones work for you then by all means USE THEM. If natural products work for you then by all means USE THEM. However, if you use something make sure that you know the difference between "strong feeling hair" and "crunchy stripped hair". I confused the two and ended up not using protein based products thinking they were evil... until it hit me that one had breakage and the other did not.

 

[lovenharmony]

Aww man! I'm planning to do a blow out at a natural hair salon later this month! Did you use heat protectant? Looks like I might not be getting it done either since you had breakage

Do a rollerset instead of a blowout...it requires less heat and combing and can get your hair pretty straight! If you want it bone straight, you'll have to flat Iron afterwards though.

 

[Kneechay]

I thought about this the other day too when I was walking my sis through her BC. this is one of those threads that's "I wish I would've known then..." I think one of the biggest setbacks I had was when I had braids during transition. I had to do almost a 2nd BC because I didn't detangle well after removal. Had to cut tons of hair and had lots of broken hair.

Also to be honest my texture in the front loosened because of the weave challenge I put myself on for a year. Flat ironing the left out bangs area to blend caused some heat damage. I have to do a braid out in the front part for my twist outs so it can look more defined.

This other situation may just be me, but after washing, shoot, and in general I have to oil and seal my ends and put them away or my ends will dry and kinda break and tangle. Ive realized the more moisture I give my ends, the less rough and more smooth the ends are, esp. when I flat iron.

 

[Krystle~Hime]

That's weird, the reason I have breakage is not listed..
It's not blowdrying neither Flat Ironing (i've never use heat)
It's not hair coloring (i luv to much my jet black hair color)
it's not puff, i use a satin ribbon for doing my puff and I don't to a tight puff.
and I don't comb my hair...

I have fine hair, so I have to hide it, the brutal cold weather weakens it, the hard water breaks it etc etc,
so I don't know if I can say "Environment"

when I started my HHJ, I haven't retained length for a year, only breakage.
Now that I collect some knowledge, I know how to deal with it, find a great protective style (an afro wig) and how to deal with hard water,(hard filter + acidic rinse) and which treatments to do for strenghthens it. Now, step by step, progressively, I'm retaining length.

 

[EllePixie]

That's weird, the reason I have breakage is not listed..
It's not blowdrying neither Flat Ironing (i've never use heat)
It's not hair coloring (i luv to much my jet black hair color)
it's not puff, i use a satin ribbon for doing my puff and I don't to a tight puff.
and I don't comb my hair...

I have fine hair, so I have to hide it, the brutal cold weather weakens it, the hard water breaks it etc etc,
so I don't know if I can say "Environment"

when I started my HHJ, I haven't retained length for a year, only breakage.
Now that I collect some knowledge, I know how to deal with it, find a great protective style (an afro wig) and how to deal with hard water,(hard filter + acidic rinse) and which treatments to do for strenghthens it. Now, step by step, progressively, I'm retaining length.

Oh sorry Krystle! When I made the poll I wasn't really thinking of the elements...I should have made an "other" category.

 

[nikolite]

Yep, definitely. My hair just didn't like getting pulled on with the heat, and it made my hair rough, even blow drying on low. Then, because my hair kept wanting to shrink back up, my ends got all snarled, so when I went back to my natural texture my hair was ridiculously tangled. I noticed a couple of curls (like an entire curl, not just a strand) by my temples were shorter, like I had cut them. I was p.o.ed.

Me too. I won't touch a blow dryer anymore. My ends are always snarly and brittle afterwards, even with heat protectant. I think its the blasting of air (hot or cold) that just lifts the cuticles and blows the moisture right out or something. I'm an air-drying rollersetter all the way.

 

[femmedusiecle]

Once, I did an oil treatment that included wheat germ oil along with other oils and butters. after i rinsed it with water, i twisted it up let it air dry and the next day went to flat iron. well, wouldn't youuuuu knowwww that i CLEARLY didn't rinse well enough and i heard "pssshhhhhhhhhh" with each section while flatironing?! my flat iron looked like a frying pan and my ends turned into shards of glass. HOWEVER, i sustained no heat damage aside from my ends needing to be dusted.
OH but of course, my visit to a salon to get it blowout and flatironed resulted in the worst head of heat damaged hair. now i don't know if i should continue straightening it and be a straight natural, relax it, or just rock twist outs that make me look half african half european with all this damage.

