Breakage

[redneckprincess]

Ok so I can get WHY I have all this breakage but is there really some way to stop it, I think I would be getting double my hair growth if i didnt have all these 1 inch hairs all over the place. I use daily oils and weekly conditioning treatments, am I doing something wrong or is there something more or better I should be doing.

[Heavenly Locks]

Have you seen Nightshade's article on damage control?

[AmyJorgensen]

Well, maybe these one inch hairs are new hairs growing in. I have a good bit of that. Try to look at the end and see if it is fairly smooth or if it is split or otherwise damaged.

[redneckprincess]

no, I get those new hairs too I mean the ones I find on my shirt and bathroom counter after brushing or messing with my hair.

and no I havent seen that article, i will look it up thanks

[MsBubbles]

Sorry I haven't been reading every thread & post as much lately so I haven't kept up with your hair progress...but have you stopped flat-ironing/blow drying now? If so, you may be able to save your hair from more breakage by many methods people use here. I'm not great at searching LHC but there have been some really good threads over the past 1.5 yrs I've been here, where people have been able to save their ends from breaking off, enough to get it long enough to put up and forget, thereby saving even more breakage.

SMT (Snowymoon's Moisture Treatment?) seems to come up for people as a successful damage-control method. I never tried it but some people swear by it. Others have said coconut oil saved their ends. Others said protein. I think you've tried a ton of things already from what I can tell from your blog. I guess what I'm saying is try to read up on past threads. Maybe try an advanced search?

Here are results (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/search.php?searchid=1152487) from the Mane forum with Breakage in the title!

[Pegasus Marsters]

Considering the bleach and chemical straightening I'm not shocked that your hair is breaking off. And honestly, I'm not sure there's a lot you can do to stop it. My hair started to break off at an inch long from bleaching... so I chopped it all into a pixie cut. :shrug: It was the best way to get rid of the damage.

[redneckprincess]

the bleach is well over a year old and even those ends have been cut off I only have less then 2 years worth of hair on my head.(in some spots only one year or maybe less on the underneith layers) I havent used a blowdrier since I was in cosmo school and pregnant with my oldest. back in '97. and my flat iron is now a rairity. I understand and know why its breaking I just didnt know if there was really a way to STOP it. Im thinking about trying the SMT...BUT Im nervious about putting the aloe on my hair, just dont seem right, youd think it would dry it out something fierce. must not though everyone here seems to love it..
thanks for reading my blogs I wondered if anyone ever did, lol

thanks for all your help♥

[enfys]

Catnip stops white dot type splits in some people, and if it doesn't work it's only a cheap mistake. Especially if you have a cat!

In the herbal section there's a big thread on it, and ktani did an article.

[kdaniels8811]

redneckprincess - I would highly recommend catnip, I had exactly the same thing you have gong on, ends breaking off all over from damaged hair. I stopped shampooing - except to clarify every few months (sorry, I DO wash my hair, I use herbs now), keep it up all the time as to not comb it, use SMT's about twice a month, and catnip soaks 2-3 times a week. It takes time to overcome the damage but catnip did it for me. I have not cut my hair in a year, nor do I do self trims and I have very few split ends and white dots. Just my two cents...

Aloe is not drying at all, my fine/thin/easily damaged hair loves it! Mixed with honey and conditioner, of course. Good luck!

[Silver & Gold]

When hair is as severely damaged as yours has been I believe you can do a lot to nurture it and help it limp along as best it can but I rather doubt you can completely restore it and stop the breakage. I think however that you can stall the breakage somewhat by figuring out ways to keep restoring moisture to your hair.

Speaking of my own hair and hoping it helps you with yours, I had damage to various areas of the canopy due to a really harsh highlighting process. (My stylist was very negligent when she did the job but that's another story.) Anyway I was able to keep it from breaking off completely by avoiding heat styling and excessive shampooing. I also did a lot of conditioning, SMTs, CO washes instead of shampoo and even spraying it off and on during the day with Kimberlily's defrizz spray or just plain distilled water and then lightly oiling it.

