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elsieivy
May 23rd, 2015, 12:53 PM
My hair is just about waist length and for the past year and a half (ever since I started lurking here) I've been really nice to it. Before that time however I was practicing not so benign neglect, ripping a brush through it while wet, trying (and failing) at baking soda washes, and wearing it down even in wind storms. I never used heat or dye but there was definitely some mechanical damage. I now use finger detangling, almost always have it braided (using a ribbon tie to hold it) or bunned when going out, henna occasionally, and sleep on satin or silk. I've cut about 8 inches off over the past year and a half and my ends look pretty nice. I am still finding a lot of splits and white dots a few inches from the ends however. Is this to be expected as there is still some damaged hair from past abuse? Is this something that is likely to happen regardless once hair gets relatively long? Or are there things I'm doing without realizing that are causing new damage?
Just to be clear my hair is much, much better now, but I was hoping that these splits and dots part way up the hair would disappear completely.

Thanks :)

Arctic
May 23rd, 2015, 01:14 PM
If they are few inches from your hemline, it sounds like you are having breakage. Do you see small pieces of hair falling down when you comb/detangle/brush/etc?

elsieivy
May 23rd, 2015, 01:16 PM
If they are few inches from your hemline, it sounds like you are having breakage. Do you see small pieces of hair falling down when you comb/detangle/brush/etc?
Most of the time I notice them before the hair actually breaks. There's a white dot and the hair below it isn't fully attached. I hope that makes sense?

yogagirl
May 23rd, 2015, 04:09 PM
If you're finding the white dots and splits close to your ends, that sounds like it is your pre-LHC hair, right? In that case I would assume it is from past damage. Ripping through knots could have definitely cause this: you rip through a knot, the involved individual hairs get bent severely where they were tangled in the knot, potentially damaging the hair structure. These hairs will be prone to breakage/white dots at that exact spot.

BTW, I get these white dots toward the end of strands too. The hair usually breaks off at the white dot even from a tiny tug. I figure it's from mechanical damage for me too, since I barely ever blow dried and never hear styled or dyed even before LHC. You've gotta remember too, those parts of your hair are a couple of years old!

lilin
May 23rd, 2015, 04:44 PM
My hair is just about waist length and for the past year and a half (ever since I started lurking here) I've been really nice to it. Before that time however I was practicing not so benign neglect, ripping a brush through it while wet, trying (and failing) at baking soda washes, and wearing it down even in wind storms. I never used heat or dye but there was definitely some mechanical damage. I now use finger detangling, almost always have it braided (using a ribbon tie to hold it) or bunned when going out, henna occasionally, and sleep on satin or silk. I've cut about 8 inches off over the past year and a half and my ends look pretty nice. I am still finding a lot of splits and white dots a few inches from the ends however. Is this to be expected as there is still some damaged hair from past abuse? Is this something that is likely to happen regardless once hair gets relatively long? Or are there things I'm doing without realizing that are causing new damage?
Just to be clear my hair is much, much better now, but I was hoping that these splits and dots part way up the hair would disappear completely.

Thanks :)

Yes, this can all be from past abuse. This happened to me, actually.

My hair is fine, and the damage I gave myself from exactly what you describe (ripping knots, et al) was so bad that I could trim my splits and it would just be split all over again a week or two later.

Never used heat or dye. This was all mechanical, from messy buns (basically intentional matting of the hair), harsh brushing, and generally not protecting my ends at all. The damage was visible 6 to 10 inches up the hair shaft (basically starting at the point where my hair was tied into the messy bun).

This is not inevitable and your newer hair should be much nicer once that's all that's left. But the damage you already have is also irreversible. Hair is dead, and cannot be repaired. You can help encourage those hairs not to break by using conditioners and things that bond to imperfections in the hair, but this only lasts until you next wash. Ultimately, it's a band-aid over a bullethole.

I would expect that you would have many fewer dots and splits once your hair is completely "post-LHC." We have people with extremely long hair who hardly ever have so much as a split end.

elsieivy
May 25th, 2015, 11:00 AM
Thanks :) I'm glad it hear that it is probably just old damage and I'm not doing anything horrible without realizing it.

Remi
May 25th, 2015, 11:44 PM
I remember I used to get those too. It was pre-LHC days and also before I did a big hair-cut of all the damaged and highlighted hair. I started over with fresh, virgin hair. I haven't seen any since!

Mimha
May 26th, 2015, 05:14 AM
Hello elsieivy.

Damages close to the end of the hair may also be caused by elastics, barrettes or other hair accessories too. If you regularly tightly attach your hair at the same point, your hair will soon worn out at that place. You have to choose a soft way to attach it, if you do.

It happened to me when I had much longer hair and wore it almost all the time bunned into the same "snail bun" (I knew no others at that time^^) : I fixed it with a single stick, every day at the same place, and I had a lot of breakage at the same place, close to my scalp. Now I am careful to vary as much as possible the position of my sticks, forks or claw-clips, and also the way I fold and roll my hair to avoid long duration friction in one single point.

lapushka
May 26th, 2015, 07:04 AM
I'm betting it is past damage. If you quit heat or other damaging techniques, your hair basically has to grow out from bald. So that takes a long long time. Only the new growth will be healthy.