MAJOR SETBACK, what caused it?????

[hairdrama:{]

As I get closer to my hair goal I worry about something happening that would take me back where I started.

Aside from the scissors happy stylists, have you had a major setback? If so, please tell us what caused it and what did you do (or currently doing) to get back on track. I think we can all learn from each other’s experiences, specially my fellow newbies.

 

[TexturedTresses]

This is a great thread.... I would like to know too.

 

[anon123]

I recently suffered a series of unfortunate tangling incidents. They resulted in a hair breakdown. I have, in fact, had 2 such breakdowns before this one, all spaced about 2 years apart. I can't take it any more and I start cutting. Thanks to the hair forums people talked me down off the ledge and this time I only cut off 2-5", instead of 50% of my hair like I did the other two times. And instead of just cutting half off everywhere, I actually cut a shape, hence the 2-5" range. So that's good, because that means I might be able to grow some longer hair before my scheduled 2010 breakdown.

What happened? Well, first I tried a hard protein, which I had never done. I tried Aphogee. I put it on and twisted the hair in big sections and let it dry under the dryer. Afterwards, despite the deep conditioning, my hair was a tangled mess which totally stressed me out. Some people think it was because I twisted it to dry with the Aphogee on, but knowing my hair leaving it loose to dry would have resulted in just as many tangles. the twists were put in to avoid tangles.

Which brings me to the second incident. I'm not sure what came over me, but I did a wash and go. I thought I was too cute. My hair shrank up to a tangled knotted mess. More stress.

Then what? Let's see. I decided I needed to clarify. No, chelate. I thought maybe things were being made worse by hard water so I tried that ORS aloe shampoo people recommend as gentle here. Long story short, not so gentle, more tangled mess.

Then I put my hair into twists. I was like, "I can't take any more of this tangling, I'm putting it into a protective style". But the weather got hot and I sweat so I really needed to wash my head. But I didn't have the time to take the twists down, so I just rinsed them and let them dry. 2 days later I had time to take them down so I wet them and put some conditioner on and tried to undo them. They would NOT come undone. I mean it, they might as well have been glued together. That was it! I was ready to chop all this mess off! It was like 12:30 am and I had to be at work the next morning, too, but I was ready to go.

Fortunately I posted here first and realized the rashness of trying to cut right then and shoot, it probably was tangled all the way up the twist so it wouldn't have helped that much anyway. So I just chilled out for a couple of days and then spent the next week off and on taking the twists down. Then I cut.

Man, my hair tangles like no other. If the wind blows too hard, it tangles. If you look at it cross-eyed, it tangles. If it catches you muttering out the side of your mouth, it's like "what you say? i'm tangling!" it is definitely my hair's most annoying characteristic.

Oh, what am I doing to get back on track? Well, none of those things above that led to all the tangling! I'm just trying to keep it as stretched as possible all of the time and away from water unless I have time to deal with it. I just can't take the stress! And it's already growing back.

 

[hairdrama:{]

WOW! I'm sorry for that..., looks like you need to keep your hair in some kind of protective style then, but I mean a real one (conrows) or someting that would protect your ends from tangling... Don't know much about natural hair as I've always been relaxed.

 

[naijamerican]

I recently suffered a series of unfortunate tangling incidents. They resulted in a hair breakdown. I have, in fact, had 2 such breakdowns before this one, all spaced about 2 years apart. I can't take it any more and I start cutting. Thanks to the hair forums people talked me down off the ledge and this time I only cut off 2-5", instead of 50% of my hair like I did the other two times. And instead of just cutting half off everywhere, I actually cut a shape, hence the 2-5" range. So that's good, because that means I might be able to grow some longer hair before my scheduled 2010 breakdown.

What happened? Well, first I tried a hard protein, which I had never done. I tried Aphogee. I put it on and twisted the hair in big sections and let it dry under the dryer. Afterwards, despite the deep conditioning, my hair was a tangled mess which totally stressed me out. Some people think it was because I twisted it to dry with the Aphogee on, but knowing my hair leaving it loose to dry would have resulted in just as many tangles. the twists were put in to avoid tangles.

