Monster Strand

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

The other day, I found this strand of hair on my head that had a split, of course, I tug it out.
(this is a habit i need to quit, i just need to buy shears for spontaneous s&d, i was in Portland w/o shears)
And this is what it ends up being
https://s26.postimg.org/6egmk020p/IMG_4329.jpg
This wirey thick monster strand. I took a photo of it next to a strand that came out during detangling:
https://s26.postimg.org/h2kdiubzt/IMG_4332.jpg

as you can see its about 2 or 3 times the size of a normal strand.


my concern is that this is just an amplified version of my own hair.
its wirey, its thick and then thin and thick then then up and down the strand. bumpy.
it also really bothers me that the strand has a split. if the hair is so thick and course and strong, how did THAT split?
it makes me fear for the state of my regular fine and weaker strands. i just felt it in my hands and i could actually feel it as i rolled it around between my fingers, my other strands however are the opposite so im afraid for them.

[Cherriezzzzz]

My head is full of these :) they can grow long even with splits and bumpy damage too! Some of my longest pieces were these monsters! I'm going to hubby's work to look at them under a microscope!

[Kirby-oh]

Thick hairs split all the time, they are different structurally. I get the same thing in my beard and its easier for me to test these things. Though, some of mine are Pili multigemini, though

[pili]

Ninety percent of my hair is like that. I was able to grow from pixie to hip with no trims over five years. (Then I cut it all off again.) I have no idea if I had a ton of splits, though, since it was pre-lhc and I never checked.

[Jo Ann]

Thick hairs split all the time, they are different structurally. I get the same thing in my beard and its easier for me to test these things. Though, some of mine are Pili multigemini, though
That's one way to get a thick beard... :shocked:

[lapushka]

That is totally but totally normal. In case you were worried. Looks like F next to normal or coarser hair. I sometimes get odd strands too. HTH! :flower:

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

That is totally but totally normal. In case you were worried. Looks like F next to normal or coarser hair. I sometimes get odd strands too. HTH! :flower:

I know it's normal, I'm worried that if a strand this thick however has split, the rest of my fine hairs will be even more at risk. I'm finding a lot more splits lately this last 2 weeks, like loads. 3-4 every other day or so, even though I'm micro trimming, so when I found this strand it was like ughhhh. Anxiety for my other strands. They're fine and vulnerable and this thick monster split so I worry about my finer strands.

[Andthetalltrees]

I have quite a few of these too that are very thick and bumpy. If it's any solace I notice splits on these hair more often than the finer ones (I say finer as a relative term because at most my finer hairs are still medium, But it still stands) I don't know why that would be because they are stronger in theory like you said. However though my splits don't seem to get worse or travel, If I ignore one on these thick strands it'll still be there but it'll be just as tiny.

[Corvana]

I know it's normal, I'm worried that if a strand this thick however has split, the rest of my fine hairs will be even more at risk. I'm finding a lot more splits lately this last 2 weeks, like loads. 3-4 every other day or so, even though I'm micro trimming, so when I found this strand it was like ughhhh. Anxiety for my other strands. They're fine and vulnerable and this thick monster split so I worry about my finer strands.

Maybe it's your shears, then? If nothing else has changed, and you're microtrimming everything, then perhaps your shears aren't sharp enough anymore and are causing the splits themselves. That'd be my first thought, at least.

[MoonRabbit]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Every hair type can suffer splits. It's like questioning why one stand is split but another one isn't. If you are finding more damage then just try to find out what could be causing it.

[enting]

Sometimes I wonder if certain coarse hairs aren't more prone to splitting than fine hairs. Some of my coarser ones do seem more likely to split than some of my finer ones, but not all of them. The tip of the coarser hair has a greater surface area that can be roughed up and therefore split. I'm not sure what makes some coarse hairs resistant to splits and some more prone to it though.

Either way, I wouldn't take this as a gauge of how your finer hairs are doing. The coarse ones aren't necessarily more resilient.

It's crazy how much of a difference in diameter there can be between hairs from one head! I get these variations also. Sometimes when I'm finger combing I'll get one of these monsters and go "where did *that* come from!?" :D

[Garnetgem]

I tend to find those and if you notice they snap without stretching when you place pressure..they may be thicker but i find they are weaker i expect the structure is different to the rest..i find a split in them ones before the other slimmer ones too..

