Naturals: WORST mistakes you ever made as a natural?

[Riverwalk]

Trust stylists when they say they know how to do natural hair.

That's a big one, and a mistake I had to learn the hard way.

 

[LadyD]

Mine was something that I should have known NOT to do.

Ripping through my almost dry hair every morning and every night with a comb and/or pick.

And then wondering why it was growing but I wasn't gaining any length.

 

[silvergirl]

• over coloring - specifically store bought color that killed my hair
  
• getting too scissor happy

 

[AsTheCurlzTurns]

This is really awesome!! You ladies are saving alot of people from making the same mistakes!! Keep 'em coming! Thanks!

 

[brownsugarflyygirl]

Thankfully...I havent had any serious mistakes as I found LHCF when I was about 8 months into my transition. So Ive had LHCF my whole natural life....LOL

I think the WORST mistake was not buying a Denman Brush sooner. I walked around with puffed out hair that refused to smooth into a pony tail, looking a hot mess for months....when I bought that Denman Brush a whole new world opened up to me, I could feel my scalp, my hair laid down.....it changed my whole natural experience. Denman and Castor Oil are a natural girl's best friends!!!

 

[morehairplease]

My worst mistake was not knowing about heat damage and allowing the stylists to use excessive heat during the straightening process.

Since heat damaged strands do not revert, I'm in the process of growing out the damage. I decided not to cut.

Lesson learned: Use heat protectant in addition to low heat to straighten my hair (among many things).

This was my worst mistake, too. Due to the excessive heat damage from hard presses, I opted to shave my head completely and start over.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

My mistake is not taking the time to fully understand how to maintain my natural hair. I am looking forward to learning how to color my natural hair safely and use heat in moderation when my hair gets longer. I am also looking for the right products to make my hair happy.

 

[Guapa1]

My worst mistake was believing that because my hair is so thick it could withstand a hard press. I was so surprised when my hair was damaged after it was pressed, because I truly believed I had hair that was indestructible. It breaks through combs and I have to use half a bottle of conditioner for it to look a little wet.

My other mistake was treating my natural hair like it's relaxed. It's not going to lay down... It just about done it when it was relaxed anyway!

 

[Transformer]

Mistakes....where do I start?

1. Not properly taking care of hair...."because it's natural."

2. DRYING Shampoos--hair was not dry but brittle as a disposal brillo pad.

3. TOO MANY products. A stylist recommended that I use a leave-in, a frizz control, a grease, a mouse, a gel.....all at the same time. She would even mix in her palm and DRENCHED my hair with it/

4. Wrong Shampoo...that's been a common theme. I now use an organic brand with out the drying sulfates.

5. Manipulating hair without conditioner...Hubby would clean out the shower drain trap and I thought he had found a squirrel once.

6. Coloring, coloring and coloring...all done improperly.

7. Thinking I HAD to cut every 8-9 weeks due to dry split ends ( I didn't know if I had them or not)

8. NOT MOISTURIZING

 

[mscocoface]

Me and stylist being heavy handed with the blow dryer, hot comb, flat iron and then curling irons. I used or had someone use every single one of these tools everytime I had my hair done, this was for the first 6 years of having natural hair.

It was so busted that I had one stylist swear I had relaxer in my hair and that I was LYING to her!!!

Did not know or understand that my hair needed more than just an every 2 or three weeks washing. Yep....I was one of those people. It works for some..me....not so much.

 

[locabouthair]

Getting a hard press too often. I couldn't wear a fro after that. I had too many straight ends.

 

[CenteredGirl]

1. Back in the day, I thought flat ironing damp hair would "condition it". Oh snap.
2. Combing dry hair. Oh snap
3. Using satin instead of silk scarves. When I switched to silk, my hair went to a new level for the better.
4. Using products with cones during every phase of my regimen. Oh snap.

 

[tocktick]

I get little knots at the ends of some individual strands sometimes, and I sometimes pick/break them off with my hands instead of cutting them off. I know that is so bad, but usually i don't have scissors near when i find them.

i used to do this.

i also trimmed my hair too frequently.

i didn't protective style enough in the first year as a natural.

 

[londonjakki]

1.Letting my hairdresser give me a virgin perm(she had been weaving my hair for years) so she told me it had grown too long and she wasn't going to do my weave anymoreshe said "don't bring that weave hair next time I'm giving you a perm"...she underprocessed the right back & then why was my hair shoulder length(when she finished her "trim").....I left her within a month and found a hairdresser who helped me transition to all natural...(took years)

2....then got sick of my hairdressers attitude and decided to start pressing myself with the maxi glide.....= heat damage(didn't know which protectant to use)....now I'm wearing wigs for the rest of the year to grow it back & cutting slowly...thank god for lhcf its growing back!!

 

[yodie]

worst mistake as a natural was getting a relaxer again.

I'm now six months into my transition and regretting the fact that I ever texlaxed.

 

[LadyKaypnyc]

I tried to comb my hair while it was dry...lets just say it ended with me crying on the floor of my bathroom and feeling defeated.

