What the???

[Golden75]

I am a newbie, lurked for about 2 months. Great tips ladies! Still working on my reggie and staple products. But I need some help interpreting my hair. The past few days my hair has broken something awful. I use NTM, (added coconut & sweet almond oil in the bottle) to moisturize, usually I use sweet almond oil to seal, but I've been feeling adventurous . So I got the idea to make my own whip shea butter, w/ sweet almond, jojoba, avocado, castor, grapeseed, coconut oils, and a little glycerin. Since then my hair is just breaking like craaazzzy! I remember someone said shea butter is not their friend --I think I may fall in that category. But the other strange part is, last night as my hair is popping out of my head while combing, I had long, very dark, and almost 3x as thick as other hair strands shedding/breaking out erplexed. They had no elasticity and breaked immediately w/ little tension applied. Anyone else experience something similar/advice? FYI: Hair type 4a/b, just above SL, 13 weeks post relaxer, just want healthy hair to achieve some length.

 

[**SaSSy**]

I think you are using too many products at one time and too fast. I think your breakage problem could be not enought moisture. I know that NTM has protein and cones in it and it didn't do anything for my hair but sit! I think you need to find one good moisturing conditioner to DC with and stop mixing too many products together. Shea butter is good, but you have to melt it first and mix with pure oils and just keep it simple. I think a good DC for you will be Aubrey Organics Honeysuckler

 

[Golden75]

Thanks Sassy. I did melt the shea and added the natural oils to the melted shea and whipped all together(its great on my skin!) I figured it should be good for moisture & sealing. I have been trying to find a good daily leave in so I thought the shea mix would be good. But I am trying to give products a try long enough to see results (semi-reformed p.j.). When I just use the NTM and almond oil, I was fine, but I think my ends need something heavier for a moisturizer (they get super dry). I am really baffled about the difference in hair strands.

 

[Platinum]

Golden. I'm sure some of the hair gurus can chime in to help.

 

[Golden75]

Thx Platinum--that is what I need. I already have in my head that tonight I will wash w/ shampoo, DC w/ light protein & DC w/ major moisture (a la Sistaslick technique). That seems to help when I start having the extra breakage.

 

[Vshanell]

It could be the glycerin. Using glycerin in low-humidity, dry winter weather could have the oppositite effect of what you're wanting it to do which is moisturize. Since there's no moisture in the air for the glycerin to attract it could make the hair dry and brittle instead of moist.

*Taken from an article on Naturallycurly.com*......

Low Humidity
In extremely low-humidity conditions, such as a cold, dry winter air, there is no appreciable amount of water in the air for the humectant to attract to the surface of the hair. In this particular type of climate, the best one can hope for with most traditional humectants is for them to prevent evaporation of water from the hair into the environment. Also, under these circumstances, there is some risk of the humectant actually removing moisture from the cortex of the hair itself, creating the problem it was intended to prevent.


That’s why in dry climates it is important to use conditioning products which rely on strong moisturizers rather than traditional humectants. However, it is interesting to note that new humectants are being developed that perform well even in low humidity (such as hydroxypropyl bis-hydroxyethyldimonium chloride and dihydroxypropyltrimonium chloride

Here's the whole article.....http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curly-q-a/curlchemist-humidity-humectants-and-hair

 

[Carrie A]

^^^^^ yes that happened to me with glycerin.


Maybe you need more moisture (water) and a little less oil. Increase your water to oil ratio.

 

[Golden75]

Thanks ladies. Glycerin can be the cause after seeing these 2 posts, especially since its in the NTM also. I appreciate the responses.

 

[Mrs.Green]

Welcome Golden~ I agree with the other ladies you may be using to much stuff and to much protein causes breakage.

 

[Golden75]

Yup! I conclude I need to just stick to my sweet almond oil, and coconut oil. I'll continue w/ the NTM until I can find another leave-in, something I've been trying to do for a while. But my hair is doing much better after my wash & DC. Thanks ladies!

 

[Lanea87]

I think you need a really good moisturizing DC.

 

[Jassy28]

^^^I agree. Also, if your home is dry a humidifier might help.