Hair breaking off - but no split ends

[milk]

Okey, so I have this huuuge problem, which makes me terribly sad. My hair IS actually growing, thanks to hair vitamins, scalp rubbing with growing oils and so on. I can see it growing since I have a massive growth from coloring my hair about three months ago. That makes me happy, BUT the hair must be breaking off in the ends cause there is no difference in length. I go thru my ends every day, and there is not a split in sight. I sleep with silk scarfs, I moisturize and oil my hair almost every day, I CO-wash twice a week, DC twice a week and so on... Then why is it breaking off?!?! :confused:

I'm so sick and tired of this. :(

Do you think protective styling like cornrows with a wig over it would work perhaps? Or would the braiding destroy my hair?

I will insert some photos so you can see the "growing", look at the dates for comparison.


4 months between these first two shots.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/266/fuuuuy.jpg

Here it has actually just become shorter in the center back.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3478/dumma.jpg

The last pic is showing my root growth, taken about a month ago, so it's even more now.
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/2317/utva.jpg



Please help me anyone :pray:

[PinkyCat]

It does seem like its breaking. I see your curls there - do you Blowdry & flatiron every day? That may be your biggest culprit. How do you feel about being curly?

[ZeppHead]

Yes, I would suggest stopping all heat and coloring and baby the heck out of it. When I stopped doing that it took a while for my hair to get back to normal and since your hair is still growing you should be fine once it stops breaking. Get regular trims and keep deep conditioning. Leave in it is natural state for a year and treat it good.

For why its still breaking, well, it isn't going to stop right away my hair took a couple of months to start to get better and after a year I could see a great difference.

[Madora]

Definitely stay away from cornrows! Your hair should not be tightly braided.

Braiding is fine as long as you don't braid tightly.

If you use heat implements of any kind, then if at all possible, stop using heat. Air dry naturally.

It is normal to have split ends no matter how gently you care for your hair.

How do you detangle? Are you extra gentle? I hope you DO NOT use a brush to detangle. That's the fastest way to ruin your hair..using a brush to detangle!

Also, do you wear your hair up or down? Wearing it down makes it prone to tangles and more damage.

Good luck! I hope you find the answer to your problem very soon!

[archel]

I had this problem when I flat ironed and blow dried. Now that I air dry and use no heat, it's like I have a different head of hair and it's growing like weeds.

[McFearless]

I'm sorry:( Sadly thats going to keep happening until you get rid of the overprocessed hair. You can slow down the breakage with protein treatments once a week. Don't deep condition too often, the moisture might be causing your hair to break off even more.

When I used to heat style my hair was always the same length for so many years. The roots would grow normally but the length would break off mid-shaft. I quit heat styling and within a year my hair gained a lot of length, even though it kept breaking. All you can do is keep the new growth healthy and wait until it has reached a length you are comfortable with, like shoulder. Then chop off the blonde hair and let it grow...

[spidermom]

I can't add anything to the excellent observations above.

[Khiwanean]

I would venture a guess that it's the coloring above all that makes it break off. The colored part is so much lighter than your roots. Some people have hair that is very resilient to damage from bleach, but you seem to be one of the unlucky ones whose hair will break off like nothing else when bleached. (I am assuming here that there was bleach involved, perhaps I'm wrong.) You may just have to wait for the colored part to grow out because of the damage.

[milk]

It does seem like its breaking. I see your curls there - do you Blowdry & flatiron every day? That may be your biggest culprit. How do you feel about being curly?

I have only flatironed it once since I bleached my hair three months ago, otherwise I always wear it curly!


Yes, I would suggest stopping all heat and coloring and baby the heck out of it. When I stopped doing that it took a while for my hair to get back to normal and since your hair is still growing you should be fine once it stops breaking. Get regular trims and keep deep conditioning. Leave in it is natural state for a year and treat it good.

For why its still breaking, well, it isn't going to stop right away my hair took a couple of months to start to get better and after a year I could see a great difference.

So I've only been flatironed it once since i got the bleaching done (once in nearly four months), I never blowdry my hair, only airdrying, not even towels dare to touch my hair. It was the first time ever I bleached my hair, it was virgin before, I was just so sick and tired of my fugly hair, seemed like coloring it was the only way out of my hair nightmare. And I'm really loving the blonde, but I guess my hair took more damage than I thought it would :(..


