My hair is falling out right now!

[Bellereena]

Hello all, so I recently joined here as I noticed some slight snapping of my hair which I was quite confused about.
Basically my hair is very dark and I get it bleached up to blonde (roots only) at the salon, I was hoping to improve the condition of my hair and maybe move away from the colour (slowly, slowly) and really start looking after my hair.
Because my hair has started feeling really strange I thought the magic ingredient which would help fix my hair would be protein to help rebuild. But I don't know what has happened tonight as I am getting ready for bed and I've taken out my buckle I have noticed a huge section of my hair at the back has snapped off!
I am so devastated my hair was about 15cms from my waist and the snapped bits have left 3inches of hair on my head.
What do I do to save all of my hair from falling off like this?
Please help I am so scared right now...
This is what I've been washing my hair with since I noticed my hair was feeling a bit more damaged than usual: probably for the past 3 weeks or so...
Kerastase Bain de force (level 3-4) shampoo, and Kerastase forcintense protein treatment. I also used coconut oil overnight for a few days and realised my hair was going really frizzy so I stopped using it. I tried coconut milk which was okay but have just been sticking to protein which looks like its made my damaged hair even worse. :-(

[oddelabop]

As you have dark hair I assume bleaching it to blonde is a massive change as extremely damaging and drying to your hair. For something as damaged as your hair sounds, I really recommend aphogee two step protein treatment. Look up the reviews. It will not cure your hair as such but prevent it breaking.


e.t.a you say your hair doesn't like protein, so aphogee may not be the best idea :/ is your hair mushy when wet?

[Bellereena]

Hi thanks your reply, I've been getting my hair bleached (roots only) for a few years and i think although my hair has been dry due to the bleach it's never been so bad that it's snapped off before. Yes when my hair is wet it feels really mushy and even a sticky feeling which I've never had before... x

[Katrine]

Your hair could possibly be in protein overload. You need to follow up a protein treatment with a moisturizing treatment. Do you have any type of deep conditioner that is really moisturizing? Or any type of moisturizing conditioner? You could leave it in for about 30 minutes or so and then rinse. Maybe you could do a CO first and then the treatment if you feel you need to cleanse. It sounds like your hair needs moisture. HTH :)

[jeanniet]

Protein treatments usually should be followed by a moisture treatment, so I'd do that. It's not likely that your hair is protein sensitive because the bleaching will cause high porosity, and high porosity generally needs protein. Bleaching is very damaging so the breakage is probably from that. Could you explain what you meant by taking out your buckle?

[Bellereena]

Okay thanks girls, ill take a look and get a moisturising treatment straight away. I do have the loreal nutri gloss shine masque in the bathroom but I'm not sure if this is good enough? Anything else you suggest?
The term "buckle" means hairband I live in South Wales UK and this is what we call them here.
Thank you so much for your help it is so appreciated!

[Flor]

So it's not falling out, it's breaking. How much hair are we talking about here? A rounded number? My hair is not bleached or chemically altered in any way, but I've been wearing it in ponytail pretty much all my life and only recently figured out that it was the reason why I always get frizz, split ends and breakage on the back on my head (top layer), while the rest of my hair grows intact. I could never imagine that simple elastic could cause that.

On top of that, it does sound like your hair is brittle. Hopefully once you bring back in moisture, it will resume elasticity.

[jacqueline101]

I'd try the protein and follow with deep conditioning treatment.

[Firefox7275]

Hello all, so I recently joined here as I noticed some slight snapping of my hair which I was quite confused about.
Basically my hair is very dark and I get it bleached up to blonde (roots only) at the salon, I was hoping to improve the condition of my hair and maybe move away from the colour (slowly, slowly) and really start looking after my hair.
Because my hair has started feeling really strange I thought the magic ingredient which would help fix my hair would be protein to help rebuild. But I don't know what has happened tonight as I am getting ready for bed and I've taken out my buckle I have noticed a huge section of my hair at the back has snapped off!
I am so devastated my hair was about 15cms from my waist and the snapped bits have left 3inches of hair on my head.
What do I do to save all of my hair from falling off like this?
Please help I am so scared right now...
This is what I've been washing my hair with since I noticed my hair was feeling a bit more damaged than usual: probably for the past 3 weeks or so...
Kerastase Bain de force (level 3-4) shampoo, and Kerastase forcintense protein treatment. I also used coconut oil overnight for a few days and realised my hair was going really frizzy so I stopped using it. I tried coconut milk which was okay but have just been sticking to protein which looks like its made my damaged hair even worse. :-(

Sorry to read this, doesn't sound like your hair is falling out but breaking off. Bleaching from dark to blonde is hugely damaging, it may be your stylist has left the product on too long or overlapped the bleachings, mushy absolutely suggests that. Sadly nothing can repair hair that is truly fried and a haircut is the only solution, proven beneficial ingredients for less badly damaged hair include coconut oil, hydrolysed protein, ceramides, 18-MEA and panthenol.

