Weird Ends, Sleep Styles, and a Milestone

[Spitfire]

Hello, LHC. I come in need of advice... and to announce my BSL milestone. It's been some years since I've had hair down past my shoulder blades, I forgot how great it feels and how much easier it gets to put up at this length. At APL my hair had a habit of escaping any and every style.

So, to business.

Problem 1:
They're not there all the time, but every few days or so I end up with wrinkles and bends at the ends of my hair. Just the bottom 0.5" or so, I haven't seen any of them further up than that. The rest of the hair shaft looks fine. I realize these could be trimmed off easily, and I did perform a microtrim/dusting and I had been S&Ding some of them, but then they also seem to disappear if I wash and condition, as if they were never there in the first place.

In other words, they go away if I wash/condition even if I don't trim them off, so I quit S&Ding them a couple weeks ago and let it go to see what happened.

Same pattern - they go away when I wash/condition....... but now I've discovered that they only re-appear after I've slept on my hair (loose), and some mornings they appear worse than others. Is this actual damage, or is this just from sleeping on my hair?
Do I need to keep S&Ding them, or is that a fruitless effort?

For background - I frequently wear my hair in a cinnamon type bun. I always use soft fabric/scrunchy type ties to secure my hair up. I never use heat, and I avoid wet handling. The bun might be a culprit for weakened ends if I'm not securing them right, but I took a break from the bun and I still wake up with the wrinkled ends every other morning or so. Again, they disappear if I wash/condition or even just wet the offending area.


Problem 2:
This stems off from my other problem. What is the general consensus for sleep styles these days, anyway? Are braids helpful or damaging? Anyone have suggestions for sleep buns? Should I just keep sleeping with my hair loose and just wet the wrinkled ends down in the morning and spritz with leave-in and go on with my day?


Thanks for stopping by. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[embee]

Congratulations on the milestone. Yes, longer is easier to put up.

I usually wear a topknot for sleeping.I have a 2-tine rather short hairfork that works well for this (tines pointing forwards, to avoid holes in the pillowcase). If my hair is damp I put it in a low pony which usually dries by morning.

I've never had problem 1, but I'd suggest just dampen the bent parts and go on with the day.

[SandyBottom]

Congrats on BSL! For problem 1, I wonder if the bends and wrinkles might be caused by where the scrunchy holds the bun, just from the slight pressure? If you wanted to test this theory, you could try a different method such as a satin bonnet or pillowcase. For problem 2, I use a satin bonnet and pillowcase with hair loose inside the bonnet. Braids wouldn't work for me, but YMMV. Pretty much tangle free and no uncomfortable bumps to sleep on. It doesn't sound like damage and I second embee's suggestion.

[The Lizard Wife]

For problem #1, my understanding from LHC osmosis is that those bent ends are normal, not damage, and can be left alone. I notice bent ends sometimes when I take down my buns, presumably because I tucked the ends into the center of my bun and then crinkled them when putting in my hairstick. As you noted, once the bent ends are washed and conditioned they disappear as the hairs recover their original shape. (Since I actually am currently doing sebum-only, I preen the ends between my fingers to try to "iron" them flat again. Mine disappear overnight, probably because I preen my sleep braid tassels like that as a stim...)

[spidermom]

I think those bent ends are caused by pressure. I get them, too. Hairs don't stay perfectly aligned in buns or while sleeping; they get scrunched up.

[angel-baby]

Thought of this threat because I woke up with weird ends today after sleeping in a braid. It hasn't happened in a long time!
I used to fully wash and dry my hair to reset it if hat happened. My ends have some bleach damage, so they hold whatever shape you put them in, weird or otherwise.
These days I just spray my hair with some leave-in conditioner, maybe add a little mousse, and scrunch it to solve the weird ends problem. But it put me off braids and buns for a longgggg time because I always got them.

Two sleep styles I like for combatting this problem are loose pineapple on top of my head under a satin bonnet (has to be a loose pineapple or I get weird, flat roots, which are more annoying to me than weird ends) or even just loose hair under a satin bonnet, with the ends lightly oiled. I still don't really do braids unless I plan to wash my hair the next day. Maybe when some more of the bleach damage is gone.