Coarse Hairs Unite

[cooklaezo13]

This thread is for those of us who have coarse hairs, those of us whose individual hairs are very thick (not necessarily thick hair overall, although that is often the case). What do you notice about your hair, about its likes and dislikes? What made you realize that you have coarse hair? Do you have straight, curly, kinky or wavy hair?
I first noticed I had coarse hair when I was in eighth grade. For a science lab, we all had to pluck out a hair from our head and observe it under the microscope. My hair was easily twice as thick as everyone else in the class! I often compare my hairs shed in the shower to other hairs that I see there (I am a student and live in a dorm so I get to see lots of people's shed hairs :(). Mine are usually the most coarse. My ex-boyfriend used to complain when I would shed a lot because of how visible the shed hairs are due to their thickness, and how long my hair was back then.
My hair is straight and doesn't tangle much, even when it was waist-length I rarely had bad tangles. It tends to get very dry at the ends and I've recently discovered that the ends of my hair like to be oiled. My hair doesn't show grease as much as my fine-haired friends, but I still feel the need to wash it every other day to keep it looking its best. I'm trying to stretch washes more but it's hard because my hair is too short to wear up when it gets greasy.

[Arctic]

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread! I have had coarse hairs for only few years now, and am still sort of lost with them. I have stick straight coarse hairs that do not bend, I have kinky curls, wurls and waves, and all of these tend to be wiry. I guess coarse hairs make about 1/3 of my hair.

There used to be another coarse hair thread, but I for one like to start new thread when old one gets too massive. I'll come back in a minute to add a link to the old one.
Here it is: Coarse hair care -thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=45554).

[anikadear]

Meeeeee!! My hair is very thick and coarse. Before I had my kids it was more wavy than curly, but now it's more ringlets which I'm not super fond of because it doesn't show length. I noticed it was coarse in elementary school. My mom would have to spend forever getting it to lay right, and even then it would be puffy. Kids used to make fun of me a lot telling me my hair was "nappy". It was terrible!! I have been relaxing my hair since I was in high school because it just got to the point where I couldn't care for it properly. People tell me a fourth of my hair equals their entire head of hair haha!! I recently used a 30 day keratin treatment which has made my hair so much easier to handle and so much softer. I'm trying to cut out relaxers altogether because it's way too harsh on my hair in the long run. I do like that I can wear my hair straight or curly though!

I've been learning a lot on LHC so hopefully I can gain the length I want so my hair isn't so thirsty lol. My hair is dry all the time unless I oil and deep condition, which I've been oiling for years but I've learned a lot about leave in conditioner here so it's been a lot less dry.

[Avital88]

me! my individual hairs are quite thick and obvious, not like indian hair but im coming close.
Hairloss always is very noticable because the hairs are so visible and i like to oil too!

[Amber_Maiden]

I have very thick coarse hair! I also discovered that ends get very dry and like to be oiled! :)
I hate some aspects of my hair; it's very thick and I get tangles in it, like it wants to dreadlock itself! It's hard to deal with everyday... Also, I get headaches from the heaviness of it all. :(

[cooklaezo13]

Also, I get headaches from the heaviness of it all. :(

meee too back when my hair was long! Wearing it down or certain ways of wearing it up caused headaches. When I was at home alone I liked to wear the hair all piled up on the very top of my head in a messy bun and that took a lot of strain off of my scalp and neck.

[Arctic]

What are the best tips you all have for coarse hair?

Mine is a bit crazy! I bought a sulfatefree bodywash from The Body Shop about 6 months ago (their Earth Lovers range) and after reading the ingredients, I noticed it sounds like it could be hairfriendly product. I tested it for my hair and OMGoodness my hair felt amazing after that! So much softer and well moisturized and sleeker, and shinier! (I did use my normal conditioner after that). I was so impressed, I have actually used these body washes since then! My scalp has also liked this! It removes all buildup but is not drying, at least on my hair (very oily scalp).


I would also love to hear what everyone would say are the positives about coarse hair, what they love about coarse hair, please?! I stuggle even after several years to learn to love and accept my new hair type, and I have noticed it helps me so much when I read other peoples positive ideas and point of views.

My own most positive thought abbout my own coarsies is that they have made my hair appear much thicker, and give me lot of body.

[Mountaingrrl]

My hair is coarse and getting coarser as my greys come in. One thing I really like about my texture is that it will hold a style. I don't need to use a lot of pins, and my braids usually stay put without elastics.

[shump76]

My hair is fairly coarse. I've seen coarser, of course (sorry, couldn't help myself!) but it's quite coarse and dry at the end and wurly! It's had a mind of it's own since I was little, but I sort of love that.

[Yame]

My hair is coarse and straight. It's so strong and easy to manage... I love it!

[ladonna]

My hair is coarse, it's very easy to fix with only a little help, I do have to use 2-3 hairbands to hold it up. For the the most part I like my hair and it's pretty strong even after dying it for year and flat ironing it for over 10 years, its still in pretty good health. When I first joined LHC I was doing weekly SMT but now I can get alway with every few weeks, and my hair really likes oil. And I think it's been a couple week's since I had to S&D.
My hair has really changed since I joined LHC, before it was really dry and frizzy. Now it's soft and curly/wavy.

[cooklaezo13]

My hair is coarse and getting coarser as my greys come in. One thing I really like about my texture is that it will hold a style. I don't need to use a lot of pins, and my braids usually stay put without elastics.

