Fractalsofhair
April 21st, 2010, 06:23 PM
I just recently held my hair up to the light, and I noticed that virtually all the ends are white dots or split, just like they were when I highlighted/blowfried it. Most of them seem broken and damaged when I feel the ends carefully, though I never noticed that before since the length is very soft.
What the heck?
I don't dye my hair with anything but henna glosses(which do give me a deep red on my porous hair.), I use a lot of conditioner, I'm very gentle with my shampoo bars(which did reduce splits for a while. SLS and SLS free regular detergents cause instant breakage.) and my hair is barely shoulder length. About 1/2 of it has been growing, the rest has just left awkward layers due to damage. It hasn't grown in about a month, but I figured the growth just wasn't noticeable(well the roots grew, but the length didn't. The roots grew almost 2 inches!) It's been about 4 months since my last cut, but I normally go very rarely.
Looking further at my hair, the breakage continues all the way up to the scalp and makes my hair a lot thinner in the ponytail. It's still a thick III, so I shouldn't be complaining, but it's still pretty broken. It's probably around 50% breakage, as opposed to the 75-90% that I had before(when it was still an ii/iii.). I do have crazy thick hair, so I'm not always as gentle with detangling as I could be, but I do keep conditioner in it while I detangle.
Could the henna be causing damage? I wear my hair up in a ponytail as possible(using bobby pins to hold it up.), detangle very carefully, only brush as needed, oil as much as I can(my hair is currently very greasy), and wear it in a cotton or satin scarf when I sleep.
I use a body shop wooden comb, a body shop wooden brush, a wide toothed random plastic comb in the shower, and a boar bristle brush otherwise. I use the scrunchies that don't even have the little glue seam. My bobby pins are a little rough, but not too bad.
***Vent****
Also, my mother thinks my hair looks horribly damaged and frizzy due to the coarse hairs coming in. :( Not meaning to sound ranty, but she went on a long tirade about how I should bleach my hair back to it's "natural color" (which she thinks is Marilyn Monroe blond. Even when I had my hair it's natural color, she thought it was dyed darker. My hair is a pretty light blonde naturally, and was never as light as she thinks it is.) and I tried to explain that that's not possible with henna, and she basically told me I had to get a pixie, because otherwise all my hair will fall out. She used to be a bit more supportive, but she's under a lot of stress right now, and understandably is a bit off. But, I didn't even ask for her advice on my hair, and her comment was what inspired me to look in the light for my hair texture.
***/ end vent***
I am almost wondering if I should just go back to a pixie and keep it cut often so I don't have to deal with the damage. It seems like no matter what I do, my hair breaks horribly and refuses to grow in the front. Bangs look horrid on me, so they are not an option. The coarse hairs are really bothering me, because they are really dark and it just doesn't match my old hair color. One of my best guy friends, upon seeing my roots, asked me why I used to bleach my hair blond and said he was sorry I was graying so young... He's not the sort of guy to make weird comments, but he thought my hair was naturally black looking at the roots and that I had gray hairs mixed in it. All of the coarse hairs are VERY wavy, and I don't know how to deal with coarse wavy hair, while still keeping the treatment gentle enough for fine hairs.
Strangly enough, the hair in the back is fine, and did grow this month. I treat them the same as the rest of the hair on my head, but they are mainly coarse hairs at this point. Sorry about the length/ranty mood, it's just this is really annoying me. I thought I was getting somewhere with my hair with finally being able to put it in a pony tail, getting out of the triangle danger zone, but this is just... Ack.
Maybe I should wait a few months, get a few inches trimmed off the ends and continue going for trims? I just don't want to have damaged looking hair, and my hair does look fried for me.
What the heck?
I don't dye my hair with anything but henna glosses(which do give me a deep red on my porous hair.), I use a lot of conditioner, I'm very gentle with my shampoo bars(which did reduce splits for a while. SLS and SLS free regular detergents cause instant breakage.) and my hair is barely shoulder length. About 1/2 of it has been growing, the rest has just left awkward layers due to damage. It hasn't grown in about a month, but I figured the growth just wasn't noticeable(well the roots grew, but the length didn't. The roots grew almost 2 inches!) It's been about 4 months since my last cut, but I normally go very rarely.
Looking further at my hair, the breakage continues all the way up to the scalp and makes my hair a lot thinner in the ponytail. It's still a thick III, so I shouldn't be complaining, but it's still pretty broken. It's probably around 50% breakage, as opposed to the 75-90% that I had before(when it was still an ii/iii.). I do have crazy thick hair, so I'm not always as gentle with detangling as I could be, but I do keep conditioner in it while I detangle.
Could the henna be causing damage? I wear my hair up in a ponytail as possible(using bobby pins to hold it up.), detangle very carefully, only brush as needed, oil as much as I can(my hair is currently very greasy), and wear it in a cotton or satin scarf when I sleep.
I use a body shop wooden comb, a body shop wooden brush, a wide toothed random plastic comb in the shower, and a boar bristle brush otherwise. I use the scrunchies that don't even have the little glue seam. My bobby pins are a little rough, but not too bad.
***Vent****
Also, my mother thinks my hair looks horribly damaged and frizzy due to the coarse hairs coming in. :( Not meaning to sound ranty, but she went on a long tirade about how I should bleach my hair back to it's "natural color" (which she thinks is Marilyn Monroe blond. Even when I had my hair it's natural color, she thought it was dyed darker. My hair is a pretty light blonde naturally, and was never as light as she thinks it is.) and I tried to explain that that's not possible with henna, and she basically told me I had to get a pixie, because otherwise all my hair will fall out. She used to be a bit more supportive, but she's under a lot of stress right now, and understandably is a bit off. But, I didn't even ask for her advice on my hair, and her comment was what inspired me to look in the light for my hair texture.
***/ end vent***
I am almost wondering if I should just go back to a pixie and keep it cut often so I don't have to deal with the damage. It seems like no matter what I do, my hair breaks horribly and refuses to grow in the front. Bangs look horrid on me, so they are not an option. The coarse hairs are really bothering me, because they are really dark and it just doesn't match my old hair color. One of my best guy friends, upon seeing my roots, asked me why I used to bleach my hair blond and said he was sorry I was graying so young... He's not the sort of guy to make weird comments, but he thought my hair was naturally black looking at the roots and that I had gray hairs mixed in it. All of the coarse hairs are VERY wavy, and I don't know how to deal with coarse wavy hair, while still keeping the treatment gentle enough for fine hairs.
Strangly enough, the hair in the back is fine, and did grow this month. I treat them the same as the rest of the hair on my head, but they are mainly coarse hairs at this point. Sorry about the length/ranty mood, it's just this is really annoying me. I thought I was getting somewhere with my hair with finally being able to put it in a pony tail, getting out of the triangle danger zone, but this is just... Ack.
Maybe I should wait a few months, get a few inches trimmed off the ends and continue going for trims? I just don't want to have damaged looking hair, and my hair does look fried for me.