Coconut milk is not a good idea nor is shampoo, neither benefits hair. I don't know what you mean by buckle, do you mean elastic on a ponytail? If so that can also be damaging. Too much protein is as bad as too little it can make hair brittle. Your hair does not simply need more moisture (= water) that too can be damaging on porous hair (= hygral fatigue). Remember that hair is at it's weakest when wet, reduce washing, be super gentle then and don't leave conditioning treatments in for long periods.

[Bellereena]

So the last couple of posts did mention that my hair is in fact breaking and not falling out - which you are right about. When I was writing this post I had just had a few handfuls of hair come off my head which of course made me panic and thought it was all falling out - luckily I have breakage which still makes me feel awful but at least I still (so far) have hair on my head...
So I've booked in to get my hair cut next week, I think a fresh start is what I need so hopefully if I cut about 10 inches off I may be able to salvage the rest of my hair if I, like firefox7275 said don't wash my hair too much etc and treat it very gently the rest of the time.
I've ordered the kpak reconstructor hopefully that will help fix my hair a bit but I'm going to try it on a small section first to make sure the protein doesn't make my hair worse, as for the breakage I have a little fringe (bangs) of 2 inches so I'm just going to embrace it. I have some pure argan oil which was bought from Morocco so once I've had the cut I'll use that as a moisturising treatment and learn to do all the great things you guys do on this forum with your hair.
I think the toughest thing will be moving away from bleach and the blonde but in a way it also feels very liberating, so I'm looking forward to the journey ahead. Thank you so much to all of you who have made the effort to comment your advice has helped me immensely :)

[RavennaNight]

Welcome to LHC :flower: If you dig around a bit, you will find tons of help here. You're in the right place. So, we've determined your hair is breaking from excessive bleaching, which is something that can be rehabilitated and grown out. Wanna go through your hair care routine a bit?

[Bellereena]

Hi RavennaNight thanks for the warm welcome, wow your hair is stunning and so shiny, it's definitely inspiring for us mere mortals!
So for the past few years my hair routine has been I would get my dark roots bleached every 5 weeks. After it would be bleached my stylist would put a treatment on my hair by wella its called an infusion treatment which would make my hair look really smooth and strong this effect would last about a month (I have now figured out it's probably full of smoothing ingredients so just coated the hair). My hair would be blow dried and I'd leave with "just out of the salon" hair.
I usually wash my hair once a week, with wella damage repair shampoo (shampoo twice) and wella damage repair conditioner (leave on for 10 mins) smoothing the product with my fingers so it goes into the hair. I use a microfibre towel turban to dry my hair and then leave the rest of my hair to air dry. Once I've taken the towel off I use sebastian potion 9 styling treatment to help with any frizz and I used to use the moroccanoil for about a year until I figured out it was drying out my hair and read the ingredients... I don't use any heat on my hair at home my thinking is the bleaching is damaging enough so everything else I can live without.
So about 2 months ago I started to use coconut oil in my hair as an overnight treatment I did this every few days for about 10 days and then my hair got really brittle and this is when I got a bit confused what to do for my hair. I stopped using it, and bought the kerastase bain de force range which is full of protein it did help it feel stronger but it clearly wasn't due to the breakage I've been getting. I hope now to use the joico kpak range but any advice on what I should do now would be great.
Ultimately I just want my strong hair back, and not to worry about it all the time, whatever I can do towards achieving that I'm happy to do. :o

[RavennaNight]

Bellereena thank you for the sweet compliment :flower:. Definitely moisture sounds in order, not more protein. Get a deep conditioner and leave it in wet hair for a while. It sounds like you really want to keep using protein, it has its benefits, but right now I think you need moisture without protein. Even if you got a moisturizing regular conditioner and left it on wet hair for an hour or so. You mention high-end products that I have never tried, but I could recommend Shea Moisture products, they work well for me, so do tresseme naturals. Silicones might be a necessity for you now, though, and I actually do like the herbal essences line for that. YMMV, products are different for different people. Whatever product you try, try moisture and lay off of protein while you use it. It's good that you are staying away from heat, that you should continue. Also, try to find a good detangling comb which is seamless, to reduce breakage when you detangle.

[Stray_mind]

I's suggest to stay away from bleach, get a lot of moisture and hair vitamins. Try to review your diet, maybe there's something you don't get with food aswell... Also protect your hair from breaking from all those elastocs and stuff.

