Overprocessed hair....

[Kinkyhairlady]

I recently was told my hair is terribly overprocessed by a hairstylist who braided my hair a couple of weeks ago. For the past 6 months my hair has been shedding and breaking like crazy, I even developed a bald patch and I could not understand why. At first I thought it was my vitamins which I stopped taking then I blamed it on the color rinse I had gotten around the same time the shedding begun. I did not think it would be overprocessed though.I have been using Motions for a while and never had a problem but I did switch stylist and her method of applying the relaxer took longer then my old stylist and she would rinse my hair put the conditioner for about 10 minutes then neutralize which I found odd. When I questioned her she said it is better this way because the hair follicles are open, and the conditioner will take better. I believed her, little did I know it was damaging my hair little by little. The funny thing is when I started going to her she would tell me my hair is not that thin because I would complain of it being too thin but a few months ago she started making comments like your hair is too thin and it is breaking and etc. I am like well I come to you most of the time so you are not doing something right. Her comment was it must be the Dominican salons I go to that caused the damage. I only go to the Domican salons once in a blue moon so I doubt it. The worst thing about this is that this stylist is my cousin! Unfortunately I had to fire her. Anyways after I take these braids out I will be 11 weeks post but I am not sure what to do after that. Is it ok to get a touch up or continue waiting and getting treatments. My fear is that my new growth will be too much for the relax hair and start to break off even more. I am afraid I will be starting over again because I may have to cut my hair, and I really don't want to go there again. What do you ladies suggest to do in this situation. Any advise you can offer will be much appreciated.Thanks

 

[Bosslady1]

I would wait it out. Do some more protective styles 'til summer. Continue treating your hair. It needs a rest from all that manipulation.

 

[Aveena]

Whoa! don't cut your hair. If that's you in your avatar your hair may need a little TLC and could possibly bounce back. If you still have some fullness protect your strands don't cut them. No to low manipulation until you get the breakage under control.

 

[crlsweetie912]

I don't know. How often are you relaxing? Overprocessing can't happen from a conditioner. I do the same thing with my relaxers sometimes, rinse relaxer, condition then neutralize. A lot of the relaxer kits these days say to do it that way. Even Sistaslick recommends a mid-relaxing protein step. Are you eating healthy? Drinking enought water? Under stress? Do you use a lot of heat? There are a lot of things that can contribute to or be a detriment to our hair health!

 

[Misseyl]

she would rinse my hair put the conditioner for about 10 minutes then neutralize

Sorry to hear about your plight but I think this is where your problems began. If the relaxer doesn't say condition then neutralize, then don't. I for one use Phyto II and it takes me about 45 minutes to neutralize. Plus I think not neutralizing properly is one of the main reasons why our relaxed hair breaks -- if we don't do it properly, then the residue sits on the hair until the next touchup -- and this process continues until the hair can't deal w/it and then snaps. I stretch to 18 weeks and self relax bone straight and never experience any breakage at the demarcation line. I attribute this to my neutralizing habits -- I really work the neutralizing shampoo in until I'm satisfied that my hair is completely neutralized.

I agree w/some of the comments here, but breakage is breakage and that's something we can't fix with protein or conditioning mixes...You just got to chalk it up to experience.. Your avatar shows a beautiful head of hair and I know if I were you I wouldn't want to cut it, but if you do it gradually, like every month snip here, a snip there, then it won't hurt as much

 

[CAPlush]

This is what happened to me. I got an Affirm relaxer, the relaxer was rinsed, a conditioner was applied, and I went under the dryer for like 15 min or so, then I was neutralized. It broke all my hair out. I am not a fan of the conditioning b/f neutralizing method. I know the conditioner is supposed to neutralize, but I think if you do it this way you have to saturate the hair with the conditioner, and no stingy stylist is going to use up all her conditioner on you. Also, the total application time should not be extended by the use of the the conditioner.

You can rebuild your hair, I did it. Do an aphogee treatment or some other strong protein, moisturize heavily, and deep condition at least every week (but 2x a week is even better). Stop going to stylists. Your hair won't stop breaking right away, but mine stopped within 2 months and I only had to do one hair cut. Good luck, there's plenty of guidance on this board on how to stop your breakage, just keep in mind that once it's overprocessed it will always be overprocessed so you are going to have to treat it as if it's breaking even after it has stopped.

 

[navsegda]

I am not a fan of the conditioning b/f neutralizing method.

Same here. I always always always neutralize first with the shampoo and THEN condition, even though the conditioner is neutralizing as well. I believe the shampoo helps gets rid of the remnants of the relaxer better than just rinsing it with water and then sitting with a conditioner on top for several minutes before shampooing and rinsing again.

 

[CAPlush]

Even Sistaslick recommends a mid-relaxing protein step.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it if you are truly mid-process. If the relaxer had already been on her hair the maximum time, then she was most definitely overprocessed. And like I stated before, the stylist may not have saturated her hair with conditioner. The OP has a lot of hair, she may have had to empty the bottle to get the appropriate neutralizing effect.

