Canopy vs. underlayer: which part of your hair behaves better?

[Wanderer09]

I ask because the underlayer of my hair gets tangled constantly. It's much frizzier than the rest of my hair, no matter what I do to it, and it breaks more easily. I've heard other LHCers talk about how it's the top layer of their hair that's hardest to manage. Which makes sense, really, since it's the most exposed and the most likely to get damaged.

For me, it's the underlayer that hates me. I don't treat it any differently, so maybe it's just a different texture? What can I do to stop the evil tangles? :(

What's it like for you?

[Elainehali]

I get underlayer issues if I'm moving around a lot and my hair doesn't like what I'm wearing.

Fuzzy sweaters are birds nest makers.

[Gumball]

For me it's easily the canopy that rebels against me whenever it can. My underlayer is much less dry, oodles less tangly, and is usually really happy. I still haven't found the right thing to make my canopy happier. One day maybe! I'm keeping hope alive!

[Gypsy]

Underlayer is the obedient, delightful child; canopy is the rebellious, argumentative one.

[Quixii]

I kinda have a sandwich of hair where the "bread" isn't too great but the fillings are pretty nice. Meaning, basically, that sometimes the canopy of my hair seems a little wonky but generally okay, the hair that rubs against my back is all oddly straight, and then the stuff in the middle is nicely curled and would be have much better if it weren't for the oddly straight wonky bits. xD

[Charlotte]

My canopy is more delicate and a little bit damaged due to fine highlights. :o I just keep oiling them with a tiny bit of linseed oil at the moment to make them less fly away. Underneath is much stronger and a better texture. ;) :)

[rogue_psyche]

My canopy likes to be shiny and straight while my underlayer becomes a rats' nest or breaks off if you look at it sideways. It means I can't pull off messy looks because the canopy will be too prim, but I can't do sleek because of the nape halo.

[Centifolia]

Mine have diferent textures.
My canopy is straighter and shinier (besides some flyaways), but the underlayers are really curlier. If I treat them well they show their shine, too. :) I'll love to have a wavier/curlier canopy, and as it is growing it is becoming a little wavier, so I can't complain that much right now. My rule is to take good care of both and to have a lot of patience.

[freckles]

my hair isn't thick enough to have a canopy and an underlayer :p I'm jealous! :D

[inertia]

Generally they're both badly behaved but my answer might be different in a year. I'm growing out bleach damage and have maybe 8 inches of healthier hair so far.

The canopy hair is much coarser and wavier than the rest, regardless of damage. The underlayer is fine and fragile, and the parts which were bleached tangle easily and used to get twice as frizzy as the rest of my hair until I had it straightened. However, the unbleached new underlayer growth appears to be coming in straight and smooth. It needs to get a little longer before I'll know for sure, but it looks like perhaps all my underlayer issues might have been from the bleach.

[Chamomile betty]

This is a good question.
Since I am a wavy/curly my underneath behaves a bit better. My canopy is the part that is prone to some tangles. I am just very careful and gentle.

[Toadstool]

The canopy is loads worse. How interesting - I always assumed it was the same for everyone!

[longhairedfairy]

As others mentioned, I'm guessing it's likely the fabrics you wear. My underlayer is okay, but I keep my hair up most of the time so that it doesn't really touch my clothing as much.

[LutraLutra]

Underlayer - lovely wurlie, borderline curlyness
Very top of canopy - behaves like disobedient teenager and will not wurl along with the rest of my hair despite emotional blackmail and threats of being grounded for, like, ever.

[rhubarbarin]

My canopy is what gets dry and frizzy. Most of my underlayer is just beautiful, shiny and defined.


my hair isn't thick enough to have a canopy and an underlayer I'm jealous!

It might just be that your hair is the same all the way through. My hair is barely in the ii category but I have distinct differences between the hair growing out of different parts of my head, and since my hair is curly it's prone to dryness especially in areas that get more sun, air exposure, and friction.

[rags]

Underlayer is the obedient, delightful child; canopy is the rebellious, argumentative one.

Definetly this for me too!

[Armelle]

Both layers are cranky and neither will talk to each other! My top layer is straighter and prone to dryness and breakage. The curlier under layer is more prone to dreading. Once in a while I can beat them into submission...for about two hours. :D

[SHELIAANN1969]

Completely off topic, but I read this thread title as *Camp Underwear*

I guess I need more coffee, sigh....

