Thin/Fine Support Thread

I am becoming sooo discouraged and fed up with my thin/fine hair! I feel like I am doing all the right things, but my hair still remains so soft & see thru. It only gets worse the longer it gets. Sometimes I feel like I will never get a long healthy head of hair because it won't LOOK good, and I will never be able to wear it down. It makes me wonder if all this money that I am spending on growth aids, and expensive products is even worth it, since chances are, I'll end up having to cut it off once it starts getting too long to have it looking decent anyway. I keep running into setbacks, and it is so frustrating!

First, I began taking BT, which I'm sure is a great product, but not for me. I was never able to keep taking in continuously for more than a month at a time because of the extreme shedding and oiliness that it would cause me. As I was examining my hair one day, I realized how thin the left side of my hair is. As I looked closer, I saw that there is a huge chunk that appears to have cut out somehow. I don't know if this is due to my years of wrapping in one direction, or my stylist when she was relaxing my hair. Now, my hair has started breaking, and I don't know why!! I remember this happening when I first began taking vitamins. I stopped taking biotin for awhile because I ran out, and just resumed a few weeks ago, so perhaps that has something to do with it. I decided to do a henna gloss (big mistake) on sunday, to try and stop some of the breakage/shedding, but I should have known better. I have a lot of new growth, and my hair is already kinda coarse right now, and the henna only made it worse. It was so difficult to detangle my wet hair because the henna made it so hard, and i lost a lot of hair.

Right now I am heavily considering just chopping off my hair. I have a lot of layers and bangs, so my hair is pretty uneven. I know that making it all one length would help it to be thicker, so starting over is really looking good to me right now... I just don't want to lose all the progress.

I HATE MY HAIR!!

Dont hate your hair! Learn to work with what you have.

My mom's hair is SOOOOO fine. But over the years, with me staying on her about being gentle and treating her hair like silk, it's doing wonderfully.

You used a henna gloss? Was this a store brought commercial product or natural henna? Natural (body art quality) henna and indigo has done WONDERS for my mother's hair. It makes her hair significantly thicker AND stronger.

Concerning growth aids and all of that other stuff, I've never been one to use those (neither has my mom). I suggest you stick with a good multivitamin, like GNC hair skin and nails OR women's One a day. Leave all of those other topical treatments alone. Your hair, being fine, cant handle such heavy products. So if your hair gets super weighed down and you style it like it's not, you'll end up with random spots of breakage.

Another thing that very fine haired ladies should do, in my opinion, is avoid all direct heat. My mom hasnt used heat in four or so years, and you can really tell by the health of her hair.

Get hair ornaments and styling tools that are gentle, seamless, and non-drying.

I wish you well. But please, dont give up!

i find that with my thin/fine hair that less is more. the more i do to it the more it will rebel and break off. i have to use the least amount of everything because my hair hates too much product. when i use too much of even one thing it causes my hair to be weighed down and the strands will snap very easily. i wash frequenly and just put in some moisturizer and leave it alone to dry.

I have been there, I understand

I have overcome a number of obstacles associated with fine hair by doing the following things

• Scalp massages especially in the hairline and the crown. This is where my hair has more of a hard time growing. I use emu oil, aloe vera juice, and essential oils
• No brushing
• Combing with seamless comb. I still need to do less combing
• Stopped using hair elastics. In only three weeks I see a major difference
• Vitamins: Biotin, Iron, MSM, Pantothenic Acid, Flaxseed Oil. I am not 7 days a week but I get at least 5 days out the week and I am working on increasing to everyday.
• Treating my hair gently and washing and deep conditioning twice per week.
• Mixing castor oil in with my daily moisturizer
• Texlaxing ofcourse

I would do a really deep conditioner treatment to counteract the effects of the henna. I used henna twice and it just made my hair sticky and straw like. I think I will stick to Aphogee for my protein treatments.

It takes a while to find the right combination of best practices for you, so keep trying and be patient and kind to yourself and your hair

This is a lot of stuff but my hair has done a turn around

Another fine haired lady signing on. I am also realizing that less is more. Something I think I am learning is that can not wear the same protective style all the time i have to mix it up all the time or I will have breakage. and my hair does not handle to many products without shedding. And my hair does not like baggying unless its a small amount of moisture and sealant. I also thought that air drying was the way to go throughout my entire stretch. But the fine nature of my hair does not handle that well. So now after about 8-9 weeks I flat iron every week after my wash time. My hair is not shedding nearly as much. good thread

thanks ladies.

maybe i need to back off on the product a little... i thought that perhaps my hair was breaking because it was lacking moisture... which wouldn't make sense to me because i try to moisturize every night.

normally after a wash, i put in my leave-in and some aveda usc then blowdry. yes, i know... i probably shouldn't blowdry, but i've been trying to get the same results that i get from the salon, and she blowdries my hair, and it just feels sooooooo great afterwards! i threw away my old blowdryer, and bought a new, ceramic tourmaline one, and i use it on the lowest speed/heat setting. my hair hates to be air dried. but i must admit, my hair was doing pretty well when i was rollersetting. i've just felt too lazy lately to do all that. plus, with my hair being in this breaking state, i didn't want to put too much stress on it by rollersetting it..

