BAD THINGS

[darkempress]

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BAD THINGS YOU DID TO OR WITH YOUR HAIR BEFORE LHCF, THAT YOU THOUGHT WAS GOOD FOR IT? AND SINCE THEN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO CORRECT THE DAMAGE, BIG OR SMALL, OF THIS?

MY BIGGEST PROBLEM WAS MOISTURIZING MY HAIR AND WASHING IT ON A REGULAR BASIS. I WOULD BE VERY LAZY TO DO SO, AND SO IT BECAME VERY EVIDENT IN MY HAIR.

NOW I WASH MY HAIR EVERY WEEK, AND AIRDRY. TO KEEP MY ENDS MOISTURIZED I SLEEP WITH A PLASTIC CAP UNDER MY SATIN SCARF, BEFORE GOING TO BED I MOISTURIZE MY ENDS WITH BLACK CASTOR OIL AND ORS OLIVE OIL, OR BLACK CASTOR OIL AND S-CURL MOISTURIZER.

 

[GlamourGirl]

Let's see....well I used soooo much of that black gel trying to slick my hair back in ponytails and everything else. Went two to three weeks without washing. Never deep conditioned, in fact I didn't know what a deep conditioner was, and I relaxed way too often not realizing I could stretch my relaxers....it was pretty bad.


On a brighter note, now I deep condition everytime I wash, gel has been eliminated completely and when I do use it for my edges I get alcohol-free, really lite gel, wash every three days and stretch my relaxers as long as I can.

 

[darkempress]

GEL BECAME MY DOWNFALL AS WELL TOO, NOW I DONT EVEN WANNA SEE A BOTTLE OF GEL

 

[Dee-Licious]

Direct heat and wrapping every night. Basically eliminated those two now.

 

[sexyaqr]

Relaxed my hair way too often but I did my first stretch since joining LHCF

 

[CAPlush]

I used to wash with Creme of Nature, airdry, then hot curl. That's it . That's all I knew how to do!!!

I also got a relaxer every 6 weeks and relaxed bone straight. I thought this was what I was supposed to do.

 

[HoneyDew]

honestly, I cannot think of anything. I never did anything that I "thought" was good for my hair. I just never took my hair as seriously and never thought about the health of it. I just wanted it to look decent my any means, so I always used too much heat or relaxed often - never thinking anything about it.

 

[ravenmerlita]

Relaxer through to the ends of my hair -- because my stylist said every once in a while you have to pull the relaxer all the way through. It was dry, overprocessed and breaking off. That was the worse thing I think.

 

[tnorenberg]

I got blonde highlights and dark brown lowlights and never knew that I really needed to moisturize, moisturize, moisturize to keep my highlights from damaging and breaking off my hair. Now I know to keep my hair extra moisturized when and if I ever get highlights again.

 

[sweetwhispers]

Infrequent washing
Shampoo only. Never used conditioner
Moisturiser?Pah! Blue magic on my scalp was all i would get- my ends were soo neglected!
Deep conditioner- see above. Never knew it existed. Along with protein treatments.
Looking at the list.The only thing that saved me from being bald was the fact i was natural, never used heat and always had my hair in cornrows.

 

[Hair Iam]

Washed too often with shampoo
Combed hair when dry
Used peroxide
Mineral oil
Petroleum based products
Did not frequently enough
Did not take multiple vits frequently enough
used too much heat

 

[toniy]

My bad habits:

1. relaxed bone-straight almost once a month from root to end
2. washed hair only after swimming. Nope just kidding. I washed my hair only when I couldnt comb it due to the gel caking up.
3. Used the "wicked" pink oil, brown gel and other cheap products
4. Cut too often for the latest styles
5. What she said and what she said.

In a rush to just "Get her done", I can read everyone's post and see my bad habits in almost all of them.

I now CW everyday, moisturize, then seal. Stretch relaxers, use clear gel,no heat unless special occasion, baby my ends, use natural products whenever possible.

I feel good about my routine...

 

[Bouncy Curls]

I used the blow dryer with every wash (hair broke off badly)

Washed hair 3x per week (major dryness)

Would relax hair from root to tip (over processed mess!)

Packing my hair with a big glob of Vaseline and frying it with a hot comb fresh off the stove! (a fried mess!)

Bonding weaves to my scalp and ripping it out when I removed it

There are many more but these are some of the worse!

 

[RoseGolden]

Umm....glued in tracks (only 2 or 3 though!)

