Heat Damage and Confused:Pics....

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

I've been wearing my hair straight for the past probably 13 years or so nonstop. I had relaxers up till 2005 and then never again and all of the relaxed hair is long gone since I've trimmed many, many times since. My front top layer of hair still feels hard and crispy like scab hair no matter what I do. The front sides will not curl due to heat damage or just being a weird texture. I'm terribly frustrated due to the mismatched textures but I don't want to chop off the straight parts especially since I think they have never curled like the back parts. I don't understand why the back has not lost any of my curl pattern yet the front has lost most of it. I keep scrunching and scrunching but the minute I pull it back it straightens right back out. I nearly grabbed the scissors and just cut off the stringiness but then thought of how much straight length I'll lose. I HATE the difference in textures, it makes me sick, I keep wetting the straight parts so they don't look mismatched and awful but its pointless I don't know what to do ....................... Excuse poor picture taking, my camera is awful and so are my picture skills lol. My hair is 100% dry with Jane Carter Nourish and Shine and Ecostyler gel.

Back,no heat damage:

Side back: Varying curl patterns, no heat damage:

Side back, non heat damage on top but stringy ends:

Obvious heat damage toward front, missing curl pattern, weird puffy straight texture

Notice non heat damaged part sticking out in back lol and front side completely heat trained/damaged.

Other side front, AWFUL,AWFUL heat damage, will not curl!!

 

[CarLiTa]

From what I've read about, it seems that the front tends to suffer the most heat damage. I don't know if you do your hair yourself, but at salons, getting the front to look sleek and straight seems to be of utmost priority. That area tends to get several passes of the flat-iron b/c a fuzzy looking front section gives the impression that the entire head of hair isn't straight.

Also, the front gets exposed to a great deal more than some other parts of the head- drying products like soap, toners, lotions, powder, etc. Maybe those affect it.

Are you interested in wearing your hair curly? I understand how frustrating it must be to have the various textures. I would suggest doing 2-strand twists on the sections that are heat-damaged, as I believe the damage is irreversible (unfortunately). Given your texture, some 2-strand twistouts may help camouflage those areas

Hope that helps!

 

[Nali1987]

Maybe's it your texture? Idk, lol. My biracial niece has bone straight hair everywhere but her crown.

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

Carlita, actually since the back is so curly, it gets MORE passes with the iron than the front, many more. Plausible idea but not the answer . I do my hair myself btw. It seems like the front gets damaged at the slightest provocation. I NEVER ever allow my hair to be exposed to anything that goes on my face. Anytime I'm grooming my head is covered in a scarf,showercap AND turbie twist . I'm very careful so I know that's not it
I do want to wear it curly but I don't have a clue how to do twists, but I'll give that a try. I've tried braidouts but they don't match my texture either


Nali87, I don't think it's my texture because the front roots are pretty curly so it means they're growing out curly but getting damaged, but why are those parts so sensitive to heat? You can see that the hair is curly for about 5 inches from the top and then goes limp. I have some pieces underneath that also will not curl no matter what I do......

 

[Honey Bee]

How do you wear your hair normally?

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

^^Bone straight with a flat iron, practically 365 days a year. I was intimidated by my curls and now that I believe I can handle my curls and am comfortable with my length, I have majorly mismatched textures so I'm kinda sickened by that. I'll probably just resort to ironing it again, I don't know how to break the cycle......

 

[Honey Bee]

Hmmm. So, you've been flat-ironing, and now it won't revert? My first suggestion would be some protein (but don't mess up your balance). That might bring your texture back, but until then, I'll co-sign the twist-out idea. Based on your pics, it looks like a twist-out could possibly match your texture. If you're not comfortable/familiar doing them, I would say, start big, ie, 8-10 twists, from the roots.

See, your hair, wavy/curly, is kinda tricky because it looks like it would be so easy to disrupt the pattern, with heat, or even just pulling it back everyday. I'd start with the protein.

Good luck, sweetie!

eta: on a second reading, I'm struck by the fact that you wear it straight all the time. Are you fully "okay" with wearing your curls now? I hate to ask like that, but it's kinda important. Are you gonna get your curls back... and then start straightening again? I guess what I'm asking is, what's your plan? Do you have a lifestyle (or did you) that "required" sleek hair? If so, has that changed?

