Scared to death about new products.

[wissles]

Hello again.. I'm sorry for being totally desperate about my hair, but it's so short.. and I can't stand it. I just want it to grow out without breakage and split ends..

I recently bought Redken extreme conditioner and anti-snap. both of them are full of protein to rebuild damaged hair. anti-snap is supposed to reduce and prevent breakage and split ends.
my problem is that my ends break really easy. (used to, i got my hair trimmed a few days ago) so anti-snap seems like THE thing..
but thing is, my hair is dry, especially in the ends.. so now i'm starting to feel like it might be a really bad idea.. because I've heard too much protein can cause hair (ends?) to break cause it only makes your hair dryer.

and i don't even know if my hair is damaged or just dry. I have been doing a lot of dying and bleeching, and I have been using a flat iron a lot.. so I guess both..

I am SO scared that my ends will start to break off even more by using these products..

but since I'm only using conditioner and not schampoo at all, and if I deep condition my hair once a week with redken all soft heavy cram which is really moisturizing, do you think it would work out fine?

[Aisha25]

Cant you just do deep treatments once a week and just hide your hairs in a scarf daily? I know how it feels to hate short hair I have been there too and used to cry everyday mourning my long hairs. Just try not to think of it too much and do the best you can do for them from now on.

[spidermom]

I don't have any experience with extremely damaged hair, but from what I read you should give your hair plenty of moisture. Always follow up a protein treatment with a moisture treatment. You could maybe get a wig or two to wear when you are really depressed about your hair or some pretty scarves - anything to get it out of sight and out of mind for awhile. Growth happens, but you have to be patient.

[wissles]

Well, i only wash my hair about 2 times/week. so maybe my plan could look like this.

protein conditioner (a conditioner should have some moist, huh?)
moist heavy cream deep conditioner
protein anti-snap

[Aisha25]

Maybe you should only do once a week?? and do some heavy treatment before head bath. Such as heavy oil or some honey or coconut milk recipe?? This in turn should help you and your hair

[wissles]

yeah, i guess i could. my hair is pretty much never greasy.

but i don't know about oils an stuff though. then i have to use schampoo, and i really don't want to.

[Gumball]

Also remember there will always be damage and split ends. It just happens. As long as you find a routine that works for you then you should be pretty good. Sometimes it's the first batch of products you try, or sometimes it takes longer. Just stay on top of things and you should be okay. :) We'll all be here to help, too.

[rags]

Actually, conditioner gets out oils better than shampoo, so don't let that be what keeps you from using oils!

As far as the anti-snap, I think it just depends on what your hair likes. I had very damaged hair and grew it to waist before using Redken anti-snap DAILY, but my hair loves protein, and I only used it on the ends. You will probably just have to try it and see what happens. I still use the anti-snap occasionally, though I've cut off and grown out all of the dyed/damaged parts. My hair loves it.

I will say though, as a former user of solely Redken products; they're very cone-heavy. Don't forget to clarify when you need it.

Oh, and I still use the extreme deep treatment occasionally too. If you look at my albums, the album cover on beginnings - that was solely Redken products. They do great for some people and not so much for others. You'll know after a bit if they're not working, and you can try something else. The only reason I switched a bit is because I have very fine hair and they were weighing my hair down too much. I like the waves I've discovered (mostly) cone-free!

[wissles]

Also remember there will always be damage and split ends. It just happens. As long as you find a routine that works for you then you should be pretty good. Sometimes it's the first batch of products you try, or sometimes it takes longer. Just stay on top of things and you should be okay. :) We'll all be here to help, too.
yeah, I know. but i've given up everything that has with heat to to, i've given up bad hair rubber bands, i've given up "wrong" schampoos and conditioners, i've given up brushes and only use wide toothed combs..
and i cut my hair. and i don't get why my ends are still breaking off (just when i pull my hair, not while combing or anything) even though i cut the bad ends off. but it doesn't break off as much though.
but still..
that's why i really don't want my new products to cause even more damage. god, i wish i knew if my hair needs more moist or more protein.. or both.
and i get that the only way i'll figure that out is to try them, but my heart would break if all of my ends starts to fall off because i used the wrong products.. :(

[Atalaya05]

I hated my hair when it was short too! If you have even slightly wavy hair, it can be hard to deal with and it's hard to fight the urge to flat-iron every day. That may be the best thing to do for now though...believe me, I wish that I had given it up when my hair was shorter so that it would be healthy now!

Other than that, I'm too new here to really give much advice. Best of luck!