Back on topic: My underlayer behaves much better, my canopy is fuzzy, 24/7

[RocketDog]

My canopy is prone to breakage and frizziness. My underlayers stay more defined and softer, but still manage to tangle up over the course of the day if I wear my hair down...

[Tanuki]

My underlayer is generally okay, but the canopy can be a pain as it does whatever it wants. Luckily it's short enough that water and sheer force of will (and a little gel) can make it do what I want.

IT WILL OBEY ME *wrestles hair*

[Teakafrog]

Underlayer is the obedient, delightful child; canopy is the rebellious, argumentative one.
Exactly. My underlayer has beautiful boingy curls, canopy is dry, frizzy, and almost straight.

[Copasetic]

My underlayer is always soft, shiny, and frizz-free. All my problems are with the canopy!

[Saahira]

My canopy is my problem child. It is forever frizzing, drying out, and breaking. My underlayer is darker, but also smooth, shiny, strong and tangle-free. I never have trouble with my underlayer no matter what fabrics I'm wearing, whether I wear my hair up or down, no matter the wind or weather conditions, it's always silky and smooth. Oftentimes I've wished I could reverse them and put that pesky canopy underneath where no one would see it!

[Luckysock]

my underlayer is totally dried out, damaged, and broken :S I even cut it a bit shorter than the rest of my hair because it was so beat up. I have no idea why - maybe to much build up of product, don't know yet.

[Stephichan]

My canopy and underlayer don't behave better or worse than the other, they're just... different. My underlayer is sometimes a bit greasier up top (even after I wash it :mad:) and is also darker and smoother. The fact that it's smoother is part of what makes it so difficult for me to hair-type my hair. My canopy starts waving at my ears and when it gets long enough, spirals crop up at the end. But with the underlayer, it just skips the wave and I'll sometimes (not always) get some twists at the bottom. I kinda wish it would behave more like the canopy, but I'll deal.

[viking_quest]

My underlayer doesn't behave. It tangles all the time and it's always oily. It's like 1a/superfine/i and it refuses to do anything I want it to do (which makes half-ups impossible because they look so bad).

[Curlsgirl]

My underlayer and canopy are just different. My underlayer is all corkscrews and then the canopy is straightish from the crown to my ears and then gets curlier as it goes toward the length with looser than the underlayer corkscrews at the bottom. Sometimes they all want to fight with each other!

[apynip]

my underlayers behave very well. The canopy is just every where.... i have WHOOSH! hair. though this may because its still short. it bothers the girls in my art class. XD they normally say "Take a straightener to your hair you got penguin feathers!" But hey i like penguins. ^_^

[Fiferstone]

My underlayer is bird's-nest or mat city. My canopy is lighter colored and streaked from exposure to the sun, it' my underlayer that's my problem child, more so than the canopy.

[bahannas]

Top layer for me. Course and frizzy. :(

[Thinthondiel]

My underlayer behaves better, although there's not a huge difference between the two (on me, that is).

Oh, and speaking of canopy vs. underlayer - I have a friend whose hair I'd say is about 3b, and she has a small part of underlayer in the back that's stick straight - 1a!

[Cherry_Sprinkle]

My under layer is by far more healthy than my canopy.

[Boudicca]

Underlayer!! Canopy is always dry and frizzy.

[Rohele]

My underlayer behaves better, but it's in the 1 range for waviness. It is also less damaged. The rest of my hair is wavy/wurly, so it just does what it wants on any given day.

[mhiap]

I love my underlayer, I get some gorgeous ringlets under there. The canopy can just about manage waves, is kinda frizzy and not nearly as shiny. If only it was possible to swap them over!

[CrystalStar]

My canopy is well behaved but breaks easily :p And my underlayer is bushy, but isn't breaking any time soon! :D

[Bellona]

My canopy is so much more well behaved. It's a lot straighter than my underlayer. It's straight until about chin length then falls in soft waves. My underlayer has some spiral curls and wonky kinks in it. Sometimes I can't even get a flat iron to fix the problem areas :mad:

[Zenity]

Has anybody found a system to keep or grow the rebel canopy as healthy and soft and the underlayer?