Definitely stay away from cornrows! Your hair should not be tightly braided.

Braiding is fine as long as you don't braid tightly.

If you use heat implements of any kind, then if at all possible, stop using heat. Air dry naturally.

It is normal to have split ends no matter how gently you care for your hair.

How do you detangle? Are you extra gentle? I hope you DO NOT use a brush to detangle. That's the fastest way to ruin your hair..using a brush to detangle!

Also, do you wear your hair up or down? Wearing it down makes it prone to tangles and more damage.

Good luck! I hope you find the answer to your problem very soon!

Oh really? No cornrows? I've seen a lot of youtube clips where afrohaired girls uses cornrows as a protective styling, do you think my hair would be to weak for that?

No heat at all, just once in nearly four months!

I detangle in the shower, when i have a loooot of conditioner in, with a wide toothed comb, I never brush it.

Yeah, thats the only thing I think that I do wrong, I almost always wear it down, can't stand my face when it's up, maybe I should get used to it though..



Thank you so much to all of you!! I feel so lucky that I've found LHC , being able to ventilate and getting advices! :)

[milk]

I had this problem when I flat ironed and blow dried. Now that I air dry and use no heat, it's like I have a different head of hair and it's growing like weeds.

I only airdry aswell, I've just been flatironed it once in nearly four months :(, lucky you!


I'm sorry:( Sadly thats going to keep happening until you get rid of the overprocessed hair. You can slow down the breakage with protein treatments once a week. Don't deep condition too often, the moisture might be causing your hair to break off even more.

When I used to heat style my hair was always the same length for so many years. The roots would grow normally but the length would break off mid-shaft. I quit heat styling and within a year my hair gained a lot of length, even though it kept breaking. All you can do is keep the new growth healthy and wait until it has reached a length you are comfortable with, like shoulder. Then chop off the blonde hair and let it grow...

Okey, so you think that my hair might be over moisturized? How come that may cause damage? I only do protein treatments once or twice a months nowadays because it started to get a bit hard and unshiney when I proteined it more often before, I thought that was a sign that the hair has enough protein in it? But maybe I should try do every other (moisture DC once and protein DC once a week)?

Do you think coloring the hair back to brown could save it a bit (if I used henna or something)?

Thank you!!

I can't add anything to the excellent observations above.

Thanks :)

I would venture a guess that it's the coloring above all that makes it break off. The colored part is so much lighter than your roots. Some people have hair that is very resilient to damage from bleach, but you seem to be one of the unlucky ones whose hair will break off like nothing else when bleached. (I am assuming here that there was bleach involved, perhaps I'm wrong.) You may just have to wait for the colored part to grow out because of the damage.

Yeah, I bleached it for the first time ever about three-four months ago because I hated the hell out of my hair (still do), I just needed to do something different, but it was a stupid decision of me :(.

[McFearless]

Cornrows are a good idea. Not too tight and its no problem at all. Your hair will have so many less tangles and it'll be protected.

So it sounds like your hair doesn't need protein. Nevermind then, sorry. Usually its good for bleached hair but everyone is different. Keep doing what you were already doing. :)

Do you like the colour as it is right now? Henndigo is a good idea if you want to blend the colour. It'll strengthen your hair a bit and make it more shiny. Its up to you though.

Oh and your hair is far from fugly. Your curls are beautiful. With a little more time they will be uniform, long and even better. :) I'm in the same spot as you so I know what its like. After waiting a year and a half for my virgin roots to grow I chopped from waist to shoulder. Its scary and it takes a bit of time, but healthy long hair is more than possible. Hang in there :)

[ktani]

Okey, so I have this huuuge problem, which makes me terribly sad. My hair IS actually growing, thanks to hair vitamins, scalp rubbing with growing oils and so on. I can see it growing since I have a massive growth from coloring my hair about three months ago. That makes me happy, BUT the hair must be breaking off in the ends cause there is no difference in length. I go thru my ends every day, and there is not a split in sight. I sleep with silk scarfs, I moisturize and oil my hair almost every day, I CO-wash twice a week, DC twice a week and so on... Then why is it breaking off?!?! :confused:

I'm so sick and tired of this. :(

Do you think protective styling like cornrows with a wig over it would work perhaps? Or would the braiding destroy my hair?

I will insert some photos so you can see the "growing", look at the dates for comparison.