Another thin/fine chick checking in!

Only b/c your hair is breaking would I say to back off on the heat styling, or at least decrease the frequency. Using low heat is good (you're using a heat protectant, right???), but you need to resolve that breakage.

I agree w/the other ladies, less is more. Even if you have to moisturize every other day instead of everyday, listen to what your hair needs.

I have thin hair too and I hate it!!

MizzEsq said:

Dont hate your hair! Learn to work with what you have.


You used a henna gloss? Was this a store brought commercial product or natural henna? Natural (body art quality) henna and indigo has done WONDERS for my mother's hair. It makes her hair significantly thicker AND stronger.

Another thing that very fine haired ladies should do, in my opinion, is avoid all direct heat. My mom hasnt used heat in four or so years, and you can really tell by the health of her hair.

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Yes, I did a gloss. It was my first time using henna, so maybe next time will be better. I mixed some jamila henna, condish, honey, evoo, essential oils and let it sit for about an hour. When I was rinsing, my hair did feel stronger, and thicker,but once I got out of the shower and began to detangle, my hair got really hard. What is your mom's recipe?

That direct heat thing is gonna be a hard one for me. I mean, I don't know how else I'm supposed to get my hair straight! I can rollerset I suppose, that is, after my hair stops breaking, but that always makes my hair look extra short. I think I will begin rollersetting with large rollers again asap.

Another thin hair lady co-signing. Girl don't give up, I went threw so much myself, before I had very thick hair, but after being sick for a few years and the different meds I had to take my doctors did a test to see why my hair was just thinning/shedding but growing long with no problem. I embrace my thin hair 3 years now, I would grow it to BSL cut it off to SL hoping to thicken it up, but no just long and strong, so I am loving it growing long and strong.

Less is more and you have to find the right shampoo, conditioners, leave in for you and your hair. Do not over do it and reduce your heat and I love to use heat, but when I do I use an ionic blow dryer, ceramic irons and a decent heat protectent.

Hi Ladies,

I haven't posted here in a while, but felt compelled to add my 2 cents.
I have really fine, thin hair and as I age, it gets worse (heredity is a big factor in my situation).

When I jumped on the LHCF bandwagon, I started doing things to my hair I never did before and my hair thinned out even more!

I decided to take a break and after several months and adding biotin and a b-complex to my vitamin regimine, I see a difference. My hair is see-thru thin at the ends and have had several trims, but nothing seems to help. It just grows that way.

One thing that I think I did wrong was detangling my hair in the shower under the water. I realized that the weight of the water and the combing was breaking hairs that were not ready to be shed yet. I stopped and I have less hair in the drain as well. I continue to condition wash and deep condition along with using henna and henna glosses which helps the grays and adds temporary thickness, but not as often as I did several months ago. The biotiin is really helping too. I reallized that I can not stretch my relaxers and must not go over 8 weeks.

I can't even wear my hair out anymore it's so thin. I keep it in a protective style that looks sleek and professional for work and play. I don't double up my ponytail holders to make the hair tight and use a "Good Days Hair" pin to secure the pony tail. It' has helped tremendously.

I know I will never have thick hair and I have to love my hair as it is. The up-side to this is that though my hair is thin, it looks and feels lovely. I get compliments even when it's in a protective style.

Honii,

Girl don't give up! I have fine hair and I never though my hair could ever be thick again (esp. with a relaxer in my hair). You just have to be patient. First step, like many of the other ladies mentioned...lay off the products!!! My hair could never take too much product. Just a little moisturizer and a drop of oil is all you need. Here are some other things that took my hair from fine and thin to fine and medium/thick:

*Texturizing: Bone straight relaxers are a no-no. If you are going to use a chemical, you shouldn't leave it on long enough to remove all texture.

*Cutting down on heat: I used to get Dominican blowouts weekly, from root to tip. This is a no-no in the long run for fine hair. Now, I still frequent Dominican salons, but I only get my roots blown out.