That's so cool! My hair struggles to hold styles, even with lots of bobby pins and elastics. It could be due to the weight of the hair or because of my incompetence at putting my hair up :o. Braids would definitely come unraveled on me in like half a minute without an elastic.

[newbeginning]

I have coarse hair though it doesn't seem overly thick (medium thick I guess). I have noticed that oiling it has made it more soft. I get the oily roots/dry ends problem (and I use CWC). Dye has damaged it and made it less strong (I'm growing it out).

[Carissamarie08]

I have very coarse hair. And it's also very thick. I actually thin my hair out alot because I dont like it so thick. I do like though that my hair will allow me to do just about anything with it, it just needs to be longer.

[UltraBella]

I have coarse hair that is virtually indestructible. I can heat style it, dye it, highlight it etc and it stays nice and healthy. My coarsest strands feel like horse hair. We have done weird things with them, like see how much weight they can hold. (We discovered that I can pick up a half full can of soda with 1 hair.) I have sewn a button back on a shirt with one, lol.
My hair likes cones and non-cone products. It likes SMTs and it also likes protein. I guess I can put just about anything on it and it's easy to please.
My hair is wavy/wurly with a few very kinky areas, those areas can be hard to tame but they hold a style really well. I keep my hair heavily layered and I love that my hair is so thick that even with TONS of layers, I have a very thick hemline. All my layers from BLS up are razored in. Without layers my hair would be a big shapeless mess.

[Mayflower]

I have coarse hair! Well, a mixture of coarse and medium hair actually. The thing is, I only recently noticed it. I don't know if it's a hormonal thing or the henna and indigo I've been using, but look at this:

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/9807/20434588.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/819/20434588.jpg/)
This is my hair almost exactly two years ago (Christmas 2009)

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/9530/henn.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/39/henn.jpg/)
This is my hair right now. Medium-coarse (my shed hairs always differ in thickness) and I would actually have a lot more hair without the 12566 layers (+ thick bangs) I have


Anywho, has anybody ever noticed such a difference in hairstrang-thickness?

[Mayflower]

Oh god sorry for the huuuuge first picture!!

[ludwig20]

My coarse strands are definitely my favorite. They're the most resistant to damage. Back when I used (to damage my hair with) a blow dryer, my coarse strands were practically unchanged. But the few fine hairs I have would shed like crazy. And I've finally discovered that oiling helps keep them relatively soft.

[cooklaezo13]

Mayflower, henna and indigo have a way of making the hair coarser. When I was putting henna in my hair, it was even more coarse than it is now.
I also have strands of hair on my head that vary in thickness. Overall it is very coarse, but there are some very fine soft hairs near the nape of my neck. And last night when I was searching for split ends, I found a hair that was thick like a wire and jet black. It was more coarse and dark than all the other hairs, so there can be a range of textures on one person's head.

[Mayflower]

Mayflower, henna and indigo have a way of making the hair coarser. When I was putting henna in my hair, it was even more coarse than it is now.
I also have strands of hair on my head that vary in thickness. Overall it is very coarse, but there are some very fine soft hairs near the nape of my neck. And last night when I was searching for split ends, I found a hair that was thick like a wire and jet black. It was more coarse and dark than all the other hairs, so there can be a range of textures on one person's head.

Oh okay thanks for clearing that up for me cooklaezo13 :). I just thought it was a bit of an extreme change since on the first picture, that was literally all of my hair hanging in front of my shoulders and in two years (even less than that because it changed about a year ago) it got as thick as on the second picture!
I'll have to use henndigo forever because I love my hair much more now haha:p

[LovingLife]

Coarse and thick.
That's me.

[xoxophelia]

I guess my hair is also fairly indesctructible... I used to flat iron and blow dry daily, and then I was coloring my hair, swimming daily, and I even had Thermal Reconditioning done to my hair a while back which is a perm. My hair looked nice through all of that. The main thing that killed my hair was illness though. It looked tattered just from shedding.

So, while it doesn't start breaking off, or splitting easily.. I can still tell the difference in shine. Really cheap dye on top of all of that did me in. It would be easy to convince people my hair was healthy by curling it or flat ironing it but when left alone the texture was not nice and it didn't have that natural deep shine unless I heat styled. My hair also used to look thicker (preshed) simply because of lots of volume/body. I still have body to my hair but it hangs in a silkier way now. Personally that is a huge victory because it means I am not a slave to styling it anymore.

Now, my virgin hair will reflect light like a shield and has more "depth" without added dyes. It is hard to explain how that is different than before..My hair is only virgin a bit past shoulders so I am looking forward to more growing out :)

I think the problem with coarse hair is that it can seem like your hair can take anything but it slowly loses its luster. Without manipulation after that point it is easy to start getting a "hay" look to your hair.

One thing I like about it though is that it is pretty low maitenence when healthy. You can wash and go and have shiny hair that hardly tangles and doesn't split very much if at all. The lack of tangles is what I like best because I prefer to wear my hair loose. It has a different shine from the fine heads (which I always admire when I see it), but our shine is nice also.

