My weird hair... (long but with pics)

yamilee21

Well-Known Member
My hair... (long)

I've been taking some ideas here and there from this forum to start taking better care of my hair, but I'm wondering if one of my problems is that I might be all wrong about what it needs because my hair isn't really what I think it is. :perplexed I washed on Thursday morning with the Trader Joe's shampoo and conditioned with Fructis Garnier Wonder Waves, and then since I had to go out in a hurry, I made a wet bun, with no product whatsoever. When I returned, I was thinking about texture, and that "real" texture is dry hair without any products. I have not let my hair dry completely without any products in at least 25 years, so I decided to let it air dry, loose, because it takes 24+ hours to air dry in braids or twists. This is what it looked like on Friday morning:

I don't think I have many curls or waves at all, just poofy frizz. (What is poofy frizz on the hair type chart anyway? :lol:) Each individual strand seems to be doing its own thing, going its own way. Here is a closer look at the texture:

The roots are flat and straight-ish. A lot of my relatives with the same kind of hair I have keep it exactly one inch long, and now that I am paying attention, I can understand why... beyond one inch, all h*ll breaks loose, :lol:.

I did an avocado and olive oil treatment, and even went under the dryer for about 30 minutes. I was only going to wash with conditioner, but the avocado would not come out, so I ended up doing a "wash" with the Trader Joe's conditioner, then one with the TJ shampoo, and ending with the TJ conditioner. This is how it looked soaking wet, before drying with a towel:

Since I have not straightened since early October, I decided to blow dry. I used Phytodefrisant Bontanical Relaxing Balm, separated my hair into 5 sections and for the first time, tried the Redken Heat Glide that some of you rave about. Then I did something completely new for me, that I would never have thought of without this board - I dried on "low cool" instead of "high medium" ("high hot" causes short-circuiting). "Low cool" naturally took much longer than "high medium" but I resisted the temptation to use more heat for quicker results. I did not get my hair completely straight, but since it was humid and going to revert immediately anyway, it was good enough. I put a little more of the Redken and some jojoba oil afterward. Any moisturizer will cause instant reversion, and I wanted to at least be able to get a picture first. I haven't had my hair trimmed since last May, so I expected really uneven ends, but it was not as bad as I expected.

I know you all are thinking I have nothing to complain about, but I do... my ends are disgusting! I have the worst case of splits ends ever. I was cutting them off as I was blow drying, but kept finding more and more. Right after I took that picture, I cut off about 1 1/2 inches, hoping to get rid of most of the split ends. I slept with two braids. When I combed my hair out this morning, I still found more split ends, sometimes 3-6 inches up. :( This is the longest my hair has ever been since childhood, and I would really hate to have to cut off six inches of it. I was about MBL at age 9, and then my hair basically got "stuck" at BSL for the next 25 years (I was sporadically relaxed from age 12-20, and stopped relaxing, very slowly trimming off the relaxed ends). My hair finally seemed to gain length with my pregnancies (and lack of attention) in the past few years. I rarely straighten, and shrink to about APL, so it is hard to give up the length. I've been paying more attention to the ends since joining this site, but I'm bummed at their pitiful state.
 
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First of all, I can only say, Wow! Your hair is beautiful.

Honestly from the photos, I don't see an ends problem. If you still feel like you have splits, just cut them gradually, meaning a little each month or so. That way you can maintain your length, while slowly getting rid of the splits. I definitely wouldn't chop my hair off!
 
Love it, Love it, Love it!!!

If you've got splits, etc., sure can't tell from these photos.

Love the hair! :lick::yep:
 
If your hair is weird, then weird hair is what I need, lol. It's gorgeous. I am not sure if it's true in your case, but I know my ends can look gross when I straighten. I don't think that's actually indicative of end health. But I'm not 100% sure either.

Hope it works out. :D
 
Your hair is absolutely beautiful! I like the other poster's idea about trimming a little each month or so in order to keep your length. Cutting six inches at one time is a-lot of hair.

Your hair looks like 3b to me. Your air dried pic threw me off a little, but the pic with wet hair looks like it's in the 3's.
 
... I know my ends can look gross when I straighten. I don't think that's actually indicative of end health. But I'm not 100% sure either.

My ends always look horrible when I straighten; I waste so much time searching out the split ends to cut them off. It's one of the main reasons why I don't like to straighten, :lol:. I've always been stuck on the mentality that healthy hair does not have split ends. Growing up, my mom and aunt would literally chase me around with scissors to trim my ends, and a "trim" was always at least two inches, every 4-6 months.

... Your hair looks like 3b to me. Your air dried pic threw me off a little, but the pic with wet hair looks like it's in the 3's.

:lol: The charts don't use undefined poofy frizz to illustrate 3b. Soaking wet, as in the picture, or with leave-in conditioner, gel, etc., it does look 3b/3c, and I have been assuming that it is. But it looks 4-something dry without anything, so maybe I should pay more attention to what the 4s are doing?
 
Your hair looks like "thirsty" 3b. One thing I've noticed is that dry hair reverts faster that moisturized hair. My guess is because dry hair sucks moisture out of the air because it needs it. You might also have a porosity problem. I bet if you DC w/ a moisturizing conditioner twice a week with heat and follow with a water based moisturizer and seal with a light oil your natural curl pattern would look great when dry, with a lot less poof.

Oh yeah - wow! Your hair is great. You'll figure out what it needs soon and I'll be even more jealous than I already am, lol.
 
:drool:Oh


My


Goodness!


