why do my ends keep doing this??

[L.Brown1114]

my ends are fine until I blow dry. This was my problem when I had a weave in and I tried to blend my hair. it blended well until the ends. The cuticles stay open and no amount of flatironing could keep them down. @Nonie gave me the idea to ACV rinse and even with doing that my ends won't stay tamed. I know they are not damaged because I just cut half an inch off 2 days ago and I seal them with castor oil. I'm on on them PLUS i trim. I had a problem with my ends when I was natural with them being poofy. kimmaystube leave in helped tremendously! does anyone have any suggestions? idk if her leave in would work on relaxed hair and i dont want to buy evrything if it doesnt!

 

[Nonie]

my ends are fine until I blow dry. This was my problem when I had a weave in and I tried to blend my hair. it blended well until the ends. The cuticles stay open and no amount of flatironing could keep them down. @Nonie gave me the idea to ACV rinse and even with doing that my ends won't stay tamed. I know they are not damaged because I just cut half an inch off 2 days ago and I seal them with castor oil. I'm on on them PLUS i trim. I had a problem with my ends when I was natural with them being poofy. kimmaystube leave in helped tremendously! does anyone have any suggestions? idk if her leave in would work on relaxed hair and i dont want to buy evrything if it doesnt!

L.Brown1114, why are you blow drying your hair? (She knows why I'm asking so don't look at me like who do I think I am....)

@L.Brown1114 hair ends are always open. As soon as you trim they start to dry, because hair is like this long cylinder that is closed along its length (if cuticles are closed) then at the end it's open. If there's any place along the length where moisture is lost with a quickness, it's at the ends. Hence the reason people who would like to see amazing progress, dust regularly then seal and PS as if their lives depended on it. (Exhibit A) I suspect they also do not use heat that much because if anything will dry those ends fast, it's heat.

I'm about to whack you with a big stick because I don't know why heat is in the picture when WE had a plan. *stink eye* Also ACV rinse will close ends that have complete cuticles. If an end is already frayed, then ACV won't make much of a difference because that end will not behave like a normal strand of hair.

The thing people don't realize is just because you dusted your hair today for the first time in years (ahem) doesn't mean you've removed the "many years' damage". And any damage left continues to wreck havoc on the rest of your hair, so you may feel like you're flogging a dead horse, especially in the beginning. So initially you may have to do a big trim, or you may just find you need to dust more frequently till you get rid of the damage and then dusting can be spaced out more and be done minimally.

For a visual, here's an image showing how hair that has been left un-dusted for too long a time might look. The white lines show spots where dusting/cutting might be made and how easy it is to leave damage behind and therefore not see any change even after a trim:

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Like trimming at C really doesn't do much good because the strands left behind (left side of line C) all have damage. Trimming at A is far better for most of the strands but notice that the second/middle strand of the three that the line A touches actually seems like it'll be the only one that cut A will rid of all damage. The other two will still have damage remaining to the left of that line so that hair may still not behave right. And if one waits too long again, things get worse and you find you need to cut more or just resign to a life of having horrible ends.

ETA Notice that the strands that are damaged are missing a huge part of their cuticle/top layer. So ACV will not effect a change in how they behave. Now after Cut A, the middle strand section to the left of Cut A looks whole and it probably has its cuticle layer so ACV will cause a closing of the cuticle layer and therefore smooth ends, while the remaining hair continue to act like nothing was done because they have a damaged cuticle layer that cannot respond to the pH change appropriately.

 

[L.Brown1114]

^^ Nonie I know i know! I have to straighten because I have an interview and lets face it, they want a black girl that looks as "white as possible" *ahem* i mean professional...i never use heat on my hair unless its an interview or right after a relaxer. THe last time I trimmed my ends was last year in late october...too long to wait?? i'm not sure how often to dust your ends =(
I got the money though and will be buying the products to do the braid out and send you the pics ASAP!

 

[simplyhair]

I always love to hear from Nonie...even though there is an inside joke going on.

