Thin locks-Permed edges coming back to haunt me!

Not sure if ya'll remember or not, but a year ago to the day (1-6-05) I posted a question about my locks in Lockitup. I had a few thin locks along the front hairline. I didn't have the problem anywhere else except right along the edges of the front of my hair.

I posted these pictures for folks to take a look at and provide feedback:

Maryee's Thin hair photos

For those of you who are members of Lockitup, you can check out the archive here and here with everyone's feedback. That will cut back on me having to cut and paste and "retype" stuff in my blog. A few group members, consultants and all sent me questions and inquiries about my eating habits, shampooing techniques, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The locks looked brittle and thin and for the most part "eaten" off. Well just the other day I found another one of those locks up front on my head and half of the lock was missing. Well, I thought,there's nothing I can do about hair that fell off "I don't know when". About a week ago I was up late updating my blog with photos from the beginning of my journey and then it occurred to me. My hair is damaged from the dreaded "perm" along my edges back in the day. As off is it seemed, I still couldn't reconcile having synthetic or human hair braided into my hair with my "nappy roots" showing. So for the longest, I would perm my hair all around the nape so it would be "straight" and "match" the "other people's hair". The rest of the hair remained in it's natural state. Well about a month ago my mom and I read all the way through Sandy's journey on her website (me trying to convince her to get Sisterlocks) and saw the part where Sandy showed damage from having perms and the affect it had on her having healthy mature locks in some spots. The light went off in my mind and I remembered reading her story. My hair is suffering from the damage of perming my edges.

*The above was written a week ago. The below was written today. Same story, but written differently.

Well here it is. The damage from me perming my edges because of my past insecurities with having "nappy" edges. I had a whole head full of good and nappy hair, but I'd perm the edges so my "synthetic or human" hair would match when I got my hair braided, crocheted, weaved, etc.

Now after trying my level best to figure out why my hair up front was so ratty and damaged it came to me after reflecting on a journal entry Sandy made on her website. I posted my questions to the group a good minute ago and everyone from fellow SL'rs to consultants quizzed me on my diet, my care techniques, the type and amount of water I used, etc. trying to help me figure out why my hair was damaged.

I then reposted my epiphany moment a week ago about what the problem was. It wasn't my diet, the type of water or amount I used, or any "care" I was taking. It was the residual effects of having permed roots. Oh the grief!

Well now I know and I can show all those who may have to same problem and can't figure out what the deal it, what it is. For those who are still living the "lye", you will find that when freedom comes, you will still have a price or two to pay. The photo above on the left is a picture of one of my damaged lock. Poor baby. It must have broken off, "I don't know when." The lock photo (top right) is a little bit healthier and of course longer. The two photos below with the towel covering my forehead show you the difference/damage clearer. For now, I'll just watch the damaged locks die a slow death and hopefully healthier chemical free locks will replace them.

The deepest part about the photos and what my hair up front has experienced is the fact that the photos you see of the damaged lock has absolutely no dye. It's all "my" natural hair. This means that the hair you see now is 100% new growth from when I got my locks put in and the new growth has had to suffer under the "lye". There's something to learn about that. Even when you break from from slavery, that doesn't free you from still suffering in one way or another from your past.