Which brings me to the second incident. I'm not sure what came over me, but I did a wash and go. I thought I was too cute. My hair shrank up to a tangled knotted mess. More stress.

Then what? Let's see. I decided I needed to clarify. No, chelate. I thought maybe things were being made worse by hard water so I tried that ORS aloe shampoo people recommend as gentle here. Long story short, not so gentle, more tangled mess.

Then I put my hair into twists. I was like, "I can't take any more of this tangling, I'm putting it into a protective style". But the weather got hot and I sweat so I really needed to wash my head. But I didn't have the time to take the twists down, so I just rinsed them and let them dry. 2 days later I had time to take them down so I wet them and put some conditioner on and tried to undo them. They would NOT come undone. I mean it, they might as well have been glued together. That was it! I was ready to chop all this mess off! It was like 12:30 am and I had to be at work the next morning, too, but I was ready to go.

Fortunately I posted here first and realized the rashness of trying to cut right then and shoot, it probably was tangled all the way up the twist so it wouldn't have helped that much anyway. So I just chilled out for a couple of days and then spent the next week off and on taking the twists down. Then I cut.

Man, my hair tangles like no other. If the wind blows too hard, it tangles. If you look at it cross-eyed, it tangles. If it catches you muttering out the side of your mouth, it's like "what you say? i'm tangling!" it is definitely my hair's most annoying characteristic.

Oh, what am I doing to get back on track? Well, none of those things above that led to all the tangling! I'm just trying to keep it as stretched as possible all of the time and away from water unless I have time to deal with it. I just can't take the stress! And it's already growing back.

I'm so sorry Mwedzi, but this whole post had me cracking up!!!

Let me tell you OP, the only hair setbacks I have ever had haven't come from trying to do the right thing like Mwedzi did. They've come from pure, unadulterated NEGLECT and sheer LAZINESS of the highest order. I've been natural for 8 years. And guess what? My hair, which actually does grow at a decent clip, has pretty much stayed the same length because I neglect it, then slowly but surely (or not even slowly, I suppose ) it gets knots. I do a dumb thing like blowdrying it without a heat protectant, or putting it in braids and not moisturizing wallbash:) and I end up losing half a year's worth of progress. It is such a shame and a disgrace.

The latest one was this summer. I had microbraids put in. I didn't properly moisturize. I did shampoo and condition, but that's not enough for my 4B hair. To add insult to injury I left those bad boys in for almost 3 months. Not a good look, not a good idea. When I took them out my hair didn't even feel the same. Jacked up is what it felt like - dry, totally moistureless, etc.

I ended up having to get an inch cut. Since my hair grew about an inch in that time I had nothing to show for my braids. What I did to recover was to indulge in deep conditioners. I had them overnight, sometimes even two days in a row. Now my hair is much healthier. And I'm also more disciplined with taking care of it.

 

[girlyprincess23]

2 words/ 1 equation...........KINKY + TWISTS= -4 inches...

also less major setbacks (all this year too, thank God for OCT/MT!!):

sew in weave (actually the cornrows matting) =bald spots (visible in siggy)

stretching past what my hair decided was the limit (12-16 weeks) = thin hair.

What have I learned/ how am I dealing. Stop being lazy and care for my hair w/o braids/ extensions, don't stretch past 12 weeks/ Using MT/ OCT, deep conditioning regularly and protective styling occasionaly, using sabino mb when using heat and trimming off raggedy/ thinned ends as I grow.

 

[vkb247]

bumping for more results...

I have been worried lately that keeping my hair moist will cause bacteria to grow and cause a setback for me. N e one have thoughts on that?

 

[msdeevee]

Wow, Mwedzi that's deep...I never understood that wash and go thiing anyway. I would have to shave my head after that .

Well, I'm just recovering from a major setback, my natural hair was APL stretched but I have recently had to cut off about 4-5" because of overusing Textures & Tones trying to lighten up my hair for the Summer. That mess had my hair dry as a cornfield so much so that when I tried to comb it, finger comb whatever the crispy ends would just break off or split. What's the use of having long hair if it's scraggly and split?

I was also on the no heat, no flat-ironing thing so I twisted my hair all the time ...no matter what I twisted it with or how careful my ends would get all tied up together and be impossible to detangle so that also caused loss.