[ericthegreat]

I have coarse hair that is virtually indestructible. I can heat style it, dye it, highlight it etc and it stays nice and healthy. My coarsest strands feel like horse hair. We have done weird things with them, like see how much weight they can hold. (We discovered that I can pick up a half full can of soda with 1 hair.) I have sewn a button back on a shirt with one, lol.
My hair likes cones and non-cone products. It likes SMTs and it also likes protein. I guess I can put just about anything on it and it's easy to please.
My hair is wavy/wurly with a few very kinky areas, those areas can be hard to tame but they hold a style really well. I keep my hair heavily layered and I love that my hair is so thick that even with TONS of layers, I have a very thick hemline. All my layers from BLS up are razored in. Without layers my hair would be a big shapeless mess.

Chinese hair is typically thick, pin straight, and very coarse. Like UltraBella, my hair is absolutely damage resistant. I have bleached my hair several times as you all have seen, and have had several different chemical colors on my head. I've been my natural virgin jet black, a medium brown brunette, a redhead, and now a bleached blonde. I also get my hair blown out and flat-ironed straight pretty often, because altho my hair is already naturally 1a/1b, the flat iron gives my hair that perfect, super shiny glare.

However, unlike UltraBella, I personally don't like the look of layers on myself. I like a simple, perfectly straight, one-length hemline with healthy, thick ends. Layers take away from your full potential length and thickness, and I want to deliberately show off ALL of my hair.

[UltraBella]

Layers take away from your full potential length and thickness, and I want to deliberately show off ALL of my hair.

Thank god layers take away from my potential thickness, I don't want to deal all that hair and because of my texture, it's a giant triangle poof. Ewwwwww !

[cooklaezo13]

I still have body to my hair but it hangs in a silkier way now.
That's exactly what I've noticed about my hair since beginning to take better care of it. It's less stiff and straw-like and hangs in a more silky way. It even feels softer. Overall your observations about your hair are pretty similar to mine :)

[ohhiitssteph]

Ahh! I swear, I've barely met ANYONE with coarse/thick hair like mine in real life. This is so exciting, haha.

My individual strands are, comparatively, not as coarse as a lot of people's -- they're not really rough or anything -- my hair is just DRY. It's so hard to get moisture into my hair, my hair is low-porosity and very resistant haha. It's been getting better lately, but still always a challenge! I also have massive amounts of hair; it's very thick, but I like it that way :) Especially now that it's getting super long, I really like how it looks more "balanced" since the weight pulls it down as opposed to having it poof out, and it generally looks very healthy this way. Layers help keep it nice and non-poofed too, which is fine by me!

Also, like the rest of you said, it feels like I have superman hair. Nothing short of kryptonite would damage it, I'm pretty sure :P I straightened it every day for two years and permanently dyed it every two months, and somehow it took only like three weeks for it to bounce back completely and be wearable curly. I've switched to henna instead though, and I actually haven't noticed it making my hair any thicker or coarser, which is weird. I only left it on my head for two hours though, so maybe that had something to do with it?

[Arctic]

I love this thread!
My coarse hairs tend to be kinky-wavy, and I feel the kinks (it is in fact a place where the hair strand turns, I have taken some macro photos of them couple of years ago) are a weak spot, thus I don't feel my hair is indestructible (spell?). My hair is on the porous side, I think it has to do with my water though, mostly, as it is quite alkaline (pH over 8 ) and anything acidic feels helpful and reduces any rough feeling.

[cooklaezo13]

I love this thread!
My coarse hairs tend to be kinky-wavy, and I feel the kinks (it is in fact a place where the hair strand turns, I have taken some macro photos of them couple of years ago) are a weak spot, thus I don't feel my hair is indestructible (spell?). My hair is on the porous side, I think it has to do with my water though, mostly, as it is quite alkaline (pH over 8 ) and anything acidic feels helpful and reduces any rough feeling.

Arctic, some of my hairs have tiny kinks in them too (although from a distance the hair looks straight). When my hair is unhealthy, I will notice tiny pieces breaking off at the ends. The hair breaks where the kinks are. So I get where you are coming from.

I am lucky to have soft, neutral pH water, but my hair also loves acidic rinses. Lately I have been mixing a tiny pinch of citric acid with a full quart of water and using that as a rinse after washing and it's been great for my hair.

[Gothchiq]

It's coarse, dry, wavy, naturally porous, average thickness (scalp density). The individual hairs look like little flat ribbons, they're so coarse. It frizzes and poofs easily, and right now it's damaged, just to make matters worse. :/ I am also starting to go gray. O hooray, little silver piano wires. :/

It doesn't behave the same each day. Some days it is wurly, other days close to straight. I have no idea why.

[cooklaezo13]

Does anyone else here that has coarse hair notice that their hair takes FOREVER to dry? Mine does!

[Gothchiq]

Oh yes! It's painfully slow. And it is naturally porous, too. :(

[rowie]

I have coarse hair that is virtually indestructible. I can heat style it, dye it, highlight it etc and it stays nice and healthy. My coarsest strands feel like horse hair. We have done weird things with them, like see how much weight they can hold. (We discovered that I can pick up a half full can of soda with 1 hair.) I have sewn a button back on a shirt with one, lol.
My hair likes cones and non-cone products. It likes SMTs and it also likes protein. I guess I can put just about anything on it and it's easy to please.
My hair is wavy/wurly with a few very kinky areas, those areas can be hard to tame but they hold a style really well. I keep my hair heavily layered and I love that my hair is so thick that even with TONS of layers, I have a very thick hemline. All my layers from BLS up are razored in. Without layers my hair would be a big shapeless mess.
I definitely can relate to you about cones. My coarse hairs loves cones! I used to avoid cones because of the hype that the curlies and wurlies started with their notion of how it "suffocates hair." It was fine when my hair was growing from a buzz cut, but now at shoulder length, my hair really yearns for any products that contain silicone.

