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redfrau
June 9th, 2020, 07:23 AM
Hello there!

I've noticed something that doesn't make logical sense so I wanted to ask you about it. The days when I don't drink enough water, the ends of my hair (where there is still maybe 2" - 3" of bleached hair left) split and break more. I know this because I do S&D almost every day, and yesterday when I did it, those ends were crispy! Also yesterday I just barely drank any water ...

How can this be? I've always heard that the 'life' of the hair is in the follicle (I am not explaining this well, sorry) but that the ends of the hair don't really receive nutrients from your scalp, so you have to provide that either while the hair is growing or add it to your hair artificially. In other words, drinking water would help with growth but not old hair ... but that doesn't seem to be the case with me.

Other variables: I haven't washed since Friday. It wasn't dry like this the day before. I didn't use any new products or heat on it. Only thing different is, I parted it more in the middle than before. So maybe this section of hair is more exposed? (It's right in the front.)

Would love to solve this mystery ... or I could just take it at face value and assume drinking water is good for me and just do it. ;)

Bri-Chan
June 9th, 2020, 07:38 AM
The water you drink cannot change your hair because, as you said, the living part of the hair is in the follicle. Hair is something dead, so it's impossible what you drink or eat to influence nothing but the follicle. This is not my opinion, this is science.

For sure the different washing could have caused it. Also, hair (especially, damaged hair) can be easily "changed" from simple things, like a different weather, more or less humidity, also from how much your hair was dirty before washing.

MusicalSpoons
June 9th, 2020, 07:46 AM
It could very well be the weather, or it could be that a day more after washing it was drier. Now if it were drier one day, then the next you drank water and your ends were better, that might be a bit weird ;)

godivawannabe
June 10th, 2020, 11:35 AM
It might have to do with the humidity today. I don't think drinking water would do anything as your ends are dead. Good luck!:)

lapushka
June 10th, 2020, 01:11 PM
The weirdest thing ever. But I agree with previous posters. It can't possibly influence that at all. It's like water intake on the last millimeters of your nails. Same thing.

It's important to keep bleached ends nice and moisturized, though, so try maybe double conditioning (CWC, WCC) or something like that, that might help keep them OK until next wash day.

Chalk the rest of it up to "weird days". ;)

Belgrade Beauty
June 10th, 2020, 02:39 PM
I noticed the same thing...The more I eat right and drink fluids the better it is on the whole length not just root...Have no idea why...And never occurred to me to ask anyone...Just drink the damn water girl! :D

ZoeZ
June 11th, 2020, 04:53 AM
Is it possible that when we drink a lot, we exude more moisture from our pores and that actually helps hydration? Mad scientist postulation, but oh well, I'm used to being looked at sideways! :)

Wildcat Diva
June 11th, 2020, 05:19 AM
Well, brushing or combing would bring whatever oils that exude from one’s scalp down to the end. Maybe drinking enough water makes the sebum that exudes from one’s scalp to be more bountiful and less thick and more easily spread down mechanically by combing or brushing. Just a thought.

lapushka
June 11th, 2020, 08:37 AM
Well, brushing or combing would bring whatever oils that exude from one’s scalp down to the end. Maybe drinking enough water makes the sebum that exudes from one’s scalp to be more bountiful and less thick and more easily spread down mechanically by combing or brushing. Just a thought.

When your hair is say classic length, sebum and any "hydration" from the scalp takes a looong time to travel down. I mean... months!

MusicalSpoons
June 11th, 2020, 09:30 AM
Well, brushing or combing would bring whatever oils that exude from one’s scalp down to the end. Maybe drinking enough water makes the sebum that exudes from one’s scalp to be more bountiful and less thick and more easily spread down mechanically by combing or brushing. Just a thought.

Interesting. In my own experience that's not the case, but we each have different chemical makeups and react to things differently - I wonder if it is scientifically possible :hmm:


When your hair is say classic length, sebum and any "hydration" from the scalp takes a looong time to travel down. I mean... months!