[meteor]

I get that variation in fineness/coarseness, too. :agree: And I think it's totally normal. I don't worry about it because it's not like I can change anything about this. I am simply aware that some parts of my hair (around the hairline, sides) are finer, so I avoid overloading them with any oils/product and I'm especially gentle when detangling those spider-webby areas, and they usually take longer to detangle anyway.
I do sometimes wonder if a coarser strand is more likely to split under the same conditions where a finer strand would be more likely to simply break... :hmm:

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

I tend to find those and if you notice they snap without stretching when you place pressure..they may be thicker but i find they are weaker i expect the structure is different to the rest..i find a split in them ones before the other slimmer ones too..

i never thought to really check that. maybe it was just really really weak.
I have just a very wide range of hair strands, some are like baby hair and others are thick corse and wirey.

[Dendra]

I think that hair is amazing! And like the others said, don't take it to be a gauge of your finer hair's fate.

I once found a hair so coarse it was like fishing wire, unfortunately a hair toy pulled it out but I was super happy to find it amongst my fine hair :)

[diddiedaisy]

I had a couple of these strands a year or so ago. It was really thick and strong, compared to my spider web fine hair. It made me wish all my hair was made up of monsters. I bet those thick strands can take a lot of abuse, it took a lot of force to snap it in half. :)

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

I think that hair is amazing! And like the others said, don't take it to be a gauge of your finer hair's fate.

I once found a hair so coarse it was like fishing wire, unfortunately a hair toy pulled it out but I was super happy to find it amongst my fine hair :)
That's exactly how I would describe what I found

[triumphator!]

Okay, I'm so glad this thread exists. I have nearly every kind of wave and curl pattern on my head, yet they are mostly the same thickness. I do occasionally find a 1b monster thread, blink at it a few times, and move on like I never saw it. It's not as dramatic as rebeccalaurenxx's, but it's visibly obvious. Glad other people find these too.

[teal]

My hair is predominantly fine-textured and I still have several strands of this type of hair on my head. They're kinda funky, hey?

[Corvana]

My one grey hair, that I saw on my 18th birthday no less, was very wirey!! So now I'm a little worried (although tbh it'd be fine, I'd just need a new hair care routine I think) that when I do actually go grey I'll have a head full of them.

Nothing against the coarseness, but more that I just... Haven't had to work with it and am so scared of ruining my hair with not knowing what those strands would want and need. I'd need an adjustment period for a texture change like that.

[Kirby-oh]

That's one way to get a thick beard... :shocked:

They are not very interesting unless they go ingrown. They haven't been studied well, which seems strange considering how many guys on the internet seem to have them. There may be a few at one time, most people don't really notice them. I think it's because the beard hair goes straight down and doesn't get too long that they don't separate on their own, unlike multiple hairs that are anywhere else. And people only really see the ones that are acting up.

[littlestarface]

My one grey hair, that I saw on my 18th birthday no less, was very wirey!! So now I'm a little worried (although tbh it'd be fine, I'd just need a new hair care routine I think) that when I do actually go grey I'll have a head full of them.

Nothing against the coarseness, but more that I just... Haven't had to work with it and am so scared of ruining my hair with not knowing what those strands would want and need. I'd need an adjustment period for a texture change like that.

Me too.

My white hairs are like that but more coarse like literal fishing wire, I am so scared about all my hair turning into this cuz 1 its so thick I don't even have a clue to take care of it. 2 I don't like how it looks. I like my soft floaty hair and this coarse one is like fishing wire.

[mira-chan]

Me too.

My white hairs are like that but more coarse like literal fishing wire, I am so scared about all my hair turning into this cuz 1 its so thick I don't even have a clue to take care of it. 2 I don't like how it looks. I like my soft floaty hair and this coarse one is like fishing wire.

I have a head full of these and my whites are coming in the same. It's definitely never soft compared to fine hair. If it goes floaty, it looks... like it will eat people near me.

But it has two bonuses:

1. Generally I don't get tangles.

2. I don't get splits until classic length unless I am really rough with it. And by rough I mean neglect with only ponytails for years, without caring where it got stuck, and even then I only got splits at hip.

[Dendra]

My one grey hair, that I saw on my 18th birthday no less, was very wirey!! So now I'm a little worried (although tbh it'd be fine, I'd just need a new hair care routine I think) that when I do actually go grey I'll have a head full of them.

Nothing against the coarseness, but more that I just... Haven't had to work with it and am so scared of ruining my hair with not knowing what those strands would want and need. I'd need an adjustment period for a texture change like that.


Me too.

My white hairs are like that but more coarse like literal fishing wire, I am so scared about all my hair turning into this cuz 1 its so thick I don't even have a clue to take care of it. 2 I don't like how it looks. I like my soft floaty hair and this coarse one is like fishing wire.

Epiphany! The 'fishing wire' hair I found was also grey/white. I somehow did not see its colourlessness as grey/white until this moment, I guess I just was not expecting to find one. Well, I did just turn thirty.

I'll be happy if I get a head full of those, having coarse hair would be a thrill after a lifetime of fine. It'd be nice to be able to be a little more careless with my strands and not see as much damage.

