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This will always be the thorn for natural hair
- Thread starter OsnapCnapp!
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Southernbella.
Well-Known Member
I've honestly never had splits or knots. I deep condition regularly and use heat periodically, and I think that has helped.
Sorry you're going through this OP, but this is not something that's specific to naturals.
Sorry you're going through this OP, but this is not something that's specific to naturals.
Poohbear
Fearfully Wonderfully Made
I have given up on getting rid of splits on my hair strands. They're not really noticeable when you look at my hair. The only way to see them is if you look up close and personal with my hair strands. I used to do the search and destroy method of cutting off splits that I see, but then I would realize there were still splits the next day after doing a search and destroy session.
And I see a few ladies say they do not have splits in their hair. I think it may be because you either never look extremely close at individual hair strands or you have that hair texture that does not shrink up or coil up as tightly as other hair types. Manipulating tightly coiled hair causes more damage than manipulating loosely curled hair.
And I see a few ladies say they do not have splits in their hair. I think it may be because you either never look extremely close at individual hair strands or you have that hair texture that does not shrink up or coil up as tightly as other hair types. Manipulating tightly coiled hair causes more damage than manipulating loosely curled hair.
OsnapCnapp!
New Member
Just wanted to comment before I actually post my pics later to some of the comments I've read.
@Nonie: I am very aware that any and all hair is prone to split ends due to some type of damaging techniques but as far as longhaircareforum goes, I haven't seen too many threads with the women who relax stating that they were having problems with "just-because" splits and I call them that because they just are and not because of incorrect or damaging techniques. So sorry should have been more specific----as far as this board goes, in the past year I have seen threads by a large majority of natural-haired women saying they were having the problems with the split ends.
I trim or "dust" my hair every month but now Im beginning to think I should do it more often. Prior to the last dusting it has always been one month or every 4 wks.
@Embrya Im guessing since the things I use to moisturize my hair with at night are dried up by the morning that I have porosity issues. I have since addressed this with protein treatments that my hair absolutely loves and also @Nonie suggestions of ACV dunks. I use porosity control with my DC each time I do it and I have been doing this for about a couple of months.
@Southernbella. your hair is beautiful and I wish I could be where you are right now. And that's amazing that you've never had this problem. Im just beginning to think its my hair type. But I will have to show you that in a pic I post later.
Again I just want everyone to know that I do know everyone is bound to get split ends. But as far as longhaircareforum goes, I see lots of threads with natural-haired women expressing the problems with splits, ssks, tangles, etc and seems a harder problem to fix with natural hair than other hair types. Im sorry I should have been more specific about it.
Again, Im going to post some pics later this evening and show you all this crazy journey that Im going through.
@Nonie: I am very aware that any and all hair is prone to split ends due to some type of damaging techniques but as far as longhaircareforum goes, I haven't seen too many threads with the women who relax stating that they were having problems with "just-because" splits and I call them that because they just are and not because of incorrect or damaging techniques. So sorry should have been more specific----as far as this board goes, in the past year I have seen threads by a large majority of natural-haired women saying they were having the problems with the split ends.
I trim or "dust" my hair every month but now Im beginning to think I should do it more often. Prior to the last dusting it has always been one month or every 4 wks.
@Embrya Im guessing since the things I use to moisturize my hair with at night are dried up by the morning that I have porosity issues. I have since addressed this with protein treatments that my hair absolutely loves and also @Nonie suggestions of ACV dunks. I use porosity control with my DC each time I do it and I have been doing this for about a couple of months.
@Southernbella. your hair is beautiful and I wish I could be where you are right now. And that's amazing that you've never had this problem. Im just beginning to think its my hair type. But I will have to show you that in a pic I post later.
Again I just want everyone to know that I do know everyone is bound to get split ends. But as far as longhaircareforum goes, I see lots of threads with natural-haired women expressing the problems with splits, ssks, tangles, etc and seems a harder problem to fix with natural hair than other hair types. Im sorry I should have been more specific about it.
Again, Im going to post some pics later this evening and show you all this crazy journey that Im going through.
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MaraWithLove
Well-Known Member
Hello OP. I'm a 4b natural-mostly, at least. To be honest, I don't ever recall having split ends, but my hair is weird, thick as wool and coarse anyhow. I've rarely trimmed, whether natural or relaxed. What I do notice, however, is the occasional knot-little pesky things they are, but I just take my time with them. Also, as others have stated, I don't think split ends have anything to do with being natural; my sister is just as relaxed as I am natural and the other is texlaxed, and out of us three those two have split ends. No matter, but I hope you find a resolution, because they seem to be a huge bother! 
Nonie
Well-Known Member
OsnapCnapp!, what I have heard from naturals is talk of SSKs and knots which happen to hair when people try to treat it in ways that are not "normal" for it. WNGs IMO or wearing hair out day-in, day-out was never meant to be a practice for type 4 hair. I never get SSKs and knots because I don't do any of those things.
