Naturals: WORST mistakes you ever made as a natural?

I used cantu shea butter shampoo and leave in religiously BAD idea I got so much shedding but the absolute worse was sleeping with a wig on and washing my hair with dish washing liquid cause I ran out. Ever since then I've had badly thinning hair dont know which made it worse but my hair HATES WIGS
 
shoot I feel that it took me about 2 years too to start doing my research and everything on natural hair. Thanks to youtube and this site. But it was so rough.

MissAlyssa said:
When I went natural I didn't know or care about hair at all. I went my first two years doing EVERYTHING wrong. I was using an ammonium sulfate shampoo which dried my hair out. I didn't use conditioner. I was using hair dressing that was basically petrolatum. I was combing with a fine and medium tooth comb on dry hair. FOR 2 YEARS! :wallbash: You can imagine my lack of growth. Not that I cared though. I wasn't concerned about growing hair.



Then one day I was searching for hairstyles to do and I found NP.com. I learnt the error of my ways and my hair is healthy and growing:yep:

Lys
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Good one - I love your hair by the way..it's exactly the way I envision wearing my hair.
oooop2 said:
For months I would wear a silk scarf as a headband. I would place it along the front, tie it in the back tight, then push it back along my hairline to the desired position. Little did I know that all that friction was breaking off my front hairline..Now I'm diligently trying to grow it back..Talk about a lesson learned...
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3 major mistakes I'm guilty of:

Not moisturizing my hair before i let it air dry

washing my hair only once a week and bunning it for that whole week- my hair becomes matted and takes me extra long to detangle when i finally decide to do another wash.

Putting IC fantasia gel with a moisturizer at the same time after washing....having balls of white goop in your hair is NOT cute!!
 
Last year, I let a stylist trim my hair while it was still wet. I'm still dealing with this lopsided cut today. :ohwell:
 
1) No committing to being natural; relaxing and BCing at (least 4) times before I finally committed in 2003. [Didn't think I could I could transition.]:look:

2)Not researching healthy natural haircare regimens and trying to "wing it". I needed to re-educate myself about my own texture, because the previous times my hair was both natural and healthy--my mother cared for it as a child.

3)Not using a thermal protector with heat styling tools prior to November 2008.:nono:

4)Not scraping together the nominal subscription fee to join LHCF thereby making my journey harder than it had to be.:perplexed

...thank you Lord for wisdom.:yep:
 
Sleeping with my hair loose. I started getting dreads and my hair was matted.

Twisting and braiding every night is too much manipulation for me as well.

So now I just pull back my hair into two puffs with elastics.
 
all of these in it's decending order
prerinsing scalp and hair
proper poo'n
blot dry or leave towel on hair in between co'n
and then co
blot dry or leave towel on hair
i hardly ever used leave-in
 
kooskoos said:
Combing out my hair when it was completely dry...and coated with beeswax...with a fine tooth comb :spank:
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I am so happy to know i'm not the only person on the planet who did this. If I knew then what i know now, i would've never relaxed. I was my own worst enemy when natural.:ohwell:
 
Using Wen/Olive One & overmoisturizing my hair without adding in sufficient protein treatments. This was over 4 months ago, and I am finally recovering from this set-back.
 
i would say trying to straighten my hair w/ a hot comb

and letting my hair get snagged in jewellry/clothing
 
1. The few times I went to a hairstylist (nothing good ever came of it :nono:), with the exception of the Braiderie :love:

2. Being impatient with my hair in terms of ripping through when it's time to detangle and remove extensions

3. Coloring my hair twice in a week to get a deeper red I think a lot of us naturals assume since we don't relax we having a "coloring pass" :look:

4. Not thinking of changing my moisture regimen when I moved to a drier climate :wallbash:

5. Feeling ashamed for even one moment when my supposedly black extended family criticized my decision to go natural :whip:

6. Not learning how to do my own twists and extensions earlier ($$$/style)

And finally....
7. Knowing LHCF existed but spending years thinking it was a bunch of mostly Caucasian women that already had long hair just bragging about it :lachen:
 
Getting a relaxer two years after my first big chop.

I had another big chop three years ago. I've been trying to reach BSL since 2000 (nine years!), and I'm probably APL now.

Lesson learned: stick with your original goal no matter how challenging things get. Find ways to overcome the challenges while patiently pursuing your goal. Leave the drastic/permanent changes until after you've achieved your original goal.
 
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Mystic484 said:
Using baking soda to wash my hair. It created even more shrinkage and stiffness.
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How did you do this. Iwas researching this this evening. One of teh sites says you could use it along with apple cider vinegar. The thing is that you have to determine what is going on with you hair. If your hair is dryer it says that you would need to increase the apple cider vinegar, etc. I am still research exactly how this is done. Meanwhile, I still condition wash thoroughly and keep it moving. I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it.
 
Echoing no food....
putting heated honey on my hair......nightmare
and Nexxus Emergencee....
my hair HATED both of those treatments
 
I know i don`t hace a lot of time being nautal but, i know for sure (untill now) my hair hates. I use Sammy Products for curly hair, there`s one in a yellow botle (i thinks is instant recurl) i used it the second day i made the BC and my hair was sooo dry and sooo hard. I'm still using a homemade mixture every night to soften it up and to mosturize it.

I`m never using it again. And my hair just loved it when i was relaxed :S
 
Cleaning up my new growth too often! I had to put all of my locs together to save them because I had thin roots. Don't clean up your newgrowth more than once a month!! Now I am freeforming.
 
Letting my hair dry before I detangle. Deny trimms = more lost hair.
Happy Hair Growing!
 
Not moisturizing enough/co-washing/baggying... i have been natural for almost a week now and co-washing and baggying have made such a difference.

I baggy ever other night and co-wash every other day and my hair seems so much different than the last time. I was too scared to touch my hair for the fear of messing my curls up! lol Now I have no qualms about rubbing in moisturizer and finger combing..

Side note: I got compliment from a brother today. he said your hairstyle is so gorgeous on u!! I smiled and said thank you, but inside was jumping up and down. Even though I like my hair super short, I do wonder how men see me. i know i shouldnt worry/care about that, but its nice to know that not ever man is repulsed by short hair. :)
 
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