[Firefox7275]

Hi RavennaNight thanks for the warm welcome, wow your hair is stunning and so shiny, it's definitely inspiring for us mere mortals!
So for the past few years my hair routine has been I would get my dark roots bleached every 5 weeks. After it would be bleached my stylist would put a treatment on my hair by wella its called an infusion treatment which would make my hair look really smooth and strong this effect would last about a month (I have now figured out it's probably full of smoothing ingredients so just coated the hair). My hair would be blow dried and I'd leave with "just out of the salon" hair.
I usually wash my hair once a week, with wella damage repair shampoo (shampoo twice) and wella damage repair conditioner (leave on for 10 mins) smoothing the product with my fingers so it goes into the hair. I use a microfibre towel turban to dry my hair and then leave the rest of my hair to air dry. Once I've taken the towel off I use sebastian potion 9 styling treatment to help with any frizz and I used to use the moroccanoil for about a year until I figured out it was drying out my hair and read the ingredients... I don't use any heat on my hair at home my thinking is the bleaching is damaging enough so everything else I can live without.
So about 2 months ago I started to use coconut oil in my hair as an overnight treatment I did this every few days for about 10 days and then my hair got really brittle and this is when I got a bit confused what to do for my hair. I stopped using it, and bought the kerastase bain de force range which is full of protein it did help it feel stronger but it clearly wasn't due to the breakage I've been getting. I hope now to use the joico kpak range but any advice on what I should do now would be great.
Ultimately I just want my strong hair back, and not to worry about it all the time, whatever I can do towards achieving that I'm happy to do. :o

You should not need to shampoo twice if your technique is good and sulphate surfactants further damage vulnerable hair, are you getting build up? The only Wella repair products I can find already have protein in, there is also protein in the Sebastian 9, are you sure you have not simply overloaded your hair by switching from one protein rich line to an even stronger one?
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/celebrities/ingredients-commonly-found-in-hair-care-products
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curl-products/curlchemist-porosity-and-curly-hair?page=4

Brittleness can be down to weakness OR lack of elasticity OR poor protein-moisture balance. IMO K-Pak is a really bad idea, I think you should back off the protein and focus on basic conditioning - the major emollients (fatty alcohols, cationic surfactants) plus other ingredients proven to patch repair damaged hair like ceramides, 18-MEA and panthenol. All these ingredient help the hair hold the right amount of moisture (water), not too much and not too little. Damaged and porous hair is prone to absorbing far too much when washing which is damaging (hygral fatigue) then drying out again too much.

Oils do not moisturise (add or increase water), some that are rich in lauric or oleic acids penetrate and can reduce porosity and increase elasticity, they help the hair hold less water, especially take up less water when washing. My colour treated hair loves coconut oil soaks but if I use them on top of too much protein, I get dry feeling hair, you can certainly try pure argan oil it is a rich source of oleic acid. I use quite a bit of leave in conditioner containing some of the above ingredients to get that protein-moisture balance. If you apply this to wet hair before towel turbanning there is better frizz control than applying to damp hair.

Do understand everything you do at this point is temporary, unfortunately you cannot return badly damaged hair to its old condition. Frizz is either a sign of severe damage to straight hair, hidden wave/ curl or sometimes build up (products or hard water).

[BlazingHeart]

From what you're saying, it sounds like using kpak would be a REALLY BAD idea. I'm pretty sure your hair is breaking because you've put way too much protein on it, and kpak is heavy-duty protein. You need a moisturizing treatment - a lot of people here like doing a mix called a SMT (Snowymoon Moisture Treatment, after the member who first designed it). If you do one, make sure that the conditioner you use does NOT have protein in it. Also, SMTs don't work well in dry areas, so if your weather is dry, don't use SMTs, stick with a commercial 'hydrating' or 'moisturizing' treatment.

No more protein! I'd suggest switching ALL of the products you're using right now out for moisturizing products and making sure that nothing has any protein in it.

[Bellereena]

Hi all thanks for your comments, so I cancelled my online order for the kpak range -thank you, I think you've just saved me from getting extra breakage. So as a vegetarian I think I will start taking vitamins in case I'm lacking in anything. Regarding my products wow I've just realised everything I've been using has had protein in it!
This stuff gets given to me by my salon and they just tell me these are the best products to use on my hair. They are now all packed and ready to go to a friends house. The reason I wash my hair twice is because that's what they do in the salon and I found the first time I put the shampoo on my scalp it doesn't really lather so I'm not sure if my hair is clean, the second time it lathers really quickly which is when I feel like I've cleaned my hair properly. But now thinking of it as "soap" I suppose I wouldn't need to use it twice, because that would be like saying you need to apply shower gel twice on your skin which doesn't make sense?! Well I've definitely learnt a lot today!
With regards to moisturising my hair as soon as I've posted this I'm going to check the recipe for the SMT and go to the supermarket tomorrow with a list of ingredients that are good/moisturising for my hair to make sure I get it right. And living in the uk where it rains all the time hopefully this smt treatment will work really well. Thanks guys I'll let you know how I get on :)

[Teufelchen]

Bellereena,
I know I am repeating the others, but moisture is what you need now. I lived in the UK for 6 years and SMZ works nicely there. Try to get some moisturizing treatments, don't through away your protein stuff, just don't use it for a while you will need it again in the future.

It really sounds like you used way to much protein and not enough moisture. Get your heir back into balance and try to keep it there.

Good luck with it.