Please Insert Some Hair Care Tips Here!!

So I have been trying to gain a nice full pony tail back ever since May 2005 or so.  I had a bad salon experience with someone who did not know how to cut hair, and ever since then my hair has not been the same.  I am complety disgusted by this.  I have gained a ton of info from you all on the forum, and I think I have helped my hair a lot. My current reg. is:(I have 4A hair) wash every 3 days with Kera Care Dry Itchy scalp poo, and Kera Care Humectant Con(Dont understand what Humectant means). Apply Motions Leave in. Blow Dry, and the flat iron!During the week I apply KeraCare Oil Moisturizer&KeraCare Essential Oils 2x's a day. I don't sleep with a scarf, and have tons of hair on my pillow.  I love the way my hair is soft now but it still breaks little hairs from time to time. Also I noticed that CW are far better than pooing all the time.  Just realized Some of the KeraCare Oils & Moisturizers contain mineral oil, and bees wax but then again those do not really hurt me at all, I don't think.  I started texturizing with Optimum Multi-Mineral Relaxer last month.  And have noticed that my hair starts to actually COIL at the ends!  I have no clue what that is about. Anyhow I usually style my hair really crazy, because there is nothing else Id rather do with it.  I think I enjoy the bed head look but cannot get the bed hed look without flat ironing.  I cannot stop myself from blow drying because of bad past experiences with air drying. I used to airdry when I was younger, but back then I could wear a pony tail.  I got a trim last week, and as much as I love my stylist, she cut just a little too much at the crown:(. Quite possibly because it was damaged.  I am way too much into the whole trimming every 8 weekes on time because my stylist thinks this is what helps the hair grow.  I figure she's right because around 7 weeks before texturizing, I notice split ends, and I dont need anymore damage than I can handle.But I think I cut my hair off faster than it grows.  Im sick of looking at all the broken hairs and tons of shed on the sink bowl.  I am having to deal with puffy ends after blow drying with no comb attachment.   All I want is chin length hair with a nice fluffy pony tail, without the horrors of braids, fake pony tails, and anything fake. All natural full out growth!  Somone please HELP ME!

I agree with caramel...lay off the heat and you will definitely see growth.  Also, since you are seeing a lot of breakage on your pillow, I suggest you tie it up at night to prevent unnessary breakage.  It's not good to sleep w/your hair loose because it dries it out and breaks it off.  Either put it in a bun, wrap it or braid it and wrap it up w/a scarf.  And don't forget to moisturize before u do this.

A humectant attracts moisture from the air.  It's really good to use these during the summer because the air is so moist vs. the dry winter air but it's fine to use them in winter also. 

I see you blow dry and flat iron.  Doing both is extra damaging and causes breakage if done excessively.  You may want to try some no heat styles or at least cut it down to just one heat styling tool, such as just blow drying or just flat ironing instead of doing both.

I didn't see deep conditioning or protein treatments on your reg.  These are very important for you to do.  That's all I can thing of for now.

I most definitely deep condition whenever my hair is in a rut(every other week)!  Using motions CPR treatment for about 2-3 hours at time with a processing cap. I love it!  I ran out, and haven't been able to get to the Largest BSS, who carrys it.  Now I'm just using my regular conditoner the same exact way, and needless to say it does me justice.  It's hard not to use heat because I want bone straight hair with my flat iron.  If I don't blow dry, then the flat ironing results are rather poofy and not as straight.  I use tons of heat protectant.  However, yesterday I bought a satin cap to sleep in!  I also bought a blow dryer attachment that DOES NOT FIT MY DRYER, WOW I WAS PISSED!  So I guess I have to wander into Sally's today to find something else.  I was thinking maybe I can wash every 2 weeks for the next 2 months or so.  I believe that will cut back on heat Because it won't be as often(that will seriously be hard)  It's just entirely too hard to go without heat with short rigid hair like mines.  What brand of Castor Oil do you recommend? PS:  I have mullet cut hair!!  I am only eagered to get the back longer and longer.. and the crown to get just as full  but not as long. 

