This natural sista need HELP

[Loves Harmony]

I need help with my ends. I did my bc back in July. Since then my hair has grown from an 1 to ear lenght(front) neck (back). I decided to straight my hair today because its my 24th bday yayayayayay. The problem is my ends are dry. I was wondering how can i keep my ends moist? I dont want to cut anymore hair......

 

[lovenharmony]

I'm not natural (yet0 but I've heard rave reviews about s-curl and plain ol water! I'm sure the natural hair gurus will chime in soon. HTH

 

[hair4romheaven]

Happy Birthday!!!

What products and tools did you use to straighten it?

 

[Fhrizzball]

That may be scab hair though I never had that myself. I would just suggest searching for splits, upping your DC, and baggying. Ediese says she has the same problem so maybe she can help you out. Are your ends dry when they're not flat ironed?

 

[Mook's hair]

Yes, that may be scab hair.

I am also natural and was having some issues with my ends.

Co washing was helping a little but not much.

What really helped was Deepp conditioning (over night) and doing the whole head baggy every night. you can read about my struggles and what turned it around in this album.

http://public.fotki.com/Mooks-hair/2010-natural-hair/january/

 

[Loves Harmony]

I cant tell if there dry in the curly state. I make sure i keep my hair mositurise with karen milk/ shea butter..

I washed my hair last night. This morning i section my hair, blown my hair out with some coconut oil then flatiron with my Fhi. Then put some karen milk on my hair after i notice how dry my hair is.

 

[Nonie]

I don't take care of my ends besides regular dusting, but most people who do, seal them with something like an oil. One of my idols, Msa, just used to seal her hair with Castor oil. After washing/conditioning, she'd rinse and then seal it while wet with Castor oil.

Baggying (wearing a plastic cap) at night helps to keep moisture on your hair instead of on your scarf or pillow. Once you get to shoulder length, then sealing and protective styling will be your answer.

The ends of your hair are the oldest part of your hair and the open end of your hair so moisture is easily lost, so regular dusting does keep splits to a minimum and does prevent the hair from thinning over time. If you then start protective styling in addition to sealing once your hair is long enough (meaning your ends are hidden from the drying air), then you may find you don't need to dust as often and your ends remain full and healthy.

 

[Loves Harmony]

Thanks alot Mookie. How do you baggy your hair at night?

 

[Loves Harmony]

I don't take care of my ends besides regular dusting, but most people who do, seal them with something like an oil. One of my idols, Msa, just used to seal her hair with Castor oil. After washing/conditioning, she'd rinse and then seal it while wet with Castor oil.

Baggying (wearing a plastic cap) at night helps to keep moisture on your hair instead of on your scarf or pillow. Once you get to shoulder length, then sealing and protective styling will be your answer.

The ends of your hair are the oldest part of your hair and the open end of your hair so moisture is easily lost, so regular dusting does keep splits to a minimum and does prevent the hair from thinning over time. If you then start protective styling in addition to sealing once your hair is long enough (meaning your ends are hidden from the drying air), then you may find you don't need to dust as often and your ends remain full and healthy.

Thanks alot Nonie! I was thinking about putting ponytails in my hair at night to keep my hair stretch and mosit the ends that way. Would that help with the dry ends?

 

[ChocoKitty]

I cant tell if there dry in the curly state. I make sure i keep my hair mositurise with karen milk/ shea butter..

I washed my hair last night. This morning i section my hair, blown my hair out with some coconut oil then flatiron with my Fhi. Then put some karen milk on my hair after i notice how dry my hair is.

Oil and ceramic flatirons are very bad news! You may have litterally fried your ends in coconut oil. When flatironing with ceramic use waterbased or serum based heat protectants. But for now as previously suggested DC your hair overnight--don't cut unless every option has been exhausted. Your ends will be fine.

 

[Nonie]

Thanks alot Nonie! I was thinking about putting ponytails in my hair at night to keep my hair stretch and mosit the ends that way. Would that help with the dry ends?

Don't do ponytails, braid your hair and then moisturize your ends. The plaits should be as you big as you can possibly get them and then baggy the whole head. The plaits will stretch your hair better than ponytails and make it uniform in stretch from base to ends...while a ponytail only stretches the bottom section of your hair.

Cornrowing is another way of protecting ends...hoping you can either do them yourself or find someone who cornrows babies so that s/he can be gentle and not braid too tight. You can can then seal the ends and maybe wear a phony puff over the ends like I did here:

When your hair grows longer, you can wear it in twists, which helps you to manipulate your hair less. Then you can still do the phony pony style to protect your ends, kinda like I did here:

...or you can do an updo like this roll thingy I did where the tips of the twists were buried away from the drying air:

I think if I were more consistent in protective styling and if would just seal my ends in addition to regular dusting, my ends would be so much happier. I just have issues with product on my hair. HATE IT! But I'm slowly working on that.

 

[Loves Harmony]

thanks alot! I cant french braid to save my soul. Maybe its time for me to learn... Thanks for the big help

 

[Tif392002]

i been using QP mango butter on my ends, and they look smooth and moisturized... or just put water on them and seal with coconut oil, or castor oil. mainly castor oil, i love that stuff.

 

[infojunkie]

I vote wet ends and castor oil. Yummy!