OP's stats say CBL so if that's the case (and if internal hydration could affect sebum - I don't know), absolutely possible.

[Not the same thing at all as casual combing or brushing, but a half hour BBB session used to definitely spread sebum to my ends well beyond classic. I haven't done it since before knee though, as ultimately it just produced even more sebum so despite distributing a fair amount of what I started with, I still ended up more of an oil slick afterwards! And I think the brush was too harsh for my hair as well.]

ynne
June 11th, 2020, 08:57 PM
For me, my hair just gets progressively drier after washing until it feels like a straw, so I can see that affecting it.

redfrau
June 12th, 2020, 10:23 AM
OP's stats say CBL so if that's the case (and if internal hydration could affect sebum - I don't know), absolutely possible.

After a few days I have to say I think this is related to the humidity in the air! We had some much cooler, drier days and that's when my hair was splitting more on the ends. The past two days have been humid and my ends are happier. And - maybe brushing would make a different but IDK. I rarely do more than a gentle comb through with a wide tooth comb when it's tangly before bed. So I really couldn't say. I wouldn't trust a brush with those damaged, delicate ends.

redfrau
June 12th, 2020, 04:11 PM
Ok so I know I just posted about the humidity. It’s dry and cool today and my ends are doing the super dry thing again, and it could be the air—but I also just combed it out with a plastic, wide toothed comb , and I feel like that’s what “caused” the dry-er ends. Is that possible?

My hair seems to frizz and get very flyaway when I use the comb, unless it’s right after showering. What can I do, I gotta comb my hair 😆

Bri-Chan
June 12th, 2020, 04:27 PM
Ok so I know I just posted about the humidity. It’s dry and cool today and my ends are doing the super dry thing again, and it could be the air—but I also just combed it out with a plastic, wide toothed comb , and I feel like that’s what “caused” the dry-er ends. Is that possible?

My hair seems to frizz and get very flyaway when I use the comb, unless it’s right after showering. What can I do, I gotta comb my hair ��

Uhm well why just not skipping the comb? I see you're in the wavy spectrum... I don't know if this can be your situation, but a lot of wavy patterns cannot be brush or comb when dry because that causes frizz and kind of statics hair.

Ylva
June 12th, 2020, 04:31 PM
Uhm well why just not skipping the comb? I see you're in the wavy spectrum... I don't know if this can be your situation, but a lot of wavy patterns cannot be brush or comb when dry because that cause frizz and kind of statics hair.

Yeppers. I get crazy frizz and dry poof especially on my ends if I brush them.

redfrau
June 12th, 2020, 04:39 PM
Uhm well why just not skipping the comb? I see you're in the wavy spectrum... I don't know if this can be your situation, but a lot of wavy patterns cannot be brush or comb when dry because that causes frizz and kind of statics hair.
Good idea. It does tangle easily. But the dry/frizz does seem to be activated by combing/brushing and is probably more pronounced on the dry ends.

redfrau
June 12th, 2020, 04:40 PM
Yeppers. I get crazy frizz and dry poof especially on my ends if I brush them.
You have my dream hair, and it looks to be pretty similar in texture to mine.

It’s beautiful!

Ylva
June 12th, 2020, 06:00 PM
You have my dream hair, and it looks to be pretty similar in texture to mine.

It’s beautiful!

Thank you so much, you are so kind! :)

I think you should try the not-brushing business. Only before washing your hair, if that's something you want to do. Otherwise, no dry brushing!

redfrau
June 12th, 2020, 09:22 PM
Thank you so much, you are so kind! :)

I think you should try the not-brushing business. Only before washing your hair, if that's something you want to do. Otherwise, no dry brushing!
Hmm, maybe I will for awhile. How do you deal with tangles?

Bri-Chan
June 13th, 2020, 02:19 AM
Hmm, maybe I will for awhile. How do you deal with tangles?

