Hormones "screwing up" hair

MyWay · 03-09-2012, 08:28 PM

Hello everyone, I'm new to here. If this isn't the right place for this topic, let me now

Okay, so I'm a 16 year old boy. I don't know if it is common for a guy, specially my age to create a topic on these kind of forums, all I know is that I'm frustrated as never before. Before I hit puberty, I had silky and straight hair.. typical. So my hair got some waves, obviously got darker and drier. When I decided to take care of it with a healthier diet and products, my hair started getting so much better. (Those things around September '11) But now, my hair is becoming drier and drier, even though my diet is the double of healthier than before, I'm drinking lots of water, I've been using special shampoos for dry hair, leave in conditioners, even..... hair masks *gulp* Not even a small difference for good, just even worse.
Just today my mother decided to buy this expensive salon shampoo (L'izzio) and when I got into the shower I noticed a difference, it felt much silkier. I also used the conditioner and leave in product.. but surprise surprise, when my hair dried it was as dry as always.

I've tried to find out why my hair is being so nasty with me, I'm getting lots of responses that it is probably hormones. What can I do to stop them from affecting my hair? It is simply unbelievable.. I just can't stand this anymore... I don't want to give up and just shave my head. No.
Some say the solution is to use salon shampoos, and as I said I just started using one today, will I see results in a few days?

I'd really appreciate your response.

By the way, my hair is wavy on the lateral areas and forehead, and completely straight on the crown area.

IAgirl · 03-10-2012, 09:47 AM

You sound like my husband. Straight hair as a kid, then turning wavy/curly and "unmanageable," especially around the hairline. Your hair probably feels dry because it has changed texture. Unless the skin on your face and chest is also dry, your skin is probably healthy. You need enough protein and fat, fruits and vegetables in your diet to have healthy hair- you've probably got that covered.
What helps a lot of curly and wavy-haired people is to wash their hair less often, or to try using conditioner to wash it instead of shampoo (yes, it does work). Washing the hair with conditioner makes some people's hair soft and shiny and makes other people's hair limp and greasy, so the only way to know it to try it. Look for "mild" shampoos or else dilute a regular shampoo to make it milder. The more you dilute, the less a shampoo can dry out your hair. You need some of the oils and other things that are in and on your hair and if you wash them off completely, your hair will feel dry and frizzy.
If you run a finger over a hair, does it feel smooth or bumpy? If the wavy areas feel a little bumpy, then your hair is growing with little twists and bends (kinks) that you may or may not be able to see very well. These will definitely make it feel dry and maybe a bit rough.
One thing that will help you a lot and nobody will know you're using it is coconut oil. You get it in a jar at grocery stores - it's solid around room temperature. Before you wash your hair, use a little bit (maybe as big as the fingernail of your little finger, maybe less) on your hair by rubbing it in your palms to melt it, then gently take sections of your dry hair in your closed hand and pull them over the hair from roots to ends and comb the oil through with your fingers. Then wash.
After you wash your hair, whether you use conditioner or not, when it's almost dry, use a little less coconut oil and do the same thing.
Pretty soon you should see the waves getting smoother and shinier and maybe looking a little neater. You can drop off the pre-wash oil if it seems to be too much.

Takes guts to ask about things like this - I hope others will have suggestions too. Good luck with your waves.

MyWay · 03-10-2012, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IAgirl

You sound like my husband. Straight hair as a kid, then turning wavy/curly and "unmanageable," especially around the hairline. Your hair probably feels dry because it has changed texture. Unless the skin on your face and chest is also dry, your skin is probably healthy. You need enough protein and fat, fruits and vegetables in your diet to have healthy hair- you've probably got that covered.
What helps a lot of curly and wavy-haired people is to wash their hair less often, or to try using conditioner to wash it instead of shampoo (yes, it does work). Washing the hair with conditioner makes some people's hair soft and shiny and makes other people's hair limp and greasy, so the only way to know it to try it. Look for "mild" shampoos or else dilute a regular shampoo to make it milder. The more you dilute, the less a shampoo can dry out your hair. You need some of the oils and other things that are in and on your hair and if you wash them off completely, your hair will feel dry and frizzy.
If you run a finger over a hair, does it feel smooth or bumpy? If the wavy areas feel a little bumpy, then your hair is growing with little twists and bends (kinks) that you may or may not be able to see very well. These will definitely make it feel dry and maybe a bit rough.
One thing that will help you a lot and nobody will know you're using it is coconut oil. You get it in a jar at grocery stores - it's solid around room temperature. Before you wash your hair, use a little bit (maybe as big as the fingernail of your little finger, maybe less) on your hair by rubbing it in your palms to melt it, then gently take sections of your dry hair in your closed hand and pull them over the hair from roots to ends and comb the oil through with your fingers. Then wash.
After you wash your hair, whether you use conditioner or not, when it's almost dry, use a little less coconut oil and do the same thing.
Pretty soon you should see the waves getting smoother and shinier and maybe looking a little neater. You can drop off the pre-wash oil if it seems to be too much.

