The worst kind of splits....

[Adiro]

Hello I need some advise and I need to give you some " hair history...."

i am growing my hair since several years ago... In the beginning I did everything quite wrong ( heat, flat iron, de tangle with a cheap brush, wear it down, and such. ) Later I learned good hair practices.
but I think my biggest damage comes from getting a black die for about two years in a row, the trying to remove it / bleach and color blonde over it, to turn lighter. Anyway, I also always used whatever brand was cheaper or in sale.

now my hair is past tail bone ( about 39" long) and ...
I just got new reading glasses, with a stronger prescription ....
And now I start to notice horrible damage to my hair, that I was too blind to see before...

the splits...
they are not at the end of my hair, that looks quite ok,
they are inches up the hair shaft, from 3-10 inches up the hair shaft...
Or there is a white dot, and the hair breaks easily and creates a new end , this time with a split....

S&D is frustrating, when I need to take off such a long piece of hair... I fear that with lots of S&D, I will eventually remain with like three good hairs and everything else much shorter...


how how to deal with this problem?
I really don't want to cut 10 or 20 inches of length, that would bring me to mid back, and all my years of patience would be lost... ( aside that my substantial collection of hair toys would become a thing of the past...)

thanks for for reading this...

[hanne jensen]

I have the same problem, my hair is just shorter than yours. What I do is use a split repair serum after every hair wash. Most salons have them if you can afford pricey items. Supermarkets have them too. L'Oreal, Gliss, Nivea and Tresomme just to name a few. Split repair serum is just triage before surgery. It will glue the splits together to avoid splitting further up the hairshaft. But, sooner or later that split will have to go.

Oiling your hair from the damage down with shea butter, coconut oir or MO helps, Apply the oil after your serum.

Baby your hair by being very gentle every time you detangle and wash.

Start a dusting program every month where you either maintain your length or take half your growth. 1/2 cm every month is a good compromise. Your SO or a trusted family member can dust your hair. If they are scared of cutting your hair a CreaClip is a lifesaver. My Hubby who dusts me swears by them. Rember to use a good quality hair scissors and never use your hair scissors for anything else but hair.

In the articles section there is a very good article written by Nightshade on growing out damaged hair without chopping your hair off. If Nightshade can do it, so can we.

If I had to cut all my splits off at once I'd have to shave my head. I have splits at eye level, so I'm in the same boat as you. We can do it!

Happy growing!

[Adiro]

Oh, Hanne Jensen, thank you!
What a helpful post!
No, I never used a serum, I will have to look those up ( I don't use many hair cosmetics, aside from shampoo, conditioner, and coconut and other natural oils...)

I also don't know yet what is a crea clip? (!i do have scissors dedicated to hair only)

And no, I never looked up in the article section ( I am too busy with the hair toy section, most of the time :)

I'm sorry that you are in the same boat as me ( with the hair damage) but I'm so glad you answered! Thank you!

[hanne jensen]

A CreaClip is a very large clip gizmo that you clip onto your hair after combing. It has teeth in it so as you gently slide the clip down your hair it smooths the hair. Once you get to the ends of your hair you just cut along the clip. To ensure that it's not crooked there's a small level. Guys love that if your Hubby dusts for you. If you google CreaClip the site has a video. They're available online and aren't that expensive. It take Hubby under 3 minutes to dust me using the CreaClip and my hemline is nice and blunt and very even.

Split repair serums work with positive and negative ions. When applied to the hair these ions attract each other and close the split. They aren't permanent but are a big help in growing out damaged hair.

[Anje]

I get those, and got them more in the past. You won't get them all, and that's OK. Trim your hair every so often, maybe maintain length for a while. They'll move to the ends and get cut eventually. Of they won't and someday that damaged hair that keeps breaking back will shed out, and the follicle will grow a new healthy hair. If your habits are good now, it'll add up.

A lot of people here swear by catnip tea. I haven't stuck to it long enough to say if it does it for my hair, but making hair more split-resistant certainly sounds nice.

When I started worrying about splits, I think something like 10% of the hairs had splits, and I just wanted to keep it in the single digits. I've done some S&D, I maintained my length hoping to thicken ends, I don't do much that's damaging... And my hair is down to less than 1% splits. It gets better.

[Adiro]

Hanne and Anje, thank you!

Anje, thank you for reminding me of catnip tea!
I have a bag of it somewhere m and I forgot why I bought it :) I remember now trying it once last year, but it coated my hair in a weird way....
Will try again:)

And yes, I am trimming about 2 cm every 3-4 months, to get rid of the dark part of my hair... In the same time, I am coloring the roots with medium blonde so some damage circle continues.... But I just can't let my grey hairs so, I hate them...

[spidermom]

My hair splits no matter what. For more than 5 years I treated my hair like precious old lace, and the ends still split like crazy at about tailbone length. I guess they're just old and tired by then. I'm kind of over it and moving back toward doing things that make my hair really pretty, like hot rollers.

[bunneh.]

Hanne and Anje, thank you!

Anje, thank you for reminding me of catnip tea!
I have a bag of it somewhere m and I forgot why I bought it :) I remember now trying it once last year, but it coated my hair in a weird way....
Will try again:)

And yes, I am trimming about 2 cm every 3-4 months, to get rid of the dark part of my hair... In the same time, I am coloring the roots with medium blonde so some damage circle continues.... But I just can't let my grey hairs so, I hate them...