I'm thinking now that if I henna and flat-iron a little more as the weather is cooler now. I'll be able to grow my hair back after having to cut so much off.

Hoping and praying!!

 

[Paradox]

My setback caused thinness. For the first time in my life my hair look the best but was the most damaged from heat. It was the flat iron and going to the salon for the straight styles October- January, as you can see in my siggy and avatar.I never used to go to the salon or had a high quality flat iron, until now and I abused that. It is amazing how a couple of months can ruin years of hard work.

 

[HisBestFriend]

I am in the midst of a serious setback right now.

I hit SL around my 1 yr anniversary and wanted swanging bone straight hair. So, after years of being a do-it yourselfer and constantly being underprocessed with a no-lye relaxer, I got the bright idea (from this board ) to switch to a lye relaxer.

Switching would have been well and good if I had chosen 1) the right product and 2) the right time to apply.

I chose the ORS Lye in SUPER (WTF was I thinking - or not) and I decided to relax my hair when my SIL and husband and four kids were visiting. On top of that I was watching the TV series John Adams.

So since the end of April, I have had NO hair in my nape area. Then to add insult to injury the bit of hair that I have left in the nape REFUSES to grow. The rest of my hair was/is a dry and tangly mess.

I have been covering my baldy spot - actually my entire head- using weaves and braids. I have been using MT since EOM Aug and hope that I have some growth.

Before the weaves and braids, I henna'd my hair and that alleviated a lot of the tangles and gave me great shine.

The pics are in my fotki; the good, the bad, and the seriously ugly.

So I will be in the midst of this set back for YEARS to come, but to my credit, I haven't cried, 'cause I know it will grow back.

 

[Shay72]

Hairdrama--Let me just say the title of this post scared me. I said out loud: "Oh my goodness what happened?" Happy to see you still have that beautiful head of hair.

Okay I only started really caring about my hair in the past month or so. Prior to this I have brought my hair back from a broken up mess twice with braids. Basically my hair would get long with braids and I would decide oh I don't need braids and then would stop taking care of it. It boils down to I really didn't know what I was doing...I had no regimen to speak of. Thank goodness for this website.

 

[aribell]

bumping for more results...

I have been worried lately that keeping my hair moist will cause bacteria to grow and cause a setback for me. N e one have thoughts on that?

Keeping your hair moist is one of the most important things you should do for growth. To combat the bacteria, try co-washing more often if you don't already and shampooing maybe once a week. Something else that I do, which people might object to, is buy generic clotrimazole anti-fungal cream and mix that in with my moisturizer and spray my scalp. Between that and the washings, I'm pretty sure no bacteria are growing up there. Plus, a nice side effect of clotrimazole is "excessive hair growth." But that is another thread entirely.

 

[nappystorm]

HIH and beauticians how don't know the meaning of "trim"

 

[hairdrama:{]

erplexed

I'm so sorry Mwedzi, but this whole post had me cracking up!!!

Let me tell you OP, the only hair setbacks I have ever had haven't come from trying to do the right thing like Mwedzi did. They've come from pure, unadulterated NEGLECT and sheer LAZINESS of the highest order. I've been natural for 8 years. And guess what? My hair, which actually does grow at a decent clip, has pretty much stayed the same length because I neglect it, then slowly but surely (or not even slowly, I suppose ) it gets knots. I do a dumb thing like blowdrying it without a heat protectant, or putting it in braids and not moisturizing wallbash:) and I end up losing half a year's worth of progress. It is such a shame and a disgrace.

The latest one was this summer. I had microbraids put in. I didn't properly moisturize. I did shampoo and condition, but that's not enough for my 4B hair. To add insult to injury I left those bad boys in for almost 3 months. Not a good look, not a good idea. When I took them out my hair didn't even feel the same. Jacked up is what it felt like - dry, totally moistureless, etc.

I ended up having to get an inch cut. Since my hair grew about an inch in that time I had nothing to show for my braids. What I did to recover was to indulge in deep conditioners. I had them overnight, sometimes even two days in a row. Now my hair is much healthier. And I'm also more disciplined with taking care of it.

