Paging Pebbles-question about shedding

[keylargo]

Hi Pebbles. You mentioned in another post that your hair sheds in the winter sometimes. How do you know if it's shedding because of the growth cycle it's in or because of damage? I ask this because my hair was shedding a lot for about two months and nothing i tried -protein, constant conditioning-would stop it. I believe my hair was damaged because the ends were breaking off down to the new growth. That was the only way I could tell.

How can a person figure out the reason for the shedding?

By the ways, your hair looks amazing!

 

[adrienne0914]

butting in here... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

keylargo, based on what you've described, i'd say you had breakage, not shedding. with shedding, the hair isn't broken. it actually comes out from the scalp. if you inspect it, one end will have a white or black bulb that comes out of the scalp.

it sounds like your hair is breaking where the two textures meet. that can sometimes be corrected by using products and styles that put less stress on the hair. curl activator with the bun works well for me. the braidout or twistout can also provide some relief.

adrienne

 

[keylargo]

Hi Adrienne.
Yes, I know I definately had breakage. I'm not having that problem right now since I have my hair in braids (and my hands out of it). It has definately improved. I just want to know about shedding for future reference.

 

[pebbles]

Hi keylargo,

Sorry I'm late. I didn't log on yesterday after church. Adrienne gave you the right answer. You're hair sounds like it was experiencing breakage. With me, whole strands of hair come out with the white bulb at the top. For reasons I'm not sure of, I get a lot of shedding during the cold months. I don't have breakage, which is broken pieces of hair that are different lengths.

I am guessing that my growth cycle is about 3 years. 4 years ago I cut my hair down to 2" to take a curl out of my hair and get it braided. Every time I would touch up the braids, I would cut some more hair until I got all of the curl out of my hair. With the amount of shedding I'm getting now, I think my guess is about right about my hair growth cycle. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[pebbles]

Keylargo,

I forgot to ask you, what are you doing now to treat your hair other than braiding? You still need to find a solution for the breakage. If you don't, you'll experience the same thing once you take out your braids. What protein conditioner were you using and how were you using it?

 

[keylargo]

Good morning Pebbles. Right now I use Aubrey's GPB followed by Suave's coconut milk conditioner. I do this monthly when I redo my braids. So far, the breakage has stopped. I even have hair growing in around my edges that seems to be stronger.

I am slowly cutting off the damaged ends as it grows out. Right now the ends look almost the same as the new growth as far as thickness. Do you think I should continue to cut them off or could they possibly be healthy again?

 

[pebbles]

Hi Keylargo,

Well I'm glad your hair has stopped breaking. /images/graemlins/smile.gif
You should continue to slowly cut off the damaged ends. Unfortunately, once the ends are damaged, there is no way to repair them. There are products that can coat them to help give the illusion that they have been repaired, but that's only temporary. You're doing it the right way. /images/graemlins/smile.gif