Hair Breakage Advice

[Knotted]

I'm getting a little discouraged, even though I know it takes awhile to find a good hair routine that gels with your hair (pun intended).

It's been one year since I started taking pictures of my hair, and I think it looks worse than it did a year ago. There's a lot more breakage at the spot where I pull my hair back (and I feel like it's growing sooo slowly). I used to wear my hair down all the time, but now I wear it up almost every day using hair sticks. Here I am trying to protect my hair and I think it made it worse. :( Is it possible my hair is too fragile to wear up every day as that causes breakage? That sounds silly to me, but I don't know what to think.

Any advice would be helpful. Thank you! (For more details on my hair routine, check out my profile or just ask!)

[Madora]

I'm getting a little discouraged, even though I know it takes awhile to find a good hair routine that gels with your hair (pun intended).

It's been one year since I started taking pictures of my hair, and I think it looks worse than it did a year ago. There's a lot more breakage at the spot where I pull my hair back (and I feel like it's growing sooo slowly). I used to wear my hair down all the time, but now I wear it up almost every day using hair sticks. Here I am trying to protect my hair and I think it made it worse. :( Is it possible my hair is too fragile to wear up every day as that causes breakage? That sounds silly to me, but I don't know what to think.

Any advice would be helpful. Thank you! (For more details on my hair routine, check out my profile or just ask!)

Definitely stop pulling your hair back tightly since you're experiencing a lot of damage.

Ditto for when you wear your hair up at night..it should not be tight. There should be some "give" to the style so that the hairs are not being pulled tightly.

Have you tried gentle scalp massage every day? Do you eat healthy? Have you tried hair supplements?

How do you brush or comb your hair? Do you do it daily? Are you using nylon or brushes with nubs on the ends?

It's hard to give a comprehensive diagnosis with the facts provided. I hope you find a solution to dilemma soon.

[Nightshade]

There's an article on damaged hair in my signature that'll cover just about everything I'd tell you :) Give it a read, I'm sure you can turn it around :flowers:

[heidi w.]

I have found that oiling makes my hair super soft and shiny, and actually helps a little bit with detangling. Have you tried oiling?

I have done it, wearing hair up at night, but I cannot advocate it. You may fair better if you sleep on a satin, sateen or polyester pillowcase or use a satin sleep cap at night. The fabric that allows hair to slide during the night and somewhat mitigates tangles. When you get hair as long as mine, hair up is a lot of weight all day long, wrankles the capillaries and can cause headaches, and if you sleep with it loose and "down" this allows the hair to lie in its growth pattern and thus relax. Wearing hair up during the day should not otherwise pose a problem unless you're experiencing pulling or sliding or listing of the bun to one side or the other which can happen when using certain kind of clamps such as I experienced with claw clips and ficcares. It took me a while to get good with hairsticks, but I eventually mastered it. You do need a certain amount of firmness when creating an updo; however, overly tightly pulling the hair can contribute to other problems such as headaches, too much hair loss or shedding, and general irritation.

Things to consider. I hope you find your answer.
heidi w.

[Knotted]

Thanks for the quick replies :) I really appreciate it! I'm starting to suspect I may put my hair up while it's still too damp. While this makes updos stay up longer, I'm starting to suspect I'm pulling/twisting my hair too tight in the process. Darn slippery hair!

Madora:
- I do wear my hair in a loose braid at night and twice a week in high top knot. I'll forgo the top knots and continue with the braids and see how that goes.
- I don't scalp massage every day, but I do eat pretty healthy and take a women's daily vitamin plus Omega 3 every day (though that's mostly for my eyes). Do scalp massage really increase growth? I do love having my head massaged, but haven't read about it.
- To comb my hair, I only use a wooden comb from the Body Shop and my fingers and am very gentle with detangling.

Nightshade: thank you for the article, I'll take a read through it this afternoon :)

Heidi W.:
- I do use EVOO almost every night. I think I may need to branch out on different oils to try. I wish they weren't so expensive!
- I've thought about getting a nice satin pillowcase, I just feel bad getting one when I have so many others (I know that's a little weird!)
- Not to highjack my own tread, but I enjoyed watching your new YouTube video this morning!

[QMacrocarpa]

- I do use EVOO almost every night. I think I may need to branch out on different oils to try. I wish they weren't so expensive!
There are some other oils that aren't terribly pricey if you want to branch out without breaking the bank. :) I've recently been using almond oil that I got at Whole Foods in the cooking oils section. I store most of it in the fridge. For me it's working about as well as jojoba (which I like), and it's significantly cheaper.

[Knotted]

QMacrocarpa - Thank you for the suggestion! I'll pick up some almond oil when I go grocery shopping this weekend :)

[3mily]

I very nearly posted this same question as my first contribution to this site...but for a few reasons was too nervous to start a thread. My hair is BSL and was lovely until I started playing with hair forks..I never had a problem when I wore ponytails even in the same place every day but a week of experimentation with a hair fork left me with a patch of broken hair on the back of my head.

Thinking about it, I know I'm the type of person who can't do anything like make a bun, a braid or even knit or sew, without pulling super tight. While I wasn't pulling my roots tight ....(an earlier experience with traction alopecia cured me of that) I was still making my length into twists and buns that were as tight asmy hands could force them to go...and then trying to push the fork through a completely solid roll of hair.

