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dragonmyst
September 18th, 2010, 08:56 AM
Hi all, perhaps you could help me out. My 12 year old has very thick coarse hair. He wants to grow it out just a bit but it grows straight up, is curly/wavy and feels brittle to the touch when it is long (I kid you not his hair when long makes him resemble a really fuzzy Q-Tip). It feels almost like wire. We just recently shaved it (before I found this wonderful forum) so it is very short but still wiry.

What can we do to soften it? I was thinking having him do CWC or something of that nature but it is so short I'm not sure how we'd do it propery.

Thanks all.

Arianwen
September 18th, 2010, 10:05 AM
CO-washing? Oiling?

swivelhop
September 18th, 2010, 11:44 AM
My hair grows straight up (which is why its LONG). At short lengths you just have to move the oil from the scalp to the hair, either with fingers or a very soft brush. Hair that short is probably wiry because of its natural texture, not any damage or dryness.

If I had a buzz/boy cut..... I'd probably just wash with cetaphil and avoid the shampoos and conditioners.

GoddesJourney
September 18th, 2010, 11:50 AM
CO. My husband's hair was like this when I met him. He wasn't even using conditioner, which is the wrong thing to do with curly hair. He had this funky, wiry halfro. I started him on CO and found out that his hair was actually really nice and soft when treated properly. Interestingly, that 3/4 inch or on the ends that was left over from his shaved head with bad shampoo only still felt like wire.

dragonmyst
September 18th, 2010, 12:13 PM
Arianwen: I was thinking that. I suggested it to him too.

swivelhop: cetaphil? Not familiar with that but I'll certainly look into it.

GoddesJourney: I mentioned to J to try that and he said he'll do it tonight.

Thank you very much folks for your suggestions we will try the CO and I'll attempt to locate some of that cetaphil. J wants to grow his hair to about shoulder length and have it not stick out.



J has broken several pairs of hair clippers just by having such thick wirey hair, as a small child though he had the most gorgeous dark brown soft curls then my grandfather shaved his head without telling me (I was a very unhappy dragon to say the least) and we've never been able to get it back to that softness since.

dragonmyst
November 1st, 2010, 01:44 PM
Thank you all for your suggestions. Jon has been using the CO method and his hair is very soft. :)

Now for the next kid up, my 16 year old stepson wants to grow his hair out. I am finding myself reluctant, I worry about how it could negatively affect him career-wise but I am trying really hard not to say anything except tips on how to care properly for his hair. I've been trying to be suportive. Not sure why I am having a problem with him growing his hair out (except he has a history of neglecting to take care of it)

He's got very pretty golden blond hair (to die for) which is about shoulder length in spots with fringe framing his face. He has split ends and his hair is dry. He told me he has been shampooing twice each shower. I suggested to him that he try CO ing and that he do a vinegar rinse. (he's actually in the shower right now doing it)

Ever since I joined this site He's been hitting me up for all sorts of advice (good but weird). Any other ideas? If he doesn't wash his hair it has a tendency to look super dooper greasy. but shampooing twice in a sitting seems to be counter productive and drying it out.

With the split ends I don't trust myself cutting hair (look at my album pics and you'll see the awful job I did on my hair!) but I worry that if he goes to a salon that they'll hack slash his hair off and he would be upset. What do we do to get rid of the split ends? I'm still a newbie and trying to figure out my own hair, and he wants me to help him figure out his! If I don't, well no one else will. Seriously, hubby refers step son to me and everyone else around/in the family will tell him to just cut it.

spidermom
November 1st, 2010, 01:50 PM
Next time you empty a shampoo or conditioner bottle, save it. The 16 year old could try diluting his shampoo in a bit of water so he gets really good spread over his scalp. He can use it every day, but only once per washing please.

Niwa
November 1st, 2010, 02:02 PM
Dragonmist, what is your son's hair type? Are the individual hairs actually coarse (thick), or when you say "coarse," do you just mean that his hair feels rough to the touch? Also, is he mixed race? His hair sounds like what fragile black/African hair ends up like when it is poorly cared for and thus, damaged.

dragonmyst
November 1st, 2010, 02:19 PM
Dragonmist, what is your son's hair type? Are the individual hairs actually coarse (thick), or when you say "coarse," do you just mean that his hair feels rough to the touch? Also, is he mixed race? His hair sounds like what fragile black/African hair ends up like when it is poorly cared for and thus, damaged.

My younger son, the 12 year old, has coarse hair. I would say he's a 3A or 3B and his hair is very rough and wirey to the touch, he's a mixture of native american/european/jewish(middle eastern?). To my knowledge there's no African blood back there (his dad was blond and blue eyed) I'm a heinz 57. (There's all sorts of unproven rumors about my ancestry...)

oh and Spidermom we'll try that. The teen saw your sig pic with the snake and geeked out over it. Buster now has a fan club, namely my kids.

mira-chan
November 1st, 2010, 04:49 PM
My younger son, the 12 year old, has coarse hair. I would say he's a 3A or 3B and his hair is very rough and wirey to the touch, he's a mixture of native american/european/jewish(middle eastern?). To my knowledge there's no African blood back there (his dad was blond and blue eyed) I'm a heinz 57. (There's all sorts of unproven rumors about my ancestry...)

oh and Spidermom we'll try that. The teen saw your sig pic with the snake and geeked out over it. Buster now has a fan club, namely my kids.
It sounds like your son has a similar hair type to mine, except put Central Asian instead of Native American. My hair grows up and out at first too. If at shoulder length gravity doesn't do it's job then a leave in conditioner would help. I actually use V05 and leave it in does wonders for making the hair acknowledge gravity.