The fate of the hair of a tenderheaded thickie is in your hands!

[TheWebsIWeave]

Dear members,

Even though my post title might be a bit dramatic, i am at a loss of ideas concerning my scalp. I'm sure many of you faced that problem.

In a year of growing my hair from above-chin to apl,i followed many of your advices : no heat,no heavy styling,gentle cleaning,condish...All except one,of course : the updos. Now that i am at a length i can practice with those,i start to see that my hair-journey met its' first difficulty. I forgot i was a tenderhead. A terrible,terrible one.

I learned how to do french braids,dutch braids,braid base chinese buns,lazy wrap buns,and crown braids. However wearing those,even for only a few hours give me terrific headaches i usually never have and such a sore,red scalp one can think i took a dive in a bunch of lobsters' boiling cookpot.

And to make things worse,i am prone to split ends,i believe especially because i always wear my hair loose due to my sensitive scalp.

The pain and the constant need to micro-trim make me even consider stopping trying to grow that classic-length hair i aim for nowadays.

Can anyone have any advices for these problems? :
- Very sensitive scalp that cannot stand updos
- Split ends prone hair

[Vanilla]

Have You tried sectioning your hair prior to doing updos? I like the braided Chinese bun for this reason. I almost always have to split my updos in 2 now because of my current length and thickness.

I even split cinnabuns now too. I make two ponytails and twirl them around one another.

[pink.sara]

The advice about sectioning helps.
But I find I can't wear the same updo for a whole day at work because it will cause a headache. I get around this by remaking updos in different styles/ places on my scalp every hour or so.
The longer it gets the easier this will become.

And I can't help with the splits as I don't really get them, sorry.

[pink.sara]

*Double post sorry.

[Vanilla]

For the split ends, I find that cassia treatments and mineral oil has helped my splits a lot. I still wear my hair up most days and nights.

[Madora]

Split ends can be caused by lack of moisture in your hair.

Here's ktani's article on the benefits of mineral oil to help your hair stay moisturized:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=225

You might also want to investigate catnip rinses for split ends:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=118

Tenderhead trouble:

Your scalp has to adjust itself gradually to updos. The follicles are used to your strands being drawn in one direction. When that direction is changed, your roots will object and your scalp will HURT. Same thing happens when you change your part.

Also, the shortness of your hair might be working against you, especially if you pull those hairs up and too tightly.

If you're still interested in doing updos, then try wearing them for short periods. As your roots adjust, lengthen the time you keep a style in place. Say, start with one hour up for a few days. If you find your scalp can tolerate that, then increase it to 90 minutes...and so forth, over a month's time.

You also might try sectioning, which distributes your hair more comfortably.

[catamonica]

I wear a low braided bun. I don't like updos near my scalp. The low braided bun is very comfortable.

[lapushka]

Since you're only at APL, there still is no need really to wear your hair up, so I wouldn't bother doing updos just yet. Your hair might also be too thick to wear the updos well, meaning you're having to pull the updos tighter than normal to be able to wear them. I'd focus on growing some more first before attempting more updos. Wear it loose and don't worry.

As far as the splits go, you could try microtrimming. There's a whole entire thread dedicated to this practice:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=75468&highlight=microtrimming

[bunzfan]

I would try twin braids so the weight of your hair is distributed better.

[jacqueline101]

I like an old fashion snood it has a head band and bag that the hair rest in you could try it.

[Tisiloves]

Have you tried plaiting and pining? Just plait as small as you need for it to be comfy and then flip them up and pin them, as they become uncomfortable just unpin and move.

[SongofLove]

If you're still interested in doing updos, then try wearing them for short periods. As your roots adjust, lengthen the time you keep a style in place. Say, start with one hour up for a few days. If you find your scalp can tolerate that, then increase it to 90 minutes...and so forth, over a month's time.

You also might try sectioning, which distributes your hair more comfortably.

This is great advice! My scalp used to hurt in less than an hour, and when people told me to gradually increase the updo time, I was like "Pffft, I don't think the hurting will go away..." but it really does! I guess the scalp eventually adjusts to updos.

[Madora]

This is great advice! My scalp used to hurt in less than an hour, and when people told me to gradually increase the updo time, I was like "Pffft, I don't think the hurting will go away..." but it really does! I guess the scalp eventually adjusts to updos.

Glad that it worked for you, SongofLove! It may be a little tedious at first, having to experiment with leaving it up..little by little...but if you're bound and determined to create updos, the slow introductions really help.

Or, if you're a glutton for punishment, you can just wear it up and grin and bear the scalp pain for how ever many days it takes your follicles to adjust. Didn't work for me. I could hardly bear to touch my scalp.