What to do about this thin, frail hair? Help!

[Eolan]

Okay, so my hair has thinned out. Alot. My ends, IMO, does not look good.

This is the longest hair I've ever had. When I had long hair before I think I got to BSL, I then normally got tired of it and cut it of. But now I really want to grow my hair long (tailbone, at least) and I'm starting to think that it's just not going to happen.

A couple of weeks ago I braided my sisters hair. My sister has very blond hair (natural color) to BSL, maybee a little longer. It's thick. I'ts healthy. It's strong. It looks great. My hair used to be just like hers, just darker. And I used to bleach it, straighten it, thin it with sissors, you name it. And my hair just kept on groing, strong, thick and healthy.

This thinning thing has gotten really bad the last six months, I think. Have not stressed more than usual, have not been sick, have not changed anything drastically. The only thing I can think of is I gave up cones about a year ago. Although I like beeing conefree in many ways, I'm starting to think that maybee I need them for strenght. My hair feels frail. That is new to me.

Met my friend for lunch today. She's a hair dresser, and she trimmed my hair like a month ago. Took of about one centimetre. Now I asked her honest opinion about it, and she said: "What do you want me to say? The ends are really thin! It wouldn't hurt to cut of some ten centimetres." When I look at it in the mirror, I think she's right. Maybee I need to cut of even moore.

So now what? I won't be able to have hair longer than BSL?

Should I cut it?
Go back to cones?
Henna?
Cassia? (Just got some in the mail, btw.)

I want to have long hair, but I want it to look good. To me, at this point, it does not.

The pictures are crappy, but those are the ones I got for now. And my hair looks better on them than in real life. They are in my album.

All opionions appreciated. Sorry about the long rant.

[ChloeDharma]

I really do sympathise! We seem to be in similar positions.
The only thing i can suggest is keeping your hair up and out of harms way most of the time, gentle handling, a decent multi vitamin and mineral supplement, henna/cassia treatments, yogurt treatments.....you could try scalp oiling with castor oil.
If you do manage to thicken up your length i'd love to hear how!
Good luck

[Eolan]

Thanks, dear. I promise to post my eventual success here. I wear it up most of the time, but I have been braiding it alot, and then put the braid up. Maybee buns would be better, if I'd get my hair to stay in them... I use Jojoba and Almond oil, Urtekram Nettle Shampoo and Urtekram Aloe Vera Condishioner. Starting to dubt this more natural regimen.

Also, my hair got bleached last summer, wich I think adds to my ends beeing tattered. I was like, "YAY, Spain! Sun, sand and sea!" Yeah.

Blah, I need ice cream.

[spidermom]

Did you grow for a long time without trimming? If so, your ends may gradually become thicker if you get regular small trims.

If you have been getting regular trims, the thinning may be because of how your hair grows. For some people, it seems that the majority of hairs do not grow for very many years before they shed out, therefore those hairs don't have time to get very long. The longest hairs represent the few that you have with a longer life cycle.

I don't know of any way to re-set your follicles other than optimizing your health in other ways - getting enough exercise and rest, drinking enough water, eating a healthy diet that gives you the protein, vitamins, and minerals that you need.

I don't think that cones will help. For a lot of people, they make hair appear even thinner. Cassia might help. Don't try henna unless you want red-orange hair (which goes more burgandy with repeated applications).

I hope you find a way to enjoy your hair.

[Eolan]

Well, I sort of did grow for a long time with very few trims. Think I trimmed once this year, and twice last year. Might have been one or two more, but I don't think so... So, yes, that could be a part of it. The irony is I didn't think I needed to trim more often, nor did my hair dresser.

I have a fairly balanced diet, I exercise and take supplements. I know cones are bad for many people in many ways, but my hair never ever felt thin when I used them.

Will try a cassia/shikakai treatment and hope that will give some effect.

Thank you for your input, spidermom. I'm sure all of you on this forum will make me happy about my hair again, eventually.

[got2pals]

My 2 cents worth: I have fine hair too. Sometimes the ends really just seem to disappear. When it gets that way, I get it "wet" with olive oil, leave it in for a while, and wash it out twice (soap before water on the first wash). Voila, my ends reappear! With fine hair, especially "stressed hair" from sun and fun, etc. you get snapping/breakage and tangles leading to more breakage -- am I right? There's a good article in the "articles" section on whether your hair needs protein or moisture and how to tell. Good place to start.
About the snapping off of end-hair though, just a dab of "cone" can really smooth down the hair shaft so you don't get as much breakage and hair loss. You might have a conditioner that works well for this already. A tiny dab of oil helps detangle too, if you're really anti-cone. It seems to me that I really need to get my hair detangled or more falls out and it breaks more and for me, this means sometimes I must use some cones. One trick I learned here is to condition my hair and then comb it very, very gently in the shower with a wide-toothed comb. Then squeeze it dry. Very little hair loss, and very little tangle or snapping. Love it. Good luck.

[haibane]

Since no one has mentioned it yet, you might want to get your thyroid levels checked, just to be sure that's not a factor.

Other than that, your hair sounds a bit similar to mine. I found catnip soaks helps a lot with breaking and splits:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...read.php?t=476

And I went cone free for about a week, but my hair felt so fragile it scared me.
I found that even with the lighter, water soluble cones, like amodimethicone, my hair still felt fragile, so now I'm slathering a conditioner with dimethicone (Wella Normal) on my length once every three or four washes. Regular washes I CO the length, usually with amodimethicone conditioner (Fructis Nordic Hair). This way I don't get any buildup, and my hair feels very smooth and protected.
The dimethicone does make my hair a bit stringier, but for now I'll live with that in exchange for the extra protection.

[spidermom]

One thing that trimming does is hold the fastest growing hairs back a bit so that slower growing hairs have a chance to catch up. This will result in thicker ends. Of course you want to minimize damage as well so that your ends aren't breaking off.

[teela1978]

I think cones were helping to protect your ends. Couldn't hurt to go back to some moderate cone usage... I'm pretty pro cone though

[xoxophelia]

You said in your post that your hair used to be thick at BSL where as now it looks like the thinning happens above BSL. When you started to grow your hair to waist was it at or above bra strap length?

If it was a ways above it would indicate to me that the problem could be speed growing. But otherwise, while it might contribute it seems like there would be something else going on.

Perhaps mechanical damage, not using cones anymore, or thinning hair from a medical condition. Can you tell if your hair is also thinner at the scalp? Has your ponytail circumference gone down a lot? Or is it just the taper that is worse?