Takes guts to ask about things like this - I hope others will have suggestions too. Good luck with your waves.

Thank for your response. Well my hair went wavy when I was like 13-14 years old, and last year I didn't really have a good diet (just some veggies and fruits sometimes) or exaggerated hair care, and my hair was great, and now that I'm taking the double of care, It's not even close to how it was (And that was just around September!) That is the strange thing

Can anyone explain me how hormones damage hair?

IAgirl · 03-10-2012, 04:10 PM

This is the nuts and bolts: science-y hair blog: Why Hair Curves (Waves and Curls)
Hormones can alter how genes are expressed and genetics determines your hair's texture to a large extent. Some people will develop a thyroid disease and require thyroid medication and this can change hair from straight to wavy or curly or vice versa. It can happen during pregnancy for women or chemotherapy that uses drugs which alter hormones too. The stress of a major surgery sometimes makes straight-ish hair curl for a while (an entirely different set of hormones). Obviously it's not strictly inherited genetics - there are environmental cues that can turn genes or the expression of a gene on or off. Kind of like how identical twins have nearly the same set of genes, but little things that happen to them before birth and after (blood supply before birth, viruses, nutrition, physical or mental stresses) can cause them to develop differently - differently enough to be noticeable. These are "epigenetics." People like to say that genetics loads the gun, the environment pulls the trigger.
Your pre-teen hair was probably a little smaller in diameter and had other "kid hair" qualities that changed when you have an influx of testosterone and other hormones. That's your environmental cue that altered the way the hair fibers grow.

With good care and practice(it takes some time to learn, especially if nobody else in your family has wavy or curly hair to coach you) your hair will be manageable and look really good and you'll not have to think much about it. Just be open to trying things like oils, not over-shampooing. Seriously avoid lots of brushing and combing. The wider the teeth on a comb the better. Too much combing makes your wavy hair all puffy and frizzy. And when you dry your hair, try to blot it dry - don't scrub your head with the towel. That breaks hair and makes it dry too fast which makes it puffy and frizzy.

Some wavy and curly hair grows forward, or backwards, or whatever. It's sometimes best not to fight that and have it cut so it can lie in the direction it grows.

I doubt your hair is damaged beyond that from sunlight and chlorine in tap water, maybe the detergent from shampoos, but it has changed texture, so it's not the same hair you used to have. Wavy and curly hair is much more likely to get dry and frizzy and breakable than straight hair, this is why you have to handle it carefully. The sooner you accept this change, the sooner you can learn to manage it. Look at pictures of men with wavy hair (Google images is good) and see if any of it might even come close to fitting yours. Wavy/curly hair on men is awesome and there are so many great haircuts you can have. This isn't a bad thing. It's just new and different. Hang in there.

MyWay · 03-12-2012, 05:16 PM

It's the third day I'm using this salon shampoo and my hair has improved so so much after shower! BUT.. (uhh..) the next day when I wake up my hair is sort of dry.. and trough the day it starts getting oily (and it's weird since after shower my hair is silky.. how can I wake up with it dry?) And I don't think it is because of rolling on the bed too much, cause I don't. I think that the more I keep using it, the more it will be improving.
But what will happen when my hair gets healthy already? If I use another shampoo after that will the "healthiness" decrease again?
Anyway, does bad hair health has to do with bad circulation? In the last months, I haven't been massaging my scalp well.