I also failed to sleep with anything on my head...I still struggle with this

I'm not one to wallow for long, so I hopped on the internet, and the rest is history

 

[chocolate01]

The worst thing I've ever done to my hair since my big chop was to try a "low manipulation" regimen where I didn't detangle my hair for several days. My hair was knotted and matted so badly. No matter how carefully I tried to detangle, I know I did some damage. Never again. I don't like to have a rat's nest on top of my head.

Oh my I did this too . Other than that I would have to say not washing my hair in sections caused big problems.

 

[aja1121]

Blowdrying and flat iron once a week at 450 degrees with no deep conditioning or heat protectant. My hair wouldn't revert back at all. Still recovering........6 months of minimal heat and protective styling and my hair is on the right track to a full recovery.

 

[Harmony0221]

hmm let's see:...1. Not wearing a satin scarf @ to bed which lead to thinning dry edges and dry, frizzy, raggedy ends the rubbed up against my cotton pillow at night.... 2. Not deep conditoning on a regular basis...3. Cutting my hair after two years down to an TWA because it was too hard to detangle and my ends were a mess (see #1)... and LHCF was here the entire time 4. lastly, and most recent letting a supposed PROFESSIONAL FRY my hair straight! Thanks Unlimted Styles (unlimted damage is more like it) on Broad street in Newark across from the Burger King!!!
WHOOOSA WHOOOOSA

 

[baddison]

Mistakes....where do I start?

1. Not properly taking care of hair...."because it's natural."

2. DRYING Shampoos--hair was not dry but brittle as a disposal brillo pad.

3. TOO MANY products. A stylist recommended that I use a leave-in, a frizz control, a grease, a mouse, a gel.....all at the same time. She would even mix in her palm and DRENCHED my hair with it/

4. Wrong Shampoo...that's been a common theme. I now use an organic brand with out the drying sulfates.

5. Manipulating hair without conditioner...Hubby would clean out the shower drain trap and I thought he had found a squirrel once.

6. Coloring, coloring and coloring...all done improperly.

7. Thinking I HAD to cut every 8-9 weeks due to dry split ends ( I didn't know if I had them or not)

8. NOT MOISTURIZING

Hey Ebonybee, what shampoo are you using that does NOT contain those awful SLS (sulfates)?? Does it smell good??

 

[chebaby]

relaxing. im transitioning now......or at least i was but i think im going to relax next month. im not having trouble with breakage i just wanna do it.
but if i had never gotten a relaxer i wouldnt have to bother

 

[IrisDaVirus]

For me it was returning to chemicals the first time I went natural.

 

[sunshinebeautiful]

Pressing my hair with Wild Growth Oil. I should have known better from the smell of burnt hair. There were several places where I burned my hair completely straight.

 

[Priss Pot]

Permanently coloring my hair and not getting regular protein treatments to maintain the health.

My hair ended up reaching the point of no return, so I had to do a 2nd BC.

 

[basketballbabe03]

• Trying to use the same products from when I was relaxed on my natural hair. These products left my hair dry.
• Blow frying my hair almost daily to make it more "manageable". This left my hair more dry.
• Using a cheap 13 dollar flat iron to straighten my hair. I ended up having to cut my hair because some of my hair was fried and wouldn't revert.
• Trimming my ends too much because I thought my hair was damaged.
• Deep condition? protective style?? What's that???
• Ripping a small tooth comb through my 4z hair which caused major split ends.

Once I finally discovered my natural hair needs lots of moisture, I didn't have any of these problems listed.

 

[klowdnyne]

1. During my transition I still did a hard press weekly.
2. I got some braids to help during my "grow out" phase. I didn't mosturize my scalp properly and I left them in too long. Nasty tangles=major cutting.
3. I didn't search for information on how to care for my hair when I first decided to go without a relaxer.

BTW I'm still making mistakes, but they are far less disastrous.

 

[Mom23]

Thanks for posting ladies!! I am transitioning and have learned alot in this thread.

 

[AsTheCurlzTurns]

Thanks for posting ladies!! I am transitioning and have learned alot in this thread.

That's what I'm talking about!! Glad others can use these experiences to learn from them of what NOT to do. Hope your transition turns out successful for you!

Thanks so much to all of you ladies for posting your experiences and tips.

 

[Sunshine0801]

Combing and picking my hair while it is dry. I've done other things too, like sleep for months without anything on my hair, not wash it as often as I should, but nothing caused my hair to snap and break off like combing it while it is dry. That is why I am not past WL by now. Never again.

 

[justNikki]

Combing while dry...I did notice a few little end hairs, but it was easier to do at the time.

Ealry on for the first 6-8 months I went through every product I could get my hands on in the BBS so I really can't honestly say what worked well and what didn't. Now, I buy something and use it up completely (or at least go for that as a goal) before I call it.

Not trying a no cone routine right after my BC was a mistake. I use products with cones now, however, after I stopped using cones early in my journey, I was able to determine what my hair was really SUPPOSED to feel like. I did the no cone thing for at least a year. This also enabled me to stop asking people dry hair questions and moisture retention questions because I learned my own hair.