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Aeris
April 12th, 2013, 04:15 PM
Hello,

I thought for a while that I had some hairs that were simply coarser than the rest of my head, but I'm starting to believe that might not be the case.

These hairs are extremely inconsistent in thickness when looking at them individually - some spots are so thin and weak they are barely visible. :( On these strands, the thick parts tend to split and break off - often the kind of split where a hole develops in the thicker part of the strand (a hole you can only see by bending the strand). Sorry, this is a bit hard to explain. I S&D pretty regularly, and I honestly feel like cutting the entire hair off when I get to one of these :( They just feel damaged all the way to the root.

Anyways, hairs like these make up a good 1/7 or 1/8 of my hair, I'd guess, and they are exclusively on my canopy. They've also been there for several years. As a result, my hair always looks extremely frizzy, and so for the longest time, that is what I thought it was, so I was treating it like a moisture problem. The last time I used a chemical dye was about 3 years ago (had a horrible incident that no doubt severely damaged my hair), and I blow-dry with cool air 3-4 times a year.

I started noticing signs of low protein though - for instance, my hairs that are normal texture are quite stretchy (the funky-texture ones tend to just break off).

I want to try a good protein treatment on it (I bought a protein-rich reconstructive conditioner, and was going to add some yogurt and leave it on for a few hours), but can anyone shed some light on this for me? Is there another way I should be treating this problem?

Thanks everyone :)

Cheele
April 12th, 2013, 09:13 PM
I'm interested in what others have to say. I think I've had the same issue as you. I least I think so. Do they feel almost like VERY wiry gray hairs, but only in some spots and then in others it's very fine and the root of the hair is growing typical non-gray color? I say had the issue because I can't seem to find any right now... but I know I've had them. Actually. Whoa. Come to think of it.. I haven't really noticed them at all the past month or so. Since then I slathered on olive oil and left in on for 15 hours or so and switched from shampoo bars to the Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle one. Perhaps its actually is moisture you and I need?

Oh wait I just found some. Yeah. They're chillin under my canopy. They, still, are not really bad. Especially not as bad as they used to be. I have a hard time noticing them now.

Maybe I'm talking about something completely different though :o.

Protein vs. moisture often confuses me.

Kaelee
April 12th, 2013, 09:45 PM
My hair has always had strands like that. I don't know if there's anything wrong with them, but they're oddballs. Then again, some of them are also curly in my otherwise straight hair. Like, one-strand-ringlet curly. They will stick out at odd angles in perfect single strand corkscrews from my otherwise smooth, straight hair.

You don't happen to be somewhere around the 1b hairtype would you?

GoldenSilk
April 13th, 2013, 12:17 AM
I get these a lot! I don't know if it's protein or not... I can never seem to balance my protein properly. The rest of my hair is almost never overly stretchy, though.

Oddly, one of these I found was dark brown... I am a natural blonde... :ponder: I thought it was someone else's hair entirely, until I pulled it and felt the root!

My only theory is that it might be strands that were stretched, or stretched then broken, while detangling a knot. They do sometimes get the same kind of crazy curl to them as the single strands that I pull apart to test protein-moisture balance.

Aeris
April 13th, 2013, 03:10 AM
Perhaps its actually is moisture you and I need?

It might be, I'm leaning towards protein now simply because I have been trying to treat this as a moisture problem for the past year or two, and my hair routine in general has been targeted towards getting more moisture (lots of SMTs), while I've only a protein treatment once or twice - and with egg, which I know now that I'm allergic to, and so maybe it just wasn't the right choice for my hair. I don't know. :( It is interesting that the hairs you mentioned are partially grey - my husband has a grey hair or two that are extremely different textures too. They drive him nuts :p I've heard that is normal though.

Kaelee - I am a 2a. I haven't seen any that are strangely curly, but I definitely have a ton of them that stick out because they are bent at sharp angles - they're responsible for a lot of my tangles. They often split right at the bend, too.

GoldenSilk - I'm thinking they're strands that were stretched too, which is why I'm hoping protein helps. Although like I mentioned, the texture is weird all the way to the root, and it seems strange to me that it would stretch that high from combing. Being gentle while detangling my hair has been one of my biggest problems though; so I'm going to ditch my comb and force myself to finger-comb only for a while.

Thank you all for responding :)

Iolanthe13
April 13th, 2013, 09:47 AM
I've been using a conditioner that's heavy on both moisture and protein, and I've noticed fewer of those coarse hairs. It could be that they're just weighed down with cones now though...

cooklaezo13
April 14th, 2013, 06:58 AM
hi Aeris, I have some of those hairs too. They are hairs that have kinks in them, that's why they look thick in some parts then thin in others. Some of mine are curly, like a ringlet, others just hang straight down but are kinked all the way from the root to the tip. The hairs are just naturally like that, and there is no amount of moisture or protein that will dramatically change them. However, keeping them well moisturized, which you have been doing, will reduce splits, tangles and breakage.
BTW I'm also a 2a and I think having some kinky hairs is not uncommon in hair that is slightly wave.

DarleneH
April 14th, 2013, 10:05 AM
I've been using a conditioner that's heavy on both moisture and protein, and I've noticed fewer of those coarse hairs. It could be that they're just weighed down with cones now though...

What conditioner is that? I thought most were one or the other and not both.