My hair story - help!

[divinedobbie]

I’ve had BSL-MBL hair for most of my life while washing with cheap sulfate shampoos and cone filled conditioners every two days. As far as I know my hair was in decent shape, thicker than now and I had full ends but I remember my hair being very flat. I also wore my hair in a ponytail about half the time, other half of the time it was down. I used a blow dryer occasionally but no other heat or chemicals. I really don't remember how the split ends situation was.


About four years ago I started to wear my hair almost always down and I washed it every day. My hairdresser insisted on layers to add volume to my thin hair and deal with "terrible split ends". I started straightening it a few times a week on and off, blowdrying occasionally. I had it dyed four times over 2011/2012. I started growing out the dye and taking "good" (or what I thought was good) care of my hair beginning Feb 2012. I tried everything recommended to me…from olive oil to protein treatments. I completely stopped heat and chemicals. One year later…I had grad coming up and I needed my hair to look nice so I went to the hairdresser to fix the bottom half of grown out dye. She said I had build up and to clarify every day with a strong sulfate shampoo. She bleached and dyed the black mess below my ears, razored my hair and put in microring extensions that I wore for 2 ½ months after.


I finally found LHC! I bought organic sulfate/silicone/badstuff free shampoo and conditioner. I started stretching washes about a month ago and I now wash every three days. I wear my hair up about 80% of the time now. I tried coconut oil a few times but it left my hair looking extremely greasy even after washing. Honey and molasses gave me the same result. I don't know where I stand on the protein-moisture balance. I've done the tests which gave me totally mixed conclusions.

After cutting inches off every few months for the past two years, my hair is in the worst shape it’s ever been. Absolutely everything below my chin ends in either a white dot, several splits or both. My hair looks super stringy. I can brush it and ten minutes later, my fingers get stuck in my hair. My ends are totally see through and thin. I cut off two more inches at the end of January but it hasn’t put a dent in the damage.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there something else I should be doing? Do you think all this is from my poor choices before or is it my natural hair type (seeing as even before I dyed and used heat I had loads of split ends). Please help!

[bunzfan]

I'm no expert but, I'm growing out heat damage and I can say with certainty that regular season&d is making such a difference I personally found that pre wash oil soak's make a huge difference but I never shampoo out it just doesn't remove the oil as well as a co wash does you let the conditioner sit on the oiled hair for awhile it soaks up the oil then co wash out I've gone back to co washing and it's made a big difference to the condition of my hair.. I'd also recommend trying a protein treatment that makes a big difference to damaged hair i think what you are suffering now is heat damage.. If you do a protein treatment follow up with a moisture one. Micro trimming helps too.

[ErinLeigh]

It could maybe be damage from the extensions and razor cut. How far are you from cutting off the layers?
I notice I get so much more breakage when I have severe layers. Light layers are great, but the "fancy" heavily textured and blended ones leave my hair weak. I think of it like pulling on a single shed hair. It snaps. If I had a handful it wouldn't. My layers leave single hairs so they are so much more exposed leading me to breakage or snapping.

Aside from wondering where you are on the protein/moisture or need to clarify/chelate situation I would think you probably aren't doing anything wrong and its simply the old damage and remaining layers giving you a hard time. If the layers ARE gone then I am pulling up a chair to see what other suggestions come in.

I am sorry you are going through this. I noticed my hair was just fine when I left it alone also..washing with SLS shampoo and using coney conditioners and leave ins.
I only switched to SLS free and cone free for now while trying to recover from a damaging keratin treatment. I want to be be able to see my hair in its current state so I know when things are getting better. I am actually pretty sure I am going back to old school SLS and cones once this little run is done, as I have decided my hair looks best deeply washed and cones applied, giving it a better look and feel. Cones seems to prevent excessive split ends for me and seem more protective than oils in my case. My hair is fine and fragile so it needs all the help it can get. I just plan on being smarter with cones next time around and not overdoing it or forgetting to clarify.

Its hard. I love the idea of using more natural things so its hard to walk away from, but sometimes I feel natural conditioners do not condition enough for me. They seem to be just loaded with oils. The shampoos aren't wowing me either as I feel they are not removing enough of what I suspect to be oil buildup - or the opposite, some are too stripping.
I go back and forth on how I feel about it all. Other days I am happy with them but I am finding more bad hair days now than before. The only thing that gives me pause on changing things again is that I love prepooing with coconut oil..but if applied over cones its just too much for my hair. I am going to give it 2 more months on this current routine and then evaluate.

I wish I could help. I am kind of in the same boat still trying to sort things out myself.

oh..forgot to ask as I was so busy hijacking with my own woes that you triggered in me :)
What is you full routine? Products, prepoo, post wash, leave ins etc?

[Johannah]

A friend of mine had her hair 'cut' by a razor as well and she had SO MUCH split ends after that!! As bunzfan says, I can't wash out oils with shampoo either, but CO works great.

