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SandyStar
September 18th, 2009, 11:15 AM
My hair type is 1b, straight with just the tiniest bit of wave resulting in volume and not sleek straight hair. I have Asian hair that has volume.

But sometimes I find hairs that are way coarse, wiry and all crooked. They stick out of my head. The waves are small and are all over the place, not neat at all. A lot of the time the strand has variable thickness in it.

I feel like I just want to yank them out when I find them.

Does anyone else get these hairs? Anyone know what causes them?

Here is a picture of my wiry hair.
http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu236/Denebie/dsc02599cropped.jpg

EvaSimone
September 18th, 2009, 11:23 AM
I get those and they drive me crazy. I know their have been a few threads about the "crazy wiry hairs" that people get so I assume most people do get them.

I've always just figured they were some type of weird aberration without any real reason, like my hair follicle got confused. :lol:

Arctic
September 18th, 2009, 11:24 AM
Yes, I have those too. It's really difficult to accept them as they are so different than my other hair. From what I've read here, they are quite common though.

SandyStar
September 18th, 2009, 11:38 AM
OK, thanks everyone. I thought I had weird hair. I wonder if there is a way to soften them up?

Good to know my hair is normal though. :p

rach
September 18th, 2009, 11:45 AM
about a quarter my hair is like that (nape area) then it fines up towards my forehead.
these hairs are odd i admit. physically very thick.

Copasetic
September 18th, 2009, 11:58 AM
I have had a couple of those before, and I pull them out too. Sometimes I sit around looking for them, but I haven't found any lately.

Heidi_234
September 18th, 2009, 12:19 PM
Yeah, I get coarse hairs too. They shine differently, so I need to make certain when I S&D, because they kink weirdly and make it look like they've got white dots.

Thinthondiel
September 18th, 2009, 12:20 PM
Yes, I get those too! They're so weird... I used to pull them out, but I haven't done that in a while now.

peachrose
September 18th, 2009, 12:21 PM
About a third of my hair is like that, towards the back of my head and nape area. The only thing I've found that helps is damp braiding or bunning, it seems to manipulate their shape.

rach
September 19th, 2009, 08:43 AM
About a third of my hair is like that, towards the back of my head and nape area. The only thing I've found that helps is damp braiding or bunning, it seems to manipulate their shape.
yeah i find that too, wave galore .... :p
in my hair straitening days they were terrible to flatten because the held the thickness and drove me barmy .
since i've been looking after my hair i'm sure they seem less intrusive (they seemed to have softened), more length helps too to weight them down. my hair used to almost spit into two parts, the normal more finer half at the top and the dull corse scary half which is difficult to do on half up half down hairstyles.

rhubarbarin
September 19th, 2009, 08:53 AM
The curliest hairs on my head are like that. Much thicker than the other hairs, wiry to the touch. They grow in two big patches behind each ear, and then they are mixed in with the M hairs at the top front of my head.

I think it's just how my hair is. For thse of you with only a few - it's probably hormonal, and it might increase with time - it seems like a lot of women I know get more wiry, wavy/curly hair when they go through hormonal changes (pregnancy, menopause, hysterectomy).

Nia
December 23rd, 2009, 03:27 PM
I'm glad I found this thread!! LHC is great!

I also find that these hairs are the curliest ones I have. Around a quarter of my hair is like this, the front of my hair is softer and straighter.

I think I need to just learn to live with them and stop pulling them out!

RoseRedDead
December 23rd, 2009, 03:43 PM
Don't worry - they're just head pubes*.

I have them all in the upper layer/canopy of my hair. I started noticing them about six months ago, but I've probably always had them. They are the reason why if you run your hand down the top of my head and down my hair, it has rough-feeling patches.

*Term coined by the wonderful Dianyla.

SunshineHair
December 23rd, 2009, 03:52 PM
My grey hair's are like that and I just hate them so badly. The shorter ones that I assume is newer growth stick out and now I have more than I use to and to me it is all I can see most days.

But I saw your picture and your hair is very pretty! My avatar picture is kinda a liar. It makes me hair look all shiney and stuff, in real life I do not think it looks that way!

spidermom
December 23rd, 2009, 04:10 PM
I get those, too. Sometimes they're red, but most of the time they're white. I know of nothing to do other than smooth them down with styling putty and accept them as part of a rather quirky whole.

Fractalsofhair
December 23rd, 2009, 05:54 PM
I get those, but jet black(blueish black.). It looks quite strange on my blonde hair.