*Stretching relaxers: Mainly because overprocessing fine hair is a huge setback.

*Giving up on strictly straight styles: For me, wearing my hair straight just isn't the same as leaving some curl in my hair. Now, wearing curly styles definitely means it takes longer to reach my goals. But it's so worth it for the look and general health of my hair.

Hope that helps!

I agree with NeonBright. I dont know if my hair right now is thin/fine, but it sure feels that way sometimes, and when it does the best thing is just LEAVE IT ALONE.

Think about it. It makes sense. Fine hair is too fragile to be messed with all the time; whether the "messing" is in a good or bad way. My advice is to reduce washing/con/dc to ONCE a week, with a product YOU know works for you, and no/low heat, preferably NO heat. My PJism was running overtime until I found a product that worked for me & that ended up being PM Extra Body.

Trust me, with a simplified/once-a-week type regime, in a few months you will see a tremendous difference. I've been there before and come out of it.

HAPPY GROWING!!!

Sweetheart, Honii! My heart goes out to you and bleeds for you. I don't want you to give up.

Like you, I also have fine/thin hair that's very soft, delicate and (used to) breaks easily. I agree with the other ladies that products weigh the hair down. Changing up a few aspects of my regimen are making a difference and others are noticing as well.

I'd like to share a few things that seem to be helping me:

• Incorporate a little (and I mean a little) castor oil in your regimen. Either add a little to your conditioner; or, add to a leave-in. www.sams247.com
• Focus on protecting your ends. I don't care what anyone says, I wear my donut buns almost daily and people crack on me and even say all kinds of unkind things like why are you hiding your beauty. But I'm doing this for me. If I want my hair to grow and thicken up, protective styles are the way to go.
• Biotin is a lifesaver. I truly believe it. I use Puritan Pride's Super Biotin, www.puritan.com. Many ladies reported that biotin has helped their hair to thicken up. PP also has biotin shampoos and conditioners and other vitamin fortified shampoos and conditioners for hair thickening.
• Add other B vitamins: B-Complex, Pantothenic Acid (B5). Take ALL B's together and drink tons of water.
• Include more protein in your diet like fish and foods rich in Omega Fatty Acids.
• Henna is also lovely, but I think you're right: I wouldn't use henna until at least 5 weeks post. If I tried to henna after relaxing, the hair is still weakened from that.
• Cut back on manipulation. Comb less. I know it's hard to do, but I think it works.
• Strike a balance between protein and moisture. My hair absolutely hates hard proteins. But it also hates too much moisture. So be careful of products that moisturize but weigh the hair down too much. Find a product line that works for you and try to stick with that line. Changing up products, using many different products...all will cause build up and weigh the hair down. I found ONE or TWO product lines that work well for me like Aveda and Elucence and I'm sticking with that and getting rid of most everything else, save a few Dominican deep conditioners that I like.

I know that things will turn around. It's difficult for me as well, especially looking at all the beautiful heads of THICK, full hair. But in my view, haircare is only ONE aspect of health. We take care of our bodies and make a lifelong commitment to that. Why should haircare be any different?

Hang in there, sweetie! Your hair problems will fade away with persistence and patience.

And yes...it'd be nice to have a fine/thin-haired support forum on here.

Fine Hair Sis Checking In!

My hair is much thicker than it use to be and everything the other sisters said are very true.

Like detangling under running water this is a great big for me. The wetter my hair is the weaker it is. Best to let the water run over it and use my fingers to lightly detangle.

The Baggie Method NOT THE KID! My hair grew to APL using the baggie method and when I stopped using this method my hair was too weak to survive and thus I ended back at SL

Curl Activator was once a daily routine but like I said my hair can't take too much moisture so while this helps when stretching less is definitely more.

Daily washing is also a for me. Every other day or every 3 days is best.

All in all I find that I must not allow my hair to remain soaking wet for long periods of time. A light moisturizer is best for me it allows my hair to get the moisture it needs without making it weak.

Also, I love my fine hair WHEN IT IS HEALTHY! When it is weak I can't stand it!

HTH!

oh yea! no brushing/combing either

FlawedBeauty said:

oh yea! no brushing/combing either

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AMEN TO THAT!

thanks a lot guys..

so here are the changes that i plan to make.
-asking my stylist to rinse me out right after she's done smoothing the relaxer through my hair. **now is this going to cause some areas to be underprocessed? where ever she starts first will be straighter than the area she finished last, right? i'm not sure i would want that. hmm..
-i'm giving up heat!! from now on i will rollerset. this is going to be hard. i will give up my weekly flat ironing as well.
-moisture every other day. or maybe i'll interchange my cantu or qhemet with aveda usc, since that seems to be less heavy.
-mix in castor oil with my moisturizers every other day. i;m reading a lot about castor oil thickening up hair strands.
-hands out of my hair unless necessary! especially now that i have alot of new growth, i can't help but play with it!

