Hi golden_elle,

As curlyhairmich says it’s all about the way your hair feels afterwards. Personally don’t get on well with Aphogee 2 step - protein overkill - too drying even after moisture and generally a pain to wash off.

I use Joico K-Pak Deep Penetrating Reconstructor and the K-Pak Intense Hydrator (confess: contains a cone) twice a month. I’d stopped for about 3 months having swapped to some other protein treatments including Aphogee 2 Step for a month, but rushed out to buy K-Pak on Saturday as I’d started noticing some breakage 2 weeks ago. Used products the next day and hey presto - no more breakage. The reconstructor’s not as smelly as Aphoghee and based on my experience I’d say it contains less protein too so I can use it regularly for ‘maintenance’ - there’s no heat required either.

You might need to kiss a lot of frogs before you find ‘the one(s)’ but if you’re in London, check out Paks (Pink) in Finsbury Park - they stock Redken, Joico and others or you can order here http://www.pakcosmetics.com
Good luck!

I’m going to drop my two cents even though this original post is quite old.

I had heat damage almost a year ago. It took just one time! For this to happen. Had a blow dry then straighten at the salon.
My hair got extremely fine and even more delicate, so delicate that just rubbing a strand between two fingers was enough to snap it in half.

I tried Aphogee, Aveda damage remedy & GBP as well..several times on different occasions.
But the damaged parts never completely reverted back. Some kinky strands took on a looser texture, others just did not revert full stop.

My choice of styles had to change. I had to forfeit my shrunken w-n-g fros and go for the buns/updos/pinups, as these kept the straight ends out of sight and protected them especially as the kinky strands grew out even more.So the focus turned to TECHNIQUE. The only thing that kept the hair on my scalp was my finger-combing.

If you are fortunate to straighten without experiencing any loosening at all, then you are lucky and most likely stayed below the damage threshold for your hair. In this case IMO any product could bring back your curls. If you went past that threshold of damage then it will never entirely be the same. No matter what product you use.

I have heat damaged hair too but I started using Curls champagne & caviar elixir http://www.curls.biz/curly-hair-products/Champagne-Caviar-Curl-Elixir-p-16209.html and it really helps fill in the damaged bonds. It has keratin and caviar extract to help restore elasticity to heat damaged curls and its completely natural, which is always best when you have such fragile hair.
They also claim it helps encourage regrowth tho you only get a small amount in the bottle, so don’t think you’d notice any new growth that quickly. Still its worth getting to help you through transitioning.
just have to be really gentle with your hair.
Good luck

I use aphogee treatments on my 4c hair. l had heat damage from flat ironing once. that was last July and my hair still hasnt reverted. it is completely damaged, but l am growing it out. it will take time but l am not cutting my hair
Aphogee is good for stopping breakage and i do it at home with one of those bonnet hair dryers where you can attach a handheld hair dryer to it. I bought it from ebay. just make sure you use a moisturisng deep conditioner after use.

I’m not sure whether this question goes in this thread or in trimming issues but:

I’ve recently noticed that my split ends are really terrible, some of them start half way up the hair shaft, I have lots of those mini knots on my ends and the ends of my fringe especially are completely straight. Because the damage is so extensive I don’t really want to cut it all off. Could I just grow it out? The damage isn’t that visible apart from the straight ends, and I’m planning on trimming about an inch or so anyway - just dont want to lose half my hair!

Hi Sisi,

i feel your pain and its a bitter pill to swallow but there is absolutely no point on holding on to damaged ends. If you don’t want to end up having an unwanted MAJOR hair cut - then cut at least half an inch above the split ends to stop them travelling even firther up the hairshaft which would result in very thin/frayed ends and breakage. Your hair will thank you for it and be much more resilient if you trim it now.

Those mini knots are (SSK) single strand knots which can cause tangles in neighbouring hair strands and cause more spilts and tangles. I dont intend to alarm you in anyway, however its best to deal with it now to avoid having a major chop later and starting from ground zero. i have been through this about 18 months ago so i’m speaking from experience, i ended up having to cut loads and i mean loads because i thought i could keep my length/ just trimming little bits but the ends were still thin.
HTH.

Sisi - 06 May 2012 08:49 PM

I’m not sure whether this question goes in this thread or in trimming issues but:

I’ve recently noticed that my split ends are really terrible, some of them start half way up the hair shaft, I have lots of those mini knots on my ends and the ends of my fringe especially are completely straight. Because the damage is so extensive I don’t really want to cut it all off. Could I just grow it out? The damage isn’t that visible apart from the straight ends, and I’m planning on trimming about an inch or so anyway - just dont want to lose half my hair!