4 months between these first two shots.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/266/fuuuuy.jpg

Here it has actually just become shorter in the center back.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3478/dumma.jpg

The last pic is showing my root growth, taken about a month ago, so it's even more now.
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/2317/utva.jpg



Please help me anyone :pray:

You have gotten some good advice so far.

I disagree that split ends are inevitable. They are not. They are caused by dryness.

I think that there is too much on your hair - you oil and CO. I think you need to clarify your hair and do so every so often - not too much - to removes oil coating and conditioner which can cause breakage in combination.

When I overused conditioner years ago, I had an uneven breakage area in the back of my hair much like yours.

[Madora]

Oh really? No cornrows? I've seen a lot of youtube clips where afrohaired girls uses cornrows as a protective styling, do you think my hair would be to weak for that?

I would avoid cornrows because they put way too much tension on delicate hairs. You don't want tension because it pulls too much on the roots and the hair also.

I have no idea of the exact texture of your strands, but would definitely stay away from any style that put stress on delicate hairs.

[spidermom]

As for braids protecting from tangles - that's not true. Not on my head. Hundreds of shorter hairs work their way free, and they tangle up with each other. Sometimes detangling from a braid is far worse than detangling from hair left down - no kidding!

[archel]

I have never had as much shedding as when I took my hair out of braid extensions. It pulled on my scalp like MAD and when I took it down it was like I pulled a whole other me out of my hair...I'm willing to bet even if it's all your own hair that it would pull at the scalp like that.

[Anje]

Cornrows have made my ends extremely unhappy in the past. I think how you secure them is the key, and my straight-ish hair needs a lot more coaxing to stay braided than 4ish hair does.

Is your hair acting stretchy or mushy or anything like that? If so, it calls for a protein treatment ASAP. If it's more like it's brittle and breaks without any stretch at all, I'd be inclined to say you've got too much protein. (Lovely how breakage can point to either, isn't it?)

[milk]

Thanks to all of you for trying to help me out, it means a lot for me. :flower:


I got so sad when I saw that my hair HAS been growing nearly three inches at the top but nothing at the bottom the last months.



You have gotten some good advice so far.

I disagree that split ends are inevitable. They are not. They are caused by dryness.

I think that there is too much on your hair - you oil and CO. I think you need to clarify your hair and do so every so often - not too much - to removes oil coating and conditioner which can cause breakage in combination.

When I overused conditioner years ago, I had an uneven breakage area in the back of my hair much like yours.



Cornrows have made my ends extremely unhappy in the past. I think how you secure them is the key, and my straight-ish hair needs a lot more coaxing to stay braided than 4ish hair does.

Is your hair acting stretchy or mushy or anything like that? If so, it calls for a protein treatment ASAP. If it's more like it's brittle and breaks without any stretch at all, I'd be inclined to say you've got too much protein. (Lovely how breakage can point to either, isn't it?)



So I was going thrue my hair, and yeah it feels as soft as it has never felt before, maaaybe a bit mushy but not at all poofy, actually more "calmed down" then ever before (oh and still no split ends). I had my last protein treatment for about two months ago since my hair started to feel hayish out of it. But I felt that I should give the proteins another try.

So what I did yesterday was that I clarifiyed it with lots of sodium bicarbonate, thereafter I did a deep PT with eggs (and mayo, and vodka and olive oil), then my moisturizer, lastly I rinsed with ACV.

It came out a mess, sooo unbelivably frissy. Maybe I could just PT the ends of my hair? Or maybe change my leave in conditioner to one with proteins in it? What do you guys think?

[spitfire511]

Hey there milk. I'm so sorry you're dealing with this! You've definitely gotten some excellent info! I just thought I'd throw this out there. It's an article that Nightshade wrote about diagnosing and treating damaged hair. It's HERE (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79)

It helped me a lot when I was new - I hope there's something there you can find useful. :blossom:

[milk]

Hey there milk. I'm so sorry you're dealing with this! You've definitely gotten some excellent info! I just thought I'd throw this out there. It's an article that Nightshade wrote about diagnosing and treating damaged hair. It's HERE (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79)

It helped me a lot when I was new - I hope there's something there you can find useful. :blossom:

Thank you so much :flower:! I'm gonna read it through right now, hopefully I'll find some new info that can help me out.