Once that cuticle is damaged the hair not only breaks easily but it also loses moisture really fast. This is what makes if feel rough and dry. So moisture, moisture, moisture is the best you can do and realize that eventually you will have to trim these fried bits of hair away.

Sorry you're having this issue. It's not fun. But as you learn better ways to care for your hair, new, healthy hair comes and you can eventually shed/trim the unhealthy hair. You just have to be patient.

[eshta]

Im thinking about trying the SMT...BUT Im nervious about putting the aloe on my hair, just dont seem right, youd think it would dry it out something fierce.

You don't have to use aloe in SMT, you can modify it a bit. I could not find alcohol free aloe so I use 1/2 part EVOO instead of 1 part aloe and this works great for me.

[redneckprincess]

thanks SILVER & GOLD I have been thinking about ditching the shampoos altogether and going CO as soon as I get all this color out completly.

[Silver & Gold]

thanks SILVER & GOLD I have been thinking about ditching the shampoos altogether and going CO as soon as I get all this color out completly.

Well, if the reason you are using shampoo is to get the color out you might consider honey lightening. I don't know if it will fade your color or not but you could give it a try. At least it wouldn't be as drying as constantly shampooing your hair.

I had some color I was trying to fade out of my hair. Not quite as dark as yours but color nonetheless. Even doing a good SMT might help pull color out of hair just as well as shampooing because the cuticle sounds as if it's open on your hair anyway. So just soaking it in a good SMT might help remove some color. Even if it doesn't, it will make you fall in love with the texture.

Ask yourself this. What is harder to live with, dry breaking hair or the color issue? For me the answer was the color until my hair became damaged from trying to blend it with the bad highlighting job. Suddenly my priorities shifted because the dry, frizzy hair was much harder to live with than the different color lines.

So consider this. If the color is still your biggest issue then find the least drying ways to address this issue first. But if the damage becomes a really big issue then stop worrying about the color and just take care of that hair and protect the moisture at all costs. Only you can decide what you can live with. Just don't get stuck in a rut of thinking that your only choice is to tend the color if breakage becomes a huge problem.

[Pegasus Marsters]

Even if you last bleached a year ago, the bleach damage is STILL there. Even if you chopped off the ends, it's clear which bits of your hair are still bleached from your photos, and those bits will be damaged and prone to breakage. Stopping bleaching does not undo the damage that has been done.

I suggest you try protein treatments, they helped my bleached hair immensely.

[Fractalsofhair]

I bleached about 6months or 7 months ago, and my hair is breaking off now from it. The damage gets worse the longer the mechanical damage is on it, and relaxers are wayyy harsher than bleach from what I understand(One of my guy friends tried to relax his hair... XD). Flat irons are also very harsh. Best thing to do, once you've minimized the chemical treatments AS MUCH AS IS POSSIBLE(Not for ideal hair, but for tolerable hair, IE, 1 per year etc), is to try to repair it.

Coconut oil helps my hair, as does coconut milk. When my hair was a little bit shorter, it looked really awkward. Some people will say it's ok to damage your hair now, etc, but my hair just stops growing and breaks and well, goes from shoulder length to mid chin(in parts) from a very mild bleach and 1 month of blowdrying. Blow dryers are less harmful than a flat iron, provided you don't use it on soping wet hair and you use it on a warm setting. If a 20 V peroxide and a month of blowdrying did that to my hair, just keep that in mind. I suggest cutting off the damage as much as possible, you'll lose growth, but you'll lose breakage as well. BTW, it's extremely rare to get 2 inches of growth per month, so if your hair REALLY is growing 1 inch per month, you're growing your hair pretty quickly. Pure aloe gel is actually very moisturizing, but you don't want anything with alcohol in it. Manic panic is a safe dye due to it being deposit only, but not perfect and stripping it is very hard/very very bad for your hair. Bleach tends to hurt hair more the longer it's been in your hair, as it opens the cuticle and it's hard to seal it back to the natural seal/impossible to do so. Thus, the longer it's been on your head, the more damage can occur. I've heard of catnip and need to try it! Coney serums will help hide the damage and help with the frizz if your hair is pretty damaged.

