Not Sure What I'm Doing Anymore

[princezzLeia]

Hi all,

I'm having problems with my hair (read: breakage) and I can't seem to correct it. I think it may have something to do with where I live - the tropics. It's hot and humid almost year round here, but we get a little reprieve December-February where it's a little cooler.

I started on this journey in December and my hair NEVER broke until April. I started to get moisture breakage. Once I realized what the problem was, I began using Aphogee 2 minute once weekly. This would stop the breakage completely for a few days. Midweek, back to breakage and wetness. I had also switched to a glycerin/water (1:4) mixture for nightly moisturizing and I saw someone on youtube say this mixture gave them moisture damage so I switched back to Wave Nouveau (which I'd used during my hair's healthy period)

My hair still won't balance. I always end up with midweek wetness and breakage. I tried leaving in the Aphogee longer, like 10 minutes. All that did was give me crunchiness and protein breakage instead (I see tiny chips of hair in my hands, not the longer moisture breakage kind). Scared of protein damage, midweek I did an ORS replenishing DC (which used to be a staple when my hair was not breaking) and continued moisturizing with the Wave Nouveau - wet and breaking again. I thought maybe the increased humidity means I shouldn't moisturize every night and that I should give my hair a softer protein.

Last night I tried Aubrey Organics GPB for the first time. My hair was thicker and curly (I'm not bone straight) when it dried, like when I apply any protein. However it was also quite soft and stretchy, moreso than I think is healthy but I could be wrong. Anyway, it felt strong and I only noticed 2 or so broken hairs. I'm accustomed to none but I could see improvement. I didn't apply a leave-in, just air-dried with jojoba oil.

This morning my hair was no longer soft, it was a little hard and it was quite dry. I didn't want to put a glycerin product in it so I diluted some Giovanni's Direct leave-in half and half with water and added a few drops of avocado oil. I don't know how this will work out because GDLI is supposed to have protein in it. I had to leave home so I put it up and now I'm afraid to take it down. LOL.

The other thing I've noticed is that when I stretched the dry hair this morning and let it go, it recoiled into a coil. Like when you stretch a spring and release it and it coils up tightly - more tightly than it was coiled before stretching. It's hard to explain but I've never seen my hair do this before so it was worth describing, I guess.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING ANYMORE! In my opinion, the strand tests aren't revealing much, and my hair is bouncing from too much protein to too much moisture on a weekly basis. Maybe I'm being heavy handed with the protein to correct the moisture and then heavy handed with the moisture to correct the protein? Maybe I need to be more gentle with the corrective process? I'm discouraged from the breakage. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also did anyone notice that a glycerin based moisturizer they had great results with in normal humidity cause them to over moisturize in high humidity? If so what did you do? Dilute the moisturizer? Moisturize every other night? Switch to a butter?

Thanks, ladies.

 

[IDareT'sHair]

SimJam bajandoc86 Aggie

I know they also live in the "Tropics" maybe they can give you some guidance.

 

[jessicarabbit]

I think you need to incorporate some form of a mild protein in your reggie everyday/every other day. One thing that made this really easy for me (and drastically decreased my breakage) was my spritz. It has aloe vera juice, aphogee pro-vitamin leave in (for protein) water, and oil. Since I'm in braids, I use nothing else. My hair is not breaking AT ALL (I have a little bit of hair left out for wig purposes), but it stops my hair from getting overmoisturized since i cowash daily. Or, if you dont want to use the provitamin spray, all giovanni products have protein, so Giovanni direct leave in might be good for you too. Coconut oil has protein-like qualities, and you could try a weekly black tea rinse along with your protein treatment. Im just throwing out ideas that worked for me. HTH!

 

[SimJam]

Im not sure that I'll be of much help considering that Im also battling the breakage. I however have never thought that it was because of the climate here. Jamaica is pretty hot/humid and I always considered that good for my hair.

But I will tell you what has worked for me re: arresting breakage

sulphate free shampoo
aloe vera juice (50/50 water and aloe vera juice) spritz on my hair right after washing
good moisture leave in (whatever works for you)
good sealant (I like Qhemet AOHC or BRBC or Oyin burnt sugar pomade)

 

[bajandoc86]

I agree with SimJam, I don't see the humidity as an issue for my hair. I think you may need to clarify before you do any strand tests.

 

[southerncitygirl]

i don't think humidity is the issue....maybe your reggie needs to be tweaked.

try the following:

switch to a sulfate-free poo, giovanni 50/50 is good

aubrey's condtioners are great, i see you have gbp rotate with honeysuckle rose and j.a.y as well

use a leave-in to detangle komaza, oyin and darcy's make great ones.

claudies makes great moisturizers that are a perfect balance of moisture and protein (quinoa-coffee balancing, satin daily and balancing hair lotion would be great and seal with oil) moisturizing or sealing 3-4 times a week is good.

you need to do overall trims every 3-4 months not just search and destroys.

i think you need more protein, the notion that natural hair only needs moisture is a myth.

