How do you tell whether your routine is working? Been 6 years, not much progress...

[antoniettta]

Hey everyone,
Would appreciate any advice y'all could give, especially if anyone has experienced the same issue. Started 6 years ago at about MBL with the goal of getting to MTL or at least classic. But it seems like once my hair hits waist length its starts losing a lot of thickness and gets all straggly, and I can't figure out why or how to stop it. I know my hair CAN grow very long, since there are some sections that go halfway down my butt, but its so thinned out at that point that it looks sad. And no matter how much I grow, it always seems to start thinning out at waist length. I don't know how to go about diagnosing the problem or seeing if a potential solution is working -- how do I keep track of breakage short of crossing my fingers and eyeballing it in half a year? I have 3A hair, my routine right now is a super moisturizing conditioner & finger detangling in the shower, shampooing every month or two, coconut oil on the ends while its damp, and I wear it down most of the time, or sometimes in a bun. I can't tell whether leaving it down and not messing with it or putting it up in a bun and messing with it is worse for breakage -- the whole issue is that I have no idea how to tell when I'm hurting it and how much. Thankful for any help.

[milosmomma]

Everything sounds great with your routine, the only one then that stands out is when you say it is down frequently. This causes friction which leads to split ends, breakage and poor length retention. I would try buns more often, maybe join the wear it up challenge thread and take picture of before and after to see if ypou are retaining some more length.

[ExpectoPatronum]

I second milosmomma. I know that my hair hasn't grown long because I refused for years to wear it up more. Wearing it down leads to friction which leads to breakage. Wearing your hair up prevents that from happening.

[Chromis]

That is a very common length for getting false terminals from damage by chair backs in particular.

Wearing it up or covering your chair with a silky cloth are the two most common fixes for that.

I'd work on updos personally and finding something comfortable that you don't need to mess with :flower:

[antoniettta]

It's reassuring to hear I'm not the only one, thanks for the advice :)

[lapushka]

Do you still heat style? Dye? Bleach?
What is your general routine like?

Maybe you need to shampoo more? IDK. Sometimes less cleansing brings a world of issues. I would at least shampoo every month, not 2, that seems like too long a space in between a proper cleanse! Maybe it's due to build-up?

Just throwing that out there!

[Kat-Rinnè Naido]

Hi! It may be a little easier to brain storm if you post a picture of your hair.
If you have thick curly hair and are putting it up in a bun then you could be getting your hair trimmed due to the bun as well.

[GrowingGlory]

Maybe you could view your day from this point of view: How is this affecting my hair? Is it weakening or strengthening? Damaging or protective? Showcasing its beauty or hiding it?
My hair towel and bathrobe have turned out to be culprits. Even my favorite mild shampoo and conditioner were replaced by better choices. My habit of finger combing endlessly has been replaced by placing it gently, then leaving it alone.
HTH!