Damaged hair? Please help!
This isn't my hair but this is EXACTLY how my hair looks washed/underwater. It's gotten a tad bit better after I started my hair journey but it still is always undefined, poofy, and oddly never able to define it. I live in a country where being black is lowkey illegal so we dont have much of the good gels/mousse for stubborn hair. I've lived my whole like covering my hair one way or another and i wear a hoodie everyday to school and I'm tired of it. I wanna feel good about myself and I know alot in the comments will say to just embrace the afro but it's not that easy living where I'm living.
I don't even know my hair texture or type because of how poofy and undefined it is. I've tried the eco gel and some mousses here and there but never the really good ones and they never worked anyway they just made it straight in a way. I saw Camila Rose mousse the other day at the store but at that point I felt like nothing will work and I am now completely hopeless.
At this point I'm convinced it's damaged. My mom would use some sort of relaxer on my hair, it wouldn't make it straight just light and th1n. I can't lie I sometimes dislike her because I think of what could've been if she hadn't done that without even asking me first and even telling me what it was. I also used to heat style it alot without protection so that might've been a problem too
Anyone else have this hair? And what products did you use to make it defined and shiny and not poofy, and what can I do to make it healthy again?