Hi everyone, I hope all is well. I have another hair post today and I will be talking about the 5 mistakes I made with my Natural 4c hair which ultimately lead to excess dryness, brittleness and shedding/breakage. I’m sharing this in the hopes that if you notice you are going down a similar road, you can change course before its too late. This post is a further expansion on rediscovering my hair and also part of the mindset I have on why I am switching to become a straight natural- post coming soon

I’m listing these in order of what I felt like was most damaging to my hair

1. Not having a proper moisture routine in between wash days
   I think this had the most negative impact on my hair and lead to excessive dryness. 4c hair is already thirsty so I really don’t know why I thought skipping LOC/LCO after washdays would lead to anything good. Not only that but not having a proper moisture routine during the week after wash day too. It wasn’t as if I wasn’t using anything at all, God no. It was that I was only using a spray leave in conditioner for everything. I loved the conditioner at the time but for 4c hair, it’s no where near enough. This lead to excessive dryness and that leads to more tangles shedding and eventually breaking. Tbh I think it was just laziness because I actually have a lot of hair products and but the over reliance on my leave in even though it was a really good one wasn’t enough.

the fix- Now I have a solid moisture routine. I try to schedule my wash day on days where I know I will have enough time to take my time with my hair. I am also been more intentional about moisturizing my hair during the week too. I’ve looked into moisturizing my hair when straight without reversion so I’m very prepared lol.

2. Hair constantly in a shrunken state
   The other thing I did that I felt was the most damaging was leaving my hair to shrink constantly. Not that shrunken hair is bad infact I think its a sign of good health however I think i did it too frequently. Because I wasn’t using heat, I was airdrying my hair, most times in large sections. This is what I was doing: washing my hair late in the evening because my wash time was short. By the time I had finished and showered I was too tired/lazy to sit down and stretch my hair so I just left it in 2 sections. This meant that my roots were always shrunken and my hair wasn’t properly stretched. I would notice a lot of shedding and tangles when I would try to re hydrate and stretch the hair the next day, sometimes 2 days later. This lead to more breakage, following up on the breakage that was also caused by dry hair. My scalp would hurt too, you know when 4c hair shrinks, the roots feel so thick and trying to part the hair, even with my hands would hurt because the hair is all coiled up with each other sigh

the fix- this time around I’m making sure my hair is properly stretched, either through blow drying or threading. I’m also making sure I give myself enough time on wash days to complete my whole wash day routine i.e washing, deepconditioning, LCO and stretching. I’m scheduling my wash days better to give me enough time to do my hair properly.

3. No professional trims
   Ask me when my last professional trim was? 3 Feb 2024 lol but before that July 2021 looooool. Now, I’m NOT scissor shy and I’m not the one to hold on to inches infact between July 2021 and Feb 2024 I have cut/trimmed/dusted my ends many times at home. The mistake is 1. I’m not a professional so I don’t really know what I’m doing, and 2. I’m using normal paper scissors lol. The ends of the hair are the oldest and not having a trim routine means split ends will travel up the hair shaft causing what? more breakage lol. I remember the wash day before I cut my hair in March 2023. I was trying to wash my hair but it just felt weird and my ends were so matted, kinda felt like a paste in my hands smh

the fix- I’m sticking to a good trim routine as recommended by a stylist. when I did my trim in Feb, I let her cut off as much as was needed. I know when I get my texture release in April they may recommend a trim and I will be here for it, if its needed.

4. No Salon treatments & not having a good natural hair salon/stylist
   Yes I may have good products at home but none are salon grade products. Sometimes you just need a good hair stylist to look at your hair and scalp and tell you what you need and use salon grade products which are more concentrated than the ones we get. They are trained to see things we cant see. Since been natural I can literally tell you the amount of times I have been to a salon for a treatment and that answer is 2! yes girl 2! In the 13 years of been natural. I did have my hair blow dried one time at Dyson (gifted service) but I’m not counting that because it was just a blow dry. I was so late to the app that we had to skip washing and conditioning smh. I didn’t bother finding a good salon because I kept hearing mixed or bad reviews tbh. I know now there’s a wave of better salons( trust me I’ve been following a few for a while) and I will try and find some and stick too. I’m planning to find 3 good ones at least so I can keep them in rotation lol

the fix- I’m still actively looking for a good hair salon/ stylist. I went to Elite Lounge earlier this month because it was recommended by a friend. my review is coming soon. There’s 3 more I’m looking into that are nearish to me. I will be sharing experiences on those as I visit them

5 Using rinse out conditioner as deep conditioner most of the time
tbh I think this had the least impact on my hair but nevertheless I dont think I should have done this as often as I did. Its not that I never used a deep treatment mask, I did lots of times its just for most wash days lets say 85-90% I would just use my regular rinse out conditioner and a plastic cap, leave on for 15 mins and call that deep conditioning. Once in a blue moon, I would throw in my hooded bonnet attachment with my blow dryer. It’s not the worst thing but it’s not the best either, especially for my hair and the state it was in

the fix- Ive upgraded my treatment masks! I’m using better masks and looking into better products. I’ve also looked into salon grade products.I’m making sure to deep condition at least 2-3 times a month!

I was doing this for a long time ( years) so the damage kept cumulating but I’m glad I’ve been able to notice and change course before it was too late. I think the hair cut in last year helped.

that’s all folks! just a quick disclaimer: these are the things I feel like negatively affected my hair the most. its very subjective. if you find yourself doing some of them but you feel like your hair is fine then you don’t have to do anything different, do what works for you!

Catch you laterrrr