Oh! man, you went thru so much too, hope you learnt your lesson this time...

bumping for more results...

I have been worried lately that keeping my hair moist will cause bacteria to grow and cause a setback for me. N e one have thoughts on that?

Um! I thought moisture was the greatest thing ever.....erplexed now I'm comfused.

 

[hairdrama:{]

My setback caused thinness. For the first time in my life my hair look the best but was the most damaged from heat. It was the flat iron and going to the salon for the straight styles October- January, as you can see in my siggy and avatar.I never used to go to the salon or had a high quality flat iron, until now and I abused that. It is amazing how a couple of months can ruin years of hard work.

direct heat abuse is no joke......., I learned that the hard way too.

I am in the midst of a serious setback right now.

I hit SL around my 1 yr anniversary and wanted swanging bone straight hair. So, after years of being a do-it yourselfer and constantly being underprocessed with a no-lye relaxer, I got the bright idea (from this board ) to switch to a lye relaxer.

Switching would have been well and good if I had chosen 1) the right product and 2) the right time to apply.

I chose the ORS Lye in SUPER (WTF was I thinking - or not) and I decided to relax my hair when my SIL and husband and four kids were visiting. On top of that I was watching the TV series John Adams.

So since the end of April, I have had NO hair in my nape area. Then to add insult to injury the bit of hair that I have left in the nape REFUSES to grow. The rest of my hair was/is a dry and tangly mess.

I have been covering my baldy spot - actually my entire head- using weaves and braids. I have been using MT since EOM Aug and hope that I have some growth.

Before the weaves and braids, I henna'd my hair and that alleviated a lot of the tangles and gave me great shine.

The pics are in my fotki; the good, the bad, and the seriously ugly.

So I will be in the midst of this set back for YEARS to come, but to my credit, I haven't cried, 'cause I know it will grow back.

Wow! I'm sorry for that, I admire your actitude, it'll grow back indeed.

 

[hairdrama:{]

Hairdrama--Let me just say the title of this post scared me. I said out loud: "Oh my goodness what happened?" Happy to see you still have that beautiful head of hair.

Okay I only started really caring about my hair in the past month or so. Prior to this I have brought my hair back from a broken up mess twice with braids. Basically my hair would get long with braids and I would decide oh I don't need braids and then would stop taking care of it. It boils down to I really didn't know what I was doing...I had no regimen to speak of. Thank goodness for this website.

Girl no! thanks God, pretty much just wanted to know what to stay away from...., thanks for the good thoughts .

Seems like most of you got issues with twist & braids. I've seen some ladies in here growing beautifull hair with the C&G method, so don't give up ladies, it just takes discipline and patient.

 

[TaurusAngel]

My setback wasn't MAJOR by some standards, but it was to me. Being a newbie on here, you want to try and experience and do any and EVERYTHING!!!!!!! When i first joined, i bought this, and that, and just tried whatever people said was good. This was a big no no. Lots of women rage about how Baggying is the most wonderful thing. So i tried it. i baggied for the night and woke up to a sandwich bag full of broken hair. i ended up having to get a 1 inch trim and although that isn't too bad, 1 inch is a lot when you're trying to grow hair. Needless to say, i stopped the baggying thing. i had to learn that everything doesn't work for everyone. If you want to try baggying, i would suggest doing it for 30 mins, then an hour, and so on until you find what works for you, but for me, i'm leaving it alone. Also, don't over do it with the products. Go light if you are doing something for the first time.

 

[PureSilver]

I recently suffered a series of unfortunate tangling incidents. They resulted in a hair breakdown. I have, in fact, had 2 such breakdowns before this one, all spaced about 2 years apart. I can't take it any more and I start cutting. Thanks to the hair forums people talked me down off the ledge and this time I only cut off 2-5", instead of 50% of my hair like I did the other two times. And instead of just cutting half off everywhere, I actually cut a shape, hence the 2-5" range. So that's good, because that means I might be able to grow some longer hair before my scheduled 2010 breakdown.

