Brittle, breaking hair! Need recs

**archel** · July 27th, 2011, 04:05 AM

I'm having major problems with brittle hair and breakage. The henna has helped some, but not enough. I can even feel strands break when I do things like gently braiding my hair! I'm oiling and being gentle. I'd love some natural recommendations. I want the breakage to stop! Sigh...

**Alvrodul** · July 27th, 2011, 05:25 AM

Does your hair have enough moisture? My hair absolutely loves having SMTs, and that is one thing that has helped my condition a lot.
It could also be old damage - have you bleached or colored your hair, or do you use heat? That is another thing that is likely to do a lot of damage.
Also have a good look at your detangling tools. Can they inflict mechanical damage on your hair? I have come to the conclusion that the combs and brushes I used before i found LHC were very bad for my hair - I now use seamless combs, and make a point of not combing it before it is entirely dry!

**alwayssmiling** · July 27th, 2011, 05:32 AM

CO washing, leave in conditioner (a small amount of ordinary conditioner will do), no heat and sealing in moisture with a tiny amount of oil at the ends. Are you braiding too tight or using elastics?

**pixiestar** · July 27th, 2011, 06:02 AM

When my hair was breaking recently I used the avocado and evoo deep treatment. That seemed to help me

Or you could try a smt

**Meli** · July 27th, 2011, 07:37 AM

My hair is very prone to breakage so I'll list some things that have helped me:

Clarifying - I get more breakage if I have build-up so I clarify on a schedule. With my current, low-build-up washing routine I need to clarify once a month (I get build-up very easy).

Gentle handling - my hair is very sensitive to friction so gentle handling and updos is extremely important. Granted, friction causes splits and not just breakage, but I do find I have more breakage as well if I slack on the handling. I wear my hair up nearly 24/7, mostly buns in daytime, and at night I braid it and put the braids in satin pouches to protect them. I mostly detangle by fingercombing.

Protein - using protein makes my ends crunchy and breaking like mad, so I stay away from proteins. It took 3+ months before the crunchiness went away after ditching the proteins...

Oiling - I haven't really decided on this one. I find some oils make my ends crunchy and more prone to breakage. Especially coconut oil made my hair break like there was no tomorrow, and EVOO also caused breakage, although not as much as the coconut oil. Jojoba, on the other hand, made my ends quite soft when mixed with conditioner. Unfortunately, by mixing conditioner in it, I got build-up so fast that it totally defeated the point in oiling in the first place... But it might help someone who is less prone to build-up so just thought I should mention it.

Hope you'll find this helpful - my suggestion to you is clarify if you haven't already, then do some moisture treatment. Check your products for proteins and if there are any, consider trying protein-free for a while. Also, I don't know which oil you use but you might want to try a different one. Or more drastically - stop oiling altogether for a while to see if the oil causes problems or not.

**Anje** · July 27th, 2011, 08:21 AM

Check your Moisture/Protein balance and report back!

This is the description that makes the most sense to me.

(Link doesn't seem to work for me this morning... might just be me. Here's an alternative link to the same info.)

**archel** · July 27th, 2011, 05:38 PM

Actually I haven't used anything with protein in over a year (literally), so I am wondering if that is my problem! I had thought the breakage was from heat, but my virgin growth that I have not blow dried or flat ironed EVER has breakage too! So today at Marshall's I picked up a Rusk product called Cure (I am picturing Robert Smith using this after teasing and spraying the hell out of his mop top). It has protein, B vitamins, etc. It's a rinse out you use after shampoo and before conditioner, so I tried it today after my clarifying shampoo with Giovanni 50:50 Balanced and then used the Cure, and then the 50:50 conditioner, which feels amazing.

I did an SMT a few days ago and it made my hair so greasy and lanky. I did something wrong, obviously...

I am wondering if catnip might help?

**archel** · July 27th, 2011, 05:40 PM

I had stopped using any and all heat and started plopping my hair instead of scrunching. I also just put my nylon brush AWAY and may just toss it. I am off to Amazon.com right now to order some wooden combs....ONLY to be used on dry hair.

**archel** · July 27th, 2011, 05:57 PM

Oh and I am using elastics, but they have no metal. It's the only way I can put up my hair since it's not long enough for sticks yet. Sigh

**whitestiletto** · July 27th, 2011, 06:09 PM

You should get little octopus clips, I switched to them from elastics for my APL hair. I got ones about an inch long, from the drug store. I twist my hair into a bun and clip.

Also... more henna? Each time I henna my hair gets a little stronger.