*embarrassed*

 

[loveable37]

MICROBRAIDS- wore too tight i had ball spots all over my head taken them out.
AMPRO GEl-Favorite gel
STOVE STRAIGHENING COMB-burned my hair out to hot i though tha were normal
MARCEL CURLS-too hot burned my scalp/neck/ear
RELAXERs- any relaxer/permanent hair color both same day every 4 overnight my hair came out in handfull my hair looweeks.One day i applied DARK-RED color forgot went to sleep in all my hair was in the sink yes i cryed like a baby after tha my hair did a 360 degree turn after visiting this board.


I wanna thank everybody till this day!

 

[wheezy807]

Let's see........i used to

1. shampoo- no condition
2. shampoo hair twice a month, if that
3. relaxer- every 6wks like clock work
4. Moisture max was my solution to everything.
Bad hair day? Moisture max. You wanna slick it down? Moisture max.
You wanna moisture it? Moisture max. I LOVED MOISTURE MAX!
SLAP IT ON, AND GO! I was so bad, when i joined LHCF i had about a half of bottle left. So i told myself , "if this doesn't work for me, i will save this bottle and use it later." And i put it behind the tv. Only a couple of months ago, i found it and threw it away. Thank goodness i never used it since then!

 

[deontaer]

1. Once I stopped going to my hair stylist every 2 weeks, I wouldn't wash my own hair for WEEKS...leading into months. It was so bad that when I scratched my head, I had buildup under my fingernails !!! I now wash and condition twice a week like clock work.

2. Stopped sitting under the drier cause it took to long..instead would blow dry my hair using the comb attachment...then follow it up by blow drying it with a brush to make is slick

3. Didn't moisturize on a regular basis

4. Wrapped my hair with a satin scarf when it was convenient...If I was already in the bed, I wasn't getting out of it to put a scarf on it.

Amazingly enough...none of these things made my hair break-off and my hair always grew like a weed, but I always had to get almost 2 inches trimmed because of my dried out ends so I've always remained 1 to 3 inches above bra strap, but could never make it there until I started taking the advice on this forum seriously about 2 1/2 months ago...(been a lurker since 2003)

 

[prettypuff1]

Oh the crimes i have committed..... Glued in weaves, then ripping them out when it was time to take it out.... Conditioner/ Protien, what was that? i rarely conditioned unless it was relaxer time, then i never did any protien. Micro Braids, were the worst thing i have ever done. They broke my hair off so bad, i had to cut it to above ear to get all the breakage....

 

[Galleta]

curling my hair with a curling iron everyday, and relaxing every four weeks

 

[isioma85]

Umm....glued in tracks (only 2 or 3 though!)

*embarrassed*

Don't be, lol, I'm an offender as well.

The worst thing I used to do that I thought was good for my hair was that whenever I was getting a relaxer, I would tell the stylist to make sure she put some on the ends because they weren't ever relaxed enough. I didn't know that my frizziness was split ends and damaged hair. My stylist must have liked me because she wouldn't do it, but then I'd get upset and once she turned her back I'd slap on a good ol' glob of relaxer on the ends myself!

 

[Bosslady1]

I combed my hair too rough and neglected it. I took better care of a weave than I did my own hair

Not anymore...I love my hair now

 

[Qetesh]

-I hot curled my hair ends on high setting every morning.
-Never heard of deep conditioner
-Only washed my hair every 2 months
-Never wore a silk scarf or a silk pillowcase.

Now that I think about it I am surprised my hair stands at mid back/bra strap and didn’t break off below that, I was pretty consistent with getting a trim 2wice a year and I wondered why my hair was never getting any longer, I guess the good things were I only actually flat ironed all of it every 2 months and I really didn’t comb it too much besides when I hot curled my ends every morning, So little manipulation also I am a natural and in the summers I had cornrows and wore my hair natural so less heat was used I would say these things were what kept my hair at a decent length even tho I treated it bad.

 

[KEWLKAT103]

-I wore alot of braids so I wasn't always in my hair, but I never knew you were supposed to moisturize while you had the braids.
-I never DC'd before
-Never paid attention to my ends

Now I know that's why I have't retained length. In spite of myself my hair grows consistently, but now I'm learning how to keep it on my head!

 

[Guyaneek]

Some of the bad things I was programmed to believe were good for me(which I did habitually):
greasing my scalp with vaseline
relaxing every 4-6 weeks
washing my hair only to remove relaxer and never in between
Not moisturizing often or at all.