What happened? Well, first I tried a hard protein, which I had never done. I tried Aphogee. I put it on and twisted the hair in big sections and let it dry under the dryer. Afterwards, despite the deep conditioning, my hair was a tangled mess which totally stressed me out. Some people think it was because I twisted it to dry with the Aphogee on, but knowing my hair leaving it loose to dry would have resulted in just as many tangles. the twists were put in to avoid tangles.

Which brings me to the second incident. I'm not sure what came over me, but I did a wash and go. I thought I was too cute. My hair shrank up to a tangled knotted mess. More stress.

Then what? Let's see. I decided I needed to clarify. No, chelate. I thought maybe things were being made worse by hard water so I tried that ORS aloe shampoo people recommend as gentle here. Long story short, not so gentle, more tangled mess.

Then I put my hair into twists. I was like, "I can't take any more of this tangling, I'm putting it into a protective style". But the weather got hot and I sweat so I really needed to wash my head. But I didn't have the time to take the twists down, so I just rinsed them and let them dry. 2 days later I had time to take them down so I wet them and put some conditioner on and tried to undo them. They would NOT come undone. I mean it, they might as well have been glued together. That was it! I was ready to chop all this mess off! It was like 12:30 am and I had to be at work the next morning, too, but I was ready to go.

Fortunately I posted here first and realized the rashness of trying to cut right then and shoot, it probably was tangled all the way up the twist so it wouldn't have helped that much anyway. So I just chilled out for a couple of days and then spent the next week off and on taking the twists down. Then I cut.

Man, my hair tangles like no other. If the wind blows too hard, it tangles. If you look at it cross-eyed, it tangles. If it catches you muttering out the side of your mouth, it's like "what you say? i'm tangling!" it is definitely my hair's most annoying characteristic.

Girl you just made my night!!!!. I am literally bawling my eyes out from laughing.It's not what u said but really how you put it. I'm sorry u syffers so much distress but hey it's a learning process so i just try to be patient when these things happen, not to get too angry and frustrated else i'll be taking drastic measures which in any cause would lead to more distress.

 

[titan]

My major setback was when I made the unfornuate mistake of dyeing my hair with permant hair dye earlier this year, the end result was major hair shedding, so much shedding that I ended up cutting off my hair because my normally thick hair had become so thin. now I am starting over from scratch.

 

[Restore111]

sweetie are you sure you never put regular conditioner instead of a leave in conditioner to baggy? because i dont see how that was possible that your hair fell out otherwise.
Am a newbie too an i agree with you about the over buying of hair products thing, I made a vow to not but anything else until I finish using what I payed my good hard money for,
The other stuff is still gonna be there tomorrow.

 

[gloomgeisha]

Man, my hair tangles like no other. If the wind blows too hard, it tangles. If you look at it cross-eyed, it tangles. If it catches you muttering out the side of your mouth, it's like "what you say? i'm tangling!" it is definitely my hair's most annoying characteristic.

O.

Okay I'm sorry, but I hollared loud enough to scare the cats behind this one.

Can I PLEASE! Put this in my siggy?

 

[TLC1020]

Never thought this would happen but... Too much moisture and not enough protein to balance the two. I was so focused on keeping my hair moisturize that over a period of time my hair started breaking and snapping and I didn't notice it really. I thought b/c I keep my hair in a bun most of the time and it's probably the normal shedding that I didn't pay any attention to it . In August I noticed that my hair was becoming see-thru and it shouldn't b/c I have thick hair, I also notice that I wasn't retaining any of my length and I couldn't figure out why. I said ok something is wrong, I bought motions cpr and protein reconstructor but that didn't work . Sooooooo, as I was viewing the board I saw all this hoopla about ateeyaa and her hair care . Went to her youtube video and said ok I haven't used aphogee since college let me try it again and see what happens and what do you know, my breakage stopped . I was like wow.. ok when you think you know everything you really dont..

I used the two-minute protein step first, then later I used the shampoo for damaged hair and the keratin two minute reconstructor and now I see very little breakage when I do my hair .

All that to say we live and we learn...

 

[gloomgeisha]

I think the worst setback I ever had was this past summer, where I completely neglected my hair. Slept without a scarf, no hot oil treatments, no deep conditioning, leaving my hair out all willy nilly- I'd wake up to those tiny coils littered on my pillow and I could even run my hands over my head without a bunch of broken ends in my palms.