They're mostly harmless I think, though a pain. Only a few of mine stick straight out, and more keep on popping up(enough so that my stylist noticed a streak in my hair!). I figure it's possibly a sign my hair is changing color over time.

Bellona
December 23rd, 2009, 06:26 PM
I have tons of coarse hairs like that. I already have really wavy hair, but toward the front it is closer to medium texture. In the back and in the underlayer it is definitely coarse and wiry, though. I've found jet black ones and even red ones (my hair is blonde.) So weird! Glad you asked, I had always wondered if I was the only one.

janice
April 2nd, 2010, 11:27 AM
I am so glad to hear another Asian having the same problem as me. I know, eh - hair pubes... yuck! But I am also glad that everyone no matter what eithnicity has this same problem. It makes me think that it's either a common hair issue or that it's due to some common environmental factor. Hmmm...


OK, thanks everyone. I thought I had weird hair. I wonder if there is a way to soften them up?

Good to know my hair is normal though. :p
I read in another post that someone's stylist suggested smoothing them out with heat... but I don't think that this is such a great idea. When I pull at mine from both ends, they snap as if they are very dry and have no elasticity. If yours does this as well, I think heat will just make them even more weak, and the effort will be wasted.

eiwonob
April 2nd, 2010, 12:05 PM
Oh, I have the exactly same wirey "pube" hairs! I hate them and used to pull them like crazy, kind of OCD thing. BUT I stopped - when they are short and growing, they stick out a lot more. Now I'm growing them, I hope the weight puts them down.

Juliannaissance
April 2nd, 2010, 12:15 PM
It's probably an "abnormal hair" it's pretty common in most people. I get them once in a while. No harm in it.

johnnystiletto
June 25th, 2010, 12:23 PM
I too am Asian (half-Japanese), and I get the exact same hairs; my hair is a mix of medium hairs and the wiry, coarse ones. Also, my wiry "head pubes" are BLACK, where the rest of my hair is a medium-dark brown. I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one that has these!!

HintOfMint
June 25th, 2010, 01:09 PM
I have the same thing. My hair is wavy, but these little wires are of a completely different texture than the rest of my hair. Much wavier, much rougher, much thicker. I don't mind how they look, but I got into the habit of playing with them absentmindedly, which looks a bit weird. I have to stop doing that! ACK! I'm doing it right now!

Aredhel77
June 25th, 2010, 01:18 PM
I have these too, (or have had - see end of post) mostly they seem to appear on the top layer of my hair which is really NOT where I want them as I an always trying to fight frizz! My hair is naturally dark blonde, (henna'd red-brown now) but these hairs used to be coarse red or even black amd thock & wiry compared to 'normal' hairs. I wondered for a while if straighteners were scorching my hair. I've long stopped using straighteners. I haven't actually noticed any of these rogues for a while though. Maybe not scorching it has helped or maybe it was hormonal or something. At any rate I've resolved now to stop worrying about them but for a while they did concern me! Strange, eh?

bellawave
June 26th, 2010, 04:46 PM
I've always had these; when they're growing in they stick up and out like little antennae. Usually they're white. No product will make them lie down. But I don't pull them out any more.

JenniferNoel
June 26th, 2010, 04:56 PM
"Head pubes".
I get them once in a while. Hard to notice them though, the rest of my hair is pretty thick strand wise.

TinaDenali
June 26th, 2010, 05:00 PM
I noticed these types of hairs on my head in eighth grade (age 13) and ever since I've pulled them out. My crown can get pretty thin feeling at times when I've been pulling too much. But they just are so strange, these types of hairs on my head are about twice as thick is my normal hair, jet black and more kinky than curly. These hairs also very in thickness on individual strands. It will be really thick and almost 'flat' looking and then have a thin kink another direction and be all wonky again. I really hate them, but I REALLY need to stop pulling them. I've been doing it over 10 years now... Lucky me I'm not bald! It's a terrible habit to get into, don't start. :P

Fractalsofhair
June 26th, 2010, 05:05 PM
Update on mine. Mine were just a sign my hair texture is changing. A lot of my hair is now coarse, though the bits near my face and on the crown are still fine. However, many of them are blonde now, so I guess the color isn't changing as well! xD

little_cherry
June 26th, 2010, 05:24 PM
I have had a couple of those before, and I pull them out too. Sometimes I sit around looking for them, but I haven't found any lately.
Pulling them out doesn't help- they keep growing back coarse..I just leave mine alone...I need all the volume I can get..besides, they're super strong strands that are very shiny!

My hairline is mostly made up of these coarse hairs; I find that heavy oil or butter (castor, argan, shea, cocoa) are the best to soften these...they love the extra moisture from SMTs.

bellawave
June 26th, 2010, 05:58 PM
.besides, they're super strong strands that are very shiny!

Yes- I've joked that I could use mine as dental floss or fishing line! They are certainly harder to snap than floss. I've grown a bit fond of them.

Oils and butters do help soften, even if it won't make them lie down (for me).

julliams
June 26th, 2010, 06:06 PM
I'm noticing that I'm getting more and more of these as I get older. Now some of them are white too. I used to pull them out but then I thought about it, if I pull them out, they will only grow back in anyway and then I have to wait for them to get long enough so that they will actually lay down with the rest of my hair, not stick up straight in the air.

I could be wrong but I would guess that most people with 2b - 4 would have a greater portion of those coarser hairs which is what gives the texture and waviness/curliness/kinkiness of the hair. When I was little my hair was dead straight. I started noticiing these hairs when I was going through puberty and suddenly I had "frizzy hair" so I would straighten it for years until I realised I had wavy hair. Whilst these hairs don't seem to curl like a ringlet (just seem be to nubbly in texture) I think they are what makes my hair more wavy than it was when I was little.

I'm guessing that as I get older I'll have a larger portion of these kind of hairs. Right now I can't seem to stop going through my hair and finding them - and I find them constantly in almost every clump of hair that I pick up. I have stopped myself pulling them out now and just go with it.

eri401
June 27th, 2010, 02:07 AM
I used to have a mass of these hairs near the nape of my neck - especially when I was a teenager. Now that I'm an adult, these hairs are less frequent and my hair texture in general has become much straighter.

I don't think these hairs are unhealthy and I also don't think there is any way to "straighten" them without chemicals. I used to get Asian "magic straight" perms to flatten those areas out but after years of damage, it doesn't seem like it is worth it anymore. Embrace the kink :)

Razor
June 27th, 2010, 07:06 AM
I found 2 of these a few months ago, and it was the first time I had ever discovered them.
I was like, what the hell is this, and why havn't I noticed them at least once in the last 3 years I had been growing haha !!
I ended up pulling them out :D

Dreams_in_Pink
June 27th, 2010, 07:10 AM
I have these too...100.000 of them! :D

slythwolf
June 27th, 2010, 09:18 AM
I've started to get a few of these over the past year or so. My hair is changing a bit as I get older--or possibly from my birth control, it wouldn't be the first or only change those artificial hormones have made.

alwayssmiling
June 27th, 2010, 12:34 PM
Firstly I don't pull them out because when they start to grow again the stick up and there is nothing - absolutely nothing that will make them stick down. Once they get a bit of length they sit much better and I am able to use a gel to encourage them to lay flat.

What I have noticed if I use any protein they go very bristley and awful. SMT's and honey products make them smoother, softer and less frizzy.

When they have been really bad I have been known to use the hairstraighters at the roots (not the ends) to help them sit flat. But this is usually a last resort.

freckles
June 28th, 2010, 03:24 AM
I have the odd coarser hair. I just leave them. Anything that makes my hair less fine (on average) is totally okay by me :p

rena
April 13th, 2011, 01:15 PM
I have a little patch of those right in the top half back of my head and they annoy me to no end, but only because they're crinkley and not smooth like my other hair, and look super dry and frizzy.

I read that humans are supposed to have originated in Africa and once had that same type of hair until different groups of people migrated out and to other parts of the world where they later physically adapted to the different climates and geography. Maybe these strange hairs are like a kind of throw back from that time?

Anje
April 13th, 2011, 01:47 PM
I get some of those. A few of them are also crinkly -- it's like they're wavy, but the wavelength is about 1/4 inch long. The crinkled ones get yanked.

spidermom
April 13th, 2011, 02:38 PM
Yes, I get them. Worse still - now they're white.

Tapioca
April 13th, 2011, 05:00 PM
I get a few... and they're all grey.

Karmi
April 13th, 2011, 05:48 PM
I'm not Asian but I am Caucasian, and most of my hair is made up of these types of wiry thick, shiny (coarse-like) hairs. For the longest time I curled or straightened my locks to help smooth out those strands which make up most of my hair. But since Jan/Feb '11, when I stopped using heat all together, which was a huge transition and difficult not to go back to, I find that regular oiling with Africa's Best once a week for several hours before a shower, shampooing and a 10-15 minute condition helps a lot. And I have always really enjoyed my hair, receive many compliments, even since this new no-heat regime. I wouldn't worry! Just embrace 'em!

CarpeDM
April 13th, 2011, 07:26 PM
I'm not Asian but I am Caucasian, and most of my hair is made up of these types of wiry thick, shiny (coarse-like) hairs. For the longest time I curled or straightened my locks to help smooth out those strands which make up most of my hair. But since Jan/Feb '11, when I stopped using heat all together, which was a huge transition and difficult not to go back to, I find that regular oiling with Africa's Best once a week for several hours before a shower, shampooing and a 10-15 minute condition helps a lot. And I have always really enjoyed my hair, receive many compliments, even since this new no-heat regime. I wouldn't worry! Just embrace 'em!

Hmmm, I've never heard of Africa's Best oil before??

GALISH
April 14th, 2011, 09:34 AM
I have that hair type too and find them sometimes. They are rather annoying, everything is right and then you see a couple of those coarse, wiry suckers. They look like armpit hairs.
I don't really know what causes them but I've found some of them start like that and then go straight as the rest of my hair, so I just cut them off whenever I see them.

CarpeDM
April 14th, 2011, 10:08 AM
I have that hair type too and find them sometimes. They are rather annoying, everything is right and then you see a couple of those coarse, wiry suckers. They look like armpit hairs.
I don't really know what causes them but I've found some of them start like that and then go straight as the rest of my hair, so I just cut them off whenever I see them.

I like to cut the crazy curly ends off as well if they straighten out as they get longer, if I don't, they act like velcro hooks and grab the other hairs and I've got a tangled mess...

CurlAhead
April 14th, 2011, 10:19 AM
I get them a lot! And I can't resist to "pluck"/pick them! Think I am about to get a bald spot on my scalp if I don't stop!!!

Karmi
April 15th, 2011, 03:57 AM
Hmmm, I've never heard of Africa's Best oil before??
I found out about Africa's Best here on LHC, in the reviews (http://reviews.longhaircommunity.com/showproduct.php/product/173/cat/6) section! It's inexpensive at $2 and it works pretty awesome! I use it as a deep treatment for a few hours prior to a shower but not on dry hair, simply because I don't really like the smell that much. It smells like baby oil.

I'm trying coconut oil next! Same way; as a deep treatment for a few hours prior to a regular shampoo. I will be experimenting with just these two oils because I'm on a super budget and should not be spending any money at all right now :)

Busybee
August 15th, 2011, 10:32 AM
You ladies make me laugh, hearing that you just cut the wiry ones off or plucked them out.

I would seriously have to shave off the whole bottom 1/4 of my hair (LOL - that would be scary)........ so, not an option for me.

I am struggling to find a 'day wear' option for this underneath mad kinky hair, that as a caucasion with normally fine hair baffles me.

I can lube up with coconut oil, SMT's, and shea (though I haven't tried this alone) at home or overnight and weekends....... can't really strut to work like that though.

Everyone's talking about what they have......... how 'bout sharing how you run around during the day, and what you use to keep your hair from looking like you back-combed the hell out of it? LOL

Frostfen
February 11th, 2014, 09:12 PM
I have a BUNCH of those. In fact, they make up a good chunk of my hair, so I can't obviously pluck them all out... they drive me crazy because they give me constant frizz, but hey, I guess I'll go on the adventure to try and find what helps them :)

AmberlynAsh
February 11th, 2014, 09:27 PM
Weird I have these tooo I thought it was like severe damage, but I am pretty good with my hair. I use to pluck them out but that hurts so much so I just cut em off haha

turtlelover
February 12th, 2014, 07:41 AM
This is what tempts me to chronically blow dry my hair straight -- coarse, wiry grays with a totally different texture and curl pattern than the rest of my hair. For me, blowdrying really does smooth out those nasty wiry grays quite a bit. I'm debating only aiming for APL just so that I can blowdry more frequently w/ less damage. I am starting to better understand why older women sometimes cut their hair shorter, sadly. :-( I'd rather have semi-long hair w/ texture that I like than long long hair that looks like witches hair. HAHA I have friends with gray hair that do NOT have this problem, so I think that I am just cursed w/ bad genes.

CurlyCap
February 14th, 2014, 09:59 PM
Lol.

This is what my hair looks like. Period.