Your hair will look damaged if it is, but heavy oiling and deep conditioners(I suggest products designed for "Black" hair, as they tend to be the most moisturizing, I like Burt's Bees and Alaffia, Burt's Bees is for any race, and Alaffia, I'm not sure, I think African hair, but it's vague.), will help. Use as little shampoo as is needed to keep your scalp healthy. It's possible you need trims to get rid of the damage. Just get a trim every 3-6 months, or as often as you need to to grow out the damage. If your hair grows 1 inch per month, get a 1/2 inch off every 2 months or so, maybe even ever month, which shouldn't affect the hair growth too badly, but will get rid of the damaged hair. If you're scared of stylists(as I am!), try to get a friend to help you with it, a lot of members do this. With the chemical straightener, only do the roots if you can.

Triple processed or more isn't good for the hair(2+straighteners+bleach+heat) on the ends. Cones dried my hair out, but if you're worried about how your hair looks now, they may be helpful. Clarifying and going to very moisturizing products might make your hair look oily for a while, but can be better in the long term. Suave is said to be a great cheap brand that's cone free. I don't use it, but it's recommended.

I recommend mostly working with your natural hair texture. I thought I had sometimes straight, sometimes frizzy hair(Like a Jewfro poof(The one proof in my appearance of my family's religion! XD) on a bad day), and then I discovered that those poofy days are days that it should be curly, but is just too dry to curl. I still get bad hair days, but there are fewer. I have MAJOR hair problems, so hopefully this helps. Oh and you might be suffering from protein overload with all the placenta, which is rare but possible for damaged hair.

Good luck with the hair growth, my hair is very damaged and this is what works for my fine, sometimes straight, sometimes wavey, sometimes curly damaged hair.

[jojo]

I see we are hair twins and let me tell you, my hair breaks and splits as soon as i look at it. Appart from a henna gloss my hair was all virgin and still broke and split, (I now have fine highlights) its all to do with hair type and fine hair breaks, although you are growing id reccomend biting the bullet and getting all the breakage cut off, I have had about an inch (2" in the past 2 months) cut off and my hair looks and feels better and doesnt look that much shorter.

I also reccomend doing weekly deep conditionings which you leave on overnight, another good thing I found was when you have washed your hair and its damp, rub a pea sized amount of any conditioner and put this on the last few inches of your hair, it really does help.

Cassia treatments will also help. Your hair also looks like its crying out for protien, gliss products or a placenta treatment will help too.

I really feel your pain, I get so annoyed at my hair for the exact same reason but learning to accept this is how it is and treating it kindly (and im not saying you are doing anything but!) will keep damage to a minimum, fine hair does not mean you cant have long hair, it just means our hair is more precious and needs TLC to thrive!

Good luck and let your hairs good points influence you !

[redneckprincess]

Well, if the reason you are using shampoo is to get the color out you might consider honey lightening. I don't know if it will fade your color or not but you could give it a try. At least it wouldn't be as drying as constantly shampooing your hair.

I had some color I was trying to fade out of my hair. Not quite as dark as yours but color nonetheless. Even doing a good SMT might help pull color out of hair just as well as shampooing because the cuticle sounds as if it's open on your hair anyway. So just soaking it in a good SMT might help remove some color. Even if it doesn't, it will make you fall in love with the texture.

Ask yourself this. What is harder to live with, dry breaking hair or the color issue? For me the answer was the color until my hair became damaged from trying to blend it with the bad highlighting job. Suddenly my priorities shifted because the dry, frizzy hair was much harder to live with than the different color lines.

So consider this. If the color is still your biggest issue then find the least drying ways to address this issue first. But if the damage becomes a really big issue then stop worrying about the color and just take care of that hair and protect the moisture at all costs. Only you can decide what you can live with. Just don't get stuck in a rut of thinking that your only choice is to tend the color if breakage becomes a huge problem.

