To my sleeve sisters (african american)

I have not experience hair lost yet. I had braids for my surgery as well. I decided to cut my hair very short and go completely natural in preparation for what was to come. I wanted to have a new look and wanted to take control of my look without the despair of hair loss to force my decision.

My picture is in my profile. It has given me a new feeling of freedom. I am taking my vitamins and I am doing what I am supposed to do. So I am prepared for the hair loss. I hope it will be slight.

That's my two cents. Wishing all the best during your journey.

I was thinking about going natural also but I went natural about 10 years ago and it only lasted 5 years. the growing phase was the hardest but when it got long, it was really long and hard to manage.

I got a quick weave for my surgery. It was my first one (and somewhat of a disaster with my natural hair).  I had it taken out and just have corn rows (no hair added) and I wear a wig over them. In any case,  I had the corn rows in for 4 weeks and took them down yesterday. My hair felt super dry even though I put oil on it. There was some shedding, but I don't think it was anything abnormal especially since my hair is transitioning.

I washed and conditioned it thoroughly last night. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. My plan going forward is wash/deep condition it every two weeks keep it oiled up and have the corn rows put back in. I think giving it a break from processing it will help.

I have seen a couple of AA woman on youtube whose hair wasn't that thick to begin with and who experienced thinning hair (and were not too happy about it). But like everything else with this surgery, everyone is different.

-Cindy

 I had my hair braided about 2 or 3 weeks before the surgery and  took them out about about a month later without a problem.  I had my hair permed and cut that month before I went back to work and I had experienced some loss. Now I don''t know if it is from the surgery or my hair naturally shedding but usually after a cut I don't have that problem for awhle so the jury is still out on it. I won't say sister that you shouldn't keep the braids in that long anyway because it does tend to pull it out a bit. Like the other young lady I am the sew queen so if it starts to get bad I will just weave. As long as you follow orders vitamins/protein/water you will be good. I wish you the best!       

 My hair was already in bad shape before so I started wearing lacefront wigs while I take care of my hair underneath.  Im not sure if my hair is dry and brittle due to the surgery or from before whenit had overprocessing damage.

I am natural.  I did lose a lot of hair beginning in month 4/5 and it started to get better month 9.  Now its growing back with a vengance.  I didnt do anything special in order to stave off the loss.  I knew it was coming so I didnt stress.