 

[EllePixie]

Me too. I won't touch a blow dryer anymore. My ends are always snarly and brittle afterwards, even with heat protectant. I think its the blasting of air (hot or cold) that just lifts the cuticles and blows the moisture right out or something. I'm an air-drying rollersetter all the way.

Ugh, I wish I could find the article online...I read this journal study about what blow drying does, and it showed microscopic pictures of the hair. Apparently blow drying will blow open your cuticle, even if it's on low, making hair more susceptible to breakage and dry/brittle. It made perfect sense for how my hair reacted to a blow out. Sooo yea, after I read that I put my blow dryer in a storage ottoman. If I'm going to flat iron, I'll braid my hair first.

 

[femmedusiecle]

I'm going to keep my blow dryer for my weaves. Deffff won't be going in my hair again.

 

[Krystle~Hime]

Oh sorry Krystle! When I made the poll I wasn't really thinking of the elements...I should have made an "other" category.

oh no no no don't worry, there is no soucy
I just hope it will make people thinks that when you do everything, TLC, no manipulation for days, for weeks, conditionion greatly, I mean everything ! you can still have breakage, and it can not be your fault (as choice of colouring hair, flat ironing or putting tension on hair etc as you quote)

 

[SheenaVee]

I picked combing and brushing and colour.

Colour generally doesn't really damage my hair but I bleached my hair in summer and when I straightened a few weeks ago I found quite a lot of split ends, and I never usually get them so I'm attributing that to the bleach.

Combing and brushing - Sometimes I'm not careful enough when detangling. :-/

 

[Krystle~Hime]

Once, I did an oil treatment that included wheat germ oil along with other oils and butters. after i rinsed it with water, i twisted it up let it air dry and the next day went to flat iron. well, wouldn't youuuuu knowwww that i CLEARLY didn't rinse well enough and i heard "pssshhhhhhhhhh" with each section while flatironing?! my flat iron looked like a frying pan and my ends turned into shards of glass. HOWEVER, i sustained no heat damage aside from my ends needing to be dusted.
OH but of course, my visit to a salon to get it blowout and flatironed resulted in the worst head of heat damaged hair. now i don't know if i should continue straightening it and be a straight natural, relax it, or just rock twist outs that make me look half african half european with all this damage.

oh my gosh I have chills of fear just by reading.

is it just the ends that are damaged or a big part of length?
damn, why the hairdresser didn't recommend you to do a cut ???

 

[Poohbear]

Rough/excessive manipulation in natural state

 

[Krystle~Hime]

Ugh, I wish I could find the article online...I read this journal study about what blow drying does, and it showed microscopic pictures of the hair. Apparently blow drying will blow open your cuticle, even if it's on low, making hair more susceptible to breakage and dry/brittle. It made perfect sense for how my hair reacted to a blow out. Sooo yea, after I read that I put my blow dryer in a storage ottoman. If I'm going to flat iron, I'll braid my hair first.

interesting

lol
it reminds me a kind of tool that claims to eliminate split ends by lightly blowdrying hair(besides that you have to prior blowdried your hair as afro hair is too much kinky for this tool ¬¬ ),
I mean how can you eliminate split ends if you must create brittleness by using it ¬¬*

 

[EllePixie]

interesting

lol
it reminds me a kind of tool that claims to eliminate split ends by lightly blowdrying hair(besides that you have to prior blowdried your hair as afro hair is too much kinky for this tool ¬¬ ),
I mean how can you eliminate split ends if you must create brittleness by using it ¬¬*

What tool is that? Sounds strange...

 

[AimWard]

Combing/brushing and coloring. I stopped combing and brushing my hair a little over a year ago and the breakage on my ends stopped (and I also experienced a major decrease in ssk's). Commercial hair color has always broke my hair off. Even the demi-permanent (it just breaks it off over a longer period of time).

 

[alive]

probably twisting. Unlike most naturals, my hair takes twisting as an opportunity to tangle unless I do really massive ones. non bueno

 

[Krystle~Hime]

What tool is that? Sounds strange...

split..... end max or split ender max or without max
Split-Ender Maxi Kit - The Official Website

don't try it, there was a thread 2 months ago with LHCF girls who has tried it.
the product claims to only cut THE SPLITS, but girls said that the product doesn't make a difference between hair and split ends, just cut and cut and cut.