Hmmm about my hair strength, the test I conducted, well lets just say that I can give my fingers a paper like cut if I were to take a single strand of hair, wrap it over two fingers, pull it tight and do a sawing cutting motion.

My hair is pretty pliable. I can achieve straight hair easily just by binding my hair after a shower or I can achieve beachy waves with a bun, and those styles will retain itself until my hair gets wet. Either or, I can have straight hair or curly hair easily and I don't get damage from heating utensils because of the thickness and strength of my hair. Although, I just don't have the time to do any of these styles so I avoid any heat on my hair and depend on air drying with serums like biosilk.

[chou]

My hair is relatively coarse and although my ends can feel rough if I don't moisturize them enough, I have had very little breakage and no split ends, even when my hair was longer. So, I love that my hair is strong. But, it can become stiff and extremely frizzy if I overload on protein. At the moment though, I don't have any protein problems and I love how thick and shiny my hair is :)
I will definitely be watching this thread!

[rena]

We have done weird things with them, like see how much weight they can hold. (We discovered that I can pick up a half full can of soda with 1 hair.) I have sewn a button back on a shirt with one, lol.

Wow UltraBella, that is just too awesome!

It would be so nice to have indestructable hair. I have some coarsies scattered about the top of my scalp and all of them are these strange crinkly creatures that are dry and feel extemenly bumpy. They don't wave or curl when they get wet and dry out, just sort of shrivel up, like hairs with nervous disorders. I'd say they account for about 1/5 of all my hair. The majority is fine/fineish/thin-medium stuff that is pretty spineless :p.

[candiedcoat]

i think my hair is coarse, everytime i ever go to get it styled at a salon they always end up commenting on it. i'm glad i found this site though because it is also very rough and i'm hoping to change all that

[NormaJean]

I'm never sure whether to consider my hair medium or coarse. It's heavy, "crunches" when it's rolled between my fingers, and certainly has a mind of its own and refuses to do what I would like it do..... but it's still got a bit of "translucence" to it in the light, and I'm not sure whether that's an indicator of the strand thickness or if it's just because of the color. It's also super absorbant and takes ages and ages to dry, even with a blow dryer. Is that last one a common coarse trait?

I might have to do some microscope comparisons.

[mira-chan]

Coarse, dry and cone hating hair here. It's not that fond of protein either. It's not rough feeling and can feel somewhat soft when well moisturized but it generally feels like thin wire.

NormaJean, I posted some hair microscopy on here a couple of years ago if you want to do a search for it. I've also measured the hairs with a micrometer. Mine are 10 micrometers thick. My friend's fine hair was 5 micrometers.

My hair takes a while to dry in the thickest parts. I've never used a blow dryer so I don't know how that would influence things.

[midsummernight]

I have coarse hair too. its very dry and frizzy. Also doesnt hold styles properly. It takes forever to straighten my hair and doesnt hold curl styles very well. But my hair loves cones.

[lilliemer]

Bumping in an attempt to wake this thread back up!

I have a mix of medium/coarse and EXTREMELY dry hair that is very susceptible to damage and splits. It is protein sensitive, and I'm still trying to figure out how it responds to cones.

Has anyone found products that moisturize and smooth the hair down while preserving thickness? Or is this asking too much?

[rowie]

Now that my hair is getting longer, I'm starting to believe some people in here about weight factors with thick coarse hairs. Although I'll never do a thinning out because I detest layers. Layers on me was when I was going through the awkward stage, and so my experiences with layers is traumatic that I'll never ever get them no matter how heavy my hair gets!

[mira-chan]

Bumping in an attempt to wake this thread back up!

I have a mix of medium/coarse and EXTREMELY dry hair that is very susceptible to damage and splits. It is protein sensitive, and I'm still trying to figure out how it responds to cones.

Has anyone found products that moisturize and smooth the hair down while preserving thickness? Or is this asking too much?
I've had luck in using a lighter or no regular conditioner and then putting on a cone free leave in or a light conditioner as a leave in. I like BWC leave in, the Live Extention conditioner and Shea moisture stuff.

I have dry hair as well but mine is fully into the coarse category and is less likely to split and damage. I don't use sulfate or sulfonate shampoos as I am sensitive to them.

[koala]

My hair is medium/coarse, but probably closer to coarse. It's hard to tell because a lot of my hair seems to have a very irregular, almost bumpy texture to it, even if the strands aren't terribly thick.
There's nothing really good about it. I have too many layers to hold styles well (and too dry/wavy/thick to not have layers), my hair is damaged very easily, is prone to splits, it's extremely dry, and never looks soft. It holds curls well, but can't be straightened. The only solution is super aggressive conditioning.

[lilliemer]

My hair is medium/coarse, but probably closer to coarse. It's hard to tell because a lot of my hair seems to have a very irregular, almost bumpy texture to it, even if the strands aren't terribly thick.
There's nothing really good about it. I have too many layers to hold styles well (and too dry/wavy/thick to not have layers), my hair is damaged very easily, is prone to splits, it's extremely dry, and never looks soft. It holds curls well, but can't be straightened. The only solution is super aggressive conditioning.

Hi hair twin! you have basically just described my hair. i have the EXACT SAME problems with it.