I never really thought about it that way and no right now the color isnt bothering me as much as the breakage, I will deffinetly take that into consideration


Even if you last bleached a year ago, the bleach damage is STILL there. Even if you chopped off the ends, it's clear which bits of your hair are still bleached from your photos, and those bits will be damaged and prone to breakage. Stopping bleaching does not undo the damage that has been done.

I suggest you try protein treatments, they helped my bleached hair immensely.
I use protein treatments along with conditioning and vitiman treatment left on my hair min. 8 hours





Im not willing to cut or even trim anymore of the damage at least til 2010, so i will just have to deal with the breakage till then, trying to repair it and no longer destroing my hair should help, at this point I would rather have breaking ends then shorter hair...
I just wanted to know if there was a diffrent treatment someone else tried that worked for breaking hair....i get enough of this "oh well you damaged it to bad just bic it". bull from my husband, I dont need it here too. I can do this and I will!!!!. Thanks everyone who truley did give me helpful tips besides "cut it"

[yogachic]

Aloe does not dry your hair out at all. I've used it as a hair gel/leave in and my hair was nice.

[Fractalsofhair]

If you don't want to lose length but have a ton of splits, what a lot of people do is look for splits and cut only the hair with the split, and then right above the split! That might help you a lot so you don't have to "cut/trim" your hair, but preventing the hair from splitting straight up the shaft. And no problem with the advise, I'm dealing with severe damage to my hair as well, and I don't want a buzz cut to deal with it!

[ktani]

Here is the Catnip Article (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=118).

I still get white dots but very few (they are mostly caused by my being rougher on my hair when I am rushed and are mechanical damage). I have no split ends or brittle hair though, my hair is growing faster than it used to and I am very pleased with the results. I have no breakage taper when I go a long time between self trims. I use catnip following shampoo.

[Pegasus Marsters]

I didn't tell you to cut it, I said that is what I did and that it's the only way to get rid of damage. The trouble is that damage can travel up the shaft and ruin your healthy unprocessed hair, which would suck! :( (I speak from experience.)

[GlassEyes]

Aloe does not dry your hair out at all. I've used it as a hair gel/leave in and my hair was nice.
My hair was dry with aloe in SMT. It much prefers olive oil in it's place, or even coconut or shea.

And I'm going with Pegs on this one. Damage is damage. Though I can understand not wanting to lose length...your goal of not trimming until 2010 is probably unrealistic, as splits will travel up the length and wreck nice, new growth. You wouldn't need to trim much, just dust maybe once a month. Nightshade did that and still managed classic.

Also, I'd cut down on the shampoo. I believe you mentioned that the color wasn't fading too well anyway, so it can't hurt to try CO.

[Speckla]

the bleach is well over a year old and even those ends have been cut off I only have less then 2 years worth of hair on my head.(in some spots only one year or maybe less on the underneith layers) I havent used a blowdrier since I was in cosmo school and pregnant with my oldest. back in '97. and my flat iron is now a rairity. I understand and know why its breaking I just didnt know if there was really a way to STOP it. Im thinking about trying the SMT...BUT Im nervious about putting the aloe on my hair, just dont seem right, youd think it would dry it out something fierce. must not though everyone here seems to love it..
thanks for reading my blogs I wondered if anyone ever did, lol

thanks for all your help♥

Aloe is very very moisturizing. Are you using any cones at all or have you recently stopped? They tend to cover up damage for a bit. Have you tried a protein treatment? Sometimes too much protein isn't good either. Know what I like to do for dry, damaged hair? Slather coconut oil on my head, put on my sexy satin bonnet, and go to bed. I cowash in the morning and my hair feels really good. Not dry or breaking as easily.

