Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from you!

Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

Hey Kiesh.

Well Duh!:spinning: I forgot you had it printed in your Fotki :lol: thanks anyway for reprinting it!

I got your mess and your number. I will be calling you.

LADIES, I washed my hair last night and was up until 1:30 am detangling my hair. I am 12 weeks! NOT GOOD. I can not wait to get my t/up and trim!!!!! After I get those two, I will feel like I am starting anew! All over! I WANT THICK HAIR! :locks: I am not even thinking about long hair right now. I know once I get my trim, my hair will be way shorter. I think I have very bad see-thru ends.:sad: Oh well, you live and learn.
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

this is an amazing thread: i give it 5 stars: hmmm wonder wat kind of thread I can post if i can't sleep

I'll give YOU five stars for that GORGEOUS hair! I love it!! :eek::eek::eek: Simply beautiful!!!! :clapping::clapping:
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

I am one of the people that you are mentioning. Here are the things I did:

co-washing definitely helped
stretching my relaxer
NO BRUSHING- I can't stress that enough!!!
Mayonnaise- the kind in the fridge
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

I know this may be a dumb questions but what does BT stand for?
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

Here you go, Nefertiti


  • First it’s important to know that overall health/thickness will come before length.
  • No heat. Completely eliminate heat from your regimen (with the exception of deep conditioning/protein treatments). Air drying my hair saved my ends. They were already all chewed up and uneven and badly damaged, adding heat to it (even limited heat) would have pushed back or slowed down the process to regain some sort of health, if possible. I have been told that damaged hair cannot be repaired; it is irreversible. The only available option would be to trim or cut. However, with the use of good products and techniques, you can gradually trim off the damaged portions OR style your hair in a way that helps it blend in with the rest of your hair, or make it look like it's SUPPOSED to look like that :D See my avatar? My ends are sooooooo uneven and damaged, but people think they are layers. :cool:. Sometime you just gotta work with what ya got. I have how I styled my hair without heat if you would like to know what my hair looked like. I got tired of wearing braid/twist outs so I learned how to make my hair as straight as possible without heat, airdried.
  • Baby your ends. It seems as if you are having a problem retaining your ends. I probably wore my hair down, maybe 4 times since January, and only when I wore tank tops. Leaving my ends up or unexposed helped them to be left alone and prevented any unnecessary combing or “photochemical damage” (I got that from Sistaslick :lachen:)
  • No combing. The more hair that stays on your head, the better! Equally, eliminate any possible reasons for shedding/breakage that you can pinpoint. Just like you, I shed a lot with BT, and girl I was pissed cuz I wanted this product to work so bad! :lol: Me not combing my hair was not done on purpose; it kinda just happened that way. I only combed on wash day. Due to my airdried hairstyles that I wore (my hair was either curly, slightly wavy, or straight) I did not have to comb it. Actually combing would have messed up the style. I realized that my not combing my hair was really helping thicken my hair. However when I had a lot of new growth, I made sure to use a moisturizing/detangling conditioner so I had no matting. The only combs I did use were bone combs.
  • Henna. I know you said henna did not work for you…did you clarify after you hennaed? And did you do a strong moisturizing session afterwards? Henna thickened my hair a lot. It also made it stronger, therefore less prone to breakage. I urge you to try it one more time, and this why. I had a better time with henna the second time (as far as dryness goes) because: I clarified afterwards, I did not use any terps- only used water to mix my henna, and I used a conditioner that usually is too moisturizing for my hair: NTM. On regular wash days, NTM that made my hair mushy. But on henna days, it brought my hair back to its normal moisture levels. I also used Dominican cocktail of conditioners and deep conditioned overnight. I have my henna regimen in my fotki if you do decide to do it again.
  • Castor Oil. I put this stuff in EVERYTHING. I used it in my pre-poos, deep conditioners, and used it seal in moisture. The trick is to not use too much to weigh your fine strands down.
  • Stretching relaxers. Stretching relaxers definitely helped me. I couldn’t do that on my own, which is why I got twists. This will definitely make me leave my hair alone and prevented me from doing something crazy…like cutting my hair! If 6-8 is your normal stretch, go for 4 months, or 6 months. Get braids/twists/weave to help you.
  • Less is More. If you use too much product, your hair will absorb all it can, then the rest will just coat the strand. Product build up can cause hair to break since moisture can’t penetrate the strand.
  • Pinpoint what can be making your hair break/shed and eliminate it. You’ve done good with the biotin, BT, etc. There can also be ingredients in your products that may not be agreeing with your hair. It took me a while to realize that my hair LOVES anything with citric acid and HATES anything with glycerin. So make a hair journal, and jot down what you use, how your hair felt using it, and then you can start to learn your hair.
  • Just learn to leave your hair alone. You may be doing way too much to it, actually causing it to break more than it needs to. Just shampoo, deep condition, moisturize/seal, protein treat/clarify as needed, and let it grow. Do the bare minimum. Retain your growth!
These are external techniques. The internal is just as important. Sistaslick said it best:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sistaslick
When your diet and water intake are on point, then the hair you push out will be in peak condition.