If you don't mind my asking...what conditioners do you like? Your avatar photo looks really good and fairly tamed down...My hair is growing OUT instead of DOWN and is dull and frizzy...Yours is showing off the waves nicely and still looks pretty and shiny. (don't mean to sound like a stalker but it looks great!)

[cooklaezo13]

Bumping in an attempt to wake this thread back up!

I have a mix of medium/coarse and EXTREMELY dry hair that is very susceptible to damage and splits. It is protein sensitive, and I'm still trying to figure out how it responds to cones.

Has anyone found products that moisturize and smooth the hair down while preserving thickness? Or is this asking too much?

I like to use a drop or two of Fox's Shea Butter Cream (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=4586) on the dry ends of my hair when it is damp. It seals the moisture in.

Also clarifying, followed by a moisture treatment, might help you if you have protein build-up.

[Kamir0]

I just visited my sister for the first time since joining the boards, and her hair is so coarse I am having doubts about mine being coarse at all! :shocked:
AND her hair is so layered I almost cried (joking). Her reasoning was that she was dyeing it and wanted to save (she has a lot of it too). :lol: :rolleyes:

Which brings me to this: does anyone here have oily hair?

My sister, my mother and my boyfriend who have extremely coarse hair (sometimes jokingly described as "bum-hair textured") also have extremely dry hair.
My sister washes her hair once a week, but she could probably go for a month without washing it and it would still look the same... The same goes for my mother...

However, although my texture is somewhat "bumpy" and irregular (damage?), my hair has been oily-to-extremely-oily since my teenage years...

Thanks for your input. :blossom:

[Chestnuthenna]

I've got pretty coarse hair too. It looks like wires on the white tiles of my bathroom floor, I have to keep a broom and scoop in the bathroom they are just so visible. I find it easy to manage but very heavy when it is long. I find it annoying I can't do all the lovely hair styles others can do with APL hair - I can't even get a full circle twist to do a cinnamon bun. But I can make a ponytail loop, squash it against my head and put a hairstick through and will easily stay, unlike fine hair. My hair has crimpy wavy areas underneath which appeared after having children but it's still straight on top so it's harder to style these days - a bit of extra weight might help now. I've tried thinning and it looks ratty after a while, and I've tried layers which I find high maintenance to stop it looking shaggy. Short layers look like a mushroom. Once I had it cut short like a boy and it stood straight up like a brush! In fact it is a lot better left to itself - strong and shiny. I like henna for the strength and shine, oil for the ends, SMTS and CO washing. In fact I actually really like my hair, except the grey ones!

[lilliemer]

I just visited my sister for the first time since joining the boards, and her hair is so coarse I am having doubts about mine being coarse at all! :shocked:
AND her hair is so layered I almost cried (joking). Her reasoning was that she was dyeing it and wanted to save (she has a lot of it too). :lol: :rolleyes:

Which brings me to this: does anyone here have oily hair?

My sister, my mother and my boyfriend who have extremely coarse hair (sometimes jokingly described as "bum-hair textured") also have extremely dry hair.
My sister washes her hair once a week, but she could probably go for a month without washing it and it would still look the same... The same goes for my mother...

However, although my texture is somewhat "bumpy" and irregular (damage?), my hair has been oily-to-extremely-oily since my teenage years...

Thanks for your input. :blossom:

no. my hair is DRY. Extra super dry. I wish it was oilier so it would be healthier. I have dry skin, eczema, and super fragile nails too and am starting to become convinced that I have some weird collagen deficit that's causing all the problems.

I have read that others with oily hair have done well with co-washing as it suppresses the scalp's oil production over time, as there is a break-in period. I can say that co-washing (when I do it) can get my hair to the 'squeaky' clean point just as much as shampoo does, so maybe there is something to it.

[Kamir0]

no. my hair is DRY. Extra super dry. I wish it was oilier so it would be healthier. I have dry skin, eczema, and super fragile nails too and am starting to become convinced that I have some weird collagen deficit that's causing all the problems.

I have read that others with oily hair have done well with co-washing as it suppresses the scalp's oil production over time, as there is a break-in period. I can say that co-washing (when I do it) can get my hair to the 'squeaky' clean point just as much as shampoo does, so maybe there is something to it.

Thank you for your input. :flowers:

Would anyone else with super coarse hair like to share? :D

[rowie]

Thank you for your input. :flowers:

Would anyone else with super coarse hair like to share? :D

Gosh Kamir0 i'll trade you for having oily hair for my dry scalp and hair. I have to add to the many people in here who have "coarse dry hair." Without coconut oil, and jojoba oil (also Nightblooming TMA oil) my hair texture would look and feel like horse hair. While this texture is good for holding braids and making my buns look bigger because of the coarsness or "thickness" of my hairs, with oil on my hair, I will have multi textures from a mixture of different wurls, waves, straight hairs and a few if any ringlets near the bottom of my head near my neck only if I don't comb it out right after a shower.

I sometimes take for granted of my coarse hair, it is very stubborn and resilient to damage from heat (I rarely, if ever get splits because my ends are mostly tapered and pokey), but with my texture it is very difficult to tame both for straightening and curling. With my coarsness of hairs it is hard for me to retain oil. I can slather a good amount of coconut oil in the morning and then by the end of the day my hairs would of soaked up almost all that oil. Which is why I keep a bottle of jojoba oil for when I am out because my coconut oil jar is too big to carry with me everywhere. I hope you got something out of this. :)

[rowie]

Wow, I just discovered aloe vera gel works well in taming my frizz and new growth. I apply it when I bun my hair and apply a quater size amount of aloe gel to smooth out flyaways and frizz. The gel will last me all day if I stay at home. I thought I'd share this because I was having a hard time finding an alternative to gels and pomades.

