My girlfriend's hair

[ANaturalBrotha]

My girlfriend\'s hair

Hey guys my girlfriend is trying to grow her hair out. Nothing seem to be working to stop the breakage. We've used ORS carrot oil still comb out a handful of hair. She wears hair in cornrows for 2 weeks. Then she washes and deep conditions with Lekair then rebraid. I have her on Ultra hair plus vitamins with 2000mg of msm. She's been on that for like a month and we still dont see any difference. She also sprays surge on her braided hair. she feels her hair will never get long.

 

[inthepink]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

Is it possible that cornrowing is not that best method for her? How long is her hair? Maybe she could try protective styles like buns to see if that makes a difference.

 

[ANaturalBrotha]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

her hair is very short in the back. maybe an inch and a half
thanks for the response

 

[adrienne0914]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

it's so nice to see someone who supports his girlfriend's efforts to grow her hair. i commend you for that!!

the thing with vitamins is that they take a while to make a difference. a month is not enough time to judge their effectiveness. in a month, her hair may grow up to 1/2" or so. it's very hard to tell yet. so be patient with that.

usually if someone is not making progress, it's because their hair is breaking as fast as it grows. if it wasn't growing, she would be bald. so my first guess would be that it's not getting enough moisture. my favorite moisturizer is curl activator. i use either S-Curl spray or World of Curls gel.

from what i understand, Surge is a protein treatment. so it should really be mainly used on the scalp, not the hair. tell her to stop spraying it all over. she should use a braid spray or, my favorite, curl activator instead for moisture.

 

[kandyland]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

There is this garlic shampoo and conditioner.....I can't remember the name...I'm still on vacation so I don't have access to them......it stopped my shedding dead it its tracks.....When I get back home I'll post what brand it is....

 

[Nessa]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

addreine gave you alot of advice.

 

[JFemme]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

well ...you made my day( ANB ) posting to find help for your sweeties hair issues...

years ago when I had issues with breakage ( due to braids ) I used a product line called Curetage. I bought the entire system for 80.00 My hair line grew back in 6-8weeks. I've since moved on to other brands of cheaper natural solutions. But this product worked for me. The web address is www.curetage.com

I'm sure the other ladies will chime in with some great suggestions , so hang in there....keep reading

 

[ANaturalBrotha]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

We mainly spray it on her hair when its braided. I thought it would be ok since it says it on the bottle. I used it on my hair as a detangler.

 

[aprilbiz]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

It is very nice that you are helping your girlfriend! I would first find out if there is a health problem. Perhaps a doctor visit is necessary.

Once that is ruled out, I would lay off the cornrows for a while until the hair is stronger. I would advise her to wear a light and stylish wig or fall until she can stop the breakage. Meanwhile, I would have her do an Aphoghee For Damaged Hair treatment every 6 weeks followed by an intensive moisturizing conditioner treatment. I would advise her to rinse her hair as often as she feels comfortable and use a leave-in moisturizing conditioner like Humectress in her hair. The wig/fall must come off at night or whenever possible so that her hair can get air and dry.

 

[ANaturalBrotha]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

Where do you get humectress is that something you can buy in stores? I bought her a satin cap to sleep in but she lost it somewhere in the house lol

 

[mly3e]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

I think Adrienne gave good advice about the S-Curl. I would also suggest she use hot oil treatments and conditioner wash.es Thats when conditioner is used instead of shampoo (using an inexpensive one like V05). Does she wash often? If not then she should.

I also would tell her to try a diffferent style other than cornrows. Thats not the best option for most folks, many use teisted styles and braid outs. Perhaos she should get it braided using extentions, that way she would not have to manipulate her hair often.

She must also use a WIDE tooth comb only and never comb her hair while dry. She has to mist it first.

 

[ANaturalBrotha]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

she never comb her hair dry. It stays braided in cornrow extentions. when she takes her hair down i wash it then spray this old leave in i had by herbal essence then comb it out then she rebraids it. She cornrows her own hair by the way.

 

[Chimma]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

How often does she relax her hair? Maybe she is relaxing too often or retouching the already relaxed hair?

 

[debyjay]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

The garlic shampoo and conditioner Kandyland mentioned is called Nutrine garlic shampoo and Nurtine garlic conditioner. Those two products stopped my shedding dead in it's tracks also. 3.99 each. I use the unscented ones. If your g/f is shedding I highly rec this. S-curl like Adrienne suggested has done wonders for me -- thanks again Adrienne!

