Losing hair while backcombing

[sweetinlace0105]

I know that it is normal to lose hair during backcombing, but how much is too much? I lost what seemed to be almost HALF of the hair. Any idea what I'm doing wrong, because I'm pretty sure that there's something going on here.

[brandalynn]

It may be the brand. I have that happen alot when I use natural colors from enstyle.

[AlphaBitch]

what do you attach the hair to?

if you put one end of the hair somewhere, and backcomb the whole length of it, it may happen that some of the hair comes out, because the hair you are using is not the same length everywhere.
in other words you only attach the longer parts and the rest, which doesn't reach that far stay unattached and come out while you are backcombing.

see what I mean?

[sweetinlace0105]

Well, this time around I was just making a single ended dread with a natural color sassy jumbo braid. I put the loop on a plastic hanger and held the other end in my hand. I think I might have been a little to excited about the whole backcombing thing and used a little too much force. I plan on trying another one today and holding the hair a little looser and see what happens.

[rivetlicker_]

Mm, it's about tension. Can't hold the hair too tight or taught and can't hold the hair too loose or slack. It's about finding the balance.

[toxic trish]

Mm, it's about tension. Can't hold the hair too tight or taught and can't hold the hair too loose or slack. It's about finding the balance.

agreed iv only just manage to get a good balance

[sweetinlace0105]

Okie dokie, so, I backcombed a few more using less tension. Problem solved. I don't even think I noticed the loss of any hair....I'm sure there may have been a few strands, but definitely no huge chunks like last time. Thanks for the help all!

[HairAndStuff]

Mm, it's about tension. Can't hold the hair too tight or taught and can't hold the hair too loose or slack. It's about finding the balance.

I have to agree with this. I have noticed that some brands or colors seem to break or split more than others. I usually never have this issue with the colors that I Kick Shins deems harder to seal. Pink Ice, Electric Blue, etc. Afrelle colors also seem to not have that issue as much either when I work with them. Recently though, I had been having this same issue with Black n Gold (specifically Red Auburn).

[dread_addiction]

my friend had the same problem ..i sent her about 6 bags of neon yellow from black N' gold..
i had never had issues with that color but she told me she lost about half of the hair while backcombing . it is probably the batch that those bags come from ..i adviced her to used the hair that she lost while backcombing and add it on to the dreads as if it would be done for splashes i think that be the only way to recover the lost of hair . . i have done this only when i ran out of hair, since i have a stash of left over hair alll from backcombing and cutting the last bits of dreads while sealing . i hope this little tip helps if you are loosing a lot of hair while backcombing

[toxic trish]

my friend had the same problem ..i sent her about 6 bags of neon yellow from black N' gold..
i had never had issues with that color but she told me she lost about half of the hair while backcombing . it is probably the batch that those bags come from ..i adviced her to used the hair that she lost while backcombing and add it on to the dreads as if it would be done for splashes i think that be the only way to recover the lost of hair . . i have done this only when i ran out of hair, since i have a stash of left over hair alll from backcombing and cutting the last bits of dreads while sealing . i hope this little tip helps if you are loosing a lot of hair while backcombing

this is a really good tip and obvs if you use the felting needle method for the splashes then wist and seal you wont ever be able to tell think im going to thicken some naturals to see if this works as well as im hoing