[leslissocool]

Gah I can't believe I never found this!

I have SUPER coarse hair. I can actually floss with it without breaking :lol:. I like it.

It is REALLY heavy!

[Sharysa]

My hair is in that "almost wavy but not quite straight" no-man's-land, as my hair type denotes. I love how it's ridiculously strong and thick, but I haaaaaaaate all the frizz. It also tangles whenever I look at it wrong, it dries easily, and it's ridiculously heavy, so I can't use buns anymore at mid-back length. In fact, even when it WASN'T too heavy for a bun, I still hated buns because they led to tons of breakage from my compressed hair rubbing against itself.

Luckily, braids are awesome for many things--keeping it relatively untangled and smooth, bringing out the waves, and keeping it from drying out too much.

Since commercial shampoos stripped my hair like whoa and therefore led to frizz, I've found that Dr. Bronner's-based shampoo works REALLY well to clean it without stripping. I also use almond oil and sweetgrass essential oil after a shower. I enjoy a good combing after a shower to distribute the sebum as well--really keeps the baby hairs from making that stupid halo. But combing every day also leads to frizz because it kept separating all the individual hairs, so aside from post-shower oiling, I'm finger-comb only.

[rowie]

My hair is in that "almost wavy but not quite straight" no-man's-land, as my hair type denotes. I love how it's ridiculously strong and thick, but I haaaaaaaate all the frizz. It also tangles whenever I look at it wrong, it dries easily, and it's ridiculously heavy, so I can't use buns anymore at mid-back length. In fact, even when it WASN'T too heavy for a bun, I still hated buns because they led to tons of breakage from my compressed hair rubbing against itself.

Luckily, braids are awesome for many things--keeping it relatively untangled and smooth, bringing out the waves, and keeping it from drying out too much.

Since commercial shampoos stripped my hair like whoa and therefore led to frizz, I've found that Dr. Bronner's-based shampoo works REALLY well to clean it without stripping. I also use almond oil and sweetgrass essential oil after a shower. I enjoy a good combing after a shower to distribute the sebum as well--really keeps the baby hairs from making that stupid halo. But combing every day also leads to frizz because it kept separating all the individual hairs, so aside from post-shower oiling, I'm finger-comb only.

Wow Sharysa I have the opposite experience as you have with braids. I feel like I get more damage with braids with some of the loose hairs and ends having friction on my shirt all day causing me to have more split ends. I have thick super coarse version of "Asian hair," but then again I'm a guy so my hair might be more frizzy... I like the nautilus bun, only takes me 10 seconds as opposed to 20 minutes of braiding my hair. :D Plus, I don't like accentuating my waves with braids so I guess maybe that is why I also prefer to wear buns. My hair is heavy but I use hair sticks to help distribute the weight of my bun.

[veyron]

I feel like this thread was made for me. Does anyone have tips for frizzy and flyaway hair?

[Sharysa]

Wow Sharysa I have the opposite experience as you have with braids. I feel like I get more damage with braids with some of the loose hairs and ends having friction on my shirt all day causing me to have more split ends. I have thick super coarse version of "Asian hair," but then again I'm a guy so my hair might be more frizzy... I like the nautilus bun, only takes me 10 seconds as opposed to 20 minutes of braiding my hair. :D Plus, I don't like accentuating my waves with braids so I guess maybe that is why I also prefer to wear buns. My hair is heavy but I use hair sticks to help distribute the weight of my bun.

Yay for entirely conflicting stories of Asian Hair maintenance! (Filipino-American. :D ) I think my hair hates complete buns so much because it has to support its own weight; braids and half-up hairstyles are fine since they're supported by either my torso or the lower half of my hair, and it seems that braided buns hold up great as well.

[leslissocool]

Yay for entirely conflicting stories of Asian Hair maintenance! (Filipino-American. :D ) I think my hair hates complete buns so much because it has to support its own weight; braids and half-up hairstyles are fine since they're supported by either my torso or the lower half of my hair, and it seems that braided buns hold up great as well.

My hair does great with braids too.

[alyaziaaah]

Mayflower,
I don't think this is from henna or indigo, yes henna makes hair stronger but I henna since a year every 3 weeks and have not noticed any big change in thickness. But I changed my diet and I had a lot of new hair growing in. So I think it's either from a different diet like high protein versa high carbs or hormonal? Either way, your hair is wooonnnnderfuuuul!
I hope it will always stay so thick:joy:

[rowie]

I've been using Wen for three weeks now. I think my coarse hairs loves it, but my hair is still not soft. It is however smooth and more manageable.

[Sharysa]

Bumping this thread because it just needs more love. Also, does anyone else feel irked whenever people compare coarse hair to dog fur or wire? SO MANY PEOPLE say that, even on LHC.

1) What's wrong with dog fur? My dog's fur is pretty much like people's hair, and fur in general is pretty soft to begin with.

2) What kind of hair do they think people with huge braids/buns have? Sure, people can definitely have fine as well as thick hair, but usually it's people with coarse hair who have the gigantic head-eating buns or braids that everyone likes to gush over.

