i roughly did this in microsoft paint, but anyway, is this damaged hair? this how one of a couple of my hair strands look. not in one perticular area but mostly at the top were hair goes in different directions from the scalp (dont know wut that is called). is it damaged? should i use those damaged hair shampoos? (usually damaged hair shampoos are directed to female's hair but i guess they would work for men's hair. O yea and the strands that look like this appear coarse

well ive been using various types of gel like dep.. im currently using this wet look gel from fructis but it doesnt look that good with those bendy hairs sticking up

how can i fix this?

Well, if that is all you use, then at least we know is not chemicall damage. The damage might be coused by other things. May be the come or brush you use. You can try using a smoothing shampoo and conditioner. I use Redken smooth down shampoo and Redken butter treat conditioner. You might also want to use some kind of serum to tame those flyaways. Paul Mitchell super skinny serum works pretty well. Or you might want to try a different gel. Suave makes a great gel. I don't remember exactly the name, but I know it comes in different scents like apple etc. Now mind you I do not use Suave or any other drug store brands. But this thing is great. I was stuck away from home without my hair stuff, and had to use whatever my sister had. She had a bottle of that gel. Not only did it control my flyaways, but it did not flake at all, and my hair would be soft when I would brush the gel out. And I kept using it for like four days straight without washing my hair. Give it a try. Maybe it will work for you.

my hair is just like yours...my hair use to be straight but now my hair is all bent up and crooked and sh*t. there is something wrong for sure when your hair strand is like that. im trying dove intense moisturizing shampoo to see if this actually straightens out my hair and brings it back to normal.

i'll tell you how it goes. IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO CURE DRY BRITTLE HAIR PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR MSN - mailto:crazyboy867@hotmail.com - crazyboy867@hotmail.com

thank you

its kinda hard to tell damaged hair from just a hand drawn image from a paint program

so far this is what i now, what damaged hair means and condition that causes damaged hair

1.  hair  breaks easily
2. for straight hair there is no shine, for curly or wavy there is no sheen
3. hair is easily tangled when combing or styling with finger
4. for those with natural black hair, the hair becomes brownish when damaged
5. you have been dyeing your hair more than once in 2 weeks
6. you relaxed the hair
7. you use blow dryer every single day at high setting
8. hair becomes frizzy
9. it looks more like dried hay that hair
10. you swim in chlorinated water a lot and you stay in the sun a lot
11. you bleached your hair twice

these are just some of conditions of damaged hair or what damaged hair feels like. if its just dry and frizzy, a good cream bath, hot oil treatment or protein treatment at the salon is good enough to treat it.

if the hair is fried as in if breaks easily by just tugging it or it feels mushy when wet like spagetti then you have to cut it all off. why because i have had this predicament. my hair was totally fried when i dyed it 3 times, bleached it once and relaxed it 3 times.

srry for the late response.. i was busy with school work and such

anyway ill try those products mentioned.. i really dont want to resort to cutting all my hair and regrowing because i have this surgery scar on the lower back of my head and i want to cover it up, thats why i started growing out my hair.. o yes and i realized that i can compare some of my hair strands as to the tape in cassette tapes (but small of course).. an ms paint drawing was the best i could do because whenever i tried taking a picture with my camera, it wouldnt show up well or was really blurry..

i recently used pantene prov volumizer and vive smoothing shampoo.. question on using them though.. how long do u keep the shampoo and conditioner in your hair? and is there any special way to dry my hair with a towel? ill try to get a pic as soon as a i can

thnx for the replies so far