Magelet33
September 16th, 2010, 12:15 PM
I haven't been around much because I've just been letting my hair be, and grow. No trim (just S&D), mostly WO (very occasional conditioner, sulfate free and I think cone free, but that's just every few months), combing only.
Lately, when doing my S&D, I notice a huge amount of split ends. Like, I've S&Ded for maybe 15-20 minutes the past three days and still feel like I have an insurmountable amount of splits and white damage beads.
I wear my hair in a braid 80% of the time, maybe more, tied with a standard metal-free hair band. Could the hair band be damaging it? I have a lot of splits around where the hair tie is and the end of my hair but also up higher in the middle of my length too. I sleep in a braid (or with my hair still in a shirt, plopping overnight but it doesn't seem tangled at all when I do that), and I work in a braid.
On the theory that the hairtie might be doing a lot of damage, I tried pinning up a french braid with a hairstick under my headscarf yesterday which worked reasonably well. I could try finding more hairstick dos that work with headcovering (I think I could use pins pretty well too.) But is there something better than "hair safe" metal free hair bands for tieing off braids?
I also sometimes wonder if my scissors could be damaging it. I use a pair of sharp embroidery scissors that I only use for hair, but maybe they aren't as good as hair scissors? I didn't have the money for a new pair of scissors when I started and had just been gifted new embroidery scissors that I hadn't used. I maybe could afford cheap hair scissors now if that might be a problem.
Maybe I'm not cutting enough hair off when I S&D, and so I don't get all the way back to healthy hair? I definitely don't cut a 1/4 in, because often I lose the hair back into the rest if I try to pull it out. Also, having so many splits, I worry about cutting a 1/4 in all the time and then losing my length.
I'm trying to think what might be causing my splits, and also what I can do to prevent them. I know I can't heal them, and I have to just cut them all out, but I want to reduce the number of new splits and damage occuring so that I can catch up with the splits.
I'm open to trying treatments which will strengthen my hair or prevent splits (I'm thinking of trying catnip though I don't want my hair dyed at all) (also, I'm not interested in chemical-y treatments. herbs, yes. oils, yes. natural conditioners or other treatments, I'll consider if I can afford it on my tight budget.)
as well as techniques to better protect my hair from splits. (I cover my head in public with at least a bandana's worth of scarfs, so a lot of hairstyles don't work for me, but tell me if something works well and I'll see if I can adapt it.)
Oh and other than the splits, my hair seems pretty healthy. It doesn't feel dry or greasy (before WO, it was often dry). The ends sometimes feel a little coarse/dry but I put some coconut oil on and that seemed to help. They're sort of... rough though, I think from the splits.
Thank you so much.
Lately, when doing my S&D, I notice a huge amount of split ends. Like, I've S&Ded for maybe 15-20 minutes the past three days and still feel like I have an insurmountable amount of splits and white damage beads.
I wear my hair in a braid 80% of the time, maybe more, tied with a standard metal-free hair band. Could the hair band be damaging it? I have a lot of splits around where the hair tie is and the end of my hair but also up higher in the middle of my length too. I sleep in a braid (or with my hair still in a shirt, plopping overnight but it doesn't seem tangled at all when I do that), and I work in a braid.
On the theory that the hairtie might be doing a lot of damage, I tried pinning up a french braid with a hairstick under my headscarf yesterday which worked reasonably well. I could try finding more hairstick dos that work with headcovering (I think I could use pins pretty well too.) But is there something better than "hair safe" metal free hair bands for tieing off braids?
I also sometimes wonder if my scissors could be damaging it. I use a pair of sharp embroidery scissors that I only use for hair, but maybe they aren't as good as hair scissors? I didn't have the money for a new pair of scissors when I started and had just been gifted new embroidery scissors that I hadn't used. I maybe could afford cheap hair scissors now if that might be a problem.
Maybe I'm not cutting enough hair off when I S&D, and so I don't get all the way back to healthy hair? I definitely don't cut a 1/4 in, because often I lose the hair back into the rest if I try to pull it out. Also, having so many splits, I worry about cutting a 1/4 in all the time and then losing my length.
I'm trying to think what might be causing my splits, and also what I can do to prevent them. I know I can't heal them, and I have to just cut them all out, but I want to reduce the number of new splits and damage occuring so that I can catch up with the splits.
I'm open to trying treatments which will strengthen my hair or prevent splits (I'm thinking of trying catnip though I don't want my hair dyed at all) (also, I'm not interested in chemical-y treatments. herbs, yes. oils, yes. natural conditioners or other treatments, I'll consider if I can afford it on my tight budget.)
as well as techniques to better protect my hair from splits. (I cover my head in public with at least a bandana's worth of scarfs, so a lot of hairstyles don't work for me, but tell me if something works well and I'll see if I can adapt it.)
Oh and other than the splits, my hair seems pretty healthy. It doesn't feel dry or greasy (before WO, it was often dry). The ends sometimes feel a little coarse/dry but I put some coconut oil on and that seemed to help. They're sort of... rough though, I think from the splits.
Thank you so much.