 

[adrienne0914]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

ANB, what kind of hair does she add to the extensions? does she wash her hair while it's braided?

you're welcome, debyjay!

 

[stacy]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

Is your girlfriend's hair natural, relaxed, or is she trying to grow out a relaxer? If it is completely natural, what is her hair texture? If she is transitioning, how much hair is relaxed and how much is natural? If she is relaxed, how often does she relax? There could be so many factors that are contributing to the breakage, but I feel we would be able to give better advice if we had more info.

 

[jainygirl]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

if she isn't already, tell your girlfriend to shy away from cornrows using extensions. i also used to cornrow my hair (with just my own hair) and would let it rest while i wore nice wigs and stuff, then on friday and saturday i would wear it in a braidout (which is another good protective style) and on sundays i would wash condition and get it re-cornrowed to wear the next week. this worked for me because my hair was in really nice professional styles with the wigs i wore to work but i also had the convience of wearing it down a couple days of the week(in a braidout). she may want to try doing this. sometimes the best thing to do is to just let your hair rest for a while. also she may want to visit the website and give us the details on her hair type and what kind of additional products she may be using on her hair. Using too much heat may be a culprit if she uses curling irons and blow drying extensively. Also some products may be drying or even contributing to the breakage themselves. Please have her come to the website, we would love to help her out. She can definitely have the long hair she wants

she just needs to get armed with some good information and get additional support along the way. Alot of the photo albums that the ladies have on the website with progress pics would be really inspiritional for her and probably give her the boost that she needs right about now. But definitely have her come to LHCF--Jainygirl

 

[Tracy]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

I agree with Jainygirl and a few other posters. Just wieghing in to say - don't just go tyring things for the heck of it. I really believe that it's important to correctly identify the problem you have before you do anything major.

Adding moisture, as Adrienne suggests, can only help.

But I thing the use of any other PRODUCT before you change your METHODS is premature.

I think your girlfriends hair is reacting badly to the braiding, personally.

As an aside - I definitely don't think Garlic shampoo will help. It is not designed for any and all shedding, from your posts I cant tell if she has breaking or shedding, and what the cause might be beyond the braids.

Garlic shampoo is for follicular problems which Garlic cna elp to correct. If used when it's not necessary the shampoo can be a problem - it's very drying. Just a warning.

Overall - I'd say have her stop braiding and see what happens. THEN purchase products, slowly, to determine if she's missing somehting in her regime.

 

[Erica78]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

[ QUOTE ]
ANaturalBrotha said:
Where do you get humectress is that something you can buy in stores? I bought her a satin cap to sleep in but she lost it somewhere in the house lol

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL! I thought i was the only one that had a problem with losing the cap. I lose my cap about once a week...and it turns up in the oddest places....

 

[keylargo]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

My heart is feeling so warm right now from this post. It's so sweet of you to help your girlfriend with her hair. The jerks I've dealt with would have broken up with me over having a breakage problem with my hair.....

I've had problems with breakage too. I've had to stop using the Surge for awhile because it was making my hair a little too dry. What kind of moisturizers does your girlfriend use? She should really consider the curl activator like Adrienne suggested. She's gotta get enough moisture in her hair before it can respond to protein without drying out. She should be spraying some kind of moisturizer on her cornrows daily. She may also want to consider conditioner only washes. Just rinse, and deep condition without using shampoo at all. Shampoo can dry out the hair too. Some ladies dilute their shampoo with water to reduce the harshness of it.

 

[ANaturalBrotha]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

dang i got some catching up to do. I have a question does cornrows break off the ends? i mean because it doesnt pull her hair out from the roots just when i comb through the ends. She doesnt relax often. Probably every 3 or 4 months. Me telling my girlfriend to wear a wig is like telling her to jump off a cliff its not going to happen lol. I cant tell the new growth from the perm thats why it seem like its not growing. I think its the type of relaxer she uses or the way her family puts it on because her hair is never bone straight. after she washes her hair and sprays leave in on it. It looks natural.

 

[Ayeshia]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

I think if she wants to save her hair she will wear a wig. Half of the people you see walking up the street wear them...lol. I dont see the big difference if you wear extensions. Although some people view them as primarily for older people and cancer patients, wigs are more stylish now than ever. Even when my hair was longer, I still wore one for shorter styles.

