What's wrong with my hair?

[lonelysky]

I've been transitioning since last april. I trim my hair every 2-3 months. I have 5-6 inches of new growth +/- an inch in some areas.

My problem is on my nape. On my left side, I have a bunch of curly, afrolicous hair that is about 4-5 inches unstretched. On my right side, my hair is slightly longer (about 5-6 inches), but it is not afrolicious.

My right side actually has little texture. I think that I still have some relaxed/texlaxed hair on that side for an inch or so.

I'm not sure what to do or what to think about this. I'm pretty sure that the hair on my right side has been growing (I don't see why it wouldn't be), but what is going on, and what can I do to make my texture more uniform?

Is this a nuance of transitioning?

 

[CurlTalk]

Sounds as though you simply have different textures on either side of your nape; no biggie. Using rollers when styling can help to blend the textures; beyond that, there's not much you can do...
I know how you feel though: the middle of my nape is a totally different texture from the sides of my nape, which are all together different textures from the rest of my hair...I anticipate a mullet-like fro because of this...

 

[lonelysky]

so I'm going to have one side with lots of curls and shrinkage and the other side that's wavy and almost straight? That's WEIRD.

 

[lovenharmony]

What has been your transitioning regimen since then? Have you been using heat to blend in the different textures? It might be heat damage or it could be that you have two different textures on your head. My edges on the sides of my head are 4a while the rest of my hair is 3c.

 

[lonelysky]

What has been your transitioning regimen since then? Have you been using heat to blend in the different textures? It might be heat damage or it could be that you have two different textures on your head. My edges on the sides of my head are 4a while the rest of my hair is 3c.

I've not used heat very much, but now that i think of it, I have used my flat iron on that side a few times in attempts to straighten it. Perhaps that's what's going on? I've only done this a handful of times (more than twice, maybe about 5 times?) so could that have caused THAT much damage? Especially when it feels like its growing out of my head that way?

 

[CurlTalk]

I hadn't even thought of heat damage...silly me.

It seems like it's either heat damage or a difference in textures. Comes with the curly-kinky territory.

 

[loolalooh]

Sounds like heat damage, but I could be wrong. It only takes ONE time for it to happen.

When I was transitioning, I used the flat iron on my nape. The result of one use was 3c/4a-ish ends and 4b-ish roots. I eventually snipped off the damage.

Let it grow out and in time you'll know for sure ... whether it's heat damage or your natural texture. In the mean time, try other options (rollersets, etc.) instead of heat. At best use a heat protectant and turn down the temperature.

HTH.