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Hi ladies and gents! My name is Faith and I am a long time lurker and first time poster. I have been wanting to make an account for a long time...mostly because I felt kind of bad about reading, stealing secrets and then running :) Another reason why I am finally joining is because I need help. I have no idea what I have done wrong that is causing my hair to suddenly get what I call "the white dots of death"...those little white bits that one gets when their hair suddenly decides: "ok, I'm done, peace out, jerk", flips you the bird and then slowly breaks off into a million little pieces. My hair is short, bleached, and dyed with direct dye. I use protein and moisture treatments. I go ham with heat protection. I bleach very gently and only where necessary. I get trims monthly. I wash my hair in cold water, and shampoo with sulfate free shampoo only when I really have to.i sleep on a silk pillow case.I got a good trim this weekend just gone and after washing the first time, my ends felt cactus again. I looked in the mirror last night, and that's when I saw them....those dreaded white dots. So, I guess my question is, why is my hair such a dick? My literal first thought when I saw the dots was, what is your problem now? It will play nice for a little while and then it just, seemingly out of nowhere, gets a bit of an attitude... Please help. Even if there is nothing that can be done now, (I pretty much know now that my hair is just fooked and there isn't much I can do) I want to know, is there really a way to avoid all of this? My natural hair is quite dark brown, so am I set up for failure right from the start? Or is this just part of the territory? Or am I just stupid? Sorry for the rambling...I'm just confused.
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by vivienne StaffPosted 3 years, 3 months ago
How many times do you generally process your hair in the same spot? It could be accumulated damage gradually showing up, but usually if you trim significantly above the split (1/2 inch or so), it shouldn't reappear consistently. Have you tried cutting out protein? Sometimes it doesn't play well with dry hair and makes it more brittle. It's a really long process to wash out any protein that's already in your hair, but give it a few weeks to a month and see if anything changes. You can stick with moisturizing treatments, though you could also try limiting silicone. It costs the hair and makes it smoother to the touch, but some people find it makes it more difficult for your hair to absorb moisture. You could also give Olaplex a try. From anecdotal evidence, I feel like people have better results with consistent usage of the number 3 treatment (which is sold to consumers) rather than a one-time treatment with number 1 or 2 (professional-only). It didn't do much for me, but there are plenty of people who swear by it.
In terms of prevention, it's really just about knowing what your hair can handle. I can usually get away with bleaching my hair three times before major issues start cropping up. I usually try to limit myself to two processes on any given area of my hair, so I try to use bleaches that I know can get me to the level I need. If you're in the US, I recently tried the Ion Bright White Creme Lightener, and it worked surprisingly well. It's too soon to tell what kind of damage I might see, but it didn't seem too bad after rinsing and got me to a fairly even base in two processes.
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Posted 3 years, 3 months ago
Hi! Thank you for getting back to me!
Really the only thing that I have done differently, is let it grow longer...really lame, but that's my hair for you! It probably is accumulated damage though as well, that and my error in judgement about whether it was healthy enough to grow out longer...well...oops. Protein treatments appear to be helping as does moisture. My hair doesn't look spaghettified when wet, (just looks like hair...wet hair) isn't gummy, sticky or stretchy, the only symptom I had before the sudden breakage were dryness and my hair holding water for longer after it's been washed. It looks ok after being left to dry naturally too, so really I have no idea what its problem is.
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Posted 3 years, 3 months ago
Oh! And about olaplex! I have used something similar and I think it helped somewhat...they call it briteplex by brite organix...not sure if it's as good as olaplex, (I dont understand what I'm looking at on the back of the bottles) or even anything like it, but it's a 3 part system. I did a standalone treatment of parts 1&2 yesterday after posting this before doing protein and moisturizing treatments. I think it helped a bit.. it doesnt feel as dead after sleeping on it last night. I am in Australia. I could probably track down some products on Ebay, but I have never seen Ion...I used schwartzkopf blondeme powder bleach last time, and a really bad, cheap bleach before that (vitality brand...ugh).
What I do use for hair care is: - Juuce argan soft shampoo and conditioner (professional brand, but Australian owned, is sulfate free) -juuce shock treatment (says it strengthens but I dont see any protein in that one at all) - redken extreme CAT (I have read this is like a course of antibiotics, so I am very careful with this. I have only used it 3 times) - redken anti-snap (only used once....I'm too scared to use it because of the CAT) - Redken argan 6 serum (ends only to help seal them) - Juuce smooth ends. (Cream leave in conditioner, but mostly I think its sunscreen/heat protectant) - brite plex...supposed to be like olaplex. And a clarifying shampoo by tresemme. Pretty sure that's it.