[Bonkers57]

I couldn't have said it better myself :) The canopy tangles more and feels dryer.



Underlayer is the obedient, delightful child; canopy is the rebellious, argumentative one.

[baaaad_kitty]

The underlayer is very behaved and soft and nice and all that. But the canopy layer likes to frizz and flyaway. Urgggg

[mira-chan]

My canopy is dry straw, and the under layer is very nice and silky. Oiling and covering my hair with scarves and hats when outside helps a bit.

[HintOfMint]

My underlayer is the bane of my existence. It is super-fine and tangles so easily and I can't wear it down very often because the friction will cause it to dreadlock. I'm rehabilitating it from a serious tangle, so that means lots of moisture and frequent S&Ds but I worry that it is not enough. My canopy on the other hand... I could blowdry it, flat iron it, and leave it in the sun and wind and the worst it would get is a bit dry. Maybe.

[Watergallop]

My hair is an unusually coarse texture for someone who's white and has medium-brown hair with blonde highlights... the coarsest part is at the nape of my neck. It's a dry, crackly nightmare, probably because it rubs against my cotton shirts when I wear it down. Not sure how to avoid that.

But of course it's a lot better since I stopped straightening it into submission. It used to be that I would fish out that piece of hair when I was bored and then pull the ends off the strands that had white dots of pre-breakage on them. Now I don't have those white dots anymore.

Actually (this is a segue), I am new here, but I kind of started adopting a LHC anti-damage stance around three months ago, before I heard of this forum. First I was too lazy to straighten or blowdry my hair. Then I decided it was stupid to try to make it look less damaged by damaging it further. It's BSL, naturally dry texture, and when it was shoulder length it used to be beautifully wavy. Now it doesn't much wave, and the ends are like straw. But before I go get them trimmed off I'm going to try coconut oil and apple cider vinegar, to see if I can salvage them and reach my goal of waist-length sooner.

So yeah, that was definitely a tangent... there is probably an introductory thread that I missed... but I am excited to be on here, learning more every day about how to better care for my hair.

And I wish there was some way (other than wearing it up every day, or switching to silk shirts - not practical in the Los Angeles heat) to protect the bottom layer from my shirts so that it won't be so incredibly wiry and dry.

[HintOfMint]

My hair is an unusually coarse texture for someone who's white and has medium-brown hair with blonde highlights... the coarsest part is at the nape of my neck. It's a dry, crackly nightmare, probably because it rubs against my cotton shirts when I wear it down. Not sure how to avoid that.

But of course it's a lot better since I stopped straightening it into submission. It used to be that I would fish out that piece of hair when I was bored and then pull the ends off the strands that had white dots of pre-breakage on them. Now I don't have those white dots anymore.

Actually (this is a segue), I am new here, but I kind of started adopting a LHC anti-damage stance around three months ago, before I heard of this forum. First I was too lazy to straighten or blowdry my hair. Then I decided it was stupid to try to make it look less damaged by damaging it further. It's BSL, naturally dry texture, and when it was shoulder length it used to be beautifully wavy. Now it doesn't much wave, and the ends are like straw. But before I go get them trimmed off I'm going to try coconut oil and apple cider vinegar, to see if I can salvage them and reach my goal of waist-length sooner.

So yeah, that was definitely a tangent... there is probably an introductory thread that I missed... but I am excited to be on here, learning more every day about how to better care for my hair.

And I wish there was some way (other than wearing it up every day, or switching to silk shirts - not practical in the Los Angeles heat) to protect the bottom layer from my shirts so that it won't be so incredibly wiry and dry.

I'm right there with you with the dry and wiry underlayer, and the cotton shirts and friction. I wear button ups almost religiously along with tweed and wool. It's a constant battle. I figured that I can wear my hair down a sizable minority of the time as long as I detangle gently with my fingers on a regular basis before they turn into full fledged dreadlocks. I also mix coconut oil and honey into my conditioner, which definitely has done wonders for its texture and has made the layer much smoother. I use a leave-in conditioner or coconut oil on the underlayer as well. I also snip away individual splits, white dots and kinks in the underlayer on a regular basis. I have pretty thick hair, so any unevenness is hidden. It requires a bit of extra care and discipline (no benign neglect for this problem, unfortunately) and maybe we won't be able to wear our hair down as often as we'd like to, but there is a way to keep the underlayer problems at bay.

