Wiry Strands?

For last few weeks some of my hair strands feel wiry and brittle. I cut a few to examine them and they look damaged. The ends curl but they're jagged and if I tug at them they break easily, while the rest of my hair doesn't. Do you gals have any idea of what could be causing this? If it helps I recently switched to cg last week (I started using the curls line), but I was having this issue before then as well. (I was using Hello Hydration as a conditioner, Patene R&N shampoo and Hawaiian silky 14 in 1 as a moisturizer previously). They look like the crinkled strand and few like the tapered(very few though). I have a few knots as well, but I plan on trimming soon.
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Have you tried to search and destroy? I find that it takes more time but it can save you precious length if it's done right. It also gives you the chance to really analyze your hair and (in the future) catch splits and knots before they get worse.

Having said that there could be a number of things that caused damage
- excessive heat
- excessive wash and gos (prone to single strand knots)
- not enough moisture
- no sealant for hair ends
- over manipulation
- not enough product
- too much products
- improper detangling techniques
- products with drying/damaging ingredients

I haven't used any of those products before but I'm almost certain the Pantene shampoo has sulfates in it. If I does I'd advise you to stop using it because sulfates are entirely too harsh for our fragile curls.

To prevent future splits I'd recommend you moisturize and deep condition your hair more often along with protective styling

HTH!

If any of the prducts you use have proteins that could be a problem. Whenever I use proteins my hair feels nasty cnat remeber if it was brittle or not but it just wasnt right. So I came to the conclusion that I am protein sensitive and just stay away from them. If your products dont have proteins maybe you need to add a protein treatment (ie. Aphogee, hair Mayo etc) to your regie.

As far as I can tell most Of what I use now doesn't have proteins. Do you know of a good deep treatment? Also it's definitely not heat damage (no heat for eight months) and I never have tried wash and goes ( it's too cold for that now). I've been looking at the shea moisture mask. Is it any good?

When I was having trouble deciphering if I needed protein or moisture I used this article.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/278612/the_fine_art_of_protein_and_moisture.html?singlepage=true&cat=69

it could be that you need a good protein treatment , or a deep conditioning treatment do the strand test to see if you need protein or moisture after reading the article above just google strand test for moisture protein balance for details :
)

I tried the strand test and my hair sunk and broke way too easily. I'm a bit confused because one site said if the strand breaks too easily you have too much protein and another said that there is not enough moisture. The spots of my hair that aren't like this feel fairly moisturized. Maybe I need to use water and oil? I'm so confused, lol.