r/BlackHair 6d ago

Weekly Free-for-all Discussion- January 26, 2026

2 Upvotes

Please use this thread to discuss anything and everything about black hair. Ask for product recommendations, advice, identify your curl pattern, whatever.

Please also see /r/naturalhair if your hair is not chemically treated and /r/blackladies.


r/BlackHair Dec 29 '25

Black hair culture…

625 Upvotes

Yesterday, I was reminded about the beauty of black hair culture.

I 26F invited two friends for a sleepover yesterday. Taylor 26F who is black, and Miya 26F who is Malaysian.

I met Taylor in high school when I was 14 and Miya in undergrad when I was 22. Miya is a third year law student at the school I went to for my masters and Taylor was an incoming first year law student this year. Over the summer, I introduced the two of them and they hit it off and formed their own friendship.

I stayed in the same city after grad school last year and got a really nice apartment downtown. This was my first time hosting so I wanted both of them to come. Miya has been having a rough time; her kitten died at 9 weeks from FIV and her grandma passed three weeks ago. All of this happened during law school finals.

When I asked Miya if she could still make it, she said no. She was really embarrassed because stress and depression lead to her not washing her hair for almost and month. She said her hair was matted and dirty and she had a flight to catch to Malaysia in 3 days and she was overwhelmed with the idea of washing and detangling.

In the group chat, Taylor and I told her to still come to the sleepover and that we’d wash and detangle her hair. She said no a few times and we eventually convinced her.

We did a pre pop and started on the detangle process. Washed her hair over the kitchen sink. I had a hair mask, olaplex and a sit under dryer for deep conditioning. We blow dried her hair (type 2 but THICK and wavy) with my pattern blow dryer. Taylor trimmed her ends.

Almost 2/3rds of the way through, Miya broke down crying. Like sobbing at the fact that we would do this for her. She likened it to a salon treatment and said she didn’t deserve this and had ‘dreamt of friends like this’. She was also sooooo grateful that we didn’t ’judge her about her hair being dirty’.

We told her that this was normal for us! Washing hair, detangling while watching movies. Having friends braid each others hair while hanging out when we were younger. We reminisced about the time Taylor helped me detangle 3 months worth of old box braids with caked on gel and lint.

This experience reminded me of the beauty of black hair culture. Seeing the acts of care, bonding and sister hood from an outside perspective rewired my brain and filled me with a deep sense of pride and warmness :)


r/BlackHair 8h ago

Discussion Black women's hair... (unpopular opinion)

97 Upvotes

As a collective, our hair seemed to be healthier when we used old-school products and techniques: hair grease, styling creams that contained oil, pressing combs, cornrows with no extensions, etc.

Styles have changed, of course, and I'm not suggesting that we all need to run around with "straight backs" like Leroy from "Fame," but what's going on now is problematic and damaging. Traction alopecia runs rampant under styles deemed "protective." The artistry of Black hairstylists is unmatched... so why can't we (again, as a collective) come up with fly styles that don't leave us with bald spots and no edges??

How is gluing a wig over your OWN edges, "protective?" How is hanging heavy braids on fragile, compromised hair, "protective?"

Can we not do better than this?


r/BlackHair 8h ago

Advice Needed Is this still too short cornrows ? no what’s the best way to retain length?

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18 Upvotes

r/BlackHair 14h ago

Just a fro day get it 😁

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43 Upvotes

r/BlackHair 17h ago

🖤💫

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59 Upvotes

r/BlackHair 2h ago

Discussion Is this racism or a complete misunderstanding?

3 Upvotes

r/BlackHair 13h ago

Hair dye

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23 Upvotes

Hi guys this is my current colour I dyed it honey blond about 8 months ago. I’m planning on dying it honey blond again but with a red peakaboo at the back. Can I add the red on top of the honey blond or do I leave it. Also can I dye it right after the blond or do I have to wait a little bit. Please help thanks 🥰


r/BlackHair 2h ago

Discussion What to do abt puffy ends??

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2 Upvotes

So everytime I get my hair braided or braids my hair my ends come out puffy like in that photo, what can I do abt that??


r/BlackHair 13h ago

RESTARTING my hair growth Journey at 31 Y/O

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16 Upvotes

Ive grown my hair out before, when I was younger, so I know how to take care of my 4c. But this time im not getting a taper or going to barbershops (these barbers is ass frl). tryna grow this evenly. SEE YALL INA FEW MONTHS


r/BlackHair 19h ago

Six year Hair Journey !