[Artsy]

I have always thought that my hair problems with the top layer are from blowdrying, bleaching, etc.. After I finally grew a good few inches of virgin hair that does not touch any heat, I can see my 'headpubes' sticking out between the finer hairs. It is probably 1/3 to 1/2 on the top, so there is no way to pluck them out like some people do. These are coarse, curly and rough, while the rest is almost stick straight. My underlayer is fine, thin hair that curls closer to the roots and then goes straight at the bottom. I still haven't figured out the way to style this mess into something healthy looking, it does not like any straightening/wrapping, rag curls, anything. :sad
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[cmnt831]

Underlayer is much better behaved. Canopy is dry and frizzy. I wish all my hair was like my underlayer.

(Heh, I keep reading "underwear".... :p)

[Vermelha]

I guess the underlayer is healthiest because it's the least exposed. My underlayer is very soft and grows the fastest, but my canopy tends to be the driest (guess cause it's up top!).

I'm starting to treat all of the hair the same. Braiding it all, twisting it all, so that they will be healthy together. I may just don the wig or scarf again this winter...see if that helps a bit.

[ddiana1979]

My underlayer looks great. It's very dark brown (which I prefer) & there's no flyaways or tangles. My canopy is lighter brown (despite rarely being in the sun) always has flyaways. I've tried various oils, hand lotion, and aloe, and I still have flyaways. I wish I could take my hair off & flip it right side out. ;)

[Roseate]

I would be happy with either the texture of my underlayer (much tighter waves and curls) or my upper layer (looser, more like 2a). Having both is.... challenging. They have gotten more similar since I've given up heatstyling, but still behave quite differently.

[bluesnowflake]

My canopy is much softer and more well-behaved- the underlayer tends to get a funny kinky texture sometimes and it frizzes more- maybe just from rubbing on my clothes? I don't know.

[Ruce]

My underlayer is better by far. I have extremely thick hair, and the canopy tends to matt together a little if I'm not constantly brushing/combing. The underlayer seems to prefer falling against my face, rather than the canopy which just flies out in any old direction near the ends. It's also significantly softer, but maybe that's just because of inevitable tangles that I can't get rid of no matter what I do.

[nemileo]

It feels like I have about four different types of hair on my head. Someone in this thread described their hair as a "sandwitch", And I guess I have the same problem. I have an area in my neck where my underlayer of hair tangles like crazy. If I wear my hair down and wear a wool sweater I have one big dread back there. Around my temples I have the same cind of fine and tangly hair, but my canopy is pretty rough. It feels like the hairs there are thicker than the rest. It gets drier, and harder to style (always escapes the bun). The middle layer has the nicest waves, shine and behaviour :D Too bad it is not visible. Anyone noticed that the different parts of hair takes up dye differently? My neck and temple hair is always lighter than the rest after my henna sessions. Because the hair is to fine to take up the dye?

[tinti]

My underlayer is tangly and rebellious, especially close to my hairline. It's better now that I wear it up and brush right, but if I let my hair loose even just a couple of hours my nape tangles like crazy. But I think maybe it depends on what I'm wearing. When I'm wearing fleece or... you know, the knitted acrylic jumpers, it hates me. Today I'm wearing a normal cardigan with a thin stretchy high necked jumper under, and I think it wouldn't make as much mess if I let it down. I have'nt tested it, though.

[pepperminttea]

The underlayer's the worst for me; slightly wavier, a lot more tangle-prone, and a lot drier, too.

[virgo75]

I'll say underlayer, but really the entire area that wraps around on the underside from temple to temple(basically the hair that's left when a guy is balding) is perfectly silky, hardly tangles at all, and doesn't frizz.

Then there's the front area and my canopy.... :brickwall:

[TinaDenali]

The underlayer of my hair is thicker and curlier. The canopy is thinner, a teence bit straighter and much dryer. It breaks a lot easier.

[sailing]

Canopy is much more cranky due to salt and environment. Underlayer is much more prone to matting up. Neither behaves better or worse than the other.

[narydaco]

I have to vote canopy here. The underlayer is curly/frizzy, dry, basically totally unmanageable. My canopy is straighter, silkier and much better behaved!