who has overcome chronic hairline breakage?

i am so discouraged. it seems not matter how hard i try the first inch or so of my hair will not grow past 3 inches. pre hair board and after...the rest of it grows in fine with no issues. my hairline is not thinning at all but it just doesnt grow past a certain length in a certain area.

has anyone else had this problem and overcome it? i would especially like to hear from fine haired type 4s natural or relaxed. i noticed a pattern that people who do not usually deal with this tend to be type 3 and/or have coarse hair.

i currently cut out direct heat and tension free styles but i would like to know if there is anything else i can do.

are you pulling it back a lot? wearing a lot of tension styles like ponytails and buns might cause that. or if you are wearing these styles maybe switch it up a little.

locabouthair said:

are you pulling it back a lot? wearing a lot of tension styles like ponytails and buns might cause that. or if you are wearing these styles maybe switch it up a little.

Click to expand...

the thing is even when i wasnt doing buns and ponytails i suffered from this problem although it was slightly better. i was wearing twists exclusively and i never pulled them back. i just let them hang.

I had that problem for years, when I was relaxed. Even when my hair was WL and longer as a child, the front pieces were about chin length.

I've realized that the problem was a combination of the relaxers and pulling my hair back too much. When I first went natural, I didn't pull my hair back at all and my hairline was growing in perfectly, just like the rest of my hair. When the front pieces got to be around chin length stretched, I started trying to do more long term protective styles, and did a lot more puffs. My edges started to break again (albeit not nearly as much as when I had a relaxer), and I realized that doesn't work for me. I've realized that with my fine, nappy hair, less is definitely more. I pretty much wear braidouts exclusively. Don't keep the braids in for longer than 24 hours, then pineapple at night. I pineapple every night until my next wash day. That's it. Wearing my hair loose has been working very well for me. I try to even limit my usage of headbands. I love headbands and puffs, but the only way to mitigate the breakage at the hairline (for me) is to not put ANY tension there at all. Like, you said you were wearing twists. That would be a no-go for me, for longer than a week. The absolute longest that I believe I can wear a PS is one week, and if I do, the braids/twists need to be pretty loose anyway, and I would give my hair at least two or three weeks rest in between.

I know some of what I said goes against hairboard "basics", but it is what it is.

My hairline is like that ever since I could remember. I think I may just have long edges but even so I try not to stress it and I massage it with oils when I can. That hair gets dry the most so I have to moisturize it more than other areas.

What helped me was rubbing a mix of:

• castor oil
• rosemary oil
• aloe vera juice
• coconut oil
• evoo
• peppermint oil
• and cantu leave in

into my edges.

My edges are now growing again.

PAgirl said:

What helped me was rubbing a mix of:

• castor oil
• rosemary oil
• aloe vera juice
• coconut oil
• evoo
• peppermint oil
• and cantu leave in

into my edges.

My edges are now growing again.

Click to expand...

why do you think this helps?

Napp said:

why do you think this helps?

Click to expand...

I noticed my hair was thinning and I had two bald spots. Snce I have been rubbing the mixure on them I don't see bald spots anymore.

Another thing that has helped is less combing and brushing.

Fhrizzball said:

My hairline is like that ever since I could remember. I think I may just have long edges but even so I try not to stress it and I massage it with oils when I can. That hair gets dry the most so I have to moisturize it more than other areas.

Click to expand...

my edges are very hard especially in my left temple which is the WORST. it doesnt grow past and inch. the near the top of my hairline i have no issue either. just the sides

PAgirl said:

I noticed my hair was thinning and I had two bald spots. Snce I have been rubbing the mixure on them I don't see bald spots anymore.

Another thing that has helped is less combing and brushing.

Click to expand...

oh i think thats different. my edges arent bald or thin but they just do not gow pasta certain point. mainly at the temples but the top part of my edges match the hair behind it. its weird.

My temples are VERY sensitive to tension and they tend to grow fast but they're very dry. Now that I'm natural my edges are growing out and retaining length but my temples have always been 4b and extremely temperamental.

It's a cat & mouse game. They'll grow out a bit, break & thin, then grow out. When I moisturize often keep the scalp clean, they're happy.