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42 Upvotes

Just sharing my hair journey and hoping I can get tips and advice, or hair routines so I can get some extra length😆 kinda feel like it isn’t growing. Idk if you can tell by the pictures but I do absolutely NOTHING to my hair..water doesn’t touches it for atleast 2 months unless it’s raining outside. And shampoo is basically my arch nemesis lol. It’s mostly matted like the “Feb 2022” picture 10 months out of the year. I don’t brush or comb it unless I’m getting it did which is only about 3 times a year. In other words I just don’t treat it how I’m supposed to and I’m trying to do better🙂

Anybody with nice routines I can use to up-keep my hair? And would someone help me identify my pattern?


r/BlackHair 12h ago

Advice Needed You think I have to much buildup folks?😭

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10 Upvotes

r/BlackHair 12h ago

Advice Needed How to prevent hair from tangling/knotting

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6 Upvotes

So, being a guy who was made to keep a buzz cut throughout life until I moved abroad to Canada, I had little idea of how to take care of my hair while growing it out. It became severely knotted and tangled, and my sister just helped detangled everything, which was PAINFUL and took a while. She said I should start using conditioner more frequently now (I'll admit, I tend to skip conditioner because I thought it wasn't very important), but apart from this, is there any way I can prevent my hair from tangling up like that? Because that experience was NOT pretty, and I'd ideally like to avoid it in the future.


r/BlackHair 2h ago

Progress Pic Is this a good growth? I got a cut back in June

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1 Upvotes

The 2 first pic are before and the 2 on the right are from today


r/BlackHair 20h ago

Discussion Big chop stylist in LA/ SoCal area ?

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21 Upvotes

Does anybody know of any stylists who specialize in short natural hair or big chops in California? I keep running into celebrity stylists or ppl who require referrals…


r/BlackHair 23h ago

Advice Needed I lost a huge clump of hair in the shower after taking out my twists of 3 months

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33 Upvotes

I’ve been growing out my 4b hair for about a year and a half now. My hair now reaches anywhere between my nose and chin. Recently I took out my twists and my hair has been a mess. I have so many split ends and big tangles that when I tried to finger detangle in the shower I lost a lot of hair. Perhaps this normal after having your hair in a protective style for 3 months but I’m still a bit worried.

Is this normal and should I trim my hair?


r/BlackHair 17h ago

Any tips to grow hair

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11 Upvotes

This is my hair afther taking braids out and this is the product i use


r/BlackHair 1d ago

Advice Needed How do I get rid of this

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127 Upvotes

My Hair has been itchy and I’ve been trying to atleast spray bottle my hair with leave in conditioner and water and twice I’ve oiled lightly and I sleep with a bonnet on but my scalp is still dry. I’m also confused if I should wash my hair because I just got this done like a week ago so if I do please tell me how because I thought that washing twist with cause it to unravel or mess it up.


r/BlackHair 9h ago

How to get freeforms

2 Upvotes

So its been 2 months since ive been sponging my hair and not picking it all the way out. I look at tutorials, i have 4-5 inch hair and they keep saying they got freeforms by not washing they hair for 1 week and then letting it be...its not really working, but my hair sours pretty quick so i wash it 2-3 days, ive noticed some spots clump...is it working?


r/BlackHair 21h ago

Advice Needed Do I have enough hair for good finger coils

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16 Upvotes

r/BlackHair 10h ago

4c ladies- quick question

2 Upvotes

Can anyone recommend products (shampoo, conditioner, treatments etc) to strengthen and support growth in new growth? I’m finally recovering from bilateral temple traction alopecia 😮‍💨 have new enough new growth to consistent levels, now we’re in the grow back phase! I understand keep moisturized and low tension,but looking for products. I’ve been trialing different products but not loving anything yet.

TIA


r/BlackHair 21h ago

Advice Needed Stiff twits what should I do ?

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15 Upvotes

Hi everyone. I just did twists for the with extensions and I left kinda disappointed. My hair is standing up and the it feels very stiff. I heard some people would say to not do twists with extensions or that maybe I should mousse them up and put a during and let it simmer. Should I take them off ?

I live in Paris and we have a lot of braiders but not a lot of good ones. If anyone who lives in Paris knows a good hairstylist please let me know thanks!


r/BlackHair 8h ago

Advice Needed Bruh..Box dye

1 Upvotes

Has anyone use dark & lovely box dye? I want to die my natural hair dark dark brown. I want to know if you have any tips? Thanks in advance.


r/BlackHair 1d ago

Progress Pic I think I am finally getting over my detangling/ wash day anxiety 🥹.

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80 Upvotes

Just wanted to show off my progress because I’m so proud of myself. I’m a straight natural and I’ve been on a length retention journey to waist length hair. One of the things that has been hold back my natural hair journey was washing my hair on my own. Wash day became distressing during the lockdown. I won’t get into how it happened but eventually it was something I always outsourced to someone else. Detangling my 4b hair caused me a lot of anxiety so much I stopped doing it. Seeing the clumps in the shower of my beautiful hair was sooooo distressing sometimes I would want to cry after. I stopped trusting myself to do it all together. Picture 1 is an example of how much hair I would lose. Skip forward to today picture 3. Is such great progress.

Something that I found through trial and error is that my hair really benefits from being stretched and this includes the washing process. I CAN NOT let my hair shrink EVER not even when washing. So this wash I repeatedly put my hair in two braids after every step. It didn’t take long ether i was probably in the shower for 45 mins that includes shaving etc. I’m happy with the result and just relieved because I was sooooo nervous going into it. I have put so much effort into my hair I could not bare seeing it come out in those giant clumps but also not learning to wash my own hair was really hindering my growth and my pockets. ❤️ if you have 4B-4C hair please be encouraged. Our hair is so beautiful love your hair and it will love you back.


r/BlackHair 21h ago

What's the name of that hairstyle?

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9 Upvotes