I finally got back with the program about 1 1/2 month ago and my hair is thanking me profusely. No more breakage and plenty of sheen.

 

[luvmesumhair]

Well my set back this summer was when I was trying to save money and getting my girlfriend(s) give me a touch up. The first girl underprocessed me soooooo bad. The second girl overprocessed me!!! (trying to correct the underprocessed) I wound up having to cut 4 or 5 inches off of all of that hard earned hair I worked so hard for. So now I am back to SL. And on top of that, I still have about maybe about an inch, if that, of damaged ends I am still dealing with.

Well to correct this problem, I found (by the grace of GOD) a new stylist that is REAL GENTLE AND ATTENTIVE with my hair. I do not stretch anymore. I finally found products that works WELL WIITH MY HAIR. And now I am able to K.I.S.S. my hair!

Oh and no more letting every Tom, Dick, and Harry put their hands in my hair!!!

 

[HeChangedMyName]

I am relaxed and I had a major set back when I over moisturized my hair. I was baggying wet hair for long periods of time. Then I went to the extreme and was overdoing the protein to repair the mushy hair that the baggying left. I tried way to may get long hair quick schemes; not saying that some of them may not have worked if I had done them properly, but I was just doing the most. I was trying to use products on my hair that my relaxed hair just didn't like.---glycerin & water--hated it, caster oil---hated it, sulfur 8 and MN--hair grew but it was thin, surge 14---BRITTLE hair like crazy, carmelisation---uhm, I thought it was alright except the bananas caused me to wash my hair extensively to remove the clumps and therefore I had severely stripped hair aferward, trying to stretch my relaxers---hated it, turns out that because my hair is so fine that I can't afford to keep a severe demarcation line without breakage,

 

[anon123]

I'm so sorry Mwedzi, but this whole post had me cracking up!!!

I know, it's funny, in that sad kinda way.

Girl you just made my night!!!!. I am literally bawling my eyes out from laughing.It's not what u said but really how you put it. I'm sorry u syffers so much distress but hey it's a learning process so i just try to be patient when these things happen, not to get too angry and frustrated else i'll be taking drastic measures which in any cause would lead to more distress.

that's good advice. it's just so hard. my hair is going to send me to anger management classes.

Okay I'm sorry, but I hollared loud enough to scare the cats behind this one.

Can I PLEASE! Put this in my siggy?

Please do. I'm telling you, my hair is straight gangsta. *whispers* I gotta go now, it can hear us.

 

[crazydaze911]

setbacks have been
1.coloring relaxed hair (before i knew how to take care of it) - this lead to dry hair and constant split ends,
2. self trimming - couldnt see and cut too much, and uneven
3. weave removal - some lady cut my REAL hair while trying to cut the weave out
4. trying a 'naturalaxer' - hair fell out in CLUMPS.

How did i fix? I left my hair ALONE for almost two years. Washed once a week and loose buns - THATS IT. I looked HORRIBLE, but my hair retained some length - lol.
I dont relax or color anymore (though i really want color). I havent trimmed my hair since January and i will not be trying a weave again, nor any natural relaxers (although i did try the BKT after some research and love it).
Didnt really fix, as much as try to prevent future damage. So basically i'm living by fear and avoiding almost everything

 

[blkbeauty]

That's simple...

Whenever I have setbacks its caused by 3 things. 1. Dryness 2. Tangles 3. STRESS

Stress is the number one cause of my setbacks including acne. Whenever I have stressful moments, my hair will come out in clumps and I breakout for days.