By the way this is OT but I wanted to... Update on my Thicken My Hairline Challenge...

On Saturday I was with my elderly aunt (who by the way is loving but critical about everything) for a day of shopping and visiting her friends. As we were having dinner she said to me "Your hairline is really nice!" "I never noticed before."

I went home and looked at my old photos and compared them to what my hairline looks like now and it has improved a great deal! WOW!

Time and patience ladies, time and patience....

I have had fine hair all my life.

I think there is a difference between fine hair and thin hair. Thin hair can be due to mechanical or chemical damage. Fine hair (IMO) means hair that is very soft--I always get: you have baby hair all over your head. My hair takes a relaxer QUICK. I can only use mild relaxers. PERIOD. I cannot use certain leave ins because my hair gets COMPLETELY WEIGHED DOWN.

If your hair is fine, you should embrace it---fine hair does not mean short hair--look at kinkikakes and other lovely ladies on this board. You just have to find what works for you. I joined this board like 3 years ago, it took me 2 years of experiements to find my regimen!!!

My fine hair philosophy is : heavy shampoo, heavy deep conditioner, lots of light leave ins, a decent amount of light oils and ROLLERSETS!!!!! My hair is dry. I am 4a/4b and I am straight AFRICAN DESCENT.

OK. so,
I use light liquid leave ins nightly (Dove Sheer Moisture Mist is my fav right now). Since they are light, I can use them everynight, but my hair will not get weighed down. Believe it or not, almost everynight I use rollers--not just for volume and bounce, but to preserve my ends.

If I want a slick look, or my sides are unruly, I use a light cream leave in (it's been Elucence Moistutre Balancing Conditioner of about 1 year now).

I use oils in small amounts and only use almond oil because it's light. If I need grease (usually the winter), I found a light one--keracare dry and itchy scalp glossifier.

Please don't be discouraged!

hOnii said:

thanks a lot guys..

so here are the changes that i plan to make.
-asking my stylist to rinse me out right after she's done smoothing the relaxer through my hair. **now is this going to cause some areas to be underprocessed? where ever she starts first will be straighter than the area she finished last, right? i'm not sure i would want that. hmm..
-i'm giving up heat!! from now on i will rollerset. this is going to be hard. i will give up my weekly flat ironing as well.
-moisture every other day. or maybe i'll interchange my cantu or qhemet with aveda usc, since that seems to be less heavy.
-mix in castor oil with my moisturizers every other day. i;m reading a lot about castor oil thickening up hair strands.

Click to expand...

Your post got me to thinking:

• Instead of heat, have you tried airdrying? I've definitely noticed a thickness in my hair from letting the air dry my hair. While soaking wet, I add my detangling/leave-in, then seal my hair with a little jojoba or almond oil. Allow my hair to dry to about 90%. Then, add a little more moisturizer if needed and seal with jojoba. Tie with scarf. The next morning, my hair is butter soft and the comb glides through. It goes back into its bun and I'm off to work.
• Stretching relaxers: I find that I am really enjoying it. And it's a challenge as well. I think stretching is the best thing for fine/thin-haired ladies.
• Baggy method: my hair started breaking. I believe that it had something to do with too much moisture and air being trapped in the bag, creating water. Even when I didn't use too much moisturizer or sealant, it didn't matter. For my hair, the baggy method made my ends thin out more.
• KISS: Keep it simple, sweetie! I find that I didn't need to do too much to my hair. Although I deep conditioner every week, I don't find that I need to condition wash every other day or even every 3 days. I protein when my hair needs it. But I don't do all these treatments unless my hair is screaming for it.

I would love to see this Thin/Fine Support thread become a staple just like the Henna thread! Keep it going fellow hair types!

january noir said:

By the way this is OT but I wanted to... Update on my Thicken My Hairline Challenge...

On Saturday I was with my elderly aunt (who by the way is loving but critical about everything) for a day of shopping and visiting her friends. As we were having dinner she said to me "Your hairline is really nice!" "I never noticed before."

I went home and looked at my old photos and compared them to what my hairline looks like now and it has improved a great deal! WOW!

Time and patience ladies, time and patience....

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I am too happy for you! Growing back my hairline made me feel soooo good

ETA: I agree BAGGYING IS A NO NO FOR FINE HAIR!!!!

