babybemine said:
My hair is natural and really spongy when wet. Does that mean it's severly damaged (Protein bonds are stripped?!) ?? I haven't had a relaxer in about 10 years!! And I don't color my hair either, and I don't press it. I may have flat ironed it 3 times in 10 years. How did my hair get damaged then ?? I know something's wrong cos it breaks a lot ... When am I going to figure this out ?!?
I don't know what you use on your hair, but sometimes you can put too many products on your hair that you think are moisturizing, but that really just coat your hair and PREVENT moisture from getting in. If that happens, your hair can get damaged.
I know when I went natural, I used a lot of the old products that I put on my hair when I was relaxed (trying to keep the water out). As a natural, however, my hair needed that water and all of those moisturizers just hardened my hair.
You might want to do a clarifying rinse or shampoo, do a protein conditioner and then do a moisturizing deep treatment with products that don't have mineral oil, cholesterol, etc. Look for more water-based conditioners as opposed to heavy cream ones.