HAIRDRESSERS: Our Love and Hatred for them and their techniques for African-American Hair Care
The 3rd problem I found that we have with growing our hair is that the "professionals" are our worst enemy! Read these horror stories and you will understand why I say that. In most cases, we dont have hair because OF the hair care industry. Know your own hair and they wont be able to snow you!!!
  1. My hairdresser seemed disgusted and in disbelief that I didn't want her to curl my hair, after she had put an enormous amount of heat on my hair from a hairdryer. She also was very angry at me for not wanting to get my ends trimmed. She basically told me that all my length was ends, that it's dead ends, and my hair is not growing out healthy and that it's all going to fall out. She even had the nerve to tell me that my hair was breaking off, despite the fact that she was using a fine tooth comb on wet hair..My hair has never been this long in my life. I'm just really frustrated, and wanted to ask you how you respond to people who complain about your ends?
  2. I am having a bit of trouble getting it all together with a hair professional. If they can do one thing they can't do another or won't do another. Example: If I can find a beautician that uses Affirm the other things that you list to help with growth are not things that they seem willing or able to do. They say things like I need to get the relaxer out real good. I even had one operator embarass me by laughing out to the operator in the booth next to her and snidely saying : Oh Lord, Miss gonna grow her hair long is worried , like it's going to grow to the ground if I don't get it clean. One operator actually told me that it was not really necessary to use neutralizer because the PH of water was able to neutralize the relaxer!
  3. Well, got my touch-up and guess what? My hairdresser said that I had approximately 2-3 inches of new growth! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! I am so proud, I don't know what to do with myself. But I've gotta tell you, while I truly love my hairstylist, Keisha, I still have question about her total knowledge of black hair. Don't get me wrong, she advises her clients to keep heat out of their hair as much as possible, and to deep condition their hair, but I get the feeling that she doesn't really know what a REAL deep conditioner is. I read the instructions and SORRY, but it suggests leaving it in the hair for no more than 2-5 minutes. THAT AIN'T NO DEEP CONDITIONER, MAN!!!!! (I'm shaking my head right now, Cathy.)
  4. I am a 1979 graduate of Pivot Point School of Cosmetology, but have not practiced since I adopted 5 drug babies 13 years ago. Recently, I have had such dramatic changes in my life...................To read that I can have my own hair back, made me cry......
  5. My mother was a beautician by trade, As a girl I would get my hair pressed and curled my hair would grow shoulder length and then break off . Then hair would grow back . But I always wondered why I couldn't get pass this length.
  6. I am glad you had info on your site about Barry Fletcher because I was about to set up an appointment with one of his stylists in MD.
  7. I went to a new hair stylist and was told that my hair was broken off and that it needed to be cut, my hair was almost halfway down my back, now it is just shoulder length.
  8. My name is Danita I'm a licensed cosmetologist in the state of MD. I must say that I enjoyed your book and found it to be informative, even though in your book it seems that you have had hairstylist that don't agree with you. I am a cosmetologist who is not just interested in getting paid but am interested in the health of my clients hair. If possible I would like to know what the ingredients are in your conditioner and your dew.
  9. My hairdresser said my hair was breaking off (but to me it was longer and more healthy), so she trimmed it. She showed me were it was thicker closer to the roots but thinner as it got longer. So she trimmed it, a lot. She said i could be over conditioning it. i use your deep conditioner every 3 days. Is this too much?
  10. I will have to find a new hair stylist because my daughter shared what she had read in your book to the current one and she disagrees with what you have said about clipping the hair and almost everything. Since using your products my daughters hair has gone from shoulder length to the mid of her shoulder blades and that is in only 3 short months! She is not happy because my daughter use to go every other week for a shampoo and deep conditioner.