[Yedda]

I would agree with the other posters in:
- search and destroy (find and cut above the split ends only using hair scissors, perventing damage from traveling up)
- catnip rinse
- Trying to be more gentle. I don't know how gentle you are when you brush/comb but it also helps to be more gentle. I didn't read what length your hair is, but putting it in an updo should also prevent breakage. I didn't read your length, but for me, but wearing it in a no damage poneytail has even been better for me than down. Some people have gotten damage from the elastics but I've found my damage has decreased since I started wearing a poneytail instead of down.

If the hair is damaged, it will have to be cut to have healthy hair, but you can just cut the split-end hairs and not get an all-over trim, at least to start, and try to prevent hairs from splitting further by prevention steps listed.

HTH

[Nat242]

You can't really "fix" badly damaged hair. It's fragile, and although you can prevent further damage and take care of the hairs that are only mildly/moderately damaged, once it's damaged it's damaged.

I have 3-4 inches of damaged hair - lots of splits and breakage. I take care of the damaged pieces as best I can with deep treatments, protein, henna and catnip, but these measures do not return the hair to health. They seem to slow breakage/splitting down a little, and the treatments prevent the hairs from becoming so dry and snarly that they start entangling non-damaged hair. Even so, the hair is damaged, can't be mended and has to go sooner or later.

I snip off splits and breakage when I see it, and now that I've hit hip length I'm starting to microtrim.

I understand wanting to hang onto the length you have - that's why I didn't just chop all the damaged inches off. Just don't be under any illusions that you can "fix" damaged hair - you can improve the condition of them so they're not so snarly and horrible, so you can keep them around for a little while, but the damaged hair will always be fragile.

[teela1978]

If it was my hair... I'd cut down washing as much as possible. I'd try to cut down brushing/combing to a minimum and maybe just down to fingercombing if possible. I'd probably try CO again, that worked when my hair was dyed last time (not so much on my un-dyed hair).

Basically, go to the old standby of leaving it alone as much as possible.

[Melisande]

Hair damage adds up over time. Once the hair is damaged by bleach or iron, every new manipulation, even shampoing or gentle blowdrying, will add to the damage. I speak from experience, too... :(

If I was you, I'd continue with the deep treatments. I make my own from conditioner, olive oil, coconut oil, keratin, hydrolized what protein, aloe vera gel and honey. Put it in dry hair, sandwich bag, shower cap, towel and wait.

I also use the proteines in my mister, together with camelia oil. Fox' sheabutter recipe is great for the damaged lengths. Both give moisture taht damaged hair loses.

Look at your pillowcase, at the headest in your car, at your couch and every other place your hair touches. Are there rough materials? Protect your hair.

And take a look at your nutrition. Your hair may be weak to begin with if you are lacking important nurtritients. MSM really helped my hair, so did the multivitamin and the fish oil.

Have to go and take them NOW :D

Good luck to you. Things will become better over time.

[Renbirde]

There's a social group for people that are babying damaged ends, you might look them up. :)

[redneckprincess]

If you don't want to lose length but have a ton of splits, what a lot of people do is look for splits and cut only the hair with the split, and then right above the split! That might help you a lot so you don't have to "cut/trim" your hair, but preventing the hair from splitting straight up the shaft. And no problem with the advise, I'm dealing with severe damage to my hair as well, and I don't want a buzz cut to deal with it!
I dont have any splits (that I can see) my hair is to short to S&D I can only bairly see the sides when i pull it in front of my face. and Im so done trusting someone/anyone else with my hair thats what got me here in the first place



Aloe is very very moisturizing. Are you using any cones at all or have you recently stopped? They tend to cover up damage for a bit. Have you tried a protein treatment? Sometimes too much protein isn't good either. Know what I like to do for dry, damaged hair? Slather coconut oil on my head, put on my sexy satin bonnet, and go to bed. I cowash in the morning and my hair feels really good. Not dry or breaking as easily.
yes I use cones and dont plan on stopping from what ive heard or seen in pictures of non cone users.

[Curlsgirl]

I use protein treatments along with conditioning and vitiman treatment left on my hair min. 8 hours


Be careful about leaving protein on that long, that could cause dryness and breakage too especially without following it up with a good moisture treatment. I wouldn't put them on together either. From my experience when I do a protein treatment I do it by itself and then follow up with a good long heated moisturizing treatment for the best results.