It sounds really stupid written down and I've some damage to grow out now but I grew my hair just so I could wear sticks and forks so I'm learning to loosen up and do twists and buns with enough 'give' in them to allow my fork to go between the hairs and not straight through them. It isn't proving easy...

[Nightshade]

I very nearly posted this same question as my first contribution to this site...but for a few reasons was too nervous to start a thread. My hair is BSL and was lovely until I started playing with hair forks..I never had a problem when I wore ponytails even in the same place every day but a week of experimentation with a hair fork left me with a patch of broken hair on the back of my head.

Thinking about it, I know I'm the type of person who can't do anything like make a bun, a braid or even knit or sew, without pulling super tight. While I wasn't pulling my roots tight ....(an earlier experience with traction alopecia cured me of that) I was still making my length into twists and buns that were as tight asmy hands could force them to go...and then trying to push the fork through a completely solid roll of hair.

It sounds really stupid written down and I've some damage to grow out now but I grew my hair just so I could wear sticks and forks so I'm learning to loosen up and do twists and buns with enough 'give' in them to allow my fork to go between the hairs and not straight through them. It isn't proving easy...

It's harder to do looser styles when your hair is shorter (by LHC standards). I'd stay once you're past BSL and towards waist it gets a LOT easier and updos stay up with a lot less tension.

[Madora]

Thanks for the quick replies :) I really appreciate it! I'm starting to suspect I may put my hair up while it's still too damp. While this makes updos stay up longer, I'm starting to suspect I'm pulling/twisting my hair too tight in the process. Darn slippery hair!

Madora:
- I do wear my hair in a loose braid at night and twice a week in high top knot. I'll forgo the top knots and continue with the braids and see how that goes.
- I don't scalp massage every day, but I do eat pretty healthy and take a women's daily vitamin plus Omega 3 every day (though that's mostly for my eyes). Do scalp massage really increase growth? I do love having my head massaged, but haven't read about it.
- To comb my hair, I only use a wooden comb from the Body Shop and my fingers and am very gentle with detangling.

Nightshade: thank you for the article, I'll take a read through it this afternoon :)

Heidi W.:
- I do use EVOO almost every night. I think I may need to branch out on different oils to try. I wish they weren't so expensive!
- I've thought about getting a nice satin pillowcase, I just feel bad getting one when I have so many others (I know that's a little weird!)
- Not to highjack my own tread, but I enjoyed watching your new YouTube video this morning!

knotted, I think you should wait until your hair has dried completely before working with it in updos. Hair is at its weakest when it is wet.

Scalp massage does help with blood circulation around the follicles..provided you do it consistently and gently. I have no idea whether it aids in hair growth, but it is definitely good for your overall hair health.

[Five of Five]

I see that you have straight, fine hair - is your hair very silky / slippery? If so, that may be why you need to tie your hair back so tightly in order to get it to stay up.

If that is the case, going cone-free can help it to stay put in a bun or braid. Also, certain hair toys and styles hold slippery hair better than others, such as loose french braids, and braided buns with flexis or spin pins. Just be careful when taking them out for the day. Otherwise, you could just tie your hair loosely and redo it every time it falls out.

[torrilin]

I'd say there's several factors.

You used to use a blow dryer, so you're still growing out heat damage. On fine hair, that's going to be somewhat hellish and involve some breakage. And it's going to take a few years. BSL is about 27" on me, and it took me at least 4 years to do.

You're a finey. Fine hair breaks easier. This means it needs really gentle handling. You'll notice some ladies here are very enthusiastic about claw clips or beak clips as hair friendly toys. I view them as hair eating monsters to be used with great care, because like it or not, my fine floaty hair will get caught in the spring. It'll also get caught on rough spots on a comb, in my clothes, on my glasses, in my TEETH... if there's a crevice, my hair is dying to get stuck there.

Just to make that more awesome, you're fine and straightish. That means your hair tends to be slippery. The logical reaction to slippery is to do your styles tighter and tighter and tighter, trying to make it stay. This is wrong. It's better to have things a bit looser, and instead of having the style tight, have the anchor be almost sewn into your hair. A lot of times you'll see advice to use smaller tools on fine hair. This is also wrong usually. A roller pin or a 3" u pin or a spin pin is going to work better than a bobby pin. (otoh, a wood hair fork may be too large or heavy for your hair for some time)

Wet hair definitely holds better. Instead of swearing off wet styling, USE IT. Do things wet and a bit looser. A style that stays up all day and is handled once is much better than one that falls down 5 times in a day.

For most of us, 3 styles that we can do blindfolded are plenty for protecting our hair. You don't have to be great at it, just able to get it safely out of your way. Just swap things around so your hair is worn up most of the time, and it's not always in the same style in the same spot on your head. For years I got by with plain English braids, ponytails and cinnabuns. Are those the greatest protective styles ever? No. But I could do them, and I *would* do them and then I didn't fuss with my hair.

[Knotted]

torrilin, I completely understand about hair getting caught in everything!

Thanks everyone for the advice! I'm going to try several of your ideas and hopefully for my two year anniversary I'll have more growth, less breakage, and be happier with my hair :)