LONG TERM TRANSITIONERS, PLEASE HELP

[RENIBELL]

i was just ondering if there are any transitioners out there who's relaxed hair just broke off? erplexed, and they never really BC'd? Mine have all but falledn off, i started transitioning at an inch from apl, and i'm i'm still there but with 80% natural hair now.what dId i do wrong???

 

[RENIBELL]

Bumping for sme responses

 

[Misshairdiva]

Are you manipulating the hair while its dry? When I first transitioned, I would only comb my hair while wet and then put it in a bun with lots of moisturizer on it. Imho the key for me was keeping my hair moisturized and manipulating it while it was dry.

 

[RENIBELL]

well, i do tend to comb it daily, but then again i only wore my hair straightnened, that could be my problem. i recently stopped flat ironing and just blow dry it on a low setting, but i though flat irning was a low manipulation stlye cause i could lt my hair be obviously not. i have a about an inch of relaxed hair left erplexed

 

[deborah11]

A few years ago, I transitioned from relaxed to natural. I transitioned for 22 months. As I recall, my relaxed hair gradually broke off during that period of time but my hair did not look bad as I keep the ends trimmed. I probably ended up with a few inches more in term of length ( probably 8 inches longer than when I started the transistion), but overall not tremendous growth. My hair became incredibly thick as a result of the transition and I LOVED it! I ended up with about 80% natual hair and 5-6 inches of relaxed hair). I subsequently texlaxed for mangeability and lifestyle issues. Also, when I transitioned, I really didn't too much know what I was doing. I am currently transitioning again and I hope to obtain more growth during this transition because I know more about my hair and the right products for my hair.

 

[Vonnieluvs08]

The same thing happened to me when I was transitioning. No matter how much protein/moisture balance I tried to acheive my relaxed ends just broke off. The reason I BCd so soon was because my hair looked pathetic and I was tired of fighting a losing battle. Hopefully some one more knowledgable will chime in.

 

[LuyshuZ]

I'm 15 1/2 post and I know exactly what you mean. My hair has been almost BSL since my last relaxer, I have trimmed 2x but my hair is the same length despite the growth I have gotten. I have a section of natural hair that I cut the relaxed ends off myself and I have another section in the back of my head that has about 2 in of relaxed ends left. Other than that I have between 4-6 in of relaxed hair other places.

 

[RENIBELL]

thanks for the rsponse ladies, i'm not even trimmimg my hair, i've only had ne trim since i started my transition. maybe not trimmimng is not such a great idea. i just hope thebreakage does not continue afterall the relaxed hair is gone

 

[RENIBELL]

Did any of you ladies useheat? i doubt tha is the culprit hough, but it couldnt have helped me. i think the middle of my hea (crown?) wasthe firt to turn natural. there is no relaxed hair there, and i never cut it here is a pic of my relaxed hair when istarted my transition

 

[RENIBELL]

and here is a picture of my hair after about 18months of transitioning, i would say it didnt grow, but the evidence is in the fact that its mostly natural now

 

[LuyshuZ]

I use heat. I haven't since May, only because I enjoy washing my hair way too often...

 

[RENIBELL]

maybe heat is the problem then, how often do you use heat. i blow dry weekly, cause it works for me. but i did use to blow dry and then flat iron, but i stopped a month ago. every other style seems to involve more and more manipulation, roller sets just caused breakage
i was also bone straight relaxed, does that have anything to do with it?

 

[ShantWhite]

I have a question...?

I am 18 weeks post and either seriously going to transition, or textlax at 24 weeks (my usual stretch is 12 weeks). My hair is breaking just the same as you ladies have described and I have not recently changed my wash nor protective style routine.

Do you feel that if you relaxed your hair as usual that it would NOT have broken off?

 

[LuyshuZ]

maybe heat is the problem then, how often do you use heat. i blow dry weekly, cause it works for me. but i did use to blow dry and then flat iron, but i stopped a month ago. every other style seems to involve more and more manipulation, roller sets just caused breakage
i was also bone straight relaxed, does that have anything to do with it?

In the beginning I was flat ironing just about weekly and touching up certain parts 1x a week in between, If my hair wasn't in a bun.I haven't suffered any heat damage. I think the problem with the relaxed ends were caused more recently from being home and having too much free time. I've tried many products to see how my hair dries with it and the amount of moisture it leaves me with etc. I got quite a bit of breakage from using my denman (another experiment) all the way to the relaxed hair. It goes nicely through my natural hair but yanks my relaxed hair. I have the D3 model from Sally's. What is the model that hair very few teeth widely spaced?

 

[RENIBELL]

the answer is yes, i feel that having the two textures contributed to my hair breaking off. reason i say this is because i used to strecth for 4months between relaxers bfefore itransitioned, and i will get breakage, but when i relaxed at 2months post, i had little or no breakage, so the longer i went without a relaxer, the more breakage i had.

 

[blksndrlla]

when you are transitioning you basically have 2 sets of ends. The actual ends of your hair and your line of demarcation. My ends would break if I didn't bun and it also broke at the line of demarcation. I straightened for the first time in a few months and noticed i had more breakage than I have when doing twist outs and such. I think the reason is b/c i don't moisturize as much and bother it more, plus my ends were out more. Having SL/CBL hair down is an automatic way to ensure breakage.

 

[ShantWhite]

Okay, thanks. Because I wasn't sure if it was your use of heat or something else. I don't use heat (except deep conditioning) but was beginning to think either air drying or stretching longer is what's causing it. I guess the only way for me to retain length is to bc or continue using the crack!

 

[Eisani]

I'm 20 months post, started transitioning somewhere around BSL if I remember correctly, just made it to WL, cut back to BSL in May and I'm currently on my way back to MBL. I've had some breakage, but not so much that it seems like I can't see any progress. I would generally go 3 months or more without using any type of heat then straighten to assess and trim as needed. I kept/keep my hair in protective styles such as twist or braid outs and buns, but mainly wet buns. When I experience EXCESSIVE breakage, I do a protein treatment. Some breakage is normal for transitioning hair as more and more of your natural hair takes over because its stronger than chemically treated hair. Have you tried or considered other styling options?

 

[Whimsy]

It didn't happen to me but I have some suggestions. No more daily combing. No dry manipulation, try bunning for a little while and TONS of moisturizing.

 

[deborah11]

I transitioned by using a phony pony mostly after month 8-9. I would flat iron lighty every 2-3 weeks but after that no more heat and very little manipulation until I had finished my transition. Boring but it worked for me.