Also if your hair is that damaged I wouldn't wait that long to trim either. You could at least trim off half the length that you gain every couple of months, still gain length but gradually trim off the damage. I did that for a long time when I first came here when I had damage from past abuse. :flower:

[melrose1985]

My hair isnt breaking off, but I do have damage ends for about the last 2" of my hair. For me it hasnt got worst only because I don't shampoo the ends, and I don't use heat on my hair.

I know this is all the same info every one else is giving you, but it sounds like protien and then some deep conditioning would help and then i would say just keep it back.

Good luck, I was there at one point and I was really active here so I Just cut my hair. If I had known what i know now from I don't think i would have.

[Fractalsofhair]

If your hair really does grow 1 inch a month(Mine does on the parts that aren't shrinking, so it is possible. It's a little bit less, but a good 8-10 inches per year I'd say despite the damage and trims) then it will soon be long enough to do S&D if you stop damaging it, and are very gentle in the future. Also, is there any chance you could ask a child(Aren't yours tweens?) or your husband to look for split ends and only cut off the hairs that are split? Or some other very responsible person you trust with your hair. If you have no split ends, then your hair isn't terribly damaged and your growth rate is extremely high already/ VERY hard to increase. You do need to wait with growing long hair, if you want waist length hair, I'd say with a 1 inch growth rate per month, 2-3 years minimum! If it just feels odd, it could be the cones, it could be over proteining your hair, or any of those things. Perhaps you don't have fine hair that will feel like silk, but coarser hair that will feel more like soft wool or cotton as it gets longer? I mean, there's only so soft hair can get, and damaged hair just needs to grow out. In any case, your hair looks wonderful given what it's been thru,so you are doing something that is right! :) Keep on babying your hair, and it will grow!

[redneckprincess]

If your hair really does grow 1 inch a month(Mine does on the parts that aren't shrinking, so it is possible. It's a little bit less, but a good 8-10 inches per year I'd say despite the damage and trims) then it will soon be long enough to do S&D if you stop damaging it, and are very gentle in the future. Also, is there any chance you could ask a child(Aren't yours tweens?) or your husband to look for split ends and only cut off the hairs that are split? Or some other very responsible person you trust with your hair. If you have no split ends, then your hair isn't terribly damaged and your growth rate is extremely high already/ VERY hard to increase. You do need to wait with growing long hair, if you want waist length hair, I'd say with a 1 inch growth rate per month, 2-3 years minimum! If it just feels odd, it could be the cones, it could be over proteining your hair, or any of those things. Perhaps you don't have fine hair that will feel like silk, but coarser hair that will feel more like soft wool or cotton as it gets longer? I mean, there's only so soft hair can get, and damaged hair just needs to grow out. In any case, your hair looks wonderful given what it's been thru,so you are doing something that is right! :) Keep on babying your hair, and it will grow!
Thanks, im really trying to not do much with it besides my weekly conditioning treatments and daily oiling, maybe thats to much...can i just sleep for the next 6 months and wake up with APL hair, lol...if only

[Maelyssa]

I' ve been dealing with the same issue.
So far the best thing that's working would be #1 the right sulfate free shampoo & a good thick conditioner. for me David Babaii for WildAid Mositurizing has been a godsend. if the comb goes easily through the hair during detangling after a wash then it breaks less. #2 no combing/brushing when the hair is dry. I know it's a stretch of reality but it's cut down on my breakage by about 90% not brushing...including finger combing too...while the hair is dry. If I must comb or brush I mist my ahir with a waterbottle that has a dallop of conditioner mixed up in it then comb it out. Maybe you can get away with doing that at least for a little while & see if it doesn't help. And seeing your pics I'm really surprised you can't get your hair at least up in a bun supported by a claw clip or something. When my daughters were little I was able to give them buns & braids with lot less hair than you have.

Good luck!