3) It's just interesting to me that having a "wiry build" is neutral to positive, but having "wiry hair" is mostly negative.

[trolleypup]

Bumping this thread because it just needs more love. Also, does anyone else feel irked whenever people compare coarse hair to dog fur or wire? SO MANY PEOPLE say that, even on LHC.

1) What's wrong with dog fur? My dog's fur is pretty much like people's hair, and fur in general is pretty soft to begin with.

2) What kind of hair do they think people with huge braids/buns have? Sure, people can definitely have fine as well as thick hair, but usually it's people with coarse hair who have the gigantic head-eating buns or braids that everyone likes to gush over.

3) It's just interesting to me that having a "wiry build" is neutral to positive, but having "wiry hair" is mostly negative.
If I slap you with my coarse wiry dog fur, it is going to sting!

And, I'll take horse mane or tail as a compliment!

[leslissocool]

It's odd for me because I don't actually have a giant bun, my pony is thick ii/iii but my hair compresses together ( and well it's oiled, always) and as I grow it really is looking quite straight ( I'm flirting with the idea of wrapping it).

My hair isn't soft, but it's really IMO closer to horse hair then dog hair. Cat hair is reay fine so that's out of the question.

I often get annoyed at people expecting me to have soft hair, or say it's not " that rough" when IRL it's freaking rough. I see it as the price I pay for extra strength in hair. I wouldn't trade with DH his fine hair, it's too hard to grow ( slow growth rate) and so fragile. Feels awesome though, and like silk for sure, but I'd rather keep my hair. I understand it's been an issue with certain people but I guess I remember how awesome everyone thought my hair was growing up because it IS coarse. Ultrabella comes to my mind as an example.

[Sharysa]

My hair is iii/iv, and it barely compresses. :P

I'm Filipino in a very Asian-heavy population (San Francisco Bay Area, yay), and about half of the population has coarse hair, so I spent most of my life not really thinking much about it. I was really surprised in recent years to find that a lot of Caucasians viewed coarse hair like they do.

People actually think my hair is soft, but that's probably because I've been taking care of it properly with oils and constant braiding. Plus, the soft-hair comments have all come from my minority friends with the same type of hair anyway, so it's probably soft in comparison to other people's hair. When my hair gets knotted, hoo boy--it's like titanium.

[leslissocool]

Yup you definitively have a LOT of hair! Mine isn't really that much, rather each strand is thick, I think I fit in ii when I shed, pony is 4 inches but it variates.

Caucasian hair isn't very coarse IMO as a norm and out of my family my hair is the coarsest/ darkest/ most texture aside from a curly, most of my family has straight fine hair. My hair really stood out! To the point where everyone expects my longhair and my family really encourage it. I remember aunts and uncles asking me how I got my hair to be so shiny and pretty, so in my head coarse hair equals great hair, the softness comments make sense to me because often other people's hair was dramatically softer ( my brothers and sister, now DH and my son). My daughter gets a lot of the same hair comments, her hair is coarse too but light ( ash brown/bleaches blonde in the sun) and around not many have hair that feels like hers, most little kids with her hair length have very soft fluffy hair while hers is a bit different. It's also IMO a lot easier to grow out!

[mira-chan]

Yup you definitively have a LOT of hair! Mine isn't really that much, rather each strand is thick, I think I fit in ii when I shed, pony is 4 inches but it variates.

Caucasian hair isn't very coarse IMO as a norm and out of my family my hair is the coarsest/ darkest/ most texture aside from a curly, most of my family has straight fine hair. My hair really stood out! To the point where everyone expects my longhair and my family really encourage it. I remember aunts and uncles asking me how I got my hair to be so shiny and pretty, so in my head coarse hair equals great hair, the softness comments make sense to me because often other people's hair was dramatically softer ( my brothers and sister, now DH and my son). My daughter gets a lot of the same hair comments, her hair is coarse too but light ( ash brown/bleaches blonde in the sun) and around not many have hair that feels like hers, most little kids with her hair length have very soft fluffy hair while hers is a bit different. It's also IMO a lot easier to grow out!

I have probably similar hair to yours, thickness and texture. It compresses a lot, somewhere around 4" and wavy, mine is a touch straighter probably. The only thing it also "antisocial" as it looks like there is no weight to it and fluffs up unless I do a full curly routine and then it feels gunky. Can't win. Other that that fluffiness, my relative and family friends give me the same type of encouragement, and it is in no way soft hair. I don't think anyone it my family has fine hair. It's all medium to coarser than mine (dad).

[cooklaezo13]

My hair is mostly coarse, with some medium and fine strands. I pretty much only find split ends in the fine hairs, so I do think coarse hair is easier to grow out. Happy growing!

[trolleypup]

Sometimes I wish I had my mom's hair...super coarse...like boar bristle! She never had it longer than about shoulder length but even at that length it tried to stand up (almost straight)...

[ExpectoPatronum]

Waking this thread up because I too have coarse hair...And funnily enough I'm also from the SF Bay Area (East Bay). I'm not Asian though.

I'm team braid when it comes to updos. Buns are just too heavy and give me headaches.

I didn't realize how coarse my hair was until I shared a bathroom with someone who has medium textured hair. My strands are much thicker than hers.

