Hair Frustration: How do you Deal with Hair Setbacks?

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I've been humming along on my natural hair routine.

Last week, I wore wash and gos with Eco Styler gel (I know, I said I was swearing W&Gs off, but I only wore it for a week).

And now my hair is shedding -- like crazy, ya'll.

I'm not sure what's going on. And I had a big matted lock in the back of my hair (from the gel, maybe?)  I swear, my hair does the opposite of what I want it to do. If I wanted locs, my hair wouldn't loc. But because I'm not trying to loc my hair on purpose, well, you know the deal ...

SHAKES FIST!

Can you tell I'm frustrated? I keep pulling out hair from the ends. Now let me say that I'm badly in need of a trim -- like three months overdue. And besides wetting my hair less, not using gel (with the exception of the gel relapse the other week) and adding Trader Joe's Spa & Nourish condish, I'm not really doing a whole lot different.

Check the Routine

Wait -- yes, I am.

Between running our family business in ATL and holding down a FT job, I've got a whole lot less time for my hair overall. Maybe that explains the matting, because I haven't been finger detangling like I should. And when I think about it, my deep conditioning treatments aren't weekly -- maybe every other week.

Or, could it be my thyroid? I take Synthroid for an underactive thyroid. Maybe my dosage is a bit off (though my blood test last month showed my levels were normal) but I just went to my general practioner, not an endocronologist.

Facing a Setback

I *thought* my hair was growing.  Now, I'm not so sure and I'm preparing for a major setback. My ends are a mess. My sides are breaking off. I'm going to have to get my hair flat ironed and trimmed and I'll let you know the damage.

Right now? It's not looking good.

I almost took a pic of the shed hair, but it hurt too bad. So frustrating! And I'm tired of guessing and trying to figure all this out.  Now if only I could develop a hair test kit that would instantly diagnose your hair ailments, I'd be a millionaire!

How do you handle hair setbacks?