Difference between dry, frizzy and damaged curly hair. (Pics inside)

Sorry no pics, I wrongly wrote this.

Here's a brief history:

Started to grow my hair not knowing its real texture, used to brush when wet, shampoo, a few chemical straightnenings, etc... I then learned how to truly take care of it (only comb when wet, conditioning, no cone, no sulfates, CG, air-dry, etc...), now I have wavy/curly hair that is somewhere between APL and BSL (and it is looking at its best when compared to the past, it's just my worries are increasing now). I have some inside strands that are always frizzy (that look...) even when soaked wet (over-protein anyone?), other than this, everything is okay, most times I get great curly strands with s-like ends (I say most times because curly hair is always unpredictable even when you repeat the same routine), I never trimmed my ends (except once) and I live in a very hot/humid weather right now.

My thoughts:

1) If part of my hair is really damaged due to my early past, it would have noticeably grown up right? Also my ends would have been damaged which is not the case here as I usually get good ends...

2) Wash day is great, everything is smooth and wavy/curly thanks to CO-wash and coconut oil, but 2nd hair day can be a bit annoying... Curly ends can be restored with water but I start to have one or two dry(?) strands on the surface of my back hair which looks like frizz and is surely reflected as frizz when under the sunlight (this can be tricky, some mirrors and light reflect better shiny hair, others reflect frizzy hair), is this just a plain 2nd-day dry fly-away hair? Or frizz? Or even damage?

3) I also want to try another natural simple DIY moisturizing deep-conditioner (banana anyone?), not a protein one, I already tried mayonnaise with no effective results.

I am kind of confused, thanks alot!

First off, some hair types frizz, especially in humid weather. Some people get much better results when using cones, and you might be one of them. Also, I use sulphate shampoos as needed without any issues. The amount I shampoo can vary from every week to as long as a couple of months between uses, but any time my hair acts oddly, I shampoo and then condition. My hair goes back to feeling soft and silky, and if it doesn't, I repeat the S & C the following wash. I have some hairs that are much thicker and more rough feeling than the others. They are also curlier. It isn't damage, they grow that way, because I can feel the rough texture all the way to the root. Yours might be the same. Finally, if you try banana, get banana baby food unless you want to have blobby, snotty bits of banana in your hair for days! Hope that helps!

Relax!! You stress yourself out with all these threads and expecting perfect hair. Instant gratification with commercial products tends to come from silicones, from DIY or natural products results come from keeping an eye on the underlying science and playing the long game.Moisture = water, so by definition a moisturising conditioner needs water and ingredients with humectant properties - for example aloe vera or honey - the often recommended Snowymoon's Moisture Treatment uses both. Humectants probably won't suit your climate and dew points tho, you more likely need to persevere with sealants/ anti humectants like overnight coconut oil soaks. Can't see the logic of using whole fruits like banana or avocado on hair, any beneficial ingredients will be locked up in the cell walls: if banana does anything it will be down to the sugars anyway, you may as well just use honey or sugar syrup. Mayonnaise is not a protein rich conditioner it's an fatty conditioner - there is precious little egg in mayo, relatively little protein in egg, what protein there is is too large to penetrate the hair so will wash away.If your hair is good on day one dry or frizzy by day two either- not enough leave in conditioner- not a rich enough leave i conditioner- overnight routine needs work- your hair likes to be lightly 'moisturised'/ conditioned daily- some combination of the above.Have you checked out the 'curl chemist' articles on NaturallyCurly or the Natural Haven blog yet? Both are science based so will help you understand ingredients and curly hair care. Some good videos on second day hair on YouTube too.Sorry if the above is difficult to read, LHC keeps eating my formatting.

I may be wrong, but form old pictures your hair looked like it has more of an ethnic curl texture. Mine used to be the same way.
Now I have looser curls but my hair has always needed moisture. I only wash maybe once a week but I oil often.

The frizz/flyaways are probably not from damage, unless you've been using lots of heat. I have them and it's because I have short baby hairs by my face.

Hair grows slowly, so could the relaxer still be in some parts of your hair? That might explain strangeness in texture. Apart from that, when following the CG method, the frizz should be minimal (not meaning that it's not there just not that much). It's also normal for second day hair not to behave perfectly, without frizz. All of that does not mean your hair is damaged. If you don't have splits or white dots, then your hair isn't damaged!

Thank you all for your replies. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ravenreed

First off, some hair types frizz, especially in humid weather. Some people get much better results when using cones, and you might be one of them. Also, I use sulphate shampoos as needed without any issues. The amount I shampoo can vary from every week to as long as a couple of months between uses, but any time my hair acts oddly, I shampoo and then condition. My hair goes back to feeling soft and silky, and if it doesn't, I repeat the S & C the following wash. I have some hairs that are much thicker and more rough feeling than the others. They are also curlier. It isn't damage, they grow that way, because I can feel the rough texture all the way to the root. Yours might be the same. Finally, if you try banana, get banana baby food unless you want to have blobby, snotty bits of banana in your hair for days! Hope that helps!