[rags]

Wissles, if your hair doesn't like protein, you'll probably know long before it would damage it! Too much protein doesn't hurt it the first time or two. If it doesn't like it, just give it tons and tons of moisture to help it.

Have you tried a strand test to see if it stretches or breaks?

[Gumball]

Then I guess you could try phases of doing a fair amount of protein (like you are now) and later try just a fair amount of moisture instead and see what works more. If neither work super well on their own then combine the two and fiddle with the amounts you use to see if that may help, too.

I understand though. I'm still in the throes of finding the right products for me. :flower:

[wissles]

Wissles, if your hair doesn't like protein, you'll probably know long before it would damage it! Too much protein doesn't hurt it the first time or two. If it doesn't like it, just give it tons and tons of moisture to help it.

Have you tried a strand test to see if it stretches or breaks?
Yes. but I didn't get it at all. first of all, my hair is pretty short, so it was hard to keep it from slipping between my fingers and still being able to actually have enough to stretch. but i tried, and i THINK it did stretch.. it felt pretty elastic. but it also broke at one point. but a hair strand will break when you pull it ofcourse, i'm just not sure how much strength you're supposed to pull with while doing this.

so.. yeah. :(

[wissles]

Oh, right! maybe i should say this too.

i used a _lot_ of moisturizing deep conditioner for months and months, but my ends would still break off. maybe that's a sign that my hair needs the protein!? since the moist didn't work..
i haven't thought of that until now.

[vintersaga]

Hi wisless... of what I understand you have been dying and used a lot of chemicals in your hair? and now you're co-washing? since you seem to have given your hair a lot of moisture and also protein wich can be good for chemically treated and damaged hair... I thought.. maybe some of your hair is just too damaged to heal? Hair that is too damaged you can only cut off to get away with I believe.
Don't know if that is, just a thought...
I understand how you feel, I've been having very short hair and are now growing out. It's a long journey and it's not easy. I have been crying many tears.

continue with lots of heavy moisture are my advice... if you can't stand it, maybe a scarf could be something while you grow it out, like some have already said?

Maybe your ends just need more babycare? you can protect them by oiling.
Sometimes when my ends have been very very dry and brittle I have used oil in them very often to keep them smooth and to prevent them from drying out more. remember the hair needs a balance between oil and moisture.
also... if some of your hair has no other rescue than to be cut, you don't have to do that everything at one time if it hurts too much. If so, you cut just a little bit but often. In that way you keep the lenght but get loss of the broken parts by degrees.

I think if I were you I would not use protein products at all for a while, and just do oil and moisture.. lots of it.
ps. you don't need schampo to wash oil out.
Hope everything goes out well with your hair.:hmm:

[steph in tx]

I didn't believe that a CO wash could remove oils until I tried it myself. Now, I'm using cone-free conditioners and I don't know if that makes a difference, but I oiled my hair with coconut oil and cocoa butter and the CO wash cleaned it beautifully. It didn't remove the residue of mineral oil when I used miconazole cream that had it in there, but I wasn't surprised by that. If you use natural oils, CO should take care of that. I would also suggest putting a small amount of your oil of choice on the damp ends after you wash. It will at least make them feel a little less dry and increase your moisture content. Not too much, mind you, or you'll end up with oily-looking ends. That's hard to disguise on short hair.

Honestly, it sounds like your hair is just really damaged from the dying/bleaching. It may be that you just need to patiently wait and trim until you get rid of all the damage. I second the idea of pretty scarves.

[wissles]

It's not that damaged anymore. i've cut off pretty much everything of it so it looks fine and healthy, it's just the ends that are dry and I don't know if they're damaged or just dry.
but as I said, my deep conditioner that i used for about 7 months weekly didn't do that much for my hair, so maybe i actually need protein.

gosh, i don't know what to do.. :( i wish i could just turn back time and not do the bleeching and everything like that..

[steph in tx]

You know, my daughter has this same problem. Her ends FEEL damaged, but we've never done anything to damage her hair. I'm still trying to find what workes best for her, but she has responded well to catnip treatments and cocoa butter on the ends as a leave-in. Maybe you might want to look into those?

[kdaniels8811]

Look up some of the articles on oiling and how-to's. You do not use it on the entire length, just the ends. I use a tiny amount - a drop or two every other day. Also, catnip tea soaks really have helped me with eliminating breakage and splits. Lots of good information but the best thing it seems most folks have found is to just quit shampooing, brushing, paying any attention to hair, put it up and leave it alone. Benign neglect is the best medicine for damaged hair. Good luck and you will recieve lots of support on this site. Let us know how you do and pictures are really good, too!