[Anje]

Hayish rough dry hair after a protein treatment (especially a heavy-duty one) isn't abnormal. Those treatments are drying by their nature. The best thing, if your hair needs protein, is to immediately follow the protein treatment with a moisture treatment.

Actually, if you don't need protein and OD on it, moisture treatments seem to be the fastest way to recover, too.

[spidermom]

Sodium bicarbonate is one of the worst things I ever tried on my hair. It dried out so bad plus matted up; it was horrible. I had to do conditioner soaks every day for almost two weeks before I could even get a comb through it.

Joico KPak Reconstructor is a really good product for deep treatment; it gives both protein and moisture. I'd also recommend regular teeny-tiny trims - I'm talking about 1/4 inch every 2-3 months. You need to get ahead of the breakage, as broken-off ends leave jagged edges behind that will break again.

[pink.sara]

I second the joico reconstructor, or perhaps aphogee 2 step treatments once a month/every 6 weeks.
For the past 2 years I have been growing out damage from excessive bleaching and heat styling and even with no visible splits my hair would still break. Thankfully 2 years on I am at APL and have just cut the last of the damage off. I know that seems like ages but if you already have 3 inches of growth it won't be too long until it is all healthy.

On another note you said you used a protein treatment with vodka in it?! Alcohol is really drying to hair and I would avoid using it.
Also use a moisturising treatment straight after a protein one for the best results. Good luck with finding a routine, and give Nightshades article a read, it is useful :)

[MonaLisa]

Hmm since we excluded most of the causes, apart from bleach, i thought of this ...how was your hair cut? seems very layered...was it thinned out?
this has done a lot of damage to mine for sure...
gets weaker, more tangly, more dry...

since you're doing everything right it seems, apart from bleach...maybe it's this?

[CurlAhead]

Sodium bicarbonate is one of the worst things I ever tried on my hair. It dried out so bad plus matted up; it was horrible. I had to do conditioner soaks every day for almost two weeks before I could even get a comb through it.

Joico KPak Reconstructor is a really good product for deep treatment; it gives both protein and moisture. I'd also recommend regular teeny-tiny trims - I'm talking about 1/4 inch every 2-3 months. You need to get ahead of the breakage, as broken-off ends leave jagged edges behind that will break again.


Doesn't the Joico K-Pac Reconstructor contain mineral oil?

[spidermom]

It does contain mineral oil, which I'm not generally in favor of, but this product is so nice that I tolerate it because my hair is silky and shiny to the max after a treatment. I'm not opposed to using sulfate products either, although I can't recall ever needing to clarify after a Joico KPak treatment. I get this once or twice a year.

[Avital88]

yea for sure the bleach and flat ironing. my hair was the same few years ago, roots but no 'growth' stop it all, and you will see difference in a few months.. its all about babying your hair and be patient. it doesnt matter which oils and conditioner u use, just quit the heat.

[CurlyMopTop]

Because protein treatments are so drying (but you still need them regularly), you may want to try a deep conditioning treatment right after you do your protein treatments. This will help to keep your hair strong, yet keep the moisture balance at the same time. Many people have to do both. I found some good advice about protein/moisture balance over on the naturallycurly.com threads. They had a few articles on the subject as well. I'm sooo sorry you're having to go through this. Good luck and I hope it gets better. :)

[Avital88]

oh i just read now,( a little late ) that you only flatironed once.thats a good thing
i hope your hair will recover and grow long soon,

[SpinDance]

You have gotten a lot of excellent advice and links to more, so I won't bother repeating. However, one thing I noticed in your photos was that you seem to be getting a lot more curl in your new growth. The take up from curls can definitely make it look like you aren't getting any length. If that isn't part of the issue, it is all due to breakage, then protecting your ends may be your best bet. It looks like you have enough length for some face-framing braids or rolls, and maybe enough for a French or peacock twist in the back. Anything to help keep wear-and-tear off your ends while you grow out the damage.

[milk]

Sodium bicarbonate is one of the worst things I ever tried on my hair. It dried out so bad plus matted up; it was horrible. I had to do conditioner soaks every day for almost two weeks before I could even get a comb through it.

Joico KPak Reconstructor is a really good product for deep treatment; it gives both protein and moisture. I'd also recommend regular teeny-tiny trims - I'm talking about 1/4 inch every 2-3 months. You need to get ahead of the breakage, as broken-off ends leave jagged edges behind that will break again.

