People suffering from setbacks?

[Cayenne0622]

I know its not true but sometimes I feel like everyone is progressing either in the health of their hair and/or the length of their hair except me. I'm just sick to death of my hair actin a fool. I'm not even gonna make this a long vent but just know that I am more than disappointed in my hair. I can't believe I joined this board wayyyy back in July and I sit here still struggling 6 whole months later. I just knew that I would be shaking some full healthy hair by now. SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ayoung]

i'm wit cha!
I've been on here for a good minute and i still am struggling w/ balancing moisture/protein and these darn ends!!

 

[Cayenne0622]

{singing} you are not aloneeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....i am here with youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..... gotta laugh to keep from crying!

 

[janiebaby]

I hear you..My hair started breaking off like crazy a couple of months ago with no end in sight and now my hairline is weakening and I'm starting to see bald spots

 

[imani97]

i'm wit cha!
I've been on here for a good minute and i still am struggling w/ balancing moisture/protein and these darn ends!!

I am with you. You can see how long I've been here and while I made great progress, my hair (or me) seems to be acting like it doesn't know the deal. I'm tweaking my regimen so hopefully I'll get back on track.

 

[Cayenne0622]

Sorry Janiebaby. That's awful. I hope it turns around for you.

Imani - girl, your hair is so pretty in your siggy. Sorry, you are having issues with it now. I hope its over. I wouldn't want to see any damage to what you've accomplished.

 

[chayil0427]

Stay off the wagons and stick to what works. You'll make it baby!

Chayil

 

[CoCoGirl821]

Good to see that I am not alone. I just Cowashed my hair earlier and its like my shedding and breakage will NOT stop. It seems like my hair is thinning sooo much, and I have NEVER had thin hair ever. I think I might need to go see a dermatologist cause this is not the business.

 

[Cayenne0622]

Stay off the wagons and stick to what works. You'll make it baby!

Chayil

Oh LAWD! LHCF is ackin up again. Lemme try my post one mo gin.

Thanks for the encouraging words but nothing is working for me. There may be hope on the horizon but I don't want to get my hopes up anymore.

 

[Cayenne0622]

Good to see that I am not alone. I just Cowashed my hair earlier and its like my shedding and breakage will NOT stop. It seems like my hair is thinning sooo much, and I have NEVER had thin hair ever. I think I might need to go see a dermatologist cause this is not the business.

I would say see some kind of specialist as soon as you can. I hate I waited so long and I hate even more that I couldn't find a black dermatologist on my insurance plan. I feel like I wasted the 3 months on this other derm Call around and ask if different derms specialize in hairloss issues. The longer you wait, the more unhappy you'll probably be...like me.

 

[CoCoGirl821]

I would say see some kind of specialist as soon as you can. I hate I waited so long and I hate even more that I couldn't find a black dermatologist on my insurance plan. I feel like I wasted the 3 months on this other derm Call around and ask if different derms specialize in hairloss issues. The longer you wait, the more unhappy you'll probably be...like me.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[OnceUponAtime]

Don't get discouraged. For as long as I've been on the board, I was sure I'd be surpassing mid-back by now. I've haven't reached BSL yet. I'm now recovering from a setback.

In a way, it's beneficial. I would have less reason to read the hair boards if I reached and maintained my hair goals quickly.

 

[asubeauty]

Your not alone... I've been on LHCF for awhile, and it seems as if I haven't had any significant growth because of a SHS, breakage, or thinning. But my hair is healthier... I guess that's good.

 

[cmw45]

I've found that when you're going through a rough patch with your hair...that may or may not be scalp related...something that tends to work for me is protective styling. I do cornrows or braids which allows me to get to my scalp but also spend less time caring for my hair. Not, that you don't have to take care of your hair while it's in protective styling...but you don't have to worry about over manipulation and daily styling issues.

 

[january noir]

Don't fret ladies... (Here's a hug!)

I understand and sympathize the anxiousness to sport long, flowing hair. But it takes time and patience. And what's life without a setback every now and then? I have had years of bald spots, thinning, short broken tresses, but in time they do recover. Even the ladies you see here with gorgeous beautiful hair experience good hair days/years and bad.

Look closely at your regimen, the products you are using, how much you handle your hair and examine what you eat and your health. Make the necessary changes and you will see progress and feel good about your hair. HANG IN THERE!

 

[baby42]

hi my hair would not grow every thing i told some body to do their seem to work me nothing so i braid it up and used mtg and RL and now it growing so i dont even worry cause in my case if i worry nothing happend so i hope when you go to the dr every thing is alright and if so you have to not think about it and do what you can good luck

 

[imani97]

Sorry Janiebaby. That's awful. I hope it turns around for you.

Imani - girl, your hair is so pretty in your siggy. Sorry, you are having issues with it now. I hope its over. I wouldn't want to see any damage to what you've accomplished.

Thanks for the encouragement. I think that this was just a wake-up call that I need to go back to protective styling. I think that I became too excited with all my hair.

 

[princessdi]

I feel your pain too. I have been viewing the board for a while and following a strict regimen, but for some reason, my ends are still so dry and everytime I apply moisturizer to them, I have a hand full of hair. It's so frustrating because I know as long as I see hair in my hands, I'm not acquiring the growth that I need. Why is it breaking? I wear protective styles (mostly phony ponies--wrapped into a bun); I apply humetress and jojoba oil to my ends and cover with a baggie daily. At night I apply carrot oil to my hair and put castor oil on my ends. The top of my hair is really moisturized but my ends are horrific. What more can I do?

I guess I'll keep experimenting. Hopefully things will turn around soon.

I guess the key is patience and not giving up. We can have long, healthy beautiful hair like everyone else. We are all here to support each other and that helps a lot.

 

[cece22]

I had a few setbacks when I switched from no-lye to lye I had some serious breakage in the front, crown, and nape. Also my hair didn't like a lot of the moisturizers. So I big chopped and went natural this was another length setback. Then I wore braids off and on and experienced breakage around the edges. In all this I realize the importance of protein and moisture whether natural or not. Also I am not afraid of grease at all some how this helps. And my new protective style is wigs being in braids 2 months at a time didn't give me the time to examine and care for my hair properly. In all this I still am not going to give up. The key for me is patience and persistance realizing results don't come over night.

 

[AKA-Tude]

I haven't posted any progress pix bcuz there has been no progress!

I am rethinking my routine & trying to simplify my products (I think I have every oil I've heard about on this board only to find out my hair ain't crazy about oil!).

I think my culprit is heat too, but I ain't crazy about rollersets either. But I will have to start liking them so that my ends wil stop popping off!

Plus I have had to realize it took a while to get damaged hair & it's gonna take a minute to get it REALLY healthy again.

 

[godsflowerrr]

Don't be too discouraged because we all go through setbacks at one time or another. I had a bad one last november. Just view 2007 as a brand new start. Be positive and you'll see results sooner or later sis stay encouraged!!!

 

[january noir]

I feel your pain too. I have been viewing the board for a while and following a strict regimen, but for some reason, my ends are still so dry and everytime I apply moisturizer to them, I have a hand full of hair. It's so frustrating because I know as long as I see hair in my hands, I'm not acquiring the growth that I need. Why is it breaking? I wear protective styles (mostly phony ponies--wrapped into a bun); I apply humetress and jojoba oil to my ends and cover with a baggie daily. At night I apply carrot oil to my hair and put castor oil on my ends. The top of my hair is really moisturized but my ends are horrific. What more can I do?

I guess I'll keep experimenting. Hopefully things will turn around soon.

I guess the key is patience and not giving up. We can have long, healthy beautiful hair like everyone else. We are all here to support each other and that helps a lot.

Hi! I read that you baggie daily. Baggying, though it is a good method for some, is not for many and might not be for you; Cease the Baggie Method for a month and see if your ends improve. Sometime hair can receive a moisture OVERLOAD in concentrated areas. Let us know...

 

[Cayenne0622]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! For the ladies you are suffering with setbacks right now, I wish you all the best and a speedy hair recovery. For the ladies who just popped in for support - thank you so much for caring enough to offer words of encouragement. I have no choice but to continue caring for my hair but I sure wish I could see the results of me changing my old bad behaviors. I no longer relax my nape first and I no longer use spritz while curling my hair and to do my swoop bang. I was sure that when I eliminated those damaging things, the front of my hair would stop breaking and have some hang time by now. Oh well! I'll keep trying.

 

[sweetcashew]

Yeah ladies, hang in there. We all suffer from setbacks. For the last three years I've had to do really deep cuts every June because my hair just starts acting up around that time. And not to mention times when you're doing what normally works for you but you hair is not responding.
Just simplify, stick with it and this phase will pass.

 

[sunshinebeautiful]

I feel you. I'm having a bit of a setback related to some damaged, overprocessed hair before I came to LHCF. I had self-relaxed a portion of my hair in the front bone straight to blend in with a weave I'd gotten over the summer. Well, I overprocessed that section of hair sooooo bad that it has zero elasticity, and those pieces have been gradually breaking off where it meets my texlaxed hair. It's not toooo bad though. I figure I'll just keep trimming off the overprocessed hair and get some bangs or something, even though I don't really like bangs. I'm praying it gets better over time.