 

[Ayeshia]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

BTW, since you said her natural texture looks a lot like her relaxed texture, maybe you should encourage her not to relax for a while. Especially since shes not wear her hair straight anyway. To me that defeats the purpose of having a relaxer.HTH!!!!!!!

 

[deepdimples3]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

If she is having breakage at the ends, maybe she needs to start with a good trim.

 

[soulchild]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

[ QUOTE ]
ayeshia said:
BTW, since you said her natural texture looks a lot like her relaxed texture, maybe you should encourage her not to relax for a while. Especially since shes not wear her hair straight anyway. [/quote

This makes a lot of sense.

 

[Isis]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

[ QUOTE ]
ANaturalBrotha said:
Where do you get humectress is that something you can buy in stores? I bought her a satin cap to sleep in but she lost it somewhere in the house lol

[/ QUOTE ]

How sweet that you are helping your girlfriend grow her hair.

By the way, she needs another satin cap asap

or at least a satin or silk pillowcase! On a serious note, it's really important that she protect her hair with one so it doesn't break off during sleep.

And Humectress (my favorite) can be found at most salons in Super Walmarts or at JC Penney's. Look for sales like on the large liter sizes. If you don't see one for sale, get it anyway.

 

[Tracy]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

Okay breakage at the ends sounds like there is a mositure prolem. It's possible that for her, having her hair braided means that she isn't able to give her hair the level of moisture it needs to thrive.

If she's not comfortable wearing a wig, I can understand - and there are other options. If it hasn't been suggested already it sounds to me like she is a perfect candidate for twice weekly conditoner washes followed by a braid out (braiding the hair into individual braids that she then allows to airdry and then unravels for a curly/wavy look) which she can either wear out or pull into a ponytail or bun for a cute little look that requires no heat and little manipulation. This techinique worn for a while will probably really help to give the hair regular doses of moisture, and allow her to maintain a relative lack of manipulation - which is the point of braids and is probably a good idea. She can also spary S-curl easily on a braid out style without worrying about it weighing the hair down. I find with curlier styles the more wieght the better so she could use a glycerin based product, which is great for adding moisture with no problem.

Also - she may want to consider having her relaxers done professionally. Sometimes even with the best of intentions, people can suffer damage relaxing at home.

She also may want to consider adding a protein treatment like Nexxus Emergencee once every 2 weeks to a month to start adding some strength to her strands. She should get more moisture than protein, but if she's getting breakage WEAK hair may be the problem. Protein can help.

One last thing - avoid combing out her hair at any other time than then when it's wet with conditioner in it until it's a little stronger.

Good Luck!

 

[keylargo]

Re: My girlfriend\'s hair

[ QUOTE ]
Tracy said:
Okay breakage at the ends sounds like there is a mositure prolem. It's possible that for her, having her hair braided means that she isn't able to give her hair the level of moisture it needs to thrive.

If she's not comfortable wearing a wig, I can understand - and there are other options. If it hasn't been suggested already it sounds to me like she is a perfect candidate for twice weekly conditoner washes followed by a braid out (braiding the hair into individual braids that she then allows to airdry and then unravels for a curly/wavy look) which she can either wear out or pull into a ponytail or bun for a cute little look that requires no heat and little manipulation. This techinique worn for a while will probably really help to give the hair regular doses of moisture, and allow her to maintain a relative lack of manipulation - which is the point of braids and is probably a good idea. She can also spary S-curl easily on a braid out style without worrying about it weighing the hair down. I find with curlier styles the more wieght the better so she could use a glycerin based product, which is great for adding moisture with no problem.

Also - she may want to consider having her relaxers done professionally. Sometimes even with the best of intentions, people can suffer damage relaxing at home.

She also may want to consider adding a protein treatment like Nexxus Emergencee once every 2 weeks to a month to start adding some strength to her strands. She should get more moisture than protein, but if she's getting breakage WEAK hair may be the problem. Protein can help.

One last thing - avoid combing out her hair at any other time than then when it's wet with conditioner in it until it's a little stronger.

Good Luck!

[/ QUOTE ]

Great advice Tracy! Yes, the Nexus Emergencee really helped me with my breakage problem. It did not make my hair hard either but, I do use lots of moisturizing products in between washes (carefree curl activator/moisturizer, worlds of curls activator and elasta qp mango butter, etc.).