So, I have been an addicted of everything that is said in the curl name for the last couple of weeks, and as I lernt so much from shared experiences of other curly ladies here on the forum, I thought about trying and share mine to.

So, I used to be happy and without a problem in the world up until last summer.
I have been colouring my hair since I was 14 and nothing noticeable happened except for the fact I was a happy ginger. Then I change my colourist and doom falls on my pretty little curls :(

The picture attached is an unmerciful before/after.
More than just the curls, my hair has clearly endured a density loss, even though I haven’t notices hair loss per se, but still, their body has clearly diminished.
So now, on the quest to recover body and curls, I commenced by journey into the curly.
At the time of the first picture I was pretty happy with the Aveda Be Curly range. Little did I know about proteins back then but I now realise my hair must like that stuff a lot, probably over moisturising alone.

So, days of research and online retail therapy later, I am now trying to work and get back my curls!
I am not going CG yet as I want to do something specific for the hair thinning I have noticed, so at the moment I am on Nioxin 4 system and Kerastase Densi-recharge. I will try and see to stay on those for the recommended 8 weeks (unless something goes really wrong).

In these 2 weeks waiting for allll the products I ordered to come (and satin pillowcases, and the curls like us towels) I went back to the Aveda Be Curly Conditioner and Enhancer (although this last one still comes with cones) and I noticed my hair being a bit happier already (must be the wheat protein!)
Now today, I went full throttle starting the Nioxin 4 program but also trying Miss Jessie’s Rapid Recovery Treatment (which I left on for an hour)

Converted to the new styling product I trusted Emmab’s diar and followed her by using Beauticurls Leave-In Conditioner and MopTop Light Hold Anti-Frizz Gel. Not sure it’s the thing for me even though curls are in fact weel-defined and non-frizzy, but also seems to me like they’re weighted down a bit more than they used to with the Aveda (the single picture is me daring, and it’s from today)

I will stick to the Nioxin and Kerastase to see if more hair (hopefully curly) will come back around.

If anyone has suggestions/advices please, do tell

xx

Hi sheentylla, your hair looks really pretty in your pics! Given time, I’m sure you’ll get your lovely curls to how you want them. If in the future you do decide to give the CG method a go, (or modify which a lot of curlies do), you may find it helps with your curl formation (which it has in my particular case). Admittedly, it’s not for everyone, but it’s definitely worth a try.

Best wishes.

thanks proudcurlygirly! The suppor is really appreciated. I want to go CG but the main problem I need to address at the moment is thinning. I was saddened today to realise how much less body and volume my hair has now compared to how it always used to be up till 8 months ago. Now I can actually count my curls and it saddens me to realise that is the man issue.
I took another picture today after washing/styling. Today just with the Nioxin 4 stuff and styling with beauticulr leave-in and mop top anti frizz gel.
I am afraid as great as it is for hold and anti frizz, the gel might be the main reason for my curls to stick together and just form bigger ones so I might have to discontinue its use…

this is a picture taken today just after styling and blow drying with my diffuser…
The curls are nice but just big ones and too few!!!
Darn! I’ll have to try something else…

Ahhh, good luck, I hope you manage to find a solution to your thinning locks, they look lovely in your recent pic. My own hair isn’t as thick as it used to be, I look back at pictures of when I was in my 20s and my curls looked so thick and bouncy, but maybe it’s an age (and hormonal) change in my case!

Best wishes.

Hi Sheentylla…..I totally understand where you are coming from. I had beautiful hair when I was younger, probably due to a combination of living in a tropical climate, mother maintenance, no stress and lack of chemicals.  Now my hair strands are thinner and the strands coming out a lot easier from the scalp and breakage. My mother is the same. Beautiful hair in her twenties and thirties and then after she had me (parenting stress) she developed a lot of problems.  Now she has cut it all off as she has had little time to care for it due to a family health problem.  I am trying to get her to stop with the chemicals (permenant relaxer straightener) as she had thin hair to begin with. You said you changed colourist. Is that the person at the salon or the entire salon and products they use? Annoyingly switching between colouring brands can have an adverse effect even if you go to an experienced colourist.  Also is it breaking or is it coming out by the root? Nioxin is a lttle extreme and is usually I guess for people with noticeable patches who have tried everything else….which from your pictures doesn’t look like your case at all. It looks like you had a haircut and someone cut into your hair. For my thin fine hair strands… I colour once a a year with Nuturatint.(not an option I know if you have gray), I blow dry my hair twice a year and I only brush or wide tooth comb it once a week or less. We do a lot of crazy things to our hair and no wonder it gest to a point in our lives and it goes enough and “dies”. Hope that helps and Good luck.

Hey marleyhill34!
Thanks for your thorough reply! I did indeed changed salon and most likely products! And I suspect originally my tint did not have bleach as it did the second one, so I am mainly blaming that.
Thing about my hair thinning is that I haven’t actually noticed not breaking nor hair coming out by the root, it’s just noticeable to the naked eye when I compare it to what it looked like before. I haven’t had my hair cut since December now and even thought I expected it to be an issue of haircut, by May I got worried enough to think about trying Nioxin and the Kerastase densi-recharge.
My hairdresser (the original one) actually got me scared telling me one can just lose one’s curls at some point in life and I’d be rather annoyed for that to happen now that I have finally come to terms and like them. I see though that it might happen for hormonal reasons and such, and I am 29 so should be rather balanced, or a I was when it still looked nice what it is now 10 months ago at least.
I think I might go for an extreme decision and stop colouring my hair altogether to actually see them grow out (my hair are actually black) and then try and think about colouring again, so supposedly in a year or so. What do you reckon? That should definitely work to bring the curls back to life, right?

sheentylla - 26 May 2012 05:03 AM

Thing about my hair thinning is that I haven’t actually noticed not breaking nor hair coming out by the root, it’s just noticeable to the naked eye when I compare it to what it looked like before.