As far as splits, just because people do not call them splits doesn't mean they don't have them. If you do a search on the forum, you will find threads by relaxed people stuck at a certain length. Their follicles aren't dead or they'd be bald. Their hair is stuck at that length because split ends cost them retention. The same goes for the relaxed heads that post about breakage. That again is a result of splits in the strands. Dry ends too while a normal part of ends in general. You probably read more about natural hair quirks because there are many people venturing into the world of natural hair for the first time and so still learning about their hair. Those of us who've been dealing with our hair and who've come to understand it rarely post about having problems. When I first joined LHCF 90% of the people were relaxed so you'd swear only relaxed people had problems because you read more about them posting. Also because you're natural, you're probably more attuned to what is going on in the natural world than in the relaxed world. One more thing, many of us would not have known if anything was wrong with our relaxed hair before we started a HHJ and got interested in hair. Like I didn't have any issues with my relaxed hair, yet it never grew beyond SL. You'd never have heard me complaining about it, but clearly I was missing problems that I've since rectified and I find my natural hair easier to deal with than my relaxed hair. Like this morning, I woke up got dressed and left the house w/o touching my hair. Could never do that when I was relaxed.
As far as splits, just because people do not call them splits doesn't mean they don't have them. If you do a search on the forum, you will find threads by relaxed people stuck at a certain length. Their follicles aren't dead or they'd be bald. Their hair is stuck at that length because split ends cost them retention. The same goes for the relaxed heads that post about breakage. That again is a result of splits in the strands. Dry ends too while a normal part of ends in general. You probably read more about natural hair quirks because there are many people venturing into the world of natural hair for the first time and so still learning about their hair. Those of us who've been dealing with our hair and who've come to understand it rarely post about having problems. When I first joined LHCF 90% of the people were relaxed so you'd swear only relaxed people had problems because you read more about them posting. Also because you're natural, you're probably more attuned to what is going on in the natural world than in the relaxed world. One more thing, many of us would not have known if anything was wrong with our relaxed hair before we started a HHJ and got interested in hair. Like I didn't have any issues with my relaxed hair, yet it never grew beyond SL. You'd never have heard me complaining about it, but clearly I was missing problems that I've since rectified and I find my natural hair easier to deal with than my relaxed hair. Like this morning, I woke up got dressed and left the house w/o touching my hair. Could never do that when I was relaxed.
OsnapCnapp!
I get what you are saying, but it probably seems that way because up until very recently when SunnieB started bumping up and creating relaxed hair threads, many more naturals were creating threads than those of us with relaxed hair.
In February, my hair was well on its way to BSL. I didn't trim and by May, my ends were a mess. I had to "trim" 2 inches taking me back to full shoulder-length. I got busy studying for the bar exam and did nothing but co-wash and PS for three months. By August, my ends were thinning again.
To be honest...there are many ladies on LHCF with thin ends that either don't realize it or are holding on to them for the sake of claiming a length. That's fine for them, but I realize now that I have to trim on a regular schedule or I won't reach my goals.
I would post pics, but they basically illustrate on my hair what Nonie already said. I started the year at APL and I'm likely ending it at APL. If I had trimmed and dusted properly, I'd be much further along.
Sent from my iPhone 4 using LHCF app
I get what you are saying, but it probably seems that way because up until very recently when SunnieB started bumping up and creating relaxed hair threads, many more naturals were creating threads than those of us with relaxed hair.
In February, my hair was well on its way to BSL. I didn't trim and by May, my ends were a mess. I had to "trim" 2 inches taking me back to full shoulder-length. I got busy studying for the bar exam and did nothing but co-wash and PS for three months. By August, my ends were thinning again.
To be honest...there are many ladies on LHCF with thin ends that either don't realize it or are holding on to them for the sake of claiming a length. That's fine for them, but I realize now that I have to trim on a regular schedule or I won't reach my goals.
I would post pics, but they basically illustrate on my hair what Nonie already said. I started the year at APL and I'm likely ending it at APL. If I had trimmed and dusted properly, I'd be much further along.
Sent from my iPhone 4 using LHCF app
SmilingElephant
Well-Known Member
SmilingElephant, July is such a long time ago. By now my hair'd be thinning like crazy! I dusted on August 14, and I'm due to dust again on October 9.
To show you why I don't joke about with dusting regularly, this is what my hair looked like in August 2003 after keeping the 6-8 week dusting schedule religiously.
This was in December 2003:
I literally had to cut off 2 inches to get my hair back to how it was in August:
So not worth it! The reason I had stopped dusting was because I learned from people on LHCF that it wasn't necessary.
Yeah...that's true for some people....but i've never had a problem not dusting every 2 months. Even before LHCF...i used to have my hair trimmed like every 4-6 months and my hair was still thick from root to tip.
