Thinning Hair

[karolmel]

Sigh. My hair is so thin, I can not stand it! It used to be so thick for years. As a child and through years of dreadlocs, but for the last 7 years it has been so thin, since I have been using boxed relaxers. I stretch my relaxers up to 12 weeks, I use heat only occassionally and I moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, why is my hair thinning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, before you start busting on my age, the same thing is happening with my daughter's hair, 13yo, whose hair I have been doing for the last year. Her hair is thick and long, but is now thinning as well.

Okay, so maybe it's me! Maybe, I shouldn't self-relax. I'm going to try that, but I have only been doing my hair for the last two years. Before that, it was being done regularly by a hairdresser and it wasn't growing or becoming thick.

Any suggestions......

 

[Keen]

If both of your hair and your daughter's hair is thinning, it may be because something you are doing wrong. You can do things like Henna treatments and use castor oil to get thicker hair but my suggestion is to find the root cause and stop doing it.

 

[Divine Inspiration]

I would venture to guess that it's a combination of improper self-relaxing and box relaxers. Have you considered lye relaxers??

What is your regimen?

 

[karolmel]

It is very clear that I'm the culprit! LOL! I thought that since joining this board that my hair would become longer and stop thinning. However, the box relaxers and self-relaxing have proven to not be the answer. This is such de javu, I've been in this exact position twice in the last 5 years!

I'm going to braid my daughter's hair in two weeks. I'll have a professional start us both on a new regime in three months or so for relaxing.

Divine, YES! I think that lye is the answer. I'm going to ask my old hair dresser to relax my hair again.

Thanks Ladies!

 

[Mommy's girls]

If both of your hair and your daughter's hair is thinning, it may be because something you are doing wrong. You can do things like Henna treatments and use castor oil to get thicker hair but my suggestion is to find the root cause and stop doing it.

I just want to echo the fact that castor oil will definitely help with thickness. I wont get into my story, if you'd like you can find my first thread. But I joined the first of the month due to my daughters hair breaking and shedding. Her hair has done a 360 degree turn around in just a short amount of time. I would never have thought it but I truly attibute the thickening of her hair to castor oil. I too am starting to experience thinness in the front of my head due to wearing my hair pulled back for the last 10 years, so I can relate to your concerns on a lot of levels. You'll find the answer i'm sure. I will definitely keep you in my thoughts.

 

[Divine Inspiration]

It is very clear that I'm the culprit! LOL! I thought that since joining this board that my hair would become longer and stop thinning. However, the box relaxers and self-relaxing have proven to not be the answer. This is such de javu, I've been in this exact position twice in the last 5 years!

I'm going to braid my daughter's hair in two weeks. I'll have a professional start us both on a new regime in three months or so for relaxing.

Divine, YES! I think that lye is the answer. I'm going to ask my old hair dresser to relax my hair again.

Thanks Ladies!

Um...is there a reason you stopped going to your hairdresser? This is not a knock on stylists, but you have a PLETHORA of information here to form a solid regimen for you & your daughter minus a stylist.

I understand that you may want to turn to a stylist for relaxers, but I would probably stick to shampoo/DCing/trimming at home. Stylists simply can't give your hair the same attention you can at home.

Also, how often are you relaxing? Do you stretch at all? There are a lot of ladies here who use box relaxers and have long, thick hair so I don't think the box relaxer alone is going to solve the problem.

HTH
{DI}

 

[Buttercreme]

Karolmel, I too have thinning hair. NOT to rule out that your not the culprit, but I have looked at my technique and regimen for years thinking I was doing something wrong. I dont use alot of heat, comb harshly, I stretch relaxers (at the salon), I dont wear braids, etc. But my thinness comes from two medical problems that I have had for years. I know thin hair can be very frustrating. I hate when I have a cute long wrap but you can practically see through it.
Hang in there

 

[karolmel]

Ladies,

You know I'm uplifted and strengthened by all of your caring comments. It is absolutely true that I couldn't stand, thinning hair and continuous cuts, and stopped going to the stylist.

I stretch my relaxers, we do relaxers 4 times a year for me and 2-3 times a year for The Princess.

It's pretty clear that I haven't regained my thickness since using no-lye relaxers in the last several years. It's not so clear why this is happening to my daughter. I'm going to switch processes in the future, when I don't know exactly. So, I'm going to use no heat, usually once a week for her, and occassionally for me, and braids for her for the next 6 mons.

Thank you so much! I'll figure it out with my gals at LHCF