I hope this can be helpful. My hair tends to tangles a lot. But as far as I don't do something to break the clumps, my hair just stays ok. I discover the true amount of tangles before washing.
Before, I used to detangle 2 times a day. I needed to divide my hair in sections and help me with some leave in products every night, and the morning after I needed to detangle again. Now I take my 15 minutes to detangle before washing and that's all.

Ylva
June 13th, 2020, 12:13 PM
Hmm, maybe I will for awhile. How do you deal with tangles?

Similarly to Bri-Chan, my hair doesn't really tangle as long as I let the clumps stay as they are. If needed, I will detangle some using my hands.

lapushka
June 13th, 2020, 04:10 PM
redfrau, another one here who only brushes (no comb here) dry right before a wash, and once when the wash is over. Then during the week, before bed, I finger detangle Tuesday through Saturday. Monday I can pretty much leave it be (no hair will come out).

MusicalSpoons
June 13th, 2020, 04:24 PM
After a few days I have to say I think this is related to the humidity in the air! We had some much cooler, drier days and that's when my hair was splitting more on the ends. The past two days have been humid and my ends are happier. And - maybe brushing would make a different but IDK. I rarely do more than a gentle comb through with a wide tooth comb when it's tangly before bed. So I really couldn't say. I wouldn't trust a brush with those damaged, delicate ends.


Ok so I know I just posted about the humidity. It’s dry and cool today and my ends are doing the super dry thing again, and it could be the air—but I also just combed it out with a plastic, wide toothed comb , and I feel like that’s what “caused” the dry-er ends. Is that possible?

My hair seems to frizz and get very flyaway when I use the comb, unless it’s right after showering. What can I do, I gotta comb my hair 😆

Yup, both of those factors make sense :)


Hmm, maybe I will for awhile. How do you deal with tangles?

I tend to not comb my hair for as many days after washing as possible (I comb it in the shower with plenty of conditioner to give it the best non-tangled start possible) and in that time, I tend to either ignore tangles or gently take them apart with my fingers if really need be. I usually end up combing either on day 3 or 4 (fine-toothed wooden comb if it needs thoroughly detangling, or a wider rubber comb if it just needs a bit of general detangling), then once a day at most until it's time to wash again. [Unless eczema and flakes demand otherwise, but hair-wise infrequent combing seems to work for me.]

It's also a bit of a change of mindset, from what we're used to - perfectly detangled hair all the time so we can run our fingers through it - to what's actually best for our hair, which is often actually leaving the clumps to their own devices. It can certainly take time to feel comfortable with gradually less frequent combing.

ynne
June 14th, 2020, 01:27 PM
I tend to not comb my hair for as many days after washing as possible (I comb it in the shower with plenty of conditioner to give it the best non-tangled start possible) and in that time, I tend to either ignore tangles or gently take them apart with my fingers if really need be. I usually end up combing either on day 3 or 4 (fine-toothed wooden comb if it needs thoroughly detangling, or a wider rubber comb if it just needs a bit of general detangling), then once a day at most until it's time to wash again. [Unless eczema and flakes demand otherwise, but hair-wise infrequent combing seems to work for me.]

It's also a bit of a change of mindset, from what we're used to - perfectly detangled hair all the time so we can run our fingers through it - to what's actually best for our hair, which is often actually leaving the clumps to their own devices. It can certainly take time to feel comfortable with gradually less frequent combing.

I also usually leave it alone the first few days. :) After updos/sleeping on it/wind, detangling with my hands seems to do the job for me as well – gently taking apart any actual tangles, not running my fingers through it. But once I decide to actually comb it (when it gets too messy and the clumps – or what's left of them – are in chaos), I have to oil it, thoroughly finger detangle, and then switch over to a comb/brush. It will still have some degree of fluffines after that, but there's really no in-between for me, either I leave the clumps alone, or I comb it thoroughly and weight it down with something. (I'm still trying to improve that! It's rarely a presentable result.)

In shower, I find the fine-toothed comb to be the best tool to check if it's perfectly detangled everywhere.