Question For Long/big Haired Nappy Haired Women

[*~Poohbear~*]

When your hair was a short twa or less than 5-6 inches long, which routine did you primarily follow to grow out your hair to shoulder length and beyond:

1. Frequent (2-3 or more times a week) co-washing/rinsing and leaving it shrunken most of the time

OR

2. Protective styling with twists and/or braids and washing every 1-4 weeks


OR

3. Other ... if so, please explain

Thanks in advance!

[Sekhmet]

Not daily conditioner washes. More like every two or three days. And I've worn my hair out and shrunken for approximately 98% of my nappy life.

After my final big chop, I started out with 3 inches.

And here I am last week before bed, still wearing my hair out and shrunken

[*~Poohbear~*]

Thanks carmennc and Sekhmet! Y'all both have beautiful hair! :wub:

After seeing what you said Sekhment, I changed my post to say "frequent" instead of "daily".

[watercolorz]

I think it depends on your hair’s propensity for breakage. What I think is most important for most nappy hair types who want to grow their hair long is to treat your hair well as its growing.

Meaning that you have to consider that if your hair is going to be 12-18+ inches long that is hair that must remain healthy for 2 years or more in order for you to retain length.

I think that what works on short hair as far as what keeps it soft and “looking” cute may not be enough to make that hair go the distance.

Like with my hair type wearing a shrunken fro is the death of my hair REGARDLESS of what products I put in it.

If I detangle my hair and then let it dry naturally and even touch it while its dry I will end up brushing little ringlets of hair all over the place... just by running my hand over the top of my hair in a shrunken state.

So I have to do “something”... braids, twist, twist out to keep my hair detangled and clumped with product... that is the only way my hair stay moist and keeps from breaking.

My daughter on the other hands thrives under the basic shake and go with minimal combing... she just co-washes and goes... with little or no product.

If she dose my routine her hair becomes weighed down with product and need to be clarified more often... extended protective styles tend to tangle her hair and cause it to mat and increase damage to her ends causing frequent trims.

My hair can’t take her routine; it would just shrivel up and break off.

I would also like to add that there is a belief that because your hair is natural you shouldn’t spend any time or money on it, or treat it to things like deep conditioners. ~W

[*~Poohbear~*]

I think it depends on your hair’s propensity for breakage. What I think is most important for most nappy hair types who want to grow their hair long is to treat your hair well as its growing.

Meaning that you have to consider that if your hair is going to be 12-18+ inches long that is hair that must remain healthy for 2 years or more in order for you to retain length.

I think that what works on short hair as far as what keeps it soft and “looking” cute may not be enough to make that hair go the distance.

Like with my hair type wearing a shrunken fro is the death of my hair REGARDLESS of what products I put in it.

If I detangle my hair and then let it dry naturally and even touch it while its dry I will end up brushing little ringlets of hair all over the place... just by running my hand over the top of my hair in a shrunken state.

So I have to do “something”... braids, twist, twist out to keep my hair detangled and clumped with product... that is the only way my hair stay moist and keeps from breaking.

My daughter on the other hands thrives under the basic shake and go with minimal combing... she just co-washes and goes... with little or no product.

If she dose my routine her hair becomes weighed down with product and need to be clarified more often... extended protective styles tend to tangle her hair and cause it to mat and increase damage to her ends causing frequent trims.

My hair can’t take her routine; it would just shrivel up and break off.

I would also like to add that there is a belief that because your hair is natural you shouldn’t spend any time or money on it, or treat it to things like deep conditioners. ~W
[/b]

I know, I know... different strokes for different folks... but I was just asking my question out of curiosity... I feel that I take great care of my hair and I'm retaining length every month, so that's not a problem for me. I just want to see which method other nappies used to grow out (retain) their hair.

I also wanted to compare their method to their hair texture as well. By the way, my hair is very tightly coiled, dense, and wiry and I want to see if there are any other long/big haired nappies with a hair texture similar to mine.

I also asked because I've been going back and forth between frequent washing and wearing a shrunken fro versus washing every 2 weeks and wearing two strand twists, and I want to start being more consistent by choosing just one of these options. (Even after this, I probably will still be inconsistent :lol: ).

And finally, I asked to help out other nappies, who are concerned about hair length or growing their hair out or who are toiling with the idea of which method is better for their hair, to see the responses and do their comparisons.

Thanks for your post!

[Twistie74]

In my experience, less frequent washing and wearing protective styles for weeks at a time helped with retaining length. I do the same routine with my sister's hair (she's a loose napp) and I've found that it's VITAL in keeping down damage/breakage to her hair.

[Cazzie]

In my experience, less frequent washing and wearing protective styles for weeks at a time helped with retaining length. I do the same routine with my sister's hair (she's a loose napp) and I've found that it's VITAL in keeping down damage/breakage to her hair.
[/b]

ITA!^^^ In my two years of being nappy I've found that this works best for me as well. I've changed my routine up a bit lately as my hair gets bigger and bigger. So my routine is basically wash once a week followed by a deep conditioning treatment with lots of evoo, caster oil, honey, mixed in with other conditioners then sitting under a dry with a plastic cap on. This has made a huge difference in the way that my hair feels and looks.

I did try the no pooing for a while but my hair is way to coarse for that, the weekly deep conditioning does wonders for my hair. And then twist it or braid it during the week, because I don't wear my hair out much just on special occasions.

[britni]

op: Thanks Poohbear for starting the thread and thanks to yall who are responding. The tips are really useful because I'm still at the twa stage and while I'm definitely not obsessed with length, I still want to be able to at least attempt the styles that I see others wear. Keep em coming!

[chinani]

Oh thanks so much for the topic Poohbear! I just celebrated my 2nd full year of nappiness and I don't have much length to show for it. Worse yet, my hair gets very tangled and I haven't found a remedy, outside of scissors that is. I didn't really know what I was doing and recently found nappturality. So glad I did. :wub: But I still need some rountine advice or at least a look into other people's routines. Keep sharing ladies, it's really helpful.

[Sekhmet]

The thing that I learned from my early days on NP and has served me best my entire time here (and still does) was posted by AnaisKarim in a thread I rediscovered this morning:

"AnaisKarim
Group: Members
Posts: 3,122
Joined: 10-June 04
From: World Citizen
Member No.: 16,188

Find someone with hair like yours to take advice from. Don't follow the hair care routine of someone whose hair is nothing at all like your own. What works for them may soon have your hair on the floor."

If I could only pass on a single piece of advice - practical advice - it would be that right there. Find a similar head, and try their routine and products. If you peep a twin/sister/cousin nap in an avatar or album but they don't post much info, PM them and ask that they do, what they use, etc. I've done that. Read all their old posts. PMed them if I didn't find what I wanted. And I've had people do the same with me.

ETA: While I'm at it, I might as well give shout outs to those who helped me directly (NaturalSerinitee, Synergy) and indirectly (Blakgirl, Carmennc). The last piece of advice I took from NP was to try Carmennc's practice of fingercombing every time I co-wash (which still isn't as often as her routine) but I've seen an improvement in the look of my hair.