 

[SimJam]

Ohhh yes .... Clarify .... basically start over from scratch.

when I was relaxed/texlaxed my hair loved hawiian silky 14 in one as a leave in, its glycerin based. Im prone to dry hair and this and herbal essences long term relationship were my holy grails.

My relaxed hair didnt need much protein - the Aphogee 2 minute was enough for me every month or so

 

[coyacoy]

This thread is so timely for me... I hope I come across a suggestion that I haven't yet tried or heard of....I have been feeling the same way as a result of breakage....

I have not been able to get it under control since about december!! off and on I have been successful between then and now where it stopped for a week or so... I've tried everything from increasing my protein to increasing my moisture...doing big trims and I rarely if ever use heat....

I've tried baggying and heavy sealing... integrating ceremides into my reggie.... replacing all of my combs with seamless ones.... I've increased my water intake... I moisturize and seal at night sometimes twice a day if needed.... I've tried spritzing my hair with water or a mix of aloe vera juice and oil or water and oil.... I've tried sealing with both oils and butters as well as even serums!

I do sleep with a satin nightcap and clarify once a month...I also wear my hair stretched as much as possible using twist outs after stretching my hair using a blow dryer on cool.. I have fine hair that loves to curl up on each other...

I see that I continue to have mid strand splits and split ends regardless of all the things I've tried to do.... I don't protective style as much as I probably should but the problem for me started back in december and I had been protective styling under wigs all year long which leads me to believe that it something in my hair care practices as opposed to protective styling... nevertheless I have upped my protective styling and even that doesn't seem to work....

I have pretty much not retained any growth since december ...it is very discouraging. I am so frustrated I don't even know what to try anymore I'm just going to keep doing what I know is healthy hair care practices and wearing it up more and just hope it works itself out because maybe I have just been doing too much!

....sorry OP, for the long post just to say that i have no good advice for you :-( but just wanted to let you know you're not alone in this fight! ;-) .... the ladies have given you some really good suggestions...good luck!

 

[Aggie]

Hmmm, the girls are right. High humidity actually has a great effect on my hair. I agree with SimJam. I would clarify my hair about now seeing that you have been using products on your hair that contain cones. Get that out of the way and see what happens. I would also recommend combining your protein and moisture deep conditioners one time then do them separately other times.

Stick with sulfate free poos on a regular basis and btw, you can find a sulfate-free clarifying shampoo as well. Examples are Elucence Clarifying Shampoo, Aubrey Organics Green Tea Shampoo, Keracare 1st Lather Shampoo, and Beauty Without Cruelty Rosemary, Tea Tree Shampoo just to name a few.

Truth be told about my hair - it just wants to be left alone most of the time. It doesn't even care to be moisturized daily either so recently, I have been simply leaving it alone. I need to do this for a while and then I will give it a succession of treatments, then back to doing nothing at all, and so on and so on. All the best hun.

 

[princezzLeia]

Hi guys, thanks for coming to my rescue. My account has weird issues - I can't view threads when I am logged in (system error) and I can't post when I'm not logged in. So it's difficult for me to be all over this thread, thanks for the responses.

Cocacoy, I'm glad you posted girl, I was starting to feel like a failure. I don't miss a DC session or a single night moisturizing, so for this to start happening...erplexed I wish you all the best figuring out what the problem is.

The reason I asked about humidity is bc I'm relaxed and using a glycerin moisturizer every night (Wave Nouveau). During the cooler months that was okay but now my hair is constantly wet and breaking. I thought it might be too much of a good thing.

I hear y'all, mild protein and often! I think I was giving my hair large doses of protein all at once and that might not be the best thing. There's no way I should be going from moisture damage to protein damage overnight.

For now I'm going to try this:

Sundays - avocado/olive oil prepoo, Elasta QP creme conditioning shampoo, Aubrey Organics GPB 10 minutes no heat

Wednesdays - AO Honeysuckle Rose (I actually am not allergic to this as I originally thought...It was the Darcy's tucuma butter) on dry hair for 15 minutes plus heat.

Moisturize/leave-in: equal parts Giovanni's direct and distilled water mixed with a few drops of avocado oil and a half teaspoon of vegetable glycerin

I'll try this for a week and see how it goes. SCG, I am eyeing the Claudie's, thanks for bringing them to my attention!

I had no idea I was supposed to clarify before I do the strand test. Will try this in the morning. I'll just clarify a shed hair lol. I usually just use a sulfate shampoo to clarify every once in a while - didn't know sulfate free clarifiers were available. I will check out the Elucence!

BajanDoc, are you still in Bim or are you at Mona? We should talk

-L-