I am going to have to trim off 3-4 inches because my hair thinned so much from baggyingerplexed

january noir said:

One thing that I think I did wrong was detangling my hair in the shower under the water. I realized that the weight of the water and the combing was breaking hairs that were not ready to be shed yet.

I don't double up my ponytail holders to make the hair tight and use a "Good Days Hair" pin to secure the pony tail. It' has helped tremendously.

Click to expand...

I agree with this. I mentioned to someone else that I thought the weight of the water was snapping off my fine, past bra strap hair. I also changed my technique of washing and this has helped tremendously along with a new detangler. I shed very few hairs now.

trimbride said:

I am too happy for you! Growing back my hairline made me feel soooo good

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THANKS Trimbride! It does feel good! Congrats too!

january noir said:

By the way this is OT but I wanted to... Update on my Thicken My Hairline Challenge...

On Saturday I was with my elderly aunt (who by the way is loving but critical about everything) for a day of shopping and visiting her friends. As we were having dinner she said to me "Your hairline is really nice!" "I never noticed before."

I went home and looked at my old photos and compared them to what my hairline looks like now and it has improved a great deal! WOW!

Time and patience ladies, time and patience....

Click to expand...

Good for you, girl! Wanna share how you're growing out your line?

Serenity_Peace said:

Your post got me to thinking:

• Instead of heat, have you tried airdrying? I've definitely noticed a thickness in my hair from letting the air dry my hair. While soaking wet, I add my detangling/leave-in, then seal my hair with a little jojoba or almond oil. Allow my hair to dry to about 90%. Then, add a little more moisturizer if needed and seal with jojoba. Tie with scarf. The next morning, my hair is butter soft and the comb glides through. It goes back into its bun and I'm off to work.
• Stretching relaxers: I find that I am really enjoying it. And it's a challenge as well. I think stretching is the best thing for fine/thin-haired ladies.
• Baggy method: my hair started breaking. I believe that it had something to do with too much moisture and air being trapped in the bag, creating water. Even when I didn't use too much moisturizer or sealant, it didn't matter. For my hair, the baggy method made my ends thin out more.
• KISS: Keep it simple, sweetie! I find that I didn't need to do too much to my hair. Although I deep conditioner every week, I don't find that I need to condition wash every other day or even every 3 days. I protein when my hair needs it. But I don't do all these treatments unless my hair is screaming for it.

Click to expand...

my hair hates to be airdried. it gets all poofy and semi-wavy, but its not a cute wavy at all. when i comb my airdried hair it tends to want to shed. plus, if i airdried, i would then have to go put heat on it to style it so that it would be straight enough to wear out. but maybe i'll revisit it and try it the way you mentioned.
but if not, rollersetting works for me, i just have to stop being lazy.

i've gotten this relaxer thing down to a science. after about 8 weeks it all goes downhill from there!

**WonderWoman** said:

Good for you, girl! Wanna share how you're growing out your line?

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Thanks Love!

I will have to contribute this to gentle treatment (whenever I touch my hair in general, I pretend that it is very fragile, (which it is) AND massaging Qhemet Sidr Tree Butter Balm on my edges and along the hair shaft just above the scalp and a little on the scalp (the Sidr Tree has MSM in it and it is very soft and gentle). I also take 5000-10000 mcg of biotin and a b-complex. Since I've added these vitamins, I have noticed a change in my overall hair thickness.

january noir said:

Thanks Love!

I will have to contribute this to gentle treatment (whenever I touch my hair in general, I pretend that it is very fragile, (which it is) AND massaging Qhemet Sidr Tree Butter Balm on my edges and along the hair shaft just above the scalp and a little on the scalp (the Sidr Tree has MSM in it and it is very soft and gentle). I also take 5000-10000 mcg of biotin and a b-complex. Since I've added these vitamins, I have noticed a change in my overall hair thickness.

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Gotcha! Thanks for sharing. I already take b-complex. About to start MSM & Biotin. I just found this awesome Biotin Conditioner by J/A/S/O/N. You just made me realize that I need to pay attention to my edges. Thanks again

**WonderWoman** said:

Gotcha! Thanks for sharing. I already take b-complex. About to start MSM & Biotin. I just found this awesome Biotin Conditioner by J/A/S/O/N. You just made me realize that I need to pay attention to my edges. Thanks again

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Cool! You got me thinking that I should use a Biotin shampoo or conditioner as well along with my "internal" solution. Good luck and keep us posted! When I get the time, I will take a pic and update my siggy or fotki with my progress. Remember, time, patience AND gentleness!