Calling All Hair Care Pro's

[chavascandy]

Okay Ladies,

I can't take it anymore!
I'm going to be real. I am one of the newbies on this LHCF. I thought that maybe I could blend right in with all of you lovely ladies but,it's not working. I am trying to pick up on as much hair care advice as possible;But I am getting information here-and-there. Obviously, I have a lot of catching up to do.

I realize that I didn't know squat. When I replied to one of the writers on my own thread , I simiply said that "I was going to try Motions relaxer next time i time I relax", and in turns I recieved major NO-NO feedbacks!

Ladies, I just had to break down and ask for some advice. I always thought that brown gel, Lusters Pink Moisturizer, and Blow-Dryers were the ITSH!


I Need help! I Ain't to Proud to beg( like TLC) Lol !!!

 

[Lucia]

Hi newbie,
sorry to hear you're so frustrated, but this takes a little time and effort. You're going to have to unlearn all the bad habits you learned and start new healthier habits and figure out what your hair likes and doesn't like.
Now first you have to look at, in detail, what your hair routine=regime is. I mean what are you doing to your hair on a daily basis?
Some questions you can ask yourself and answer here if you want so the ladies can give you some positive feedback.
How often do you wash your hair? daily, every 2-3 days, weekly, monthly etc...

1. Do you use real shampoo or do conditioner washes?
2. What kind of products do you use on your hair, from the shampoo to the hair spray? do they have silicone or alcohols in them?
3. Do you deep condition your hair yourself often, or just after a touch up?
4. Does your hairdresser cut alot of length off just to keep your hair even, or do you or your stylist do 1/16-1/4 inch trims yourself just to get splits not worrying about so much about the "style" ?'
5. And the real NO-NO's how often do you touch up
6. How often do you use ANY kind of heat on your hair? Blow drying, hooded dryers, flat-irons, curling irons, hot rollers etc...
7. What kind of ponytail holders, hairpins, clips, brushes, combs are you using in your hair. Are they the no breakage kind? Combs without sharp seams, they should be smooth all around each tooth of the comb.

I mean anything, even a quick bumping the ends in the morning to make them look fresh.

I suggest that you look at fotki albums, read regimes, hair journals etc to absorb as much info as you can.
I know it's alot, don't get overwhelmed take it one step at a time, you can do it. hth

 

[**WonderWoman**]

I understand just how you feel. I'm a partial newbie & it was all overwhelming at first. My advice to you is STOP everything. Just do the basics - wash once a wk, stay away from heat, & baby your ends. Other tips you can pick up as you go along. ITA w/ Lucia, look at ppl's fokti. A great place to go is dontspeakdefeat and sistaslick. They have informative foktis.

Also, as you notice members you think might be helpful, feel free to PM them for advice.

I hope you get better responses. HHG!

 

[chavascandy]

Thanks so much! You'll are dolls.

Well, generally I:

*Pre-poo for about 15min.
*Wash my hair 1-2x a week.
*Follow with a deep conditioner
*Pull my hair back in a seam-less elastic band. and go

I will be sure to check out different fotki albums, and features of the month.

Thanks once again !

 

[FlawedBeauty]

hi! sorry to hear ur having trouble. do you have any specific questions you would like help with

 

[chavascandy]

No, I don't have any specific questions.erplexed But, I would like to know the NO-NO's.

 

[Leslie_C]

No, I don't have any specific questions.erplexed But, I would like to know the NO-NO's.

Well the major no no's would mainly be relaxing too often, overlapping relaxer or leaving it on too long, using a stronger relaxer than you need,
not conditioning your hair after shampooing, using direct heat too often (blow dryers,curling irons, flat irons), and not moisturizing frequently.

What do you use for moisturizing and how often?

What other products are you using (shampoo,conditioners,oils,etc)?

I would add a leave in conditioner after your weekly wash/condition and seal with oil.

Simple can be a good thing, it will just take time and patience to reap the benefits. It is good that you are starting out simple, it is easier to know what is and isnt working for your hair when you arent using a million different products.

 

[SelfStyled]

Welcome!!! I loved the pic of you in the curly 1/2 wig -too cute, I also use 1/2 wigs to change it up. Take a look at this, it goes over bad hair habits some of us had before we found LHCF. This will be the example of what not to do.

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=151489



Good luck on your journey!

 

[harrison]

I'm a newbie also.. and I found it helpful to look through some of the receipes for suggestions on how to moisturize and condition my hair. I didn't know there was really much of a difference in the conditioners ...but I have been learning.

