Why Are My Twists Stringy?

[Fine 4s]

Damage just won’t let me be great!
My twists start to get skinny past the half way point from the crown moving forward. The back has the least amount of damage. Whatcould the reason for this breakage? It’s not really buns? Is it my detangling process?
I’m going back to doing regular protein treatments but I definitely am nowhere near as into caring for my hair as I was back in 2007-2010. So I cut off a couple of inches ooff the ends and washed and DC’d. Already the twists feel better, like they have more weight. My last self trim was this summer in July I believe. I’ll self trim again in March and see where I am then. A professional from maybe this summer or whenever I’m ready to venture out in the salon world....

Here’s a pic of what I’m talking about....

 

[janaq2003]

Do you have any heat damage?

 

[I Am So Blessed]

I'm sorry this is happening to your hair. Do you wear your hair out a lot? How do you detangle?

 

[Fine 4s]

No direct heat since 2011 except a blow dry maybe once a year which wouldn’t add up with the Damage.
Don’t wear my hair out at all.
When I detangle, I just usually wet, maybe oil maybe condish and detangle before washing.

 

[Bette Davis Eyes]

how often are you trimming? @Fine 4s

 

[VictoriousBrownFlower]

No direct heat since 2011 except a blow dry maybe once a year which wouldn’t add up with the Damage.
Don’t wear my hair out at all.
When I detangle, I just usually wet, maybe oil maybe condish and detangle before washing.

Maybe the thinning is the damaged hair from the direct heat from 2011 and earlier and the new growth from after is the thick hair?

 

[kxlot79]

Do you wet bun? What does your shedding/hair fall look like on wash days? Do you wear a bonnet? What kind of detangling do you do? Brush? Fingers?
Also, it COULD be that the newer hair from the last 2 years or so is healthier and thicker than your older/longer hair

 

[JoyBelle]

Sorry to see this - I know it can be frustrating. What are your eating habits like? Specifically, are you getting enough iron? I’ve seen something like this before with anemia. Hugs

 

[Alma Petra]

Looks like the thin part of your hair is at least 2 years old (if you grow about half an inch per month)
Has it always been thinner than the roots with a demarcation line? Or is this a very new observation? In which case you probably experienced very noticeable substantial breakage recently.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

No direct heat since 2011 except a blow dry maybe once a year which wouldn’t add up with the Damage.
Don’t wear my hair out at all.
When I detangle, I just usually wet, maybe oil maybe condish and detangle before washing.

Then what the helI is going on?
*does heavy thinking*

 

[I Am So Blessed]

Maybe the thinning is the damaged hair from the direct heat from 2011 and earlier and the new growth from after is the thick hair?

Can't be. From 2011?.....No if hair grows on average 4-6 inches per year! That damage would be long gone. Am I right?

OP your ends look like relaxed ends. I know you're not relaxed.

 

[momi]

You may be using too much product. Try with something lighter....

My hair cannot take a lot of product, I just need a light twisting creme... anything else weighs it down.

This is my go to. https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1344923709

 

[charmtreese]

Do you have more pics?

 

[Fine 4s]

Hey ladies,

Yes @charmtreese and here you go.
The first three pics were from last nights twist out after the trim and I'm satisfied with it. My last self trim was on blow dried hair on 7/21.
Pics 4,5 and 6 are how my twists looked dry after not being washed and DC'ed for some time. You can see the stringy ends better when it's in this state. When it's freshly washed and twisted you can't see the damage as much. Pic 7 was taken on 4/9/18 and I don't think you can see stringy ends as much because I took larger sections of hair and it was freshly washed. Pic 8, the side twist out was from June 2017. The last two taken this year is just to show you how I wear my hair 90% of the time. Twisted and always pinned up, bunned without elastics. Just twisted and pinned or sometimes tucked or just bunched into braid.

@momi I nerve thought that I did but...who knows. I wash, DC, and LOC or LCO with a leave-in and butter with shea butter if I'm not lazy enough to make it and an oil which is either jojoba or grapeseed oil. In my earlier days I was only using shea butter. But would weighing it down, break it?

@I Am So Blessed you are correct! The thicker areas show that something happened in the past and maybe about 2 years ago approximately. My last heat damage has been long gone and I went through a period of not caring for it as much meaning less deep conditioning and more buns etc. Still no heat though. Unless the breakage is from the bottom up? You know how some people believe that splits just keep going up and up the hair shaft? Your first post was funny! That's how I feel what the heck is going on. My friends says it because I'm not keeping it moisturized enough and so it's dry and breaks.

@Alma Petra That's the thing, I haven't noticed and I usually detangle before washing which is the only time I use a comb. I've always had a lot of hair loss on wash days since day 1 so I'm not sure. Maybe I missed it some long time ago?