I most definitely deep condition whenever my hair is in a rut(every other week)!  Using motions CPR treatment for about 2-3 hours at time with a processing cap. I love it!  I ran out, and haven't been able to get to the Largest BSS, who carrys it.  Now I'm just using my regular conditoner the same exact way, and needless to say it does me justice.  It's hard not to use heat because I want bone straight hair with my flat iron.  If I don't blow dry, then the flat ironing results are rather poofy and not as straight.  I use tons of heat protectant.  However, yesterday I bought a satin cap to sleep in!  I also bought a blow dryer attachment that DOES NOT FIT MY DRYER, WOW I WAS PISSED!  So I guess I have to wander into Sally's today to find something else.  I was thinking maybe I can wash every 2 weeks for the next 2 months or so.  I believe that will cut back on heat Because it won't be as often(that will seriously be hard)  It's just entirely too hard to go without heat with short rigid hair like mines.  What brand of Castor Oil do you recommend? PS:  I have mullet cut hair!!  I am only eagered to get the back longer and longer.. and the crown to get just as full  but not as long. 

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Trust me, I know exzactly what you mean about the heat.  It is very hard but it really does work.  Everytime I stop using heat for a few months my hair grows like a weed!  Normally I use heat every two weeks and this works good for me.

I'm not sure what brand castor oil I have but I got it in the pharmacy at wal mart.  It's in a brown bottle.  I really like using it for my ends.  Castor oil is also a natural humectant.  I use WGO a lot also.

I love Motions CPR.  After you use that make sure to use a moisturizing conditioner.

Have you ever thought about wrapping or bunning your hair and letting it air dry or sit under the dryer.  It's more time consuming but it will cut out your blow drying which will help you a lot.  I usually wrap my hair and sit under the dryer for an hour and then flat iron.  HTH

Saloncare shampoos and conditioners (sally's)

curecare hair and skin conditioner (sally's)

cholesterol (saloncare or queen helene) Sally's

castor oil- 1 gal/$14- www.thechemistrystore.com

liquid castille soap (extremely gentle/natural shampoo) www.thechemistrystore.com

Do whatever you gotta do but please- pre-poo, wash, condition and deep condition weekly. That washing every 2 weeks in not good for your hair or scalp and if i am not mistaken those motions product have mineral oil/petroleum in them you may want to leave them alone- i know cholesterol does too but you are rinsing that out and there is not buildup. Only comb your hair with a wide tooth comb in the shower when hair is wet. Get a bottle of detangler from the dollar store/cvs/rite aid- spray that on in the shower-in between washing and conditioning- comb thru and it makes like easier.

PickledGeuse, Try this:

Wash your hair Friday night (whatever your regimen). When your hair is still wet, moisturize it, and comb it back into a low ponytail and put a scarf on it. Take it down Saturday night or Sunday morning. The top portion of your hair will be dry and straight, the ponytail will probably still be wet....let it air dry and then flat iron it. That should be good because you used NO dryer, less heat, and just on the very  ends. Of course, use a heat protectant on the ends before flat ironing.

A better alternative in my opinion: Wash your hair Friday night. While the hair is still wet, moisturize, use a little setting lotion, and cornrow the hair. Allow the hair to dry over the weekend (doesn't need a scarf on it except to sleep in), and unbraid it Monday morning. FINGER COMB ONLY! Using a comb/brush in braided hair causes frizziness. Wrap your hair every night (loosely) and re-do Friday night. NO HEAT AT ALL, so it's great. Plus it looks really good.

The way I braided my hair that was really cute: the back half just going down. The top half: parted in the middle with the cornrows just braided down the sides. I like this better because if I SIDE part it, one side looks fuller/curlier than the other side, but when both sides are equal, it looks very good.

One good thing about a braidout is that the cornrows don't have to be perfect! Which is really good since I can't braid for crap!

I loaned my hairdryer to my neighbor 2 months ago, and I don't even care if she ever gives it back.

Tell me if either of these work for you.

When you use the baggie method- try pomace b olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil or castor oil- never vaseline- that generally only works for people with relaxers.

I don't think vaseline works at all on any hair except to make it greasy...a better alternative will be one of the oils or a deep conditioner. Pink Oil Moisturizer, to me, would even be a much better choice, and I HATE Pink Oil Moisturizer.

But that's my opinion. Other people can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you should use vaseline on any hair at all, relaxed or natural. Save the vaseline for your knees and elbows .

If you absolutely MUST use something like vaseline, at least use some kind of hair grease, which would basically be petrolatum (which is all vaseline is) with other ingredients added. Like Softee Coconut Oil hair grease......"vaseline" with coconut oil added and a nice coconutty scent.

