Breakage and natural 4a/b hair ?

[Jade]

Hello,

I've been lurking on the board for a few months and now I have a question. I'm a natural fine-textured 4a/b; my hair is about 7-8 inches in the longest sections. Lately I've been noticing some breakage when I comb/detangle. It's not a lot of breakage, just a few bits here and there at the ends. I am very gentle when I comb or detangle with damp hair and never yank; I use a shower detangler comb which is great.

I do comb my hair nearly every day - when I put in plaits at night - because if I don't, it will tangle up quickly and the resulting knots are worse than the breakage (I think?). I used heat only a couple of times this year. I've been wearing my hair in a ponytail/puff.

So my question is: how much breakage is "normal" and can it be completely eliminated? And to further reduce breakage, do I need more protein or more moisture? I've been using Surge half-heartedly, use a gentle shampoo once every week or two, and Pantene Hydrating Curls conditioner twice a week.

(Yeah, I know a lot of naturals will suggest wearing my hair in twists for a protective style/reducing combing, but my hair is very fine and doesn't look good in twists. And I can't cornrow either...)

 

[DragonPearl]

Jade, I am going to tell you what has worked for me as a fine hair natural. If I detangled my hair every night, my hair would never have grown past 5-6 inches. IMO, fine hair is especially vulnerable to manipulation and needs to be left alone if it is to grow longer.

If your hair is fine, you CAN do protective styles such as twists out and braidouts. Just bear with me. The key is to make big twists or braids, not small ones when the hair is slightly damp and use moisturizer. Then when the hair is totally dry, you undo the twists or the braids, and style your hair with your fingers without disturbing the curl pattern too much. Do not comb your hair again until it's time to wash. Use headbands, hair barrettes or clips, scarfs, etc to add variety and style options. As long as your hair has the basic curl pattern from the twists or the braids, you DO not need to detangle your hair every night. It's like a natural hairset. Just sleep on it and finger style in the morning. Good luck!

 

[loverofnaps71]

I'm fine, too! Naturally! Jessy55 is right! We fine chicks can't comb hair daily. I'd have no hair left on my head if I did that. I used to comb my hair once a week when I deep conditioned. But, I find that that's no even necessary. I'm convinced that fine, natural is not supposed to be combed unless totally necessary. Might I suggest that you comb maybe once a week or even once every two weeks? See how that works, then let us know.

Good luck and stay blessed!

LON71

 

[Supergirl]

Jade,

I understand about the hair tangling if you don't comb daily. Try finger combing & then if that doesn't work, you will have to do what works best for you.

 

[Jade]

Jessy,

Thanks so much for your input. Does this mean that when you do twist/braid-outs with larger twists/braids, your hair doesn't get tangled after sleeping on it?

It takes less than a week of sleeping on loose hair, and my hair is full of frustrating knots and snarls.

However, that's if I let my hair shrink up. I haven't tried the bigger twist-out set that you're talking about...

 

[ricochet]

I am a natural 4a/4b and I do not comb my hair every day...I see no point in it. What exactly would I be trying to accomplish if I were to be combing it every day? My hair is not straight, so I am not trying to smooth it...I wear my hair is twists 75% of the time and the rest of the time it is in a twist out or pinned up in some kind of messy/cute updo. As a matter of fact, I ONLY comb my hair when I am washing/conditioning/detangling it for another set of twists...which is about once a week to once every 2 weeks. In my early stages of relaxed hair, I probably combed my hair 3-4 times a day. Why? I have no idea...out of habit I guess. Toward the latter days of relaxed hair, I was combing my hair 0-1 x's a day. Why? Because I would finger comb every other time and I found that running a comb through my hair all the time was totally UNNECESSARY. I feel you...but to retain length, you are going to have to stop combing so much.