 

[westNDNbeauty]

You probably have a looser texture in the front than you do anywhere else. When you use heat and use the SAME temperature of heat for the less curly areas that you do for the most curly areas can result in your hair being damaged. Although you do your hair yourself, the varying textures on my head is the reason I will not allow another person to straighten mine. You know your hair better than anyone. Is it possible that you didint take precaution when straightening ad forgot that diff sections require diff amounts of heat depending on if curls are loose or tight?

 

[Seraphina]

This happened to me and I and it only took a few months for me. I think the reason was that the front of my hair, while not particularly looser, is more of a wavy texture while the back is actual curls. So the heat damage gave me a looser curl in the back and ironed out the waves in the front.

I ended up chopping off the damage about a year ago. But I agree with posters who suggested twist outs and braid outs.

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

Hmmm. So, you've been flat-ironing, and now it won't revert? My first suggestion would be some protein (but don't mess up your balance). That might bring your texture back, but until then, I'll co-sign the twist-out idea. Based on your pics, it looks like a twist-out could possibly match your texture. If you're not comfortable/familiar doing them, I would say, start big, ie, 8-10 twists, from the roots.

See, your hair, wavy/curly, is kinda tricky because it looks like it would be so easy to disrupt the pattern, with heat, or even just pulling it back everyday. I'd start with the protein.

Good luck, sweetie!

eta: on a second reading, I'm struck by the fact that you wear it straight all the time. Are you fully "okay" with wearing your curls now? I hate to ask like that, but it's kinda important. Are you gonna get your curls back... and then start straightening again? I guess what I'm asking is, what's your plan? Do you have a lifestyle (or did you) that "required" sleek hair? If so, has that changed?

You're exactly right about my curl pattern being ridiculously easy to disrupt . It stretched out very easily to a frizzy straightness which is terribly unattractive. I even see this evidenced in a childhood photo long before I was straightening my hair. It was stretched from wearing a ponytail for hours. I used protein today and it didn't seem to help bring my curls back.

I did not/do not have a lifestyle that requires my hair to be neat lol. I've just been uncomfortable with my curly hair, I feel awkward with it, sort of takes me back to junior high when I was a skinny goofy kid with a puffy ponytail. It's also been heat damaged for so long that I don't know how to wear it out. I crave the idea of wearing it curly and I'm constantly drooling over other womens' curls whether on here, on tv or irl sometimes. I don't really care for straight hair but it's the only way I feel comfortable especially with the mismatched textures. I'm off to Youtube twistouts now, maybe I can figure something out lol......

 

[halee_J]

Maybe you could try setting on small rollers or flexirods? You can airdry or use indiect heat, and your curls would look more uniform. When you want to wear your hair straight you could set it on large rollers like Pokahontas and BostonMaria. At least that would prevent further heat damage (if it is indeed that).

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

WestND.. I use the same temp all over.

I tried a twist out yesterday and for the life of me I could not get them to stick together, they just unrolled. I even fastened the ends tightly. Is there some trick to getting the hair to stay "glued" together? My hair was very damp and I added a bit of curly pudding (which I hate but it was in the bag with my pony holders so I just went for it, i have close a half a jar from like May 2007) but no the twists just loosened right up.

 

[Honey Bee]

WestND.. I use the same temp all over.

I tried a twist out yesterday and for the life of me I could not get them to stick together, they just unrolled. I even fastened the ends tightly. Is there some trick to getting the hair to stay "glued" together? My hair was very damp and I added a bit of curly pudding (which I hate but it was in the bag with my pony holders so I just went for it, i have close a half a jar from like May 2007) but no the twists just loosened right up.

Mine used to unfasten too. I took me a while, but the trick, for me, was to do them on slightly damp hair, and to do them tight, like a braid. I tended to make my twists really loose, like, whatever. Now I try to do them in a way so that, as they dry, they kinda curl up on each other. (Let me know if that wasn't clear, I don't think I explained it well.)

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

^^ I did the wrapping as tightly as I could but they'd just stay tight for a few seconds and then turn so loose that I could barely call them twists lol. Maybe my hair was overly wet or too much product on it? I'll try again in a while and see what happens.

 

[hopeful]

I know it's hard, but if I were you I'd try to ignore the varying textures, keep it in a pony, bun, or rollerset, and wait it out. You say you can see the curly roots. Please try to be patient and give your curls a chance. If you go back to flat-ironing you will just continue being disappointed. Be patient and hang in there so that you can enjoy your pretty hair.