 

[blkbeauty]

Don't feel too bad. I even went Natural 2 yrs ago and I am still at the same length. I honestly thing genes are apart of it, because although my hair is much more healthier when I was relaxed its just about the same length and has been for the past 2 yrs. I dunno, I've just learn to love my healthy and the length just the way it is.

 

[Summer_Rain]

I would just like to add that perhaps some of our setbacks are a result of too much stress and worry over our hair. I know for me personally, prior to joining the boards - depression & stress was a major culprit in my hair loss.

It's like those who 'practice' the Laws of Attraction - if all you can think and worry about is how much your hair is NOT growing, well - then thats whats gonna happen. focus mentally on the health of your hair, the beauty of it "as is"...dont obsess over what you see as set backs.

I mean you may think you aren't making any progress in terms of length, but hell - your hair hasn't fallen out in clumps, it's healthy and even though you may view it as stagnant, well - like some folks say "No news is good news".

I guess what I'm sayin overall, is that no matter what your regimen is, no matter what products you use - it's just as much a mental change as anything else

 

[Lavendar]

Ladies, sorry to hear about your setbacks. I had two major setbacks during my first and only year with LHCF. The first was due to my protein/moisture balance being totally off, and the second was due to trying to stretch too long and not trimming. I find myself getting caught up in what seems to be working so well for others, even when I know it's not good for me. Sometimes I feel like I can make it work this time if I just do this different or that different....and it still ends up a mess...a big hot hair mess! I also get discouraged and think my hair won't grow if I don't do what they do, but that's just not true. I have to keep hitting myself over the head and having major setbacks until I get it in my thick skull what my hair does and does not like! One thing I do absolutely know is that blow dryers and curling irons would not let me grow any substantial length. I started off with braidouts since my hair was too short to bun, and I saw an immediate increase in volume. Also my ends were shot. If you are still using direct heat, this could be a factor. Keep the faith, ladies!

 

[Cayenne0622]

I would just like to add that perhaps some of our setbacks are a result of too much stress and worry over our hair. I know for me personally, prior to joining the boards - depression & stress was a major culprit in my hair loss.

It's like those who 'practice' the Laws of Attraction - if all you can think and worry about is how much your hair is NOT growing, well - then thats whats gonna happen. focus mentally on the health of your hair, the beauty of it "as is"...dont obsess over what you see as set backs.

I mean you may think you aren't making any progress in terms of length, but hell - your hair hasn't fallen out in clumps, it's healthy and even though you may view it as stagnant, well - like some folks say "No news is good news".

I guess what I'm sayin overall, is that no matter what your regimen is, no matter what products you use - it's just as much a mental change as anything else

I don't know about the other ladies but I don't have a problem with growth. It grows like crazy but what's growth without health? Right? And not to mention the thinning from the massive and constant shedding. My main goal has been to stop the shedding. That's what brought me to the boards initially. When I found out what caused the shedding to start, I was so happy to have found the culprit. I also was getting treated by a dermatologist. I hadn't been stressing about it...just babying it and patiently waiting for it to stop. I now believe my doctor has not found the best protocol for me and that she doesn't have a clue about what to do. I do not plan to go back to her. I now have an appt to see a hair specialist. They are going to analyze my scalp and hair and we'll go from there. Wish I had found out about this place months ago. There's always hope in the midst of frustration.

 

[MonaLisa]

Don't fret ladies... (Here's a hug!)

I understand and sympathize the anxiousness to sport long, flowing hair. But it takes time and patience. And what's life without a setback every now and then? I have had years of bald spots, thinning, short broken tresses, but in time they do recover. Even the ladies you see here with gorgeous beautiful hair experience good hair days/years and bad.

Look closely at your regimen, the products you are using, how much you handle your hair and examine what you eat and your health. Make the necessary changes and you will see progress and feel good about your hair. HANG IN THERE!

Finally believing this....I was hanging around the board lurking prior to July 04...signed up officially in July 04...and I thought I would've been flowing by now. I'm STILL fighting to get to APL.

My hair is 10 times more healthier looking in both appearance and state than it was when I first joined. I'm so mad that I thought my hair looked good!

And tweaking some things, removing some products I had been using and using others have made a tremendous difference in my hair and I'm finally getting some length now in addition to it becoming more healthier.

So, patience, regimen and products, I agree, are key factors.