Have you considered natural hair dyes?

[Alex Lou]

I have bleach damage as well and splits that go beyond the usual. I have "white areas" were a strand will be more opaque and whitish. When I bend these areas, the hair separates into 2! These are splits in the middle of hair strands. I also get the white dots and branching splits that resemble feathers. A lot of the time, if I look up the shaft of a strand with a split, I will find another split higher up! And all the damaged strands just break on their own eventually. Which is actually good news because there are healthy strands in there and those are the ones that remain. My ends at the end of my hair actually are in really good shape thanks to trims, and I assume because only the healthy strands can grow that long without breaking off. My hair does have quite a taper, but it still looks good, miraculously! One of the perks of thick hair.

I'm going to second using a heavy silicone serum. It will stick your splits back together temporarily so you don't have to worry about it so much and continue growing your hair. I just looked for a serum with a silicone high up on the ingredients list and it made my hair feel and look better over the past year. In the meantime, much of that damage has broken off, giving me the illusion of "recovery". It has gotten better!

[cat11]

I would microtrim, Adi. I did the same thing, I bleached over dyed black hair. Then when I was done with the bleach I dyed it back to try and match my natural color. My ends get white dots and bent hairs and splits. I really think the only thing to do it slowly trim it off if youdon't want to cut off big chunks. I'm cutting 2 inches a year since I'm still growing, the past year I did 2 1 inch trims every 6 months, this next year im going to do 4 1/2 inch trims every quarter :/

In the mean time I don't use cones, but I baby my hair with this mix african oil when I detangle (a drop or two per side) and add in sunflower oil, aloe, and agave nectar to my conditioner every time I wash in addition to doing a protein treatment with those things mixed in once a month (hask keratin protein pack)

[Adiro]

Ladies, thankyou, very interesting info!
Buneh, no but tehre aren't really any natiral,dies taht would make me an almost blonde....

Alex Lou, thank you! I've been cone free for the last one year, then recently I tried WCC with the second contioner with sones, and my hair liked it...so will look,for a coney serum soon....

Cat, you really hide your damage well.. And then, few have a hair like you do, so thick and shinny. ... I also ( self ) trim every few months, about a centimetre ... Eventually the most damage lower end will be chopped off...

[lapushka]

If it were me, I would S&D slowly (or you might thin out your hair if it is at least half of it) and microtrim at the same time (cutting half the growth off a month).

[Stormynights]

You make the most beautiful buns. No one but you will ever see those splits. They didn't bother you when you didn't see them so maybe not looking so close will also help.

[Sparrowhg]

Nightblooming has an e book on the etsy website. From what I gathered it's all about growing out damaged hair. Might be worth looking into.

[lapushka]

Back when I had a perm in my hair (hip length), my hair was riddled with white dots (splits not so much) and at hip I decided to let my mom S&D it. Lost half my thickness, so it had to be trimmed back to BSL. Big length difference!

[Vijikanth]

This exactly made me against my will to trim nearly 3-4 inches of my hair off..:(
My hair was past tail bone length if I pull it down. I'm curly. Nw its just near to my tail bone. All because of the same split issue. I always used to apply coconut oil every night. Still I was surprised to see so much of white spots where the hair tends to break. I'm really worried how to stop them from appearing again

[lapushka]

This exactly made me against my will to trim nearly 3-4 inches of my hair off..:(
My hair was past tail bone length if I pull it down. I'm curly. Nw its just near to my tail bone. All because of the same split issue. I always used to apply coconut oil every night. Still I was surprised to see so much of white spots where the hair tends to break. I'm really worried how to stop them from appearing again

Do you use any heat at all on your hair?

[Alex Lou]

Supposedly, if you saturate your hair with coconut oil before dying it, it will provide some protection from the bleach and not interfere with the dye.

[Adiro]

Thank you ladies :)
StormyNights you're always so sweet :grouphug: it's true I
They didn't bother me because I couldn't see them very well... But now... I see...
And now reading my post again, maybe I made it sound more catastrophic than it really is.. But still...

Lapushka, wow, you are brave and patient to grow your hair again, after loosing so much length....yes, that exactly my beef, I don't want to look like I have thin hair, just because I s$d a quarter of all my hair...

[lapushka]

Lapushka, wow, you are brave and patient to grow your hair again, after loosing so much length....yes, that exactly my beef, I don't want to look like I have thin hair, just because I s$d a quarter of all my hair...

Yes, it took me 10 years to get to classic length, due to my own stupidity. Henna, bleach, conventional dye, 2 perms. Had to chop back to chin twice, and once to BSL. Yeah... quite the adventure. But I got there in the end, so keep the faith! :thumbsup: Don't overdo the S&D, that would be my advice. And microtrim once in a while. Every 2, 3 months or so. It's easier to cut larger pieces off than tiny pieces every month.

[cat11]

You make the most beautiful buns. No one but you will ever see those splits. They didn't bother you when you didn't see them so maybe not looking so close will also help.

Yup! Just put them away.... It's what I do.



Cat, you really hide your damage well.. And then, few have a hair like you do, so thick and shinny. ... I also ( self ) trim every few months, about a centimetre ... Eventually the most damage lower end will be chopped off...

Thank you... it does show sometimes depending on the bun. When I wear a nautilus there's this non shiny darker red part in the middle.