 

[Nonie]

@L.Brown1114, I have never had to straighten my hair for an interview. I just have never bought into that theory that I needed to have my hair a certain way to be accepted. I don't do chunky puff or WNGs and so IMO I always look very well groomed.

I do remember having an interview at a company that might have been like the one you are going to. I had extension braids that were on their last legs and even I knew I didn't look decent. Had they been freshly done, trust me, I would've rocked them in a very polished way. But yes, I did take them out, but all I did was put my hair back in a puff very similar to this one:

Out of the 30-sth people that interviewed for the position, I was one selected with my nappy afro puff (I was using a placement agency which is how I know the 411 of what my competition was and what they thought of me--my contact at the agency was da bomb (Do we still say that? Or did I just show my age. )). The job was way out of my league and even I knew I was biting off more than I could chew. I actually was hoping they'd not like me but they did. I had interviewed for another job which was more within my league and ended up taking that one instead since it was more my cup of tea and I loved the culture of the company. In other words, my naps didn't stop me getting called for the two jobs I interviewed for, including the one I thought was a bit too highbrow for me and my butt knew I was not ready for but they probably saw beyond my hairdo to the potential I had.

As I have said before, confidence and neat hair (not texture) will take you places you thought you couldn't go. And BTW, when I say neat hair, I'm talking about combed and "contained" hair if you're 4B. Anything wild or distracting (read: chunky fro, BAA, or whatever it is we do to our hair that makes people not look at our faces but just stare at the hair) will not cut it. That's like wearing neon bright nail polish and going to an interview. Otherwise, neat hair and class will usually override any bias folks have.

 

[L.Brown1114]

thanks Nonie! I will remember that when I am fully natural. I have mostly relaxed hair so I had to straighten. I didnt know what else to do with but in a slick ponytail but that makes my face look fat lol.

 

[**SaSSy**]

^^ @Nonie I know i know! I have to straighten because I have an interview and lets face it, they want a black girl that looks as "white as possible" *ahem* i mean professional...i never use heat on my hair unless its an interview or right after a relaxer. THe last time I trimmed my ends was last year in late october...too long to wait?? i'm not sure how often to dust your ends =(
I got the money though and will be buying the products to do the braid out and send you the pics ASAP!

Wow at this part right here. It's 2011, but I guess some companies think it's 1965 . When I applied and went on the interview for my present job I was natural which was many moons ago, and now that I'm natural again it's no big deal to the employees.

What are you going to do when you get the job? Are you going to just wig it, become a heat trained natural, or get relaxers regular? I really think you should find alternatives to the flatironing because in the end you will be spending so much money to repair your hair from the damage.

Maybe you should try to rollerset it

 

[L.Brown1114]

Wow at this part right here. It's 2011, but I guess some companies think it's 1965 . When I applied and went on the interview for my present job I was natural which was many moons ago, and now that I'm natural again it's no big deal to the employees.

What are you going to do when you get the job? Are you going to just wig it, become a heat trained natural, or get relaxers regular? I really think you should find alternatives to the flatironing because in the end you will be spending so much money to repair your hair from the damage.

Maybe you should try to rollerset it

after I get the job it doesnt matter anymore. If they fire you for your hair then you can sue or at least threaten lol. first impresssions are everything. Like this one black female at the interview I attended came in with a busted weave with blonde on top and long accrylic nails. She talked very proper and seemed nice but she didnt get the job...i did. If my hair was natural I would have worn it in a slick back puff but i'm mostly relaxed so I had to straighten it to look neater

 

[CrownCola]

I noticed my ends looking much smoother when blowdrying after incorporating a little aloe vera juice.
I've not experienced any negatives... yet.

 

[L.Brown1114]

CrownCola would u are to elaborate?? =)

 

[CrownCola]

CrownCola would u are to elaborate?? =)

↑
Sure. My apologies for the vagueness.
I just mist very little on damp hair after shampooing, before oil/leave-in.

 

[Poohbear]

You don't have to straighten your hair for an interview. I've gotten several jobs with natural hair styles.