[CindyOfTheOaks]

Ya know how your nape hair is baby fine ? Well I found one of those towards the front of those hairs - kind of the side of my neck !!
I yanked that sucker right out ! Gonna have to watch for regrowth and remove it !
It was thick enough and out of place enough that I wonder why no one ever said anything about it !
Good grief !

[Arctic]

When my hairtype changed from fine and straight into more coarse and wavy I got lot of these babies too. It was a bit difficult to adjust, mentally more than anything, but by now I am pretty much cool with them. These hairs have lot of good qualities, like they make my hair appear thicker and more voluminous, they are the reason my I have waves now, they are generally super shiny and sparkly, and while some of them do have weak spots where the starnd has torsion twist (not all wiry hairs have torsion twists but mine tend to have) in general they are very sturdy. It took also a longer while to learn to care for them but the period wasn't bad in a way that the hairs were never terrible to begin with. But with right care they are softer and less wiry feeling and more supple. If I wouldn't have trichotillomania I don't think my adjustment period would have been lengthy at all tbh.

[Dendra]

When my hairtype changed from fine and straight into more coarse and wavy I got lot of these babies too. It was a bit difficult to adjust, mentally more than anything, but by now I am pretty much cool with them. These hairs have lot of good qualities, like they make my hair appear thicker and more voluminous, they are the reason my I have waves now, they are generally super shiny and sparkly, and while some of them do have weak spots where the starnd has torsion twist (not all wiry hairs have torsion twists but mine tend to have) in general they are very sturdy. It took also a longer while to learn to care for them but the period wasn't bad in a way that the hairs were never terrible to begin with. But with right care they are softer and less wiry feeling and more supple. If I wouldn't have trichotillomania I don't think my adjustment period would have been lengthy at all tbh.

That's interesting that your hair type changed, do you mind my asking what age you were when that happened? I think I would like the same transformation :)

[Arctic]

That's interesting that your hair type changed, do you mind my asking what age you were when that happened? I think I would like the same transformation :)

It must have started a bit before I joined LHC ten years ago (at the age of thirty) but I only started noticing the change after I had joined. First I noticed waves, then with my new hyperfocus on my hair I started to notice more coarse strands - I thought it was henna making my hair more substantial! It was when I grew out my henna when I finally realised that nope, this is my natural hair now. :) At some point before I realised my type had actually changed I also mistaken the wiry hairs as damage, but this was really my trichotillomania speaking (the wiry texture was a trigger to me).

I'm really happy with my hair now that I've made peace with the type change. :) I loved the fine, no-volume and straight hair and I love the fluffy, more voluminous, waves and thicker strands now, both have many good qualities to them!

I have no idea why the change happened, often hormonal changes seem to play a big part but I didn't seem to have anything going on back then, it just seemed to happen. (However my hormone levels never got tested, but I was out of puberty, not pregnant and not menopausal.)

[enting]

Arctic I used the same thought process for myself. I used to pull out all the wiry thicker hairs, but then I realized that they were the hairs that were giving my curls form and density. Without them my hair was going to completely lack body and be thin and fine. My hair had been fine, but very thick. With them, my hair is medium thickness now and still has body. The remaining fine hairs fill in the visual "gaps" between the coarser hairs when it's a little bit frizzy.

My hair type has definitely changed over time. I don't know when my hair change started, but it's been a gradual process. I don't know if anything in particular triggered the change, or if it's just age. I have a whole variety of coarseness (and curliness!) now, from very fine barely visible to some of these monster hairs. It may never change over completely for me.

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

Arctic I used the same thought process for myself. I used to pull out all the wiry thicker hairs, but then I realized that they were the hairs that were giving my curls form and density. Without them my hair was going to completely lack body and be thin and fine. My hair had been fine, but very thick. With them, my hair is medium thickness now and still has body. The remaining fine hairs fill in the visual "gaps" between the coarser hairs when it's a little bit frizzy.

My hair type has definitely changed over time. I don't know when my hair change started, but it's been a gradual process. I don't know if anything in particular triggered the change, or if it's just age. I have a whole variety of coarseness (and curliness!) now, from very fine barely visible to some of these monster hairs. It may never change over completely for me.

I need to stop tugging hair, I usually only pull out a strand if i see a split and have no shears to cut it off.
i am afraid if i leave a split like that, itll trap other innocent undamaged strands. so i yank them lol

[enting]

It's definitely time to find you a small pair of scissors/shears for when you find a split. Tugging the hairs out won't do you or your hair any favors. I don't find that splits damage my other hairs (not that I've noticed, anyway), it's just that it makes my hair harder to detangle. Single strand knots on the other hand, they definitely hurt my other strands.