:lovedrool: :lovedrool:


:drool: ::gorgeous: :drool:

Please give me some of that hair. I would even settle for the messed up split ends.
 
Your hair is very GORGEOUS! To prevent split ends, a lot of members put some kind of oil on their ends daily or twice a day.
 
You hair reminds me of my own. It can look like 4 when its dry with out any product. My hair its schizophrenic and doesn't know what type its want to be lol.

But your hair is gorgeous, my goal length! I have a split end/ breakage prob myself. I think it comes in the territory 3b-4 type hair. I have a hard time trying to trim them myself and it can get frustrating. I get faint of heart when i have to cut of ends and keep finding more and more. It would be nice to have someone follow you around and cut the ends lol.

Sorry if missed it...but do you wear protective styling? I'm mostly a homebody so I stay with cornrows and a satin do rag on my head. I also stopped brushing and I'm not pressing or using heat as much as I used to. This seems to help me somewhat with scraggly ends.
 
:lol: Um, is the hair in the first picture "gorgeous" too? It tends to look more like that than the last picture. :lol:

I have been sealing the ends more regularly since joining LHCF, 3-4 times a week compared to never. It's a start, right?

Your hair looks like "thirsty" 3b. One thing I've noticed is that dry hair reverts faster that moisturized hair. My guess is because dry hair sucks moisture out of the air because it needs it. You might also have a porosity problem. I bet if you DC w/ a moisturizing conditioner twice a week with heat and follow with a water based moisturizer and seal with a light oil your natural curl pattern would look great when dry, with a lot less poof.

That is so much more work than I want to do, :shocked:. :lol: I started co-washing by accident because I couldn't make time to do more with my hair. But yes, I do have very dry hair. The curl pattern shows up easily with products, but I was surprised that it disappeared completely on my "naked" hair. I have gotten some good ideas about leave-in moisturizers to try here, so hopefully I will finally find something that works long-term.

I pretty much only wear protective styles, 1-4 braids or buns. Occasionally a ponytail with the ends loose if I am going somewhere. I only brush the edges down to smooth them into a ponytail, otherwise I never use a hair brush. And I almost never straighten, I think I only straightened 3 times in all of 2008, and this was the first time this year.

vkb247, you are funny. I'm imagining what a wig made entirely of split ends would look like. :lol:
 
SoakingWetHair.jpg




:imo:
YOU DO HAVE CURLS!!!!!
 
Beautiful hair!

Your hair looks like "thirsty" 3b. One thing I've noticed is that dry hair reverts faster that moisturized hair. My guess is because dry hair sucks moisture out of the air because it needs it. You might also have a porosity problem. I bet if you DC w/ a moisturizing conditioner twice a week with heat and follow with a water based moisturizer and seal with a light oil your natural curl pattern would look great when dry, with a lot less poof.

Oh yeah - wow! Your hair is great. You'll figure out what it needs soon and I'll be even more jealous than I already am, lol.
Also, the products you're using may have silicones which are very drying. Be sure to clarify your hair to remove any residue left by the solicone then start the intense moisturizing JayAnn suggests.

If your ends are bad maybe trim a half-inch per month until you're satisfied with them.
 
Yamilee21, you don't look like you need any help with all that beautiful hair, but if you're looking for suggestions you may want to check out what Cichelle, Flowerhair and Starr1 do to their hair. They all have beautiful hair that is 3b. I'm sure there are some others, but those are the ladies that immediately come to mind.
 
Yamilee your hair is gorgeous.

I have a question. When you dry your hair with the towel, do you rub it vigorously and wring it out? If so, you may be rubbing away all your curl definition. Maybe you should try squeezing the water out with a t-shirt. Towels always jacked up my hair because my coils would get stuck in the fibers. And, t-shirts are softer. I guess you'd have to use a really big t-shirt though.
 
... Also, the products you're using may have silicones which are very drying. Be sure to clarify your hair to remove any residue left by the solicone then start the intense moisturizing JayAnn suggests. ...

I'm phasing out silicone products, now that I am learning about better options. I did one clarifying shampoo with baking soda a few weeks ago, and it left my hair even drier than in that first picture; it was dry and hard even as I was washing it out. :perplexed


... I have a question. When you dry your hair with the towel, do you rub it vigorously and wring it out? If so, you may be rubbing away all your curl definition. Maybe you should try squeezing the water out with a t-shirt. Towels always jacked up my hair because my coils would get stuck in the fibers. And, t-shirts are softer. I guess you'd have to use a really big t-shirt though.

I use an old, thin towel, and squeeze gently, but using t-shirts sounds like a better idea. :)


... Seriously, you should love your hair ...

I do like it but the wildly different looks and shrinkage are funny to me. But it did take me most of my life to learn to love it, and obviously I am still trying to find the best way to take care of it. I still get a lot of flack from family for being natural and never frequenting hair salons.
 
:blush: Beautiful hair!! I thought it was Cichelle's hair in the wet picture!!

Do you ever DC your hair? That will definitely help with the "thirst" factor.
 
i think it just might be dried rough hair. i don't see splits. but like someone else stated, just cut a little off each month or every other month to get rid of them. and moisturize and seal your ends with something heavy when you do your buns and puffs.
 
I'm phasing out silicone products, now that I am learning about better options. I did one clarifying shampoo with baking soda a few weeks ago, and it left my hair even drier than in that first picture; it was dry and hard even as I was washing it out. :perplexed
Be sure to do just one or the other and not use baking soda with a clarifying shampoo... or did I misread your post?
 
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