Breakage/thinning

[MisTatim]

Hello, newbie here.

You ladies are full of excellent advice but I haven't quite seen my problem addressed. I'm hoping someone has some advice. My hair is relaxed, thick but not coarse. My back and sides are approx 7 inches long and my crown seems to be about 5. It was growing very well until the beginning of this year when I started experiencing breakage again.

I am experiencing breakage on the left side of my crown. This has happened in the past but most people tell me not to worry. My hair is so thick I have enough hair for two heads. But it's bothering me a lot this time because I have also noticed this particular part of my head itches excessively and the area isn't just breaking, it's thinner. I also have short pieces that are either new hair growing in or breakage throughout the top of my head. And breakage in the front of my head and the very back.

I last used an affirm relaxer (which burnt the crap out of my head). Every week I wash my hair at home I put on a pretreatment of Ojon, wash with Optimum Care, 2 min Queene Helene Protein, then 15 min with ORS Olive Oil replenishing pack. A few days a week I apply ORS olive oil Moisturinzing Hair Lotion and Profective Mega Growth. I wrap or braid my hair up every night and tie it with a silk scarf. I take GNC womens vitamins daily.

Occasionally, when $$ permits, I'll go to the Domincan salon for a roller set otherwise I just go for my relaxers. They speak little english and i speak little spanish. So all they seem to say is "oooh it's broken bad".

Whew! Ideally, I'd like to get my whole head to shoulder-length. My CHIEF priority is healthy hair though and the breakage clearly suggests my hair is not. Any advice?

 

[shunta]

How long have you been using Affirm? The reason Im asking is because over time, Affirm caused thinning and breakage for me. It wasnt until much later that I realized that Affirm was the culprit.

 

[MisTatim]

I just used it once - this last relaxer at the beginning of August. The breakage started before then. And I won't use it again because it burned badly despite the fact that I didn't scratch my scalp prior to relaxing.

 

[MizaniMami]

How long have you been using Affirm? The reason Im asking is because over time, Affirm caused thinning and breakage for me. It wasnt until much later that I realized that Affirm was the culprit.

I was thinking that too. A lot of people say that Affirm is extremely sneaky!

Also too much heat can put you there. How often are you using heat?


Also, you may want to reconsider wrapping.

 

[MisTatim]

Well, I do NOT curl my hair a lot. Maybe 2 times a month? If that.

And when you say reconsider the wrap do you mean STOP using it? Because I've done that too. The hairdresser insisted a wrap wouldn't break off my hair like this.

 

[JustKiya]

Honestly - based on the thinning, the itching, and the breakage, I would say it sounds like you have a SCALP problem. You say that all this started before you tried the Affirm - maybe it burnt you because your scalp was already in perilious shape.
All of your routine focuses on your hair - what are you doing for scalp health? Are you doing any scalp massges? Using any cleansing/strengthing herbs/oils on your scalp? Taking any supplements?
I can't tell you WHAT to do - but it really does sound like you need to focus on your scalp some.

 

[HWAY]

Maybe wrapping your hair is not the answer. When my hair was at its worse, I used rollers at night. It seemed my hair was less stressed.
W hat do you think happened at the beginning of this year that caused your hair to break off again?

Do you have a regular hair stylist or do you only go to Dominican Salons?
Where do you live in North Jersey?

 

[PecanSandie]

Occasionally, scalp problems are of the fungal variety. Especially if you have an extremely itchy, somewhat circular patch. Sometimes these infections thin the hair, but do not cause baldness, like alopecia. Try a topical antifungal cream ( like monistat or neosporin AF) to that area and see if it helps with the itching. It won't hurt anything and it may help. Just a guess. HTH

 

[Mocha Princess]

Hey Miss Tatim, sorry to hear that you're having all of those problems w/your scalp. I've had similar issues with the affirm last year when my old stylist, a man named Curtis used it in my hair. Girl, all of my hair came out! Affirm must be a ***** b/c I very few ladies seem to have luck w/it. Occasionally, I get thinning on my back left side, which is so hard to keep in check and now I'm using this scalp oil called Gift of Dream to combat the thinning. Gift of dream looks like a grease, but seems more like an oil when you put it on your scalp. Check it out on giftofdream.com People that I work with swear by this stuff and claim that it really grows your hair back. On the website, there are people w/ alopecia who have used it and have gotten results. It does stink though, kinda smells like tar, but it's supposed to work well. I got mine from my local BSS. Look at the website and let me know what you think. Oh, and it has sulfur spelled, SULPHER in it. I wonder what the difference between the two is, hmm I don't know, but check it out, I just started using mine today.

 

[MisTatim]

You know I read so much about how you are not supposed to apply oil or anything to the scalp because it clogs the follicles or something like that. So I didn't. I just recently bought and began applying Parnevu TTree Scalp Oil and began applying that to my scalp in the past week or so. It contains Ttree oil, olive, peanut, canola, sweet almond and wheat germ oil among many others.

I agree it's a scalp problem, Nappy. I just am clueless as to what to do. I don't trust doctors much and the past few years I've lived in an area with no doctors of color. So I definately didn't trust them to be aware of scalp issues. In addition to the GNC vitamin I take the omega 3 fish oil. What else should I be doing for my scalp?

Definately will not be using the Affirm again. I only tried it the once but that kind of burning was ridiculous. Prior to that I used Profectiv or Motions relaxer. I'd like to try the Phyto relaxer. I'm tempted to buy it and apply it myself and then just go to the local dominican salon for styling.

Hway, I live in Englewood, NJ. And I go to the dominican salon only. I've had MANY bad experiences with hairdressers. In feb I finally decided I trusted one enough to let her highlight my hair and it resulted in me looking like I had gray hair! I had to put a reddish/brown rinse over it to even leave my house. And yes, some breakage was caused by that but my sides started breaking before that. And LIke i said, the patch at my crown has broken off before, as well.

Pecan, I will try the antifungal creams. I was wondering myself if it wasn't some kind of fungus but obviously can't get a good look at it to see.

Thanks for the tips ladies. I will try them and get back to you.

 

[HWAY]

I used to use Affirm but my hair was dry and damaged even after my stylist cut off the damage I created. My beautician switched me to Mizani in the early spring. My hair likes it a lot better. Nizoral shampoo and antifungal cream should help. I found Tea tree oil very helpful. I had a lot of breakage, itchy scalp and VERY dry hair. MTG really helped to stop the itching and UBH cream moisturizer was a godsend.

 

[Taya]

I'm no expert, but if you're having scalp problems,you may want to stop relaxing for a while. Not to knock any of the other ladies advice just adding that Sistaslick has a sticky on breakage. The thread is Hairbreakage 101. Go to the 1st page of Haircare tips and product review, I found it to be very informative. just my 1 cent. HTH