Breakage or new growth?

[imaroo]

Help! How can I tell if frizz is from breakage or new growth? Is there some tell-tale sign that it's breakage that I should be aware of?

I have to admit I'm completely stumped. My hair has been a mass of frizz for about three years now. I'm not sure if it's new growth, and my hair type (which I'm clueless about) is causing the new growth to be unruly; or if it's breakage. How can I tell? Is there some tell-tale sign that it's breakage that I should be aware of?

If it's breakage I don't know what more I can do to prevent it. My hair is very fine. Even if I carefully try to pluck one hair, more often than not it just breaks instead of coming out. This is not from a lack of protein or anything like that. My hair is as strong and healthy as it can be. Moisture and protein balance is good. I've done several half hour S&D sessions and have only found three split ends.

I rarely wear pony tails. I sleep with a satin pillowcase. I don't use brushes. I use a wooden comb. I blowdry on low heat half the time, and let it air dry the other half of the time. I wear my hair up in braids more often than I wear it down. I'm very gentle with it. Antique lace and all that.

I've tried sulfate free, cone free, cones, honey, coconut oil, olive oil, co washes, I've clarified, I don't have hard water so probably not much benefit to chelating. The ONLY way I've found to tame my frizzies is to blow dry on high using a large round brush or a paddle brush. Well, I haven't done that for at least three years and I'm not about to start now.

I'm starting to think that this isn't the breakage I have assumed it was, but just new growth. But why is it such a huge halo around my head? I always thought my hair was maybe a 1b, but the better care I take and the longer it gets, the more wave I see. Could I just have typed my hair wrong and it's some waviness that's causing the frizz?

[neko_kawaii]

New growth will have tapered ends. Hope that sheds some light on what is going on.

[imaroo]

You can seriously see that kind of detail on hair??? Mine are so fine I can't imagine being able to tell. My impression is that they taper, but I really can't tell for sure.

Maybe my old lady eyes are the problem and I should get a microscope.

[imaroo]

Oh.

I just had a friend with better eyesight look. she said they taper.

yay. So, does this mean I'm just stuck with frizz?

[jacqueline101]

New growth is tapered.

[lapushka]

What could be useful is letting us hairtype your hair. Shampoo it, condition it (or not), then don't touch it and let it airdry.

[imaroo]

Yes, that would definitely be helpful if I could ever get around to posting a picture. I will do that soon because I'd very much like the help!

[Khristopher]

Yep, new growth has tappered ends, breakage looks like recently cut hair, you may even find a white dot at the end. How long is you hair? About your pattern changing, it's totally normal when you let your hair grow. Mine for example was kinda wavy until collarbone length, then it was just straight with some movement. If your's getting wavy, it could explain shorter hairs sticking out.

[Anje]

Sounds like new growth. Which means your hair is probably at least wavy, if not curly. It's amazing how many curlies start out thinking they have straight hair and frizz.

Hairtyping photos would definitely be welcome, if you're comfortable posting them.

[TiffanieJean]

I’m going through the exact same thing… I have fine hair and a lot of breakage and new growth (the bottom 1/3 of my hair is around shoulder to BS length and the rest is lower waist length with a lot of new growth at the crown/temple area). It looks healthy, but it’s so weak that I can’t even wear a side braid without breakage… I made a post last week on here to try to figure out something I was doing wrong. I started CO washing last week and I have seen a small improvement in my hair already. Have you tried CO washing?

It sounds like you have new growth. I was just S&D’ing earlier and it’s really hard to tell if the end is tapered with my hair too. If you are in the sunlight it really helps. Inside - almost impossible.