  11. Secondly, I'm afraid that if I chop off my hair, it will never grow back to this length. I've heard horror stories of black girls cutting off their long, HEALTHY hair, only to dreadfully realize that it's never going to grow back to its full length. I just don't want to wake up one day to discover that I killed my hair - that it's reached the end of any and all growth cycles, and if by some chance it does grow again, it will never reach farther than my shoulders. I have NEVER cut my hair more than 1 inch to even up raggedy ends. I would be devastated if after 24 1/2 years of living with long hair 5 inches from my bottom, that it would NEVER be that way again.
    Please, please give me some of your expertise so I can put this issue to rest!! Thanks, QJS PS I live in Denver, Co. Any recommendations as to a good, TRUSTWORTHY salon?
  12. I came back from the hairdresser about 3 hours ago. I called her earlier and told her about your book and asked if she could use the Preservo. While I was under the dryer, another client came in with what I thought was a head full of hair, long and thick. She also got a relaxer. Her relaxer was overlapped about 3 inches too. After this woman's hair was conditioned for about 15 minutes, the hairdresser started clipping her ends. I don't know what kind of conditioner that was, but her hair didn't look that good. I had the same conditioner, but my hair looked better, probably because I've been using your conditioner and the mist spray. She cut very little hair off, but all the thickness of this woman's hair was in the upper part of her hair. The last 6 inches were terribly thin. Although she only clipped the ends a little bit, the ends of her hair still looked straggly, not like the rest of her head. I'm beginning to wonder if that's from all that overlapping of the relaxer.
  13. I am 22, and have relaxed hair. My cousin is my hair stylist and sometimes, I question her judgment in providing the best hair care for my overly dry hair. My roots get very tight, dry and brittle, even right after it is relaxed. At one time, she changed from a no lye to a lye relaxer because she said it would provide a bit more moisture. Due to that, my hair has started to break increasingly. She says, not to worry, because 1. Your hair sheds about 50 strands a day and 2. My hair is still healthy around parts that have not broken off. Will my hair have a hard time growing healthy and stronger and what do you recommend I do?
  14. Yes, everyone is out to make money on "Black Women" because all "Black Women" want nice "Healthy" hair. Your picture on the home page of your website looks very much like a wig or a weave, that is not your hair!! Perhaps your book does give some advise worth putting in the pockets of those who "Want Long Hair", we need to be honest with people and honest with ourselves. It is also a shame it took 14 years for you to grow your hair that long! Also, yes I agree that trimming does not make the hair grow faster, who ever said it does?? However, trimming aids in healthy ends which results in healthier hair and the growth will eventually become evident by this! I am not a "Hairdresser" but a "Scientist". As I have mentioned I have studied and study the hair extensively.
  15. I feel less anxious now, knowing that my hair does not NEED for me to switch chemicals. I know that you have probably heard it all, but would you believe that my hairdresser was telling me that she needs to switch the chemical back and forth between two different relaxers because my hair will "get used to a certain relaxer"? I believed that if my hairdresser was saying it, then it must have been true. Yet, you have used the same relaxer for years!!!
  16. Cathy, you were so right about so many hairdressers!!! My hair dresser used to saturate my hair with those oil sprays. I asked her to stop, and she laughed at me.
  17. Help!! A week ago I went to the salon and got my touch up and after he washed my hair he blow dried it straight! Before i could even object he had began frying away!!! And after he did that he gave me this little lame flipp style and charged me 85 bucks!! I feel like such a fool.. and now my hair is very brittle and is breaking easier than before.
  18. My former beautician told me if i got bonded weave my sides would thicken up and my hair would be thicker, but it broke out a big patch in the back, and that was in december. my hair is still thin. i bought some products today for my hair, when i order your book, do i need to take back these products (shampoo and conditioner) and replace them with yours?
  19. My hairdresser insists on clipping my ends every 4-6 weeks. She seems to cut more than what has grown in that time; consequently my hair has the appearance of not growing at all. Is all this clipping necessary? I would think that my hair should be in excellent condition because of the care it receives. How often should someone who gets deep conditioners each week and avoids heating appliances get their ends clipped? HELP, I want my hair to grow long!!