Just to mention, and I’m sure you’ve done this already, but significant hair loss can be a symptom of something going on medically. If it’s this significant, I would check it out with your GP if you haven’t already.  If you’re positive it was the colour doing this, then fine, but if it were me, I’d be doubly sure. I don’t mean to scare you at all (honest!), but it can and does happen occasionally.

That being said, the after picture isn’t actually that bad. I kind of like the beachy waves. And honestly, as marleyhill said, the after looks like bulk has been taken away, but unless you’re noticing a definite lack of density (eg, it looks thin on your scalp), then it may just be a de-bulking from the cut.

you actually have a point there oddityofwings!
I had run of tests a couple of months ago but I’ll mention this to my GP too, just in case.

BTW: I LLLLLLLOVE your blog! So great!

Aww, thanks. One does attempt one’s best to entertain.

for a series of unforeseen events today I did a deep treatment for about 3.5 hours.
Treatments in question were Miss Jessie’s Rapid Recovery with some Colorful Neutral Protein Filler in it.
I can actually feel and see a difference, I think it might be the wheat protein in it. I Know they say Aphogee is the strongest protein treatment around but it’s main source of it it’s collagen, while one of the top ones in the Colorful is exactly the wheat protein, and with Aphogee, used on its own followed by deep conditioning or along with a deep conditioner, I did not see this kind of result. So YAY wheat protein!

Your curls are gorgeous!!! There is a big difference between your first picture and the recent picture you posted.  Just starting the CG method and wanted to know where I could purchase the Colorful Neutral Protein Filler?

Marissa Lyn - 01 June 2012 08:32 PM

Your curls are gorgeous!!! There is a big difference between your first picture and the recent picture you posted.  Just starting the CG method and wanted to know where I could purchase the Colorful Neutral Protein Filler?

Hey darling! I just got it off amazon.co.uk so it’s just really easy to get if you buy online xx

Hopefully better days ahead are coming, but I feel like I am on the right track.
I am still o the Nioxin 4, so SLS alas, but I have come to use the shampoo as a first wash, and the conditioner really just like a second shampoo.
Today I tried mixing a bit of Aveda Be Curly conditioner (which always made my hair quite happy) with some Colorful Neutral Protein Filler as a conditioner. Left it on just for 10 minutes and then styled with CJ Beauticurls leave-in and the Aveda Be Curly Enhancer. No mop top gel as I really have a hard time with it, it weights my hair down too much, makes my curls bigger and much fewer, so I ditched it this time, an I feel I was right. I am incredibly happy with todays’ result, I feel like it’s easy to see more volume and body in my curls so I am afraid the gel is a no-go for me, have to try with creamier, softer, lighter things.
Although, again, I am so happy with today’s results I might just have to stick with the CJ Beauticurls and the BC Enhancer.

looks good and really silky!!

lucyprimrose: thanks! I guess you have to work with what you have. I too am happy fo the result even though sometimes I still compare my hair to what it was last year and it still makes me sad… but anyway, doing good with what I have until I grow them out again

Today I tried my first baking soda/ACV and I must say, I see what all the fuss was about.
I was kind of sceptical about soda as I read that being alkaline it was able to losen curls up, and since I am working hard to actually get my curls tighter to get as close as possible to their former 3b glory I did not want that to happen!
My scalp though clearly needed some attention and care so I mixed the baking soda with some DT (Jo hansford’s, which has cones but has always delivered my best curls) and some neutral protein filler which has become a good addition to my every conditioner.
I was planning to keeping it on for a couple of hours but it was so irritating to the skin on the back of my neck that after one hour I decided it was enough already.
I rinsed it with ACV and then, as I read someone found it good, I left it there with some DT just for pure moisture (devaculr hair in heaven) for another hour or so. I rinsed it all out with warm water first and then used the last of the ACV (I mixed 3 TBS in 500ml of water).
Styled as usually this was the only time in ages that I left my hair to dry completely naturally.
I was afraid without a diffuser it would have got no volume ad no curl anymore given the state of my hair and cut, but instead I was pleasantly surprised.
(sorry for the low-light picture but I’ve just got around it now)

I will try to behave and get no temptation to do the ACV more than once a month, but boy! It is really something else!

very experimental day yesterday, alas with bad reusult overall because I used a protein wrong so that I can’t quite tell how it all worked beside the hard crunchiness given by the protein. but let’s do this the proper way.

I had to shampoo with nizoral due to a bad comeback of seborreich dermatitis, I then followed with my usual Nioxin and then kept on the Aveda conditioner with some colour neutral protein filler added to it.

Tricky part comes now as I tried the Monoi (coconut) oil for the first time.
The one I got smells deliciously of vanilla as I got the monoi tiare vanille, and used really just a few drops mainly on the ends. I followed with some Aloe Vera 99.9% gel (the hollands & barrett one which contains a tiny bit of panthenol rather than the dr organic one which has other ingredients I am dubious about not no panthenol) but then, because I am a coward that way, I still added a bit of aveda be curly enhancer (and here I wanted to try the no silicones thing for the first time…)
My hair though still felt hard and I was trying to think of something I could just spritz in. And that’s where I have gone really really stupid, folled by the spray bottle rather than thinking about the content, I used the Komaza protein treatement pretty much as You would a leave in spray conditioner.
My hair went seriousy hard… of course… because that’s not how the komaza is supposed to be used… so shame on me.
Still have to try again the oil, aloe, and komaza, next time in the right manner and order, to see how they work.