For me personally...i have to keep my ends moisturized and i only dust when absolutely necessary. its when my hair gets too dry my ends start going crazy.
I understand what you're saying tho.
NappyNelle
Kinky Coily 4A, Fine Strands, WSL
OP, how do you wear your hair daily? All the dusting and moisturizing in the world cannot combat the damage of 'out' or 'loose' fine-strand, non-heat styled, type 4 hair.
Stormy
Well-Known Member
OP, not sure why you are convinced this is something that happens only to naturals. Splits happen to everyone. As soon as you trim they start to happen at a microscopic scale and depending on how long you wait to dust, they can grow to a size that causes you problems.
There are naturals who don't have problems with splits and don't need to trim often. These are usually people with thick strands (eg @ms-gg). Then there are those like me who dust them before they happen. And I know you say you trimmed a month ago, but how long before that did you trim? You can't leave hair undusted for months then do a trim and be 100% sure you got rid of all the damage, especially if your trim was about an inch or so. Not sure what made you trim, but if your ends were looking thin, then the splits might have extended beyond where your trimmed...so you may have left frayed ends behind which continue the damage.
I once posted a magnified image of my hair to show you an end that wasn't split but it was what was left after a split had torn off, hence the reason it's pointed.
It was less than a millimeter long (because that's my thumb nail you see). But because I dust every 8 weeks, and dust about 1/4 of an inch or so, I usually cut off about 5 mm AT LEAST so I guess I do a good job of ridding my hair of those dangerous ends.
So yeah, all hair splits. How fast this happens depends on how fine the strands are. How much this will cost you retention depends on how long you allow the splits to stay in your hair and grow. The more frequently you dust, the more you're likely to keep them from being a nuisance. But remember if you're only starting to dust now, it may take many months before you start to reap the fruits of this good practice, because as I've said before, your trim may be at C which leaves problems.
Cutting at A is better, but even then, you can see some of what's to the left of that is damaged. So it may take a few more big cuts to get to the point where your cut leaves whole ends that have a long way before they get ugly. And THEN you can start the prevention program of regular dusting instead of a repair program of big trims.
Noni, I just love the way you always break things down into easy to understand terms! Girl... all of your images should be a sticky, a tutorial or something. Since I did a big big BC I've been taking notes. Thanks a lot!
BTW... someone mentioned you should write a book and she's right! I'm sure it would sell a lot of copies!
LadyRaider
Well-Known Member
Stormy
Well-Known Member
Oh, I'm sorry OP I forgot to comment on your problem. Well, I also agree that it's not just the thorn for naturals. I noticed splits when I was relaxed too. I had to do regular trims both ways. Last time I was natural I noticed that keeping my hair in a stretched state, not manipulating it too much and not wearing the same styles for too long seemed to help along with trims and dustings. I don't think I did the trims and dustings enough though (according to my new natural stylist) because as my hair got longer I suffered from those SSKs. I remember I wasn't trimming as much then and all the other stuff I mentioned above.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
LadyRaider I guess if cornrows are also out then, you're better off relaxing your hair.
If you look at the history of African hair, combing out the hair daily was never a practice of our people. In fact, if you look at tribes in Africa that have not bought into Western cultures, you'll notice that their hair regimens do not involving fussing with hair every single day they wake up. I keep referring to the Himba tribe because if there was ever a tribe that showed what our hair is capable of, it's them. You'd be hard pressed to find a woman with hair shorter than APL--even the kids! And what is one thing they practice? Low mani.
Some people have found twist-outs/braid-outs work for them (Kimmay, Mwedzi) as low mani styles...so that's another option. I just think leaving the hair alone works best for type 4 hair than constantly fussing with it.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
BTW... someone mentioned you should write a book and she's right! I'm sure it would sell a lot of copies!
Aww...Stormy thank you for the kind words. As for writing a book, I'm Libran to the core and a procrastinator of the highest order. I can't finish any project I start...so asking me to write a book is asking for a miracle. My mom read some of my posts (she writes) and was horrified that I am putting it out for free too.
Bless her heart. I don't do much that is nice for anyone so I guess sharing what I know is my way of giving back for all I'm blessed with.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
choconillaprincess, am I reading a whole website? The link you gave me didn't seem to address the topic at hand so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be reading.
Can you give a synopsis of what it is you do instead? Or quote the actual part of her website you were referring to?
As for separating strand by strand, I don't know what you mean but I do fingercomb like that. When I undo a twist to redo, I'm anal about separating my strands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5iU4NgNGgI
LadyRaider
Well-Known Member
Nonie
I definitely don't think I'm better off with relaxed hair. My hair does not change a significant amount for the better when relaxed. So it's pointless. Plus my curls are prettier than my relaxed hair was.