 

[hairdrama:{]

My setback wasn't MAJOR by some standards, but it was to me. Being a newbie on here, you want to try and experience and do any and EVERYTHING!!!!!!! When i first joined, i bought this, and that, and just tried whatever people said was good. This was a big no no. Lots of women rage about how Baggying is the most wonderful thing. So i tried it. i baggied for the night and woke up to a sandwich bag full of broken hair. i ended up having to get a 1 inch trim and although that isn't too bad, 1 inch is a lot when you're trying to grow hair. Needless to say, i stopped the baggying thing. i had to learn that everything doesn't work for everyone. If you want to try baggying, i would suggest doing it for 30 mins, then an hour, and so on until you find what works for you, but for me, i'm leaving it alone. Also, don't over do it with the products. Go light if you are doing something for the first time.

this is so true, I’m really skeptical about trying new things, at least now that I know what works for my hair but then again just when you think you know It all, sht happends hence this thread.

sweetie are you sure you never put regular conditioner instead of a leave in conditioner to baggy? because i dont see how that was possible that your hair fell out otherwise.
Am a newbie too an i agree with you about the over buying of hair products thing, I made a vow to not but anything else until I finish using what I payed my good hard money for,
The other stuff is still gonna be there tomorrow.

that's what say all the time but sometimes it doesn't work...

Never thought this would happen but... Too much moisture and not enough protein to balance the two. I was so focused on keeping my hair moisturize that over a period of time my hair started breaking and snapping and I didn't notice it really. I thought b/c I keep my hair in a bun most of the time and it's probably the normal shedding that I didn't pay any attention to it . In August I noticed that my hair was becoming see-thru and it shouldn't b/c I have thick hair, I also notice that I wasn't retaining any of my length and I couldn't figure out why. I said ok something is wrong, I bought motions cpr and protein reconstructor but that didn't work . Sooooooo, as I was viewing the board I saw all this hoopla about ateeyaa and her hair care . Went to her youtube video and said ok I haven't used aphogee since college let me try it again and see what happens and what do you know, my breakage stopped . I was like wow.. ok when you think you know everything you really dont..

I used the two-minute protein step first, then later I used the shampoo for damaged hair and the keratin two minute reconstructor and now I see very little breakage when I do my hair .

All that to say we live and we learn...

I tend to to this too, gotta whatch out.......glad everything is coming along, you'll sure get to BSL before the end of the year.......

Well my set back this summer was when I was trying to save money and getting my girlfriend(s) give me a touch up. The first girl underprocessed me soooooo bad. The second girl overprocessed me!!! (trying to correct the underprocessed) I wound up having to cut 4 or 5 inches off of all of that hard earned hair I worked so hard for. So now I am back to SL. And on top of that, I still have about maybe about an inch, if that, of damaged ends I am still dealing with.

Well to correct this problem, I found (by the grace of GOD) a new stylist that is REAL GENTLE AND ATTENTIVE with my hair. I do not stretch anymore. I finally found products that works WELL WIITH MY HAIR. And now I am able to K.I.S.S. my hair!

Oh and no more letting every Tom, Dick, and Harry put their hands in my hair!!!

wow! sorry for that, glad you found someone that really understands your hair needs.

setbacks have been
1.coloring relaxed hair (before i knew how to take care of it) - this lead to dry hair and constant split ends,
2. self trimming - couldnt see and cut too much, and uneven
3. weave removal - some lady cut my REAL hair while trying to cut the weave out
4. trying a 'naturalaxer' - hair fell out in CLUMPS.

How did i fix? I left my hair ALONE for almost two years. Washed once a week and loose buns - THATS IT. I looked HORRIBLE, but my hair retained some length - lol.
I dont relax or color anymore (though i really want color). I havent trimmed my hair since January and i will not be trying a weave again, nor any natural relaxers (although i did try the BKT after some research and love it).
Didnt really fix, as much as try to prevent future damage. So basically i'm living by fear and avoiding almost everything

your hair looks good on your siggy, are you natural then??? I don't think I could handle my natural hair...erplexed

 

[mamauv2]

OH, I've got one! When I was relaxed I went on a micro's binge. Had them for almost a year. Braid, take down, relax, rebraid. Um mm mmm. Even worse, I did NOT moisturize like I should have and them sucka's were ITCHING! WELL...I got to scratching one day and (sigh) FOUR of them came right out. IN THE FRONT! I was slapassbald. About a quarter size bald spot right above my left eye. So what's a girl to do?! Let's see...GET MORE MICRO'S! Gotta cover it up somehow, right? Man-o-man...God must've really felt bad for me cuz that bald spot grew back in so fast and all the hair I grew had to be cut to match it. Good thing I can rock a short do.