Has your hair grown without Protective styles? (POLL)

[Qetesh]

This is something I am struggling with I have mid-back length hair and its never grown past this, but I am challenging myself to get an extra 4 inches to take me to waist length!!

My problem is I like to wear my hair down too much I know its getting cold out but I still wanna wear my hair down, I have stopped using heat and I have my hair in a natural style, my question is can I still expect to see results even tho I am wearing my hair down nearly everyday , I do moisturize wash and put my air up in a silk scarf at night.

 

[considerate]

I wear protective styles all the time. I have known that my hair has gotten thicker, but I do want it to obtain more length. I am not able to take any of the vitamins because of health related reasons. Do anyone have any other suggestions to get more length.​

 

[shunta]

Macheriamour doesnt wear them and look at her beautiful BSL hair. I dont really wear them either, but my hair has grown due to frequent washings, vitamins, and overall me just taking better care of it.

 

[sweetcashew]

I never wear protective styles. I wear my hair down every day and I still retain length.

 

[Qetesh]

I never wear protective styles. I wear my hair down every day and I still retain length.

wow, even when your hair was shorter and you grew it out to the length it is now no protective styles?

I think i might jus do my hair how i want to the next few months and see how much it is breaking off to decide if i should really start bunning for a straight 3-4 months

 

[Vshanell]

I have never worn protective styles. I wear a ponytail everyday but this dosen't qualify as a protective style. I just can't make myself wear a bun everyday although I might retain more length this way. I wouldn't know because I've never tried it. I do know that my hair grows just fine w/o protective styles.

 

[Southernbella.]

I never wear protective styles either. I think the main thing that's helped me is rollersetting. I can get my hair smooth and get the curl that I want without putting heat on my ends.

 

[Nanyanika]

i think everybody's hair grows with or without protective styles the question is how much do we retain? I personally retain length when its protected regularly.

 

[LocksOfLuV]

I think you should change the question to does your hair RETAIN more or less w/o protective styling.

Because the amount of growth from my head stays the same regardless of what I do to it. I can fry it (the actual strands not the scalp) dye it and lay it to the side and it will still grow how much it wants to grow. Now reatining is a whole nother ball game. And IMO nothing is better than protective styling at retaining some length.

 

[KiniKakes]

I think you should change the question to does your hair RETAIN more or less w/o protective styling.

Because the amount of growth from my head stays the same regardless of what I do to it. I can fry it (the actual strands not the scalp) dye it and lay it to the side and it will still grow how much it wants to grow. Now reatining is a whole nother ball game. And IMO nothing is better than protective styling at retaining some length.

I concur.

For years (pre-LHCF) i wore my hair out everyday. It never got beyond a certain length, and the ends were always thin and in need of a trim. Yet, every 6-8 weeks i needed a relaxer, so it was clearly growing. But i was never given a chance to see the length before it would break off as it grew.

 

[Victorian]

I wear my hair in a puff every day. I guess that's not very protective...I plan to wear buns more when the front gets longer. Right now it's still a little too much stress on my hair to pull it into a low ponytail often.

I do think protective styles help many people. I wore them all the time when I was relaxed (not that I knew anything about "protective" styles before LHCF), and that's probably the main thing that allowed me to keep a decent length despite my weekly blowdrying year after year. It's worth a try if you want to boost your length retention.

 

[sweetcashew]

wow, even when your hair was shorter and you grew it out to the length it is now no protective styles?

I think i might jus do my hair how i want to the next few months and see how much it is breaking off to decide if i should really start bunning for a straight 3-4 months

Everybodys' hair is different. I'm sure that I may retain more length with protective styles but I won't know. I usually cut several inches of my hair several times a year out of boredom so I know I'd retain a lot more length if I didn't cut it too. My goal isn't to get to a certain length so I wear my hair how I want to. To suit my personality and style. Protective styles definitley aren't my thing.
If you feel that bunning will help you to reach your goal, then by all means go ahead and try it. I'm sure it will be benificial for you.

 

[lala]

My hair has grown w/o wearing protective styles; however, I do wear my hair in a ponytail when my style fades. I'm not sure if it would've grown any longer with it bunned up constantly.

 

[erin558]

My hair has grown and retained a little length without them but i just realized that wearing my messy bun has made my ends look good. they look frizzy sometimes but they arent split or anything like that. I do wear my hair down sometimes because I do like to enjoy it and not feel like a slave to the bun.

 

[gradygirl]

My hair has always grown to shoulder length and then breaks off. This year I started wearing my hair up basically 95% of the time and it is now APL. I know keeping it off my shoulders helped me to retain my length so protective styles are a big help if you are trying to go past shoulder length due to your hair rubbing on your clothes. After you go past that point of friction protective styles might still be helpful but not as necassary as with shoulder length hair.

 

[tld723]

I had to wear my hair up everyday for work, and I think that it was MORE damaging to my hair...

 

[angelita842002]

I use to bun or do a ponytail with a braid when i was younger and i had long hair. I was wearing my hair out last year and going to get it blowdried and it stayed the same length. Now that ive been bunning for the last couple of months i have retained some length not sure how much bc i dont measure but i can def tell that it has gotten longer.

 

[Qetesh]

My hair never grows past mid-back and I am not sure if its because b4 LHCF I would hot curl my ends nearly everyday, or if its more contributed to me always wearing my hair down, I am sure it’s a little of both. So I have given up the heat but I am not going to give up wearing my hair down entirely until I feel like its not retaining enough. I feel my goal of July 07 for 4 inches should be possible even with me wearing my hair out. ...
Well I can see how it helps retain length, so I might try to bun occasionally, its jus hard for me cuz I am used to feeling my hair on my