I guess I should let a professional twist my hair and see how it works. I just think it's too fine. I see pics of people's hair in twists on here and one of their twists looks about like what 4 of mine would be circumference wise. I wonder if anyone else has experienced "better-thicker, more voluminous" braids done by a professional than by themselves?
Cornrows I can do. Generally I braid my hair (1 or 2 "French" braids) at least half the week.
I'm interested in braid outs/twist outs as a low mani style. Those I can definitely do. I need to look those folks up that you mentioned, I guess.
Thanks for your input.
I definitely don't think I'm better off with relaxed hair. My hair does not change a significant amount for the better when relaxed. So it's pointless. Plus my curls are prettier than my relaxed hair was.
I guess I should let a professional twist my hair and see how it works. I just think it's too fine. I see pics of people's hair in twists on here and one of their twists looks about like what 4 of mine would be circumference wise. I wonder if anyone else has experienced "better-thicker, more voluminous" braids done by a professional than by themselves?
Cornrows I can do. Generally I braid my hair (1 or 2 "French" braids) at least half the week.
I'm interested in braid outs/twist outs as a low mani style. Those I can definitely do. I need to look those folks up that you mentioned, I guess.
Thanks for your input.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
LadyRaider, I cannot get chunky twists without my hair looking so sparse. princessdi posted images of her braids and the "ropes" are narrow because she has fine hair that is straight. I'd have the same thing because I have fine strands. So thick chunky twists like you'd see on ms-gg would not work here.
The thing is to work with what you have. I don't like the look of sparse hair so rather than try to do what ms-gg can do, I do my own thing. I do smaller twists which look fuller and are easy to whip into styles so I don't get bored. I think we get frustrated when we try to copy other people. I have usually come up with some of the cutest styles just from playing around with my hair w/o trying to emulate another. So rather than regret that your hair can't look like someone else, why not let your hair show people what it can do.
You mention curls... Are you textlaxed or do you have a curly perm?
LadyRaider
Well-Known Member
Nonie
Well-Known Member
Whatchu tawkinbout Willis? It's people without volume for whom mini-twists work best. LadyRaider There's a thread that pookaloo83 started on this topic. A lot of info on it. I'll summon her here to help locate it coz I have to attend to something. Be useful pookaloo83!
Embyra
Well-Known Member
Nonie
http://www.youtube.com/user/telzeek#p/u
tightlycurly method is here there are different vids showing each step
http://www.youtube.com/user/telzeek#p/u
tightlycurly method is here there are different vids showing each step
pookaloo83
New Member
Ok I can't find the thread with how to make your twists look more full. I don't think I started it. 
OsnapCnapp!
New Member
Ok here is a pic of hair fall from when I put my hair in flat twists without using heat on the roots and no comb. This is just to show that without semi-straightening my roots my hair does this.
And by the time I was done fingering my way through those roots, with much moisturizer on them and after a lengthy DC, this is how much hair fell out or came out
I mentioned already that I wear my hair in protective styles 99% of the time (mostly my own natural cornrows or buns) This was my little fuzzy bun/ball whatever from today. Everything was tucked as it is always
And here is a texture shot, its throwback
I don't have the best camera so I can't really take pics of the splits but they are there. So I will do a trim/dust today tomorrow will be 4 wks since I did it and from there I guess switch up my moisture routine. Right now it goes moisture, protein, moisture, protein. My hair likes protein but does not seem to respond to moisture so....splits. Ha well....i'll keep trying.
And by the time I was done fingering my way through those roots, with much moisturizer on them and after a lengthy DC, this is how much hair fell out or came out
I mentioned already that I wear my hair in protective styles 99% of the time (mostly my own natural cornrows or buns) This was my little fuzzy bun/ball whatever from today. Everything was tucked as it is always
And here is a texture shot, its throwback
I don't have the best camera so I can't really take pics of the splits but they are there. So I will do a trim/dust today tomorrow will be 4 wks since I did it and from there I guess switch up my moisture routine. Right now it goes moisture, protein, moisture, protein. My hair likes protein but does not seem to respond to moisture so....splits. Ha well....i'll keep trying.
LadyRaider
Well-Known Member
Perhaps you need to find a different moisture/protein. I lose a lot of hair sometimes even using Aphogee 2 minute weekly. But lately I have been using the KeraCare treatment and I lose very little hair.
LadyRaider
Well-Known Member
pookaloo83 Thanks for trying. I guess I can search youtube and see what comes up for making twists.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
Ok I can't find the thread with how to make your twists look more full. I don't think I started it.
pookaloo83, LadyRaider I was thinking of this thread.
pookaloo83
New Member
Nonie
Well-Known Member
OsnapCnapp! if I understand you correctly, it's not just breaking at the ends but your roots also mat up so it's hard to separate the strands? Is that what you mean? Please clarify before I bore you with a totally different topic. 
Nonie
Well-Known Member
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