Your hair gets the leftover materials from the rest of your body, so if you are already dehydrated and your nutrition is poor-- you'll put out poor quality hair.

Once that hair emerges, it won't get any more nutritional support from you again. Everything after that will have to be done externally. So you want your body to be in good condition first, so that your hair comes out in good condition, and you won't have to jump through hoops of fire to patch it up after it's already out there. The benefits of increasing internal hydration will take a while to show up along the length of the shaft since it will only affect the newgrowth that comes out during that time. In the meantime, external hydration is all you can rely on.


I hope this helps. This may be a strict regimen, but I realized I didn't have to do it for the full 6 months to reap the benefits. But I'll be doing this till I reach my goal. Lemme know how things work for you and if you have any questions!

Thanks!!! :bookworm:
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

Here you go, Nefertiti


  • First it’s important to know that overall health/thickness will come before length.
  • No heat. Completely eliminate heat from your regimen (with the exception of deep conditioning/protein treatments). Air drying my hair saved my ends. They were already all chewed up and uneven and badly damaged, adding heat to it (even limited heat) would have pushed back or slowed down the process to regain some sort of health, if possible. I have been told that damaged hair cannot be repaired; it is irreversible. The only available option would be to trim or cut. However, with the use of good products and techniques, you can gradually trim off the damaged portions OR style your hair in a way that helps it blend in with the rest of your hair, or make it look like it's SUPPOSED to look like that :D See my avatar? My ends are sooooooo uneven and damaged, but people think they are layers. :cool:. Sometime you just gotta work with what ya got. I have how I styled my hair without heat if you would like to know what my hair looked like. I got tired of wearing braid/twist outs so I learned how to make my hair as straight as possible without heat, airdried.
  • Baby your ends. It seems as if you are having a problem retaining your ends. I probably wore my hair down, maybe 4 times since January, and only when I wore tank tops. Leaving my ends up or unexposed helped them to be left alone and prevented any unnecessary combing or “photochemical damage” (I got that from Sistaslick :lachen:)
  • No combing. The more hair that stays on your head, the better! Equally, eliminate any possible reasons for shedding/breakage that you can pinpoint. Just like you, I shed a lot with BT, and girl I was pissed cuz I wanted this product to work so bad! :lol: Me not combing my hair was not done on purpose; it kinda just happened that way. I only combed on wash day. Due to my airdried hairstyles that I wore (my hair was either curly, slightly wavy, or straight) I did not have to comb it. Actually combing would have messed up the style. I realized that my not combing my hair was really helping thicken my hair. However when I had a lot of new growth, I made sure to use a moisturizing/detangling conditioner so I had no matting. The only combs I did use were bone combs.
  • Henna. I know you said henna did not work for you…did you clarify after you hennaed? And did you do a strong moisturizing session afterwards? Henna thickened my hair a lot. It also made it stronger, therefore less prone to breakage. I urge you to try it one more time, and this why. I had a better time with henna the second time (as far as dryness goes) because: I clarified afterwards, I did not use any terps- only used water to mix my henna, and I used a conditioner that usually is too moisturizing for my hair: NTM. On regular wash days, NTM that made my hair mushy. But on henna days, it brought my hair back to its normal moisture levels. I also used Dominican cocktail of conditioners and deep conditioned overnight. I have my henna regimen in my fotki if you do decide to do it again.
  • Castor Oil. I put this stuff in EVERYTHING. I used it in my pre-poos, deep conditioners, and used it seal in moisture. The trick is to not use too much to weigh your fine strands down.
  • Stretching relaxers. Stretching relaxers definitely helped me. I couldn’t do that on my own, which is why I got twists. This will definitely make me leave my hair alone and prevented me from doing something crazy…like cutting my hair! If 6-8 is your normal stretch, go for 4 months, or 6 months. Get braids/twists/weave to help you.
  • Less is More. If you use too much product, your hair will absorb all it can, then the rest will just coat the strand. Product build up can cause hair to break since moisture can’t penetrate the strand.
  • Pinpoint what can be making your hair break/shed and eliminate it. You’ve done good with the biotin, BT, etc. There can also be ingredients in your products that may not be agreeing with your hair. It took me a while to realize that my hair LOVES anything with citric acid and HATES anything with glycerin. So make a hair journal, and jot down what you use, how your hair felt using it, and then you can start to learn your hair.
  • Just learn to leave your hair alone. You may be doing way too much to it, actually causing it to break more than it needs to. Just shampoo, deep condition, moisturize/seal, protein treat/clarify as needed, and let it grow. Do the bare minimum. Retain your growth!
These are external techniques. The internal is just as important. Sistaslick said it best:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sistaslick
When your diet and water intake are on point, then the hair you push out will be in peak condition.