The other thing is... many of the Ladies post their routines and why... so sometimes you get tidbits from those too...

 

[harrison]

I understand just how you feel. I'm a partial newbie & it was all overwhelming at first. My advice to you is STOP everything. Just do the basics - wash once a wk, stay away from heat, & baby your ends. Other tips you can pick up as you go along. ITA w/ Lucia, look at ppl's fokti. A great place to go is dontspeakdefeat and sistaslick. They have informative foktis.

Also, as you notice members you think might be helpful, feel free to PM them for advice.

I hope you get better responses. HHG!

hey wonderwoman... what's going on at the galleria on sept 22..?
I live not too far from there.

 

[Dayjoy]

I am also a newbie and one of the things that helps me is to use the search function a lot. Sometimes I'll go to the bottom of the thread list and pick a random page number and read the threads there. There is always going to be something new, but much of the stuff is just revisited topics from the past. It' fun to see how much has changed or stayed the same.

 

[Lucia]

First NO NO is stop frying your hair, which you've already stopped, this will do wonders for your hair and you can revisit heat with limited stays until your hair is where you want it.
another one is what Wonderwoman said simplify, don't do so much to your hair and don't jump onto every new product you see, do the research first, ask questions from those who use it, look it up see whats in the product, then you'll have an easier time of separating good and bad products for your hair. Ex: if you've been using pink oil and tha's not working for your hair, check out the ingredients and you'll notice that those same things in other products make your hair dry, dull, break off, etc...
I have my regime and journal posted so anyone can click the link to it, and you should visit other boards too just to get more info, alot of members here are also members on other hair boards.

 

[chavascandy]

Thanks Everyone for responding.

I will be sure to look in different boards,reciepes, and journals.

I love you'll on here-----Ya'll are very helpful and friendly.

 

[Sistaslick]

hey wonderwoman... what's going on at the galleria on sept 22..?
I live not too far from there.

I'm not WW, but we're having a meet up at Bennigan's at 2pm on the 22nd! Please come out and eat with us! Just follow the pink/white shirts. We'd love to have ya!


Welcome Chavas! It can be intimidating with the amount of info you are asked to take in here, but it is so worth it. These are things many of us weren't taught coming up, so we've got lots of back pedaling then catching up to do.

 

[**WonderWoman**]

hey wonderwoman... what's going on at the galleria on sept 22..?
I live not too far from there.

Girrrrl, where u been? LHCF Houstonians are meeting up at the Bennigan's in the Galleria (located in the food court by the skaing ring) at 3p.m. (i think) to mingle, swap regimes & products, etc. Can a Houstonian confirm what time we're meeting?

 

[**WonderWoman**]

Oh! I see Sistaslick's got this. You should come out!

 

[Nonie]

I haven't read the other responses so I apologize if what I write is an echo of something already mentioned.

What made this forum's info not so overwhelming for me was finding a book on Black Hair Care before I ever knew of the forum. Cathy Howse's book was that book in my case, and it laid down the basics for me. Once I had the 101 on haircare, then it was so easy to know what info it is I still needed and therefore to zoom in on that.

So I highly recommend a peek at the bookstore on the Home Page to see some of the books a lot of us have in our libraries, and get one.

The other tit-bit of advice I'd like to give is, "If it ain't broke(n), don't fix it." While PJ-ism is catching, do not let a rave about a product take you from what's working for you. Remember different strokes for different folks, so what works for one may not be ideal for you. Only seek out a new product if what you have isn't working. Otherwise just practice good habits with what you have and you'll be rewarded.

 

[DivaRox]

I haven't read the other responses so I apologize if what I write is an echo of something already mentioned.

What made this forum's info not so overwhelming for me was finding a book on Black Hair Care before I ever knew of the forum. Cathy Howse's book was that book in my case, and it laid down the basics for me. Once I had the 101 on haircare, then it was so easy to know what info it is I still needed and therefore to zoom in on that.

So I highly recommend a peek at the bookstore on the Home Page to see some of the books a lot of us have in our libraries, and get one.

The other tit-bit of advice I'd like to give is, "If it ain't broke(n), don't fix it." While PJ-ism is catching, do not let a rave about a product take you from what's working for you. Remember different strokes for different folks, so what works for one may not be ideal for you. Only seek out a new product if what you have isn't working. Otherwise just practice good habits with what you have and you'll be rewarded.

Man-excellent advice and I needed to hear it about 6 months and $400 ago