I've tried conrows again!  I CW, sprayed on Keratin leave-in, moisturized, cornrowed my hair up, put on a satin cap, and took my behind to bed!  I woke up in the morning, took them out, and didn't like the results of the "curlyness", so I decided to comb it out and flat iron.  It came out pretty good, but its just not STICK STRAIGHT like I like it, and I can still notice the curlys in certain places, the ends are just awful.  Also there was a moderate amount of shed and maybe breakage.  I haven't used a good deep conditioner in about 3 weeks so maybe that is why.  I've been subtituting my regular humectant co with my deep conditioner(which was Motions CPR Treatment).  Next week instead of using KeraCare, I'm going to switch to Creme Of Nature poo & co, with Motions CPR treatment(deep conditioner).  Also, I'm going to try out castor oil!  I've never felt the need to CW after using Motions CPR, but someone has said before that I definitely should.  For some reason I enjoy the straight (almost thin) feel.  I was considering reconstructing also, but I have no clue of how to do that, and don't want to mess things of even more than I already have.  I have noticed that my hair is stronger, but I still shed like a dog! 

PickledGeuse, Try this:

Wash your hair Friday night (whatever your regimen). When your hair is still wet, moisturize it, and comb it back into a low ponytail and put a scarf on it. Take it down Saturday night or Sunday morning. The top portion of your hair will be dry and straight, the ponytail will probably still be wet....let it air dry and then flat iron it. That should be good because you used NO dryer, less heat, and just on the very  ends. Of course, use a heat protectant on the ends before flat ironing.

A better alternative in my opinion: Wash your hair Friday night. While the hair is still wet, moisturize, use a little setting lotion, and cornrow the hair. Allow the hair to dry over the weekend (doesn't need a scarf on it except to sleep in), and unbraid it Monday morning. FINGER COMB ONLY! Using a comb/brush in braided hair causes frizziness. Wrap your hair every night (loosely) and re-do Friday night. NO HEAT AT ALL, so it's great. Plus it looks really good.

The way I braided my hair that was really cute: the back half just going down. The top half: parted in the middle with the cornrows just braided down the sides. I like this better because if I SIDE part it, one side looks fuller/curlier than the other side, but when both sides are equal, it looks very good.

One good thing about a braidout is that the cornrows don't have to be perfect! Which is really good since I can't braid for crap!

I loaned my hairdryer to my neighbor 2 months ago, and I don't even care if she ever gives it back.

Tell me if either of these work for you.

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Renata, I can't put all of my hair into a pony tail because I have a mullet cut.  I can do two pony's one on top and one on bottom.  But I've found that this is a disaster waiting to happen.  I tried my version at bantu knots once , and it pretty much the same thing. I shed so much and it was just unbelievably hard to comb out. Since, my hair is really short(neck length), top part barely an inch, it only takes a few hours for my hair to dry.  Most of the ends become dry as soon as I start moisturizing after a shower

Thanks For the recommendation Wishe.  I have seen that pak at the BSS and was hesitant to buy it; I noticed one of my good friends uses it weekly..and she has smooth frizzless hair.  On two sides of my head patches of my hair had broken off last summer.  They blend in a lot better than they did back then. However, I was told by a stylist that these parts of my hair will never be the same length as the rest of my hair, and in order for it to be long..I'd have to cut it all off. True or False? Does anyone have any info about growing theses spontaneous spots back.  The ends of my hair seem to still be very dead..and i've noticed that they look best when I smooth a combo of vaseline and Mango butter on them.  Also I found a silk scarf at my grandmothers house..but am not too sure if there is a proper way to wrap it....Tips! PS:  Im thinking of hood drying tonite..any tips?

Thanks For the recommendation Wishe.  I have seen that pak at the BSS and was hesitant to buy it; I noticed one of my good friends uses it weekly..and she has smooth frizzless hair.  On two sides of my head patches of my hair had broken off last summer.  They blend in a lot better than they did back then. However, I was told by a stylist that these parts of my hair will never be the same length as the rest of my hair, and in order for it to be long..I'd have to cut it all off. True or False? Does anyone have any info about growing theses spontaneous spots back.  The ends of my hair seem to still be very dead..and i've noticed that they look best when I smooth a combo of vaseline and Mango butter on them.  Also I found a silk scarf at my grandmothers house..but am not too sure if there is a proper way to wrap it....Tips! PS:  Im thinking of hood drying tonite..any tips?

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I don't think you will have to cut your hair to make it even.  Those patches will catch up sooner or later.  As for the dryer, select the one that has mult-heat settings.  I would suggest getting a hooded dryer with a wattage around 1600 watts.  In regards to the scarf tying method, just make sure that you move the "knot" around, not at the same spot.  This is to prevent rubbing of the nape and other areas.  Good luck Pickles.