 

[tryingto]

I am sorry to hear of your hair woes, however I was being overprocessed by a professional, she was giving me a touchup every 6 weeks, and I constantly walked around looking like a large cow licked me in the head, it was not untill I came to this forum, did I realize what the probleum was, in any event, I started stretching relaxer, from every 6 weeks to every 14-18, I am no longer have any shedding, I now self relax, I hope to touchup in the next week or two, however I already see a thickness I never would have if I had not taken control, I did cut my overprocessed ends, however they were hanging on by a thread, that worked for me, now if I could only get this rollersetting thing down,

 

[Kinkyhairlady]

Thanks ladies for all the great advise. I am just going to give the relaxer a break and continue conditioning my hair with. I really think putting the conditioner first before the relaxer is a bad idea and have no clue why companies would suggest this. Technically even if the stylist rinses the hair how can you be so sure there is not still some residue from the relaxer that is still working away in your hair. Never again will I allow a stylist to do this to my hair. I understand this is the new method but I can't take that chance again. I will keep you all posted. Thanks again

 

[knottyaaverage]

i think you should search this board thoroughly and follow what techniques you think would be best for your hair. moisturize, moisturize, deep condition! and chill out on the heat for a while. i went through about the same thing you did. I WILL NEVER GO TO A BLACK HAIRDRESSER AGAIN! i do my OWN hair, and i should have never stopped. but within just this last month, following what i've read here has stregnthened and lengthened my hair so much. be patient and know that you'll be just fine. take your hair's fate into your own hands.

 

[Sistaslick]

Wow girl, I am so sorry to hear this.

CAPlush is right about the treatment plan. And In the future, you should always remember to never start off relaxing hair that is breaking. Ever! Always get your breakage under control before you introduce any chemicals to it. If that means getting in an extra protein treatment, or an extra deep conditioning or two and pushing your relaxer back a bit--- address the breakage first. Relaxing weak hair will only aggravate the issue.

I also don't think the conditioner caused you to be overprocessed. The relaxer may have surpassed the processing time you needed before the neutralizing conditioner was ever introduced. In that case, you were already overprocessed before you could begin the neutralizing process with your conditioner/or shampoo. The conditioners used after the relaxer are normalizing and because they are acidifying conditioners, they have a net neutralizing effect on the hair which is what you want. The initial rinsing with water also initiates the neutralizing process, but it is the normalizing protein conditioner or regular neutralizing shampoo that you use that really gets the pH down to stop the action of the relaxer. Also, you should not be using heat with this step (unless specifically indicated in the relaxer instructions) because I would think that heat at a vulnerable time like that would really do some damage to the hair and scalp. The hair shaft is already open and swollen from the high pH, heat produces the same effect. Just doesnt seem like a good combo to me.

Kinda OT: There is a thread around here somewhere about people who do not use neutralizing shampoos/normalizing conditioners or anything at all after the relaxer. They just rinse, rinse, rinse with regular faucet water and they still have healthy hair. Now, I wouldn't recommend that method b/c the water will only bring down the relaxer pH from 11-13 down to about 8 -10 and that is still too high for your hair. That can lead to damage from excess swelling of the hair shaft. But it is a method that mechanically removes the physical traces of relaxer, and ultilizes pH to stop the action of the relaxer. That is basically what we all end up doing at the end of the day anyway.

Ellis, btw, you have beautiful hair woman! Just go with what feels right for you and your hair. There are no methods that are sound gospel here. Your hair has obviously been thriving well before your stylist attempted this method on you. I just wanted to let you know that it really can be done successfully.

 

[Kinkyhairlady]

Wow girl, I am so sorry to hear this.

CAPlush is right about the treatment plan. And In the future, you should always remember to never start off relaxing hair that is breaking. Ever! Always get your breakage under control before you introduce any chemicals to it. If that means getting in an extra protein treatment, or an extra deep conditioning or two and pushing your relaxer back a bit--- address the breakage first. Relaxing weak hair will only aggravate the issue.

I also don't think the conditioner caused you to be overprocessed. The relaxer may have surpassed the processing time you needed before the neutralizing conditioner was ever introduced. In that case, you were already overprocessed before you could begin the neutralizing process with your conditioner/or shampoo. The conditioners used after the relaxer are normalizing and because they are acidifying conditioners, they have a net neutralizing effect on the hair which is what you want. The initial rinsing with water also initiates the neutralizing process, but it is the normalizing protein conditioner or regular neutralizing shampoo that you use that really gets the pH down to stop the action of the relaxer. Also, you should not be using heat with this step (unless specifically indicated in the relaxer instructions) because I would think that heat at a vulnerable time like that would really do some damage to the hair and scalp. The hair shaft is already open and swollen from the high pH, heat produces the same effect. Just doesnt seem like a good combo to me.

Kinda OT: There is a thread around here somewhere about people who do not use neutralizing shampoos/normalizing conditioners or anything at all after the relaxer. They just rinse, rinse, rinse with regular faucet water and they still have healthy hair. Now, I wouldn't recommend that method b/c the water will only bring down the relaxer pH from 11-13 down to about 8 -10 and that is still too high for your hair. That can lead to damage from excess swelling of the hair shaft. But it is a method that mechanically removes the physical traces of relaxer, and ultilizes pH to stop the action of the relaxer. That is basically what we all end up doing at the end of the day anyway.

Ellis, btw, you have beautiful hair woman! Just go with what feels right for you and your hair. There are no methods that are sound gospel here. Your hair has obviously been thriving well before your stylist attempted this method on you. I just wanted to let you know that it really can be done successfully.

Thanks so much for the hair compliment but unfortunately my hair is quite different then what you see in the Avatar. I will post pics of my breakage when I take my braids out. I understand that some people use this process of the coditioner first then wash but I believe with only certain relaxers. My stylist was using motions for me and applying the cpr to condition and then shampooing. I did not think motions worked this way. My old stylist used it and never did she do it like this and my hair was at it's healthiest. Her attitude stunk that is why I switched stylist. I am definately going to take the advise I got from here and not relax for a while. It will be hard since I just don't deal with my natural hair well at all but I will try. Thanks again ladies.

 

[Sistaslick]

Wow, I was wondering what you were talkin' about girl, because the hair in your avatar is absolutely beautiful! Keep us updated, too. I'm sure your hair will like the stretch. Keep that hair babied in those braids. You know we're here if you need us.