@JoyBelle Since October I've been on a new diet, very strict low carb. I've heard of hair loss with Keto but it's not shedding it's breakage in my case since the first half of the hair is thicker. My general diet is meatless, vegan protein shakes in am, avocados, salads, saukraut, cauliflower rice with beyond beef and berries for evening generally...more veggies than anything else.

@kxlot79 I haven't wet bun in a long time. meaning at least a year which could match up with when I WAS bunning too often and being lazy. Hmmm.....Do you wear a bonnet? I use a satin pillow case, tie my hair (when I remember) and lately, slap cap. I only detangle on wash days with a comb. In the beginning of my journey I washed and detangled more frequently like every week. Even if the newer hair is healthier, the stringy ends should start so far up the twists and be so drastic. Or at least it wasn't like this when I first took care of my hair way back in 2007.

@shawnyblazes I've been self trimming lately because of scissor happy stylists. I wrote when my last trim was above. At the beginning of my journey I trimmed once per year on blow dried hair in the salon.

Hope I answered all your questions and thanks for the help!

I'll send one more pic....

 

[PlanetCybertron]

Perhaps it’s because you have fine textured hair? Well... I should ask do you have fine textured hair?

Not to sound like a buzz kill, but the longer fine textured hair gets the easier it becomes for it to break off. Not in large quantities, but sometimes it’s slow and discreet enough to not notice until a little while later. Granted, I still don’t think that’s your problem.

I don’t think your hair is damaged at all. I think that’s just how it behaves. I see from the pictures where you don’t have twists in, that your ends curl up perfectly. But when you show the pictures from your twists, your ends loosen their curls. Maybe stop twisting after a certain point, a little higher maybe 4 inches from your ends, and try a product that encourages curl formation? And then if you are bush person use a denman brush to get them to pop a bit? Seems like whatever you’re using now is a bit too heavy, and twisting your entire length makes your ends loosen out.


Just speculating.

 

[Daina]

Your curls look uniform when loose as I originally thought it was heat damage. However maybe its just that the new hair coming in is coming in thicker and denser while the older hair towards the ends is thinner and finer. Can't remember who said it but our hair changes every I think 6 or 7 years and maybe this is what you are experiencing? I've experienced something similar myself as with this last cycle my hair is coming in finer than I would like.

 

[Brwnbeauti]

Looks like you have layers.

 

[FadingDelilah]

First you need to stretch your hair out to see the true state of your hair's thickness from root to tip. You could do a rollerset with large rollers to avoid heat. That would tell you if your hair truly is thinner at the ends, or if its just the way the ends of your hair are responding to being twisted.

 

[Fine 4s]

My hair is fine with medium density.
I believe it is damaged because it’s never been this way before and sharp break in the twist have to mean something went wrong.

If hair changes every 5-7 years I would have experienced this before as I’ve been At it 11 years already.
I have layers because the back hardly ever has damage so I never cut as much off there and it grows faster. My hair has never been one length which I would love to have. The ends are more see through with blow dried hair but I don’t do that often. The last time I blow dried it professionally, he wanted to cut the see through ends more and I said no. It was looooong so I didn’t want to do it because of the density, you don’t see the see through ends unless you separate the back from the other shorter sections.

I wish I could know exactly what happened. The point made above about a gradual a slow breakage makes sense because I’ve noticed this within the last few months. Maybe I need to trim more frequently as well.

I’m going to take a piece from all the advice given and look for the video I watched from someone on YT who cut into the twists in the thick part. If I have to do that to prevent it from getting worse, I might do it.

It’s also time for me to do the Komaza hair analysis. Been trying to do that for years.

 

[Daina]

Good luck and let us know what you find out!

 

[Fine 4s]

She discussed a similar issues at the 1:50 mark. I don't think she specifically says why it happened to her. Check it out.

 

[charmtreese]

I have fine 4b hair and I wear twist as my go to style. When I notice that the ends are getting too thin for my liking I dust the ends of my twist for 2-4 washings in a row. I only wash my hair every two weeks so this can take anywhere from 1 to 2 months to notice a change. However, I normally notice that my ends are better after the 2-3 dusting.

 

[blazingbeauty]

@Fine 4s - I have been struggling with the exact same thing! I wear a lot of low twist buns/chignons and the ends of the twists in the front and crown (the canopy I guess) are super thin. I started a thread about my own hair woes, and the above was one of the conclusions; there is a TON of good advice from other members in that thread as well. I've trimmed the front before about 2 years ago, but it thinned again. I really am starting to believe its partially from being overstretched in the same position constantly, as one poster mentioned before. Next year, I plan on alternating my hair styles and using gentler hair ties (i.e satin scrunchies - DMJ's Mom recommended and I believe her!).

 

[Fine 4s]

Can you send a link to the post or the title of the thread? Thanks!
@blazingbeauty

 

[blazingbeauty]

@Fine 4s - My bad, I should have linked it in my original reply. I hope it's helpful:
https://longhaircareforum.com/threads/halp-discourgaged-natural-11-years.840733/