I used the Bicarbonate to clarify my hair. I havent clarified in about three months, so if I had to much moisture and oils in my hair as someone thought I might have to clarify before the protein treatment.

I actually have the Joico KPak reconstructor, havent been using it since I started to CO-wash only since it has got mineral oils in it. But if you say it has worked for you without build up maybe I should go for that one again!


I second the joico reconstructor, or perhaps aphogee 2 step treatments once a month/every 6 weeks.
For the past 2 years I have been growing out damage from excessive bleaching and heat styling and even with no visible splits my hair would still break. Thankfully 2 years on I am at APL and have just cut the last of the damage off. I know that seems like ages but if you already have 3 inches of growth it won't be too long until it is all healthy.

On another note you said you used a protein treatment with vodka in it?! Alcohol is really drying to hair and I would avoid using it.
Also use a moisturising treatment straight after a protein one for the best results. Good luck with finding a routine, and give Nightshades article a read, it is useful :)

Thanks for the peptalk!

Yeah I added a tiny splash of vodka to reeeeally clarify my hair, might have been stupid of me :(. I was unsure of how much moisture I could use if I have overmoisturized hair, so I just had my moisturizer in for about ten minutes, and then rinsed it all out, normally I tend not to rinse, to keep my frizzyness down.

[milk]

Because protein treatments are so drying (but you still need them regularly), you may want to try a deep conditioning treatment right after you do your protein treatments. This will help to keep your hair strong, yet keep the moisture balance at the same time. Many people have to do both. I found some good advice about protein/moisture balance over on the naturallycurly.com threads. They had a few articles on the subject as well. I'm sooo sorry you're having to go through this. Good luck and I hope it gets better. :)

If my hair really is over moistureized I don't know how much DC I dare to do? Normally I do it every single wash. I will browse through naturallycurly and try to find thoose articles. Thank you :)!


oh i just read now,( a little late ) that you only flatironed once.thats a good thing
i hope your hair will recover and grow long soon,

Thank you, me too :p!

[spidermom]

I find clarifying shampoo to be much more gentle than baking soda by far. In fact, I usually dilute my shampoo, but when I feel I have buildup, I will wash full strength with whatever shampoo I have on hand, and it always works. If one wash doesn't seem to have reversed the issue, then I repeat the next time my hair needs to be washed.

I hope you will enjoy increased length soon. Good luck!

[jojo]

I tried bicarbonate a few times, oh my lord my hair was so dry and dull; id never touch that again. Clarifying shampoos are much better, i get good results with baby shampoo dunno it it clarifies or not but my hair feels good when i do it once a month.

You have had some excellent advise, id say try a protein treatment, I cannot recommend Aphogee 2 step enough. Id do one 4 weekly until your hair starts to feel normal, and you are seeing some retention of growth. Then do them every 2 months. I have fine fragile hair too and I really look forward to my aphogee treatments, my hair feels like brand new afterwards!

Make sure to do a moisturising treatment like a SMT afterwards. Your already laying off heat and are air drying, just need to put it up and protect those ends. Id also say if its breaking, your ends are obviously very fragile, try monthly dustings like _ <---- this much, it will make the world of difference.

Good luck and welcome to LHC

[Anje]

If my hair really is over moistureized I don't know how much DC I dare to do? Normally I do it every single wash. I will browse through naturallycurly and try to find thoose articles.
After protein, it's still a good idea. Heavy protein will take hair from over-moisturized to over-dry in one easy treatment. (Actually, as a person with protein-hating, moisture-loving hair, there's a part of me that wonders if "over-moisturized" isn't really just protein-deficient.)

[Flaxen]

Do any of your products contain silicone, especially cyclopentasiloxane? The use of silicone is controversial, so I'm only going to speak of my experience. For me they are teh evil. When I found the boards, I was lightening my hair only twice a year, just to brighten it. I was also using a conditioner with cyclo-p as the second ingredient. My breakage was so bad that I had been stuck at mid back length for twelve years. When I stopped lightening AND stopped the use of all silicones, my hair immediately started gaining length.

So, I would suggest you do these few things:
1. Cleanse (shampoo or CO) your hair and condition it, without any silicones. Oiling before you cleanse is great.
2. Deep condition twice a month
3. Put your hair up as soon as you are able.

You also might want to read Wholeheart Mom's Perm Disaster and Recovery Story (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=26444) for some tips.

Good luck! :smile: