Heat Damage?

Yes.  It does happen.  I am was a victim.  Okay here it goes...*drops head in shame*

*disclaimer: coincidentally my computer decided to die in late 2007 without me ever backing up a thing...lost a lot of pictures. Thanks to the creature that is Facebook and my handy dandy Sprint Picture Mail, I was able to retrieve a few, but not all. And the story shall continue...lol!

When I did my did my big chop July 30, 2004, it wasn't really a thing to make a big deal of.  I loved my hair, but didn't document well the growth over the next year and a half.
 

 

 The next 16 months were a blur...I kept it pretty short for the most part, very low maintenance :)

A few weeks post BC, Summer 2004

My birthday, Jan 2005

Dec 2005

January 2006 I decided I was ready to straighten my hair, see how long it was, plus I wanted to be cute for the Battle of the Bands in Atlanta.  Every January I trek to Atlanta because 1) my sister lives there and I LOVE my sister and 2) I went to Prairie View A&M University, a HBCU right outside of Houston and our band is the best.  My sister has been getting her braids done by the same woman for as long as I can remember, and she's done my braids before too, so I decided to get my hair pressed for the occasion.  It had been so long since I had any heat on my hair, but I just knew my hair could take the heat like it used to when it was relaxed.  My hair is pretty and shiny and straight :) (I'm trying to find pictures but I'm coming up empty handed)  The trip went great, then it was back to reality.  I wanted to keep it straight for as long as I could, so I didn't wash my hair until the end of February...that's when the REAL reality struck.

February 2006

I was sick...not in the literal sense, but sick in knowing that I had done this to my hair.  Let me give a brief synopsis of a conversation with one of my good friends, who was also natural at the time.  She told me how her hair was past her shoulders, natural, and she loved it.  I told her I was thinking about straightening it and she said "DON'T DO IT!!" I asked why, she replied with something along the lines of "That's why my hair is this short..." she was a victim of heat damage as well.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and in my case I am usually the one who has to learn by her own mistakes.  Well mistake made!  Not to say it will happen to everyone, but dammit if I didn't hear my inner self say "I told you so"

I didn't even think I documented my hair when I realized that the curls weren't coming back, but low and behold I found these two golden nuggets of proof.  Note how pleased I look at the chunks of straight hair commingling with the curls...I felt pitiful!  I didn't know what else to do, so I pretty much wore my hair straight since it was VERY hard to hid.  I did buns and pony-tails, slicked back styles and probably some braids until probably August/September 2006 when I decided I couldn't take anymore and had my hair cut.  My 2nd BC went well considering the circumstances...the lady was a little shocked that I wanted to cut my hair so short, but I had already been through it before so it wasn't a big deal.

These pictures pretty much summarize my style through Jan 2007.  I didn't bother too much with keeping my hair short, I loved the length I had prior to cutting it and I wanted to get that back. This time when I went back to Atlanta I opted for braids :) 

Jan 2007



MORAL OF THE STORY:

Your natural, virgin hair is different from your relaxed hair!! The products you use should be different, because the needs of your hair are different.  The chemicals in relaxer, as well as excessive heat, both work to change the actual texture and make up of your hair strand.  After my heat damage, I did continue to straighten my hair, but with ceramic flat irons (my Chi!)  I couldn't stand if I suffered from that same fate again but as the saying goes "If you knew better, you'd do better" (yea I quoted Fabulous...and what! lol)

Have you had any damage to your hair since going natural? I'd love to hear your story!

Lisa Michelle