Personally, I don't view coarse hair as a negative thing. It just means my hair is nice and strong :)

[Wosie]

Yep, I have coarse hair too and I'm on the fence regarding whether I like 'em or not... I don't like their wiry appearance a whole lot, I have to admit that, but at the same time they can go through a whole lot more turmoil than fine hair can, and coming out practically unscathed on the other side. :) Not that I ever put my hair through chemical treatments or heat applications, but I scratch my head ~20 minutes every day and have lost lots of hair in the process (I claw at my scalp, as it itches so much at times). I think the damage would've been far greater had I had fine hair.

So I won't complain. %D Some days I just wish my hair were silky, but it is how it is.

[chen bao jun]

I've got coarse hair.
I'm black and I have hypercurly hair (3c) and its not unheard of but its unusual to be black and have coarse hair, not super super fine. Hairdressers never knew what to do with me when I was in the black community because coarse hair is so resistant and they had no experience with hair that you could put all kinds of strong product on,and it would never change or hardly change texture. They were used to just looking at curl pattern and I don't have as much curl as many blacks, so they would get frustrated and angry and actually hostile, when they realized the (relative) lack of curl didn't make it easy to process--because its so coarse.
I think this was good for me, though, because since I always suffered at hairdressers, my instinct was always not to go to them and just leave it alone. My hair LOVES to be left alone and immediately starts misbehaving when you start experimenting.
My dad and his whole side of the family though all have very coarse hair, as well as extreme high density (thick).
the challenge before LHC was always the dryness, most of all. I am so glad that that is solved now. My hair actually feels nice when its moisturized. When its dry, its feel like straw, really awful. It never ever feels 'soft' though. When its moisturized, it feel slippy and silky (though its not at all slippery) and smooth, but never soft. Especially not compared to other black people. I always think of my mom as having more 'typical' African type hair (insofar as there is such a thing). Her hair is soooooo soft. You could keep playing in it forever, it just feels so good. Unfortunately, it also breaks really easily, so you really shouldn't play in it.
I was with my best friend from high school, who is Chinese, last month. She was telling me that no one else has hair as coarse as Chinese. I was like, lets see. When my hair was pulled straight so that you couldn't see the curls in it, there was no difference in thickness of the strand. And hers is black and mine is black, even she couldn't tell which was whose.
My hair never gets split ends, and can take an enormous amount of punishment. At one point, I had the strongest relaxer that was possible in there (so strong that I actually regularly had scabs and burns on my scalp from for weeks after my hair was 'done'); I was blowdrying it on the highest heat when I washed it, then flat ironing at a high head and then curling it up with a hot curling iron. Like every day. Well, the hot curling iron was every day. and I used to flat iron a lot without bothering to rewash, Having already flat ironed. And it felt like straw--but it was brastrap length and humongously thick. I realize now that it was fried and damaged, but if you were to look at the photos of it, you really can't tell. And I did this for like, 20 years.
Of course it wasn't growing past bra-strap--but I should have been bald.
I have never colored or bleached my hair, but every other kind of abuse out there, its taken.
and the joke is--I was doing all that, and my hair still was not really changing. I was using the huge amounts of high heat in different forms because if I didn't constantly keep this up, my hair would just go back to its natural curl.
Like I said, I might as well leave it alone, it does not pay to fight with it. It wins every time.

[mrs_coffee]

Hairdressers never knew what to do with me when I was in the black community because coarse hair is so resistant and they had no experience with hair that you could put all kinds of strong product on,and it would never change or hardly change texture. They were used to just looking at curl pattern and I don't have as much curl as many blacks, so they would get frustrated and angry and actually hostile, when they realized the (relative) lack of curl didn't make it easy to process--because its so coarse.
I think this was good for me, though, because since I always suffered at hairdressers, my instinct was always not to go to them and just leave it alone. My hair LOVES to be left alone and immediately starts misbehaving when you start experimenting.

I am Jewish by birth and have M/C hair that gets kinky and wild if I don't give it enough moisture. I'm adopted and everyone else in my family had this silky, shiny, straight hair. My mom was at a total loss with what to do with mine, so she kept it cropped short. I never learned to care for it myself until high school when a friend introduced me to shea butter. It still took me until I was nearly 40 to get brave enough to grow it out and I'm still learning to deal with the texture, but I've learned to love my coarse/kinky/wavy/curly hair. And like you said above, chen bao jun, the more I leave it alone the better it looks and feels and the easier it is to manage.

[chen bao jun]

Shea butter is great! Glad you found it mrs-coffee. I actually make a mixture where I whip shea and cocoa butter together with a little coconut oil and love that even more.
My mom had no idea what to do with my hair, either, haha. that's why it first ended up straightened. My father (who has the same hair) kept saying, just leave it alone--he was absolutely right.

[Hele]

i'll join the thread, i'm a coarse hair. I put M/C when i first joined the site and just never bothered to change it, there's a few medium hairs but the vast majority is coarse. My hair is definitely indestructible...i used to bleach it, heat style it, leave it down all the time, never oil it, and rip rough combs through it and it grew every bit as fast and thick as it does now that i take care of it. It feels better now though, oil has really made a difference in it. It makes it *almost* soft, less straw-like, and it encourages the waviness. And i use a lot of oil, i alternate between olive and avocado and then use a bit of mineral oil over that. The only people i've met with hair like mine are my dad and his family, they're native american (i'm 42%). For some reason the women on that side of the family all had short hair but the men all kept their hair in waist length braids.