 

[amy1234]

I thinK you might need more moisture..try to deep condition it with a moisturizing conditioner at least once a week. Other than twists , you can wear your hair in a bun and just leave it in a bun for the whole week. This way you'll avoid having to detangle it every night or style it. HTH

 

[Jade]

[ QUOTE ]
micarae said:
I am a natural 4a/4b and I do not comb my hair every day...I see no point in it. What exactly would I be trying to accomplish if I were to be combing it every day? My hair is not straight, so I am not trying to smooth it...

[/ QUOTE ]

In my case it's not for styling or smoothing, it's to prevent tangling, knotting and remove shed hair that contributes to this. If I wear my hair in an untwisted state without combing, basically my hair starts to loc very quickly, especially the really really coily parts in my crown.

However I'm going to try the twist-out and see if that prevents this from happening...

 

[DragonPearl]

[ QUOTE ]
Jade said:
Jessy,
Thanks so much for your input. Does this mean that when you do twist/braid-outs with larger twists/braids, your hair doesn't get tangled after sleeping on it?

[/ QUOTE ]
What I have noticed is that when I put my damp or slightly wet into a style like braids or twist, and then I take it down when it's completely dry, it's the natural equivalent of setting your hair on rollers. You get a crinkly curl pattern that your hair will keep nite after nite if you don't disturb it with combing which removes the curl pattern. My hair will shrink up somewhat through sleeping on it, but in the morning, I do styles that accomodate the shrinkage such as putting a headband, scarf barrettes, clips and sometimes, I even smooth some moisture on the ends of my hair, being careful to smooth instead of breaking the curl pattern with a comb.

 

[DragonPearl]

I haven't tried the bigger twist-out set that you're talking about...

[/ QUOTE ]

I only mentioned doing larger twists because I believe you said you like to wear your hair in a low puff. In my experience, having your hair in larger twists will help you make easier low puffs after you take the twists out. My advice is to experiment with both and see which one makes styling easier for you without having to comb your hair.

 

[Ipanema]

[ QUOTE ]
Jessy55 said:
What I have noticed is that when I put my damp or slightly wet into a style like braids or twist, and then I take it down when it's completely dry, it's the natural equivalent of setting your hair on rollers.

[/ QUOTE ]

ITA. Also, smoothing the ends around rods while still wet or damp helps with tangles & knots.

 

[ricochet]

[ QUOTE ]
Jade said:
[ QUOTE ]
micarae said:
I am a natural 4a/4b and I do not comb my hair every day...I see no point in it. What exactly would I be trying to accomplish if I were to be combing it every day? My hair is not straight, so I am not trying to smooth it...

[/ QUOTE ]

In my case it's not for styling or smoothing, it's to prevent tangling, knotting and remove shed hair that contributes to this. If I wear my hair in an untwisted state without combing, basically my hair starts to loc very quickly, especially the really really coily parts in my crown.

However I'm going to try the twist-out and see if that prevents this from happening...

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, I am understanding what you mean. I also looked over the fact that you wear your hair in a puff most of the time. As you know, the nature of our hair is that it is constantly drawing up(when moisture hits it especially) and shrinking at any form of stretching out or straightening attempt. This shrinking contributes to tangles, knots and a whole lot of headaches. The trick is to keep it at a stretched out state state to stop this from happening, if you want to retain your length(by wearing buns, twists, braids, etc), and these styles do not require the hair to be combed every day. This in turn, decreases the tangling and knotting that we get from wearing our hair out. Now my hair is THICK, and that ain't bad...but I don't have any problems with the daily shedded hair because of my choice of hair style. As a matter of fact, the only time I see shedded hair is at wash time. You may not like twists or braids but they are wonderful for our hair type.

Try it, you will see!

 

[hotshot]

[ QUOTE ]
Jade said:
Hello,

I've been lurking on the board for a few months and now I have a question. I'm a natural fine-textured 4a/b; my hair is about 7-8 inches in the longest sections. Lately I've been noticing some breakage when I comb/detangle. It's not a lot of breakage, just a few bits here and there at the ends. I am very gentle when I comb or detangle with damp hair and never yank; I use a shower detangler comb which is great.

I do comb my hair nearly every day - when I put in plaits at night - because if I don't, it will tangle up quickly and the resulting knots are worse than the breakage (I think?). I used heat only a couple of times this year. I've been wearing my hair in a ponytail/puff.

So my question is: how much breakage is "normal" and can it be completely eliminated? And to further reduce breakage, do I need more protein or more moisture? I've been using Surge half-heartedly, use a gentle shampoo once every week or two, and Pantene Hydrating Curls conditioner twice a week.

(Yeah, I know a lot of naturals will suggest wearing my hair in twists for a protective style/reducing combing, but my hair is very fine and doesn't look good in twists. And I can't cornrow either...)

[/ QUOTE ]

sounds like me girl. my hair breaks after hot oils, or when its been steamed too long. go figure. ive controlled my breakage by using s-curl and CDHHB. now it really only breaks on wash/hot oil day. im also getting a shower filter because i have terrible hard water.

 

[Justice4alw]

I agree with everything that's been said thus far. I'm a fine-haired 4a (with some 3b/c thrown in for good measure). I colored my hair about a year or two ago and was doing well, but I got zealous and started to detangle my hair in the shower with conditioner every day when doing my conditioner wash with the Denman brush. It was just too much for my fine strands. I had breakage like you wouldn't believe and had to cut my roughly 8-10" of growth down to about 1/4" and start all over again.

From now on it's detangling with the fingers only once a week after a CO wash.

Fine type-4 hair can be deceiving. Just from looking at it you'd think that it's as tough as nails and can take just about anything you throw at it, but the truth of the matter is you have to handle it as carefully as you would fine silk.

Hope this helps!

 

[LegallySpeaking]

BUMPING for more responses because my natural hair still breaks despite the no heat, moisturizing, deep conditioning, vitamins, no combing, low manipulation, etc. A small portion of my bangs still has relaxed hair and it responds beautifully to everything I'm doing and never breaks, so maybe I would have been better off relaxing.

 

[Shatani]

I'm fine, too! Naturally! Jessy55 is right! We fine chicks can't comb hair daily. I'd have no hair left on my head if I did that. I used to comb my hair once a week when I deep conditioned. But, I find that that's no even necessary. I'm convinced that fine, natural is not supposed to be combed unless totally necessary. Might I suggest that you comb maybe once a week or even once every two weeks? See how that works, then let us know.

Good luck and stay blessed!

LON71

hey LON!!! good to see ya back!!

i have a question, how do you know if your hair is fine??? can you gimme a quick description?

 

[harigeek]

Hey Legallyspeaking - your hair looks great to me! I checked out your album and it looks like it has grown!!

I get breakage - short, small, thin hairs - whenever I style my hair or apply moisturiser. It has gotten so much better since I started using NTM Sheer Hydration foam for fine/thin hair. I think it's the cones in it that is helping. Before using it, I could never apply moisturer without my hair breaking considerably with long, 3-4 in strands. I think the cones are smoothing down my cuticle (according to Cathy Howse) so now my hair doesnt tangle as much and doesnt break as much when I manipulate it. I think the cones are making my hair feel silkier. The word "slip" comes to mind which I never thought I could say about natural hair!

I think the answer is to look at your routine and hair products and try to figure out what could be causing your breakage. Protein should not be used when you moisturize your hair. When I used Surge it made my hair hard and crinkly and more likely to break. I also moisturise twice a day with NTM Sheer hydration. The first ingredient is water and that's key! I also rarely use a comb. I use my fingers for everything and if I need to detangle, I douse the knots with oil and moisturiser and gently remove the hairs from the knots.

Good luck!! You're already doing a great job!

 

[Ms. Analeise]

Just to put your mind at ease, you can not completely prevent breakage. It is just inevitable and normal. However, if you begin to see large patches or clumps of hair that are noticeably thinner and/or shorter'; that's not normal and should be cause for worry.