White bulbs on ends of hair (not roots)

[xyra]

I tried doing a search but could not find anything that could help me, and I know someone here posted something about seeing this on another person at work. I just noticed that I have small white bulbs on the ends of nearly all of my hair. If you look closely it looks like I have dandruff, but only on my ends (not the roots). I read in a post that I searched that it could be an explosion of the hair cortex. I did receive a lot of trauma to my hair 2 months ago. I went to a braider and she made the braids smaller than what I had originally wanted, and this woman ripped through my hair with a fine tooth comb. I was 7 months post then, and that woman had me in tears twice during the whole ordeal. Plus she braided tighter than what I would have liked.

Is there anything that I can do to help save my hair other than cutting off my ends? I really want to try and save my hair. I clarified my hair after I took my braids down (a week ago), and I did mix plain yogurt with my conditioner afterwards. I really don't know if the bulbs were there after I washed and flat iron because I didn't pay that close attention. I did use a heat protectant when I flat ironed.

If anyone could give me suggestions as to what I can do to my hair, or point me in the right direction on where to find answers, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[krikit96]

Concerned....

Bumping for you...

 

[msa]

I know which thread you're talking about but can't seem to find it. Anyway, I' pretty sure there's no way to fix it and you'll have to at least dust your ends. If it's not causing any problems you could wait awhile to trim.

 

[ShiShiPooPoo]

I tried to look this up but they only give info on the bulb at the end. I have never seen this before. Do you have a pic?

 

[gissellr78]

I know what it is my cousin has this...I believe is a kind of split end or hair that is about to split...you need to dust or trim IMO

 

[ladytee2]

Curylnikki had an article on her blog about that being a sign of heat damage.

http://www.curlynikki.com/2009/02/hair-tip-of-day_10.html

 

[half.cadence]

This thread?

xyra, I used to have them too but I had no idea what they were from. According to that thread, its from breakage and/or heat damage. I know for me..it was breakage. I would get braids back to back w/o caring for my hair while in them or before/after the take down. I had breakage on my edges and those white nodes would appear. My little sis had them too from braids..

 

[xyra]

Thank you everyone for your concern, I really appreciate. I would reply to you all individually, but I just moved yesterday and am in the process of unpacking. So, thank you again everyone My camera phone doesn't have the greatest quality so I don't have any pics to share. I will go in this week for a trim and hopefully I'll remain at SL.

And to ladytee2, thank you for the link. Up until last week I hadn't use heat in 4 months, but I'll be extra cautious.

And half.cadence, that was exactly the link I was talking about it. I'll have to read through all of it since I didn't at the time when I first came across it. Thank you.

I will keep everyone updated. Hopefully with a slight trim and some major TLC I can get this under control.

 

[MissRissa]

i get them when i straighten (heat damage), to my knowledge, you cant fix them because the hair is literally about to break off. the slightest bit of tugging/combing will break the hair off lower than the white part.

 

[sunshinelady]

tricorexia (sp) nodosa.

 

[sunbubbles]

Sorry this happened to you lady! ((((*HUGS*)))) It is a form of split hair, called "Bubble hair". Its a form of Heat Damage and comes from when the heat causes the steam/water in the hair strand to expand the strand beyond its limits. Hence a mini explosion in the strand. Dont worry it'll be back, but you gotta trim it off. Its very fragile and will only break at the point wherever the white "bulb" is. How far up the strand is it? Hopefully not too far.

 

[Fine 4s]

Sorry this happened to you lady! ((((*HUGS*)))) It is a form of split hair, called "Bubble hair". Its a form of Heat Damage and comes from when the heat causes the steam/water in the hair strand to expand the strand beyond its limits. Hence a mini explosion in the strand. Dont worry it'll be back, but you gotta trim it off. Its very fragile and will only break at the point wherever the white "bulb" is. How far up the strand is it? Hopefully not too far.

Hmmm...I have this but I don't use direct heat. I sometimes use the hairdryer to DC but lately I've been so lazy with my hair it's been only 1/mth if that. I thought these white balls were tiny, tiny baby splits and so I dust when I see them.

 

[leona2025]

I have this too, and I was using heat once a week. I had to trim off gradually. I still have them and I was going to trim, but I'm going to get braids today so I will trim after that. I tried everything to strengthen those areas, but nothing really works. It will have to be trimmed.

 

[ayoung]

Yep, I have this prob frequently . Its splits or hair that is about to. Dust or trim and keep those ends strong and moisturized.

I know what it is my cousin has this...I believe is a kind of split end or hair that is about to split...you need to dust or trim IMO

 

[vainღ♥♡jane]

its heat damage. i read a lot of reviews of flatirons on folica, and folks talk a lot about the white bulbs caused by flatironing. maybe the temp of your flatiron was too high, even with the heat protectant.

 

[soulie]

Sorry this happened to you lady! ((((*HUGS*)))) It is a form of split hair, called "Bubble hair". Its a form of Heat Damage and comes from when the heat causes the steam/water in the hair strand to expand the strand beyond its limits. Hence a mini explosion in the strand. Dont worry it'll be back, but you gotta trim it off. Its very fragile and will only break at the point wherever the white "bulb" is. How far up the strand is it? Hopefully not too far.

Would flatironing wet/damp hair potentially cause this type of damage?

 

[ST_belle]

Would flatironing wet/damp hair potentially cause this type of damage?

Yes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7857849?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

 

[mkd]

I had the same problem a few months ago. One day after leaving my stylist and getting my hair straightened, i noticed them all over my ends. I cut them off, they looked really bad.