New here and need hair HELP!

mamakristina88 · 06-27-2012, 11:30 PM

Hi all! I'm a 2b/2c naturally. My hair is currently growing out from a pixie and is EXTREMELY damaged...for the better part of my 23 years I've been using heat styling every day...usually a blow dryer and flat iron. I DESPERATELY want my curls back!! I'm a soon to be mother and am just wanting to be more natural. The past two days I've done nothing to my hair but scrunch and put some products in it. It. Looks. TERRIBLE!! - It just looks straw like with bends in it but no curls and parts of it are even STRAIGHT!! Granted the hair is short and damaged...will I ever have my natural curls back, and what can I do to help them??? - I have a friend who's a stylist and she says I may never get them back...although I'm not sure I believe her.

Any advice??

kimmidawn · 06-28-2012, 06:56 AM

Don't worry, you may still have hope for your curls; the products might be a big part of why you got the results you did (as opposed to your curls just being like that).

There's really two things I would suggest as you are starting out on your journey to becoming curly. First (and if you already have these in your siggy, I apologize, but the CurlTalk app won't let me see them), you'll have the best results if you determine your hair properties (texture - the size of an individual hair as opposed to how much hair you have, porosity, and elasticity). Ways to determine that can be found in some of the stickies in the General Hair forum; I would link to them, but it's difficult to do that through the app. For example, I have fine texture with normal porosity and normal elasticity. Once I found this out, it led me in the right direction as far as which products my hair might respond best to.

The other point that might help your curls (and will also tell you some of your hair's likes and dislikes) is to baby your hair with both protein and moisture. My guess, depending on how damaged it is, is that your hair would benefit from at least a little of both. I would try a short protein treatment (PT) followed by a deep treatment (DT) to see if that helps. In terms of PTs, you can buy reconstructors or moisturizing protein treatments in stores (I like Ion Effective Care from Sally's) or you could make your own (not hard to do). As far as DTs, it's my understanding you can use hair masks or heavy conditioners (my hair prefers a lot of protein so I don't know much about DTs).

Also, if you find one PT or DT doesn't work, don't necessarily write off protein or moisture for your hair; sometimes hair only likes one kind of protein or oil and is sensitive to others (protein in the ingredients list generally has "hydrolyzed" or "amino acids" next to the name of the type of protein; moisture is generally oils or butters).

I know it's a lot of information to absorb, but there's a lot of helpful members on this site, so don't be afraid to ask for help

mamakristina88 · 06-28-2012, 11:44 AM

Thank you kimmidawn! - it is a lot to take in, but it's all great information and very helpful!! - i think i've figured out my hair properties (for the most part). my hair has never been "sensitive" or "insensitive" to any products really - so maybe it'll be easier for me to find a GOOD product that works for me!