---

Actually I already tried cones and, after 2 weeks, I had a terrible experience with them with crunchy ends and built-ups! (I tried clarifying but they gave the same results). Yes, I do have some strands that are naturally "rough/frizzy" and I can trace them back to the root; in other words, they are growing like this! I learned how to tame them anyway, with oil and "virtual" braiding while oiling, they can stay smooth when my hair dries.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Firefox7275

Relax!! You stress yourself out with all these threads and expecting perfect hair. Instant gratification with commercial products tends to come from silicones, from DIY or natural products results come from keeping an eye on the underlying science and playing the long game.Moisture = water, so by definition a moisturising conditioner needs water and ingredients with humectant properties - for example aloe vera or honey - the often recommended Snowymoon's Moisture Treatment uses both. Humectants probably won't suit your climate and dew points tho, you more likely need to persevere with sealants/ anti humectants like overnight coconut oil soaks. Can't see the logic of using whole fruits like banana or avocado on hair, any beneficial ingredients will be locked up in the cell walls: if banana does anything it will be down to the sugars anyway, you may as well just use honey or sugar syrup. Mayonnaise is not a protein rich conditioner it's an fatty conditioner - there is precious little egg in mayo, relatively little protein in egg, what protein there is is too large to penetrate the hair so will wash away.If your hair is good on day one dry or frizzy by day two either- not enough leave in conditioner- not a rich enough leave i conditioner- overnight routine needs work- your hair likes to be lightly 'moisturised'/ conditioned daily- some combination of the above.Have you checked out the 'curl chemist' articles on NaturallyCurly or the Natural Haven blog yet? Both are science based so will help you understand ingredients and curly hair care. Some good videos on second day hair on YouTube too.Sorry if the above is difficult to read, LHC keeps eating my formatting.

---

Yeah, you're right, I should relax a bit. :/
So you're recommending honey right? Is it a good moisturizer? How should I apply it? Thanks for all the information, will definitely read those articles. No worries. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cheetahfast

I may be wrong, but form old pictures your hair looked like it has more of an ethnic curl texture. Mine used to be the same way.
Now I have looser curls but my hair has always needed moisture. I only wash maybe once a week but I oil often.

The frizz/flyaways are probably not from damage, unless you've been using lots of heat. I have them and it's because I have short baby hairs by my face.

---

An ethnic curl texture? Care to elaborate! :D
My hair wasn't curly when I started to grow it up, it became curly with length and it's becoming more and more wavy/curly with length now. I CO-wash 3 to 4 times a week. In the 3 years of my long hair, I only used heat (to try straight hair) 3 times only! This means that, no, I don't use heat or blow dryers or whatever... I just let it air-dry.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lapushka

Hair grows slowly, so could the relaxer still be in some parts of your hair? That might explain strangeness in texture. Apart from that, when following the CG method, the frizz should be minimal (not meaning that it's not there just not that much). It's also normal for second day hair not to behave perfectly, without frizz. All of that does not mean your hair is damaged. If you don't have splits or white dots, then your hair isn't damaged!

---

It's been 3 years now, my hair reaches almost below BSL when it's wet, so I think it should have already grown up. Yeah I agree and I checked last night for the white dots, I only have 2 or 3 throughout my hair and they are at the very very end of the single hair. As for split ends, most probably I do have but anyway my curls can be fairly defined and also if I closely look at the end, I have an uneven length of hair single strands, not that visible anyway.

Thanks again. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daredevil14

It's been 3 years now, my hair reaches almost below BSL when it's wet, so I think it should have already grown up. Yeah I agree and I checked last night for the white dots, I only have 2 or 3 throughout my hair and they are at the very very end of the single hair. As for split ends, most probably I do have but anyway my curls can be fairly defined and also if I closely look at the end, I have an uneven length of hair single strands, not that visible anyway.

---

If it's been 3 years, then the freshly (normal texture) grown out hair should reach between shoulder to APL. So you have a bit of relaxed hair left if your hair is BSL.

I don't think relaxing (which I used to do) did my hair any good, but I never had splits and white dots from it. and I do have 'ethnic' hair, if by that it's meant hair that usually people with some African descent have. I'm a 3c curly and though I've seen white people who are as curly as I am , it's extremely rare.
The OPs hair could still, at the very bottom, show that it is still affected by having had a relaxer by being much dryer than the rest of hair and difficult to keep moisturized with a rough feeling that the rest of the hair does not have. And tangly and grabby and prone to knotting. I would call that 'damage' although it would not necessarily show as split ends or white dots. I had neither one of those, and yet my hair when being relaxed showed the qualities I just described in the last sentence and I think it was damaged, though maybe that's semantics.
I don't have a solution though, if that is the case.other than to baby the ends if you want to keep them for a bit. They'll have to be cut off, either all at once or slowly. I hope that is not your case, though.

Just remember that not all cones act the same. Also, I get build up from cones now that I don't shampoo often so I have cut them out of my routine, but prior to that, I used them for years without a problem.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daredevil14

Thank you all for your replies. :)



Actually I already tried cones and, after 2 weeks, I had a terrible experience with them with crunchy ends and built-ups! (I tried clarifying but they gave the same results). Yes, I do have some strands that are naturally "rough/frizzy" and I can trace them back to the root; in other words, they are growing like this! I learned how to tame them anyway, with oil and "virtual" braiding while oiling, they can stay smooth when my hair dries.



Yeah, you're right, I should relax a bit. :/
So you're recommending honey right? Is it a good moisturizer? How should I apply it? Thanks for all the information, will definitely read those articles. No worries. :)



An ethnic curl texture? Care to elaborate! :D
My hair wasn't curly when I started to grow it up, it became curly with length and it's becoming more and more wavy/curly with length now. I CO-wash 3 to 4 times a week. In the 3 years of my long hair, I only used heat (to try straight hair) 3 times only! This means that, no, I don't use heat or blow dryers or whatever... I just let it air-dry.



It's been 3 years now, my hair reaches almost below BSL when it's wet, so I think it should have already grown up. Yeah I agree and I checked last night for the white dots, I only have 2 or 3 throughout my hair and they are at the very very end of the single hair. As for split ends, most probably I do have but anyway my curls can be fairly defined and also if I closely look at the end, I have an uneven length of hair single strands, not that visible anyway.

Thanks again. :)

---