What's the last time you clarified? When I don't use SLS I need to do it at least once a month, so it might be you need it (again).

[Wosie]

First of all, I'm sorry about your hairdresser visits. Did you go to the same one both of the times you mentioned? She seems to have bad ideas for your hair, imo. Adding layers to thin hair and bleaching it the next time you went to the hairdresser's don't sound good at all. I'm glad you're in the LHC now!

When you used coconut oil, how much did you use and on how big of an area? If the hair gets greasy fast, I would advise to just put it in the very ends. Have you tried other oils?

If I understood everything correctly, about one year's worth of virgin hair is on your scalp now. How does this hair look like? Are you happy with it?

Fine hair tends to get more splits as it's more fragile, but I also think that washing with sulfate shampoos as often as every two days might've worsened this problem (regarding your last question).
Take care of yourself! I'm positive you'll get good help, there are so many people here with great knowledge. :flower:

[lazuliblue]

Sorry I don't have much advice, by I do know that some people have hair that prefers shampoo with silicones and all that stuff in, and it may be that you have that type of hair.

[LaReineJaguar]

I'm trying to learn how to avoid hair damage too. I am trying to figure out different ways to wear my hair up that are not damaging, so I'm looking into silk scarves and maybe even silk hair ties. Beyond that maybe try multivitamins and biotin to help strengthen hair from the inside. Have you ever tried argan oil? I have some and it doesn't make my hair greasy, but I really only put a couple of drops on the ends of my hair.

[divinedobbie]

Its hard. I love the idea of using more natural things so its hard to walk away from, but sometimes I feel natural conditioners do not condition enough for me. They seem to be just loaded with oils. The shampoos aren't wowing me either as I feel they are not removing enough of what I suspect to be oil buildup - or the opposite, some are too stripping.
I go back and forth on how I feel about it all. Other days I am happy with them but I am finding more bad hair days now than before. The only thing that gives me pause on changing things again is that I love prepooing with coconut oil..but if applied over cones its just too much for my hair. I am going to give it 2 more months on this current routine and then evaluate.

I wish I could help. I am kind of in the same boat still trying to sort things out myself.

oh..forgot to ask as I was so busy hijacking with my own woes that you triggered in me :)
What is you full routine? Products, prepoo, post wash, leave ins etc?

My full routine currently is pretty low maintenance: wash with Aubrey Organics GPB protein shampoo on scalp only, follow with Delon Laboratories Organic Now conditioner nape down, rinse. Air dry (every three days)...no leave ins .

I tried prepooing with coconut oil twice (an organic extra virgin), i used about a teaspoon for whole head of hair and slept on it. Tried to wash out with CO it air dried and looked super greasy so I washed a second time that day. I used a regular sulfate shampoo, I was worried that the organic shampoo wouldn't be strong enough to wash it out either and I didn't want to have to wash it a third time that day (I was going out).

Then about a week later (maybe 2?) I thought that since I was using the GPB protein shampoo maybe I was tipping that scale so I tried a treatment mixing 3 tbs Hask argan deep conditioner with 3 tbs organic molasses for 1 hr. Left my hair feeling "dry" in the shower (is that possible?) but it felt okay after it dried. Week after that I tried 2 tbs honey with the deep conditioner, 1 hr, felt nice in the shower but once it dried again no difference in my hair.

I tried CO for two weeks. Mixed results. My hair didn't feel "greasy" and I didn't get excessive shedding like a lot of people reported but it felt flat/limp so I tried the organic shampoo and I've been using that for the past three weeks with a slightly better outcome. I've been using the cone free conditioner for a lot longer, around two months. I like the organic stuff because I guess it's stripping less oil and I can stretch washes more. I do love the feel of sulfate clean hair but I'm pretty committed to staying natural. Cones make my hair tangle less which equals less damage but now that I wear my hair in a braid or bun most of the time, it's not too big of a deal anyway. I'm like you though - I have mixed feelings with cones and sulfates.

[divinedobbie]

Johannah - I clarified a week ago. I usually clarify about once every 4-6 weeks.

Wosie - Yes it was the same hairdresser the same time and I didn't go back to her after that. I went to a different one for the next haircut and she too razored my hair (even worse than the first time) so I've avoided hairdressers like the plague now!! See above for coconut oil^^. I used to leave EVOO and I think I had pretty good results but that was when I was using sulfates. I'll have to try it again. The virgin hair looks great, I wish I could cut all the dyed/damaged but the thought of chin or even shoulder length terrifies me.

Lazuliblue - I think I'll remain with the organic shampoo/cond until the end of the month and then do a two week trial with cones and/or sulfates and see how my hair feels.

LaReineJaguar - I sleep on a silk pillowcase if that counts?:) I have lots of multivitamins and biotin but I can't remember to take them for the life of me. I used to use argan oil and it made my hair feel nice. It was the Renpure Originals one but it also has cones which I'm trying to avoid. I'm considering reintroducing cones but I'm worried then I'll need to also use sulfates to get rid of the build up.