Nearly ready to go bald

[Charieamor]

So ladies, it's been awhile and through this time I have been dealing with hair ups and downs.

In january I started getting my hair done at the salon again because I was tired of looking so bad with my natural hair ( I will soon post pics of what the mess looks like... think short haired fuzzy puppy) anyway my last stylist colored my hair and i did trust her thinking she knew what she was doing. I now have tiny patches of hair missing throughout my hair, its very very thin and can't stand heat (partially because of my lack of water and high stress...i blame school).

So here I am ready to throw it the towel. Before I give up I remember my hair being healthy when I was not wearing it pressed and just wearing my hair wet/ poofy but i didn't get much growth. When my hair is pressed I seem to get alot of growth. Plan a- stay with a stylist. Plan b- keep trying Plan c- cut my hair short

Sorry this post is a little long...anyway ladies have any ideas. And yes I'm on the brink of tears once again.

 

[msa]

Hair grows the same whether it's straight or curly. Your problem is retention. Obviously heat isn't working for you right now. What kind of styles do you do on your natural hair? do you protect it at night? do you pay special attention to your ends? is your hair moisturized well?

I suggest you figure out a simple regimen that you can keep up with. I believe that as long as you have a great DC you really shouldn't have to do a whole bunch of other moisturizing, just upkeep. Try DCing twice a week (with a mixture of protein and moisture) until your hair gets a bit stronger. I don't do protein treatments (like aphogee) but since you're having a lot of breakage and your hair seems weakened because of the dye and heat, you may want to do one and see how your hair feels. Maybe try aphogee 2 min?

What type of styles do you know how to do? Twistouts, braidouts, and bantu knot outs are pretty easy to do. And if you mess them up you can just pin your hair up and try again the next night. I usually do my sets on wet hair and let it dry overnight. For the next few nights I'll loosely rebraid/twist/knot and then take it out in the morning. Make sure you're protecting your hair at night with a scarf or bonnet.

You need to take a simple approach. There are so many things you can do with natural hair so don't feel discouraged. Search the board, and google, and check out some blogs (black girl long hair...curlynikki.com....are both great).

 

[Charieamor]

MSA, you're an angel..thank you soo much. Since I started on here you always give me the first reply and most positive feedback....

Basically today I washed my hair with a clarifying shampoo mixed with some peppermint oil, moisturize shampooed with Mizani Bontifying..then I deep condition with a mixture of Mizani Hydrafuse and Mizani Keratin condition... it wasn't until the heat part took place that my hair went haywire... and then I noticed those broken patches that my hair stylist referred to as "thick areas because my hairs growing so much" how evil. Anyway at night i always use a scarf, I use castor oil to seal my ends and massage my scalp with a mixture of olive oil and peppermint oil daily. My hair has been growing alot lately, my ends are beautiful...my problem is my hair is dry and feels unhealthy. I don't want to use heat anymore, I want to be like the ladies who don't use heat only twice a year and have very long hair... but sadly my natural hair doesn't seem to cooperate :-/


I think I'll try the 2x's a week, styling is my biggest issue. Im just scared to hear my young college peers sneer at my kinky curly poofy hair... :-/ this is all stressful.

 

[msa]

MSA, you're an angel..thank you soo much. Since I started on here you always give me the first reply and most positive feedback....

Basically today I washed my hair with a clarifying shampoo mixed with some peppermint oil, moisturize shampooed with Mizani Bontifying..then I deep condition with a mixture of Mizani Hydrafuse and Mizani Keratin condition... it wasn't until the heat part took place that my hair went haywire... and then I noticed those broken patches that my hair stylist referred to as "thick areas because my hairs growing so much" how evil. Anyway at night i always use a scarf, I use castor oil to seal my ends and massage my scalp with a mixture of olive oil and peppermint oil daily. My hair has been growing alot lately, my ends are beautiful...my problem is my hair is dry and feels unhealthy. I don't want to use heat anymore, I want to be like the ladies who don't use heat only twice a year and have very long hair... but sadly my natural hair doesn't seem to cooperate :-/


I think I'll try the 2x's a week, styling is my biggest issue. Im just scared to hear my young college peers sneer at my kinky curly poofy hair... :-/ this is all stressful.

I think what you need is a change of perspective and a more positive outlook. Handling your natural hair is going to be different and maybe a bit difficult at first, but you CAN do it.

So your hair feels dry and unhealthy? First thing I would change is the shampooing, you don't need to clarify and then use a moisturizing shampoo. That's way overdoing it. Use one. Personally, I don't use shampoo, I just use a baking soda and water mixture because it's not as harsh as shampoo.

Anyway, on to DCing. I know NOTHING about Mizani products. If your hair isn't feeling good afterward you may want to move on to something else. Now the clarifying and shampooing could have really dried your hair out so that could be the culprit. Do those products usually work for you? When I still used commercial products, I loved Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deep Moisture Conditioner for my DC and cowash. It has silk protein which helps the moisture penetrate and keeps the hair strong. But if your products usually work, don't switch.

I don't use anything on my scalp so I can't really help there. I don't know what peppermint oil is supposed to do. I only use olive oil in conditioner mix (honey, olive oil, coconut oil) so I don't know about that for the scalp either.

I love love love castor oil so yay for that.

I think maybe you should try doing your hair twice a week. Wash, either with shampoo or just cowash (or you could do conditioner mixed with a teaspoon of baking soda, that will get your hair clean but keep it moisturized). DC with whatever you like, just make sure there's protein and moisture. And then moisturize. Personally, I just seal in water with castor oil. But my hair isn't color treated and I don't use heat. You probably need a bit more. Do some research on moisturizers if the one you have isn't working. Or you could just leave in some conditioner.

And then style...watch some youtube videos and tutorials of styles you can try. The important part is to figure out a style that you love and work on perfecting that one before you move on to something else so that you always have something you can fall back on. For example, I love bantu knot outs. My hair is fine, so knot outs give me more volume and they're pretty easy to do. Remember, if something doesn't come out right, do a quick pin up. That always fixes things for me. And you could get a half wig just in case your hair is really not cooperating.

Remember to be PATIENT with yourself and your hair. I've had my hair my whole life and have only really learned to take care of it in the last couple of years. It's a learning process. Don't be too hard on yourself and don't let yourself be discouraged by others. And you'd be surprised how positively people will respond. People at my University used to always ask me how I got my hair a certain way or tell me how cute it was.

Hope this helps! Sorry it's so long!

 

[Charieamor]

Thank You once again,

Yeah I agree whenever I clarify my hair is yucky. I really liked the Mizani lines hydrating conditioner and the shampoo is great...clarifying is the culprit. My problem when I would baking soda/ co wash my scalp would have a heavy film on it. I know for me personally scalp care is key or else my hair will be yuck. My staple products are castor oil, aubrey organics- the whole line lol, henna, mizani bontifying and my conditioner i have and there's one more conditioner by them that i like, i also love steaming my hair. I love the way my hair feels wet and when i do braid outs on my natural hair, no matter how unmanageable they may be lol.

So I think I need to stick to a regimine, stick to certain products for a few weeks and like you said try a specific natural hair style that will work for me. Patience is definitely the word!

God bless, you're an angel