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.
erplexed 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?
) 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,.
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.
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.
erplexed 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?
) 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,
.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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Oh
. 
Beautiful hair!! I thought it was Cichelle's hair in the wet picture!!