Your hair gets the leftover materials from the rest of your body, so if you are already dehydrated and your nutrition is poor-- you'll put out poor quality hair.

Once that hair emerges, it won't get any more nutritional support from you again. Everything after that will have to be done externally. So you want your body to be in good condition first, so that your hair comes out in good condition, and you won't have to jump through hoops of fire to patch it up after it's already out there. The benefits of increasing internal hydration will take a while to show up along the length of the shaft since it will only affect the newgrowth that comes out during that time. In the meantime, external hydration is all you can rely on.


I hope this helps. This may be a strict regimen, but I realized I didn't have to do it for the full 6 months to reap the benefits. But I'll be doing this till I reach my goal. Lemme know how things work for you and if you have any questions!

Thanks!!! :bookworm:
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

I have always had issues with my hair being extremely fine until I started stretching my relaxers (10-12 wks),taking Biotin 5mg,and stop trimming (to try to make it look even/full)...I learned that my hair grows in natural layers and APPEARS to be thin bcuz of this....

...the front of my hair grows much slower than the back...I had to learn 2 b patient with my hair and allow the rest of the strands to catch up with the longest instead of doing the reverse to make it "look" thicker....that myth was stopping my thickness and lengthening process...

...I'm happy to say that I went from SL to an inch shy of APL (with fullness/thickness) in 5 months...I'm shooting 4 BSL ,w/ thickness,by Feb 08... I'm happy 2 be wiser now,thanks LHCF... :)...HHG
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

I have always had issues with my hair being extremely fine until I started stretching my relaxers (10-12 wks),taking Biotin 5mg,and stop trimming (to try to make it look even/full)...I learned that my hair grows in natural layers and APPEARS to be thin bcuz of this....

...the front of my hair grows much slower than the back...I had to learn 2 b patient with my hair and allow the rest of the strands to catch up with the longest instead of doing the reverse to make it "look" thicker....that myth was stopping my thickness and lengthening process...

...I'm happy to say that I went from SL to an inch shy of APL (with fullness/thickness) in 5 months...I'm shooting 4 BSL ,w/ thickness,by Feb 08... I'm happy 2 be wiser now,thanks LHCF... :)...HHG

I think this is the reason I'm stuck at shoulder length too. I'm learning to be patient and just allow my hair to grow without trying to keep the front and back the same length. I do need to trim on more time :look: but after that I'll just let it grow.
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

I have always had issues with my hair being extremely fine until I started stretching my relaxers (10-12 wks),taking Biotin 5mg,and stop trimming (to try to make it look even/full)...I learned that my hair grows in natural layers and APPEARS to be thin bcuz of this....

...the front of my hair grows much slower than the back...I had to learn 2 b patient with my hair and allow the rest of the strands to catch up with the longest instead of doing the reverse to make it "look" thicker....that myth was stopping my thickness and lengthening process...

...I'm happy to say that I went from SL to an inch shy of APL (with fullness/thickness) in 5 months...I'm shooting 4 BSL ,w/ thickness,by Feb 08... I'm happy 2 be wiser now,thanks LHCF... :)...HHG

This is also how my hair grows
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

I think this is the reason I'm stuck at shoulder length too. I'm learning to be patient and just allow my hair to grow without trying to keep the front and back the same length. I do need to trim on more time :look: but after that I'll just let it grow.

Good 4 u! ;)...I'm glad I've come 2 the realization that my hair does it own thang...lol...I stopped fighting it!...people always think I cut my hair in layers:)...STOP CUTTING your hair,keep it in a bun,and it will pass your shoulders,trust! ;) HHG
 
Re: Ladies who achieved thickness FIRST, then eventually length: I wanna hear from yo

Good 4 u! ;)...I'm glad I've come 2 the realization that my hair does it own thang...lol...I stopped fighting it!...people always think I cut my hair in layers:)...STOP CUTTING your hair,keep it in a bun,and it will pass your shoulders,trust! ;) HHG
You are probably right! :blush: I've been really struggling... realizing that my hair is shorter now than it was a year ago. My hair is healthy. I just have to get over it bein uneven.

Funn how stylist think that uneven hair is split ended hair. for me.... I guess that is not the case. :rolleyes: I guess I have learned.
 
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