  20. I went to a different stylist (not the same shop or same stylist I usually use) and she re-touched my new growth. I did think she left the solution in a little longer than usual, but stupid me, didn't ask what she was using. When she was finished, I was fine, no burning. Well, when I washed my hair the next two weekends, I suffered a lot of breakage and hair coming out at what seemed like the root! I've since returned to my regular stylist and she is giving me conditioning treatments, but my hair is extremely thin and lifeless now. I usually wear a ponytail toward the end of the week so my hair gets a break from handling, but is that ok for the length of time it will take to get my hair back into some level of health?
  21. Someone told me I washed my hair too much. I wash it every three days and since my hair is severely damaged I deep condition it everytime. Also the lady that applies perms to my hair (and my two younger cousins) wants to trim our hair everytime she perms it and she takes away much needed length. Her excuse is my ends need to be trimmed because they don't look good. I also have another beautician who takes care of my trims and she told me that the other beautician is just scissor happy. I know you don't get trims to prove that it has nothing to do with hair growth but do you have any idea why this lady cuts my hair everytime she applies a relaxer? She says something about the weight of my hair needing to be on the ends. What does she mean?
  22. My hair designer wants to clip my ends and I really don't want her to. Looking at my ends it does needs it. She say that by my ends being split my hair will keeping splitting up, until it reaches the hair shaft. Is this true? Also what can I put on my hair to keep my ends in good shape?
  23. So I found your book, read it..and after three months of not having a perm I got one. My hair had grown a good 1 1/2" but my beautician who is my aunt cut 3/4" off. So my hair is almost the same as I started out with. This really has disappointed me b/c I specifically told her that I did not want to cut my hair at all. Should I try to talk to her about it or should I just switch beauticians?
  24. I have had long hair on and off throughout my life. Recently, I went to my hairdresser for a trim and made the mistake of commenting on how much body her hair had. Right now it seems to be falling out at the root (it has the white follicle on the end), as well as breaking. My hairdresser said it is because of the change in seasons and will stop on its own.
  25. And on two occasions, when I have gone to my hairdresser for a touch-up, she had to put baby powder in my hair after shampooing because she said my hair was so dry that it was sucking up the oils from the relaxer.
  26. MY HAIRDRESSER SAID THAT A NEUTRALISER IS JUST A MARKETING TOOL AND IT DOES THE SAME THING A REGULAR SHAMPOO DOES
  27. MY HAIRDRESSER ALSO SAID THAT AT ANYTIME SHE CAN GET THE CHEMIST OF THE PRODUCT SHE USES (DESIGN ESSENTIALS ) AND ANY CHEMIST WILL TELL YOU THE SAME THING ABOUT NEUTRALISERS.
  28. I REMEMBER YOU SAID THAT YOU DISCOVERED THAT A HAIRDRESSER WASN'T USING A NEUTRALISER FOR A YEAR ON YOUR HAIR. AND JUST WONDERED AFTER YOU STARTED USING ONE, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOUR HAIR BEFORE IT STOPPED BREAKING?
  29. MY HAIR DRESSER (WHO IS A TRICHOLOGIST) SAID SINCE I HAD BRAIDS FOR SO LONG THAT MADE MY HAIR IS WEAK AND THAT'S WHY ITS BREAKING.
  30. My hair seems to be healthy and growing quite well. However, the hair in the back of my head seems to grow faster and fuller than my hair on the sides. My stylist said that it may be because I sleep on my sides
Note: Please keep in mind that some questions can be answered rather quickly, others can not due to time constraints. Quicker responses come from short emails. Long, lengthy emails require more time and are pushed to the bottom of the request pile. Please allow at least 7 days for a response. If your question is not answered within that time, I would recommend resubmitting, as it is possible that on its way to me it was lost in cyberspace. Also please ensure your return email address is also correct as some are returned as undeliverable.
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Last Revised: January 1, 2008
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