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Anje
October 29th, 2009, 01:15 PM
Just a rant... feel free to skip this.

I let my hair down from its bun to dry today and went in the bathroom to comb it out. From about ear level down, I can see ends flipping out from the column of hair everywhere. Most of them don't look split, but it's pretty clear that the whole thing starts at about bun level.

Maybe it's just that it was dried in a bun and is therefore smooth above that point. I can't help thinking that it's because my hair is getting damaged from being worn up, though, and I know it'd be worse if I wore it down.

In other news, if anyone has tips for convincing the last inch of every short hair on your head not to curl and stick out, I'd love to hear them.

Heidi_234
October 29th, 2009, 01:21 PM
I think it's the shape of the bun it air dried into, not damage.

I'm not sure if this is of any help, but maybe the frizz buster could work? 1 part AVG and 1 part oil (I use coconut oil, GTBM advocates for castor oil). It might help contain these little annoying hairs (my hair is much curlier than yours so I can tell for sure).

heidihug
October 29th, 2009, 01:27 PM
I get those sticky-outy short hairs, too. I just sleek them back with a leave-in conditioner or some such, and try to get them to blend in with my up-do. I think what direction they stick out does have to do with how they are positioned within a bun beforehand, if that makes any sense.

I doubt that it's really updo damage, I rarely see splits on my shorter hairs.

prittykitty
October 29th, 2009, 01:45 PM
I have friends who are from a religion (Hutterites) that requires women to keep their hair up in a bun at all times, with a head covering and every single one of them has hair that is thin and broken off looking. Some of them even have a bald spot or one that is forming right where the bun was. These are the few women that have left the colony and now wear their hair down. You can see where some new hair is starting to grow on the scalp and it looks a little thicker, where the rest of it down is thinner looking. These women have never dyed their hair or used any kind of heat styling or any other style as it is not allowed for them on the colony. Still, from continuously wearing their hair up, they have damage. I don't see anything at all wrong with wearing hair up once in a while, such as at a job or just to put it out of the way, or even for an occasion, but I do feel that hair should be worn loose so that it can be free to grow.

Anje
October 29th, 2009, 02:10 PM
You might feel differently when your hair's a bit longer, Prittykitty. Mine's long enough to get caught on any chair with a back, and it's a safety hazard in the lab to have it loose, so it's goes up quite a lot.

That said, you've illustrated the exact reason why standard LHC advice is to vary your styles.

Heidi -- do you have any recommendations for leave-ins? I tend to have problems finding something with no cones or ones that will wash out and protein-free. (PEG-dimethicone makes my hair feel nasty, and the Infusium stuff I've been trying on my brother's glowing recommendation has enough protein to make my hair seriously unhappy after a few days.)

pilateschick7
October 29th, 2009, 02:53 PM
My current favorite leave in is Kinky Curly Knot Today. I purchase mine at Whole Foods but you can find it online also. I found about it from Red Celtic Curls. My sister with 2a hair uses and is not weighed down.

Ingredients: organic Mango fruit extract, organic slipper elm, organic marshmallow root, organic lemongrass, cetyl alcohol, behentrimonium methosulfate, citric acid, phenoxyethanol and natural fragrance.

http://www.curlmart.com/Kinky-Curly-Knot-Today-p-207.html

HTH

pinchbeck
October 29th, 2009, 06:03 PM
Doesn't wearing a bun every day add stress on your hair at the roots? Do you switch it up and wear your hair in one long braid and maybe fold it under to keep it safe?

Do you ever smooth oil on your hair to control those shorter pieces that stick out that we all have? I wonder why it is the norm that hair has to be smooth looking (which is essenttially hair in an artificial state). You know already that hair is always at different lengths so it sounds normal.

Wicked Princess
October 29th, 2009, 06:43 PM
I feel your pain! I'm not sure if this advice will help you any, but here's what I do to help with the shorter, stick-out-hairs.

I have breakage in my hair from a perm I did a few years ago - most of that damage is farther down the length. Still, it gets really, REALLY frizzy if I don't use a tiny, tiny bit of oil smoothed on it and then let it dry in a loose braid. By morning (I wash my hair at night) it's almost completely dry and, after running a comb through it, my fly-aways are almost all the way under control.

Sheltie_Momma
October 30th, 2009, 07:41 AM
The thing I do between washes is add some product and then take just the canopy and twist it pretty tightly and then loop that twist into its own bun, the rest of the length goes into a bigger bun underneath it. OK, so it looks dorky but after about 30 minutes like this, I can take it down and it has dried really nicely. My hair is wavy enough that the twisting and looping compresses it, smoothes it and makes the waves fall into a pattern instead of just poofing.

I see people with straight hair and it like every hair falls smoothly without a top layer of wavy fuzz and I'm so utterly jealous.

heidihug
October 30th, 2009, 09:11 AM
Heidi -- do you have any recommendations for leave-ins? I tend to have problems finding something with no cones or ones that will wash out and protein-free.
All the leave-ins I use either are coney - Infusium-23 and the like - or proteiny - Hask Placenta, for instance. But I have heard that just plain aloe vera works well as a smoother. Have you tried that?

If all else fails on me, I use a spritz of light-hold hair spray. It's worth it to keep the sticky-outies under control, especially if you are going out or to a special event. Sleek is chic and all that. I just shampoo twice the next time I wash to make sure it is all out.

frodolaughs
October 30th, 2009, 09:28 AM
I wear my hair up almost every day, and I don't think it's causing my hair to break. I do notice the stick-out hairs, but when I look at the ends I really don't think it's breakage. I'm trying to be careful to wear different buns (mostly non-twisted ones) and to position them at different point on my head using a variety of sticks, forks and clips. I think that this prevents stressing the hair at the same point every day. I'm pretty sure that people who wear their hair under a covering (like the Hutterites) don't have this kind of flexibility because of necessity of making it fit under the same covering every day, and I'm guessing that this contributes to the damage. I know my hair is a lot less damaged than it was the last time I grew it out--when I wore it in a french braid or down every day because I didn't know how to make a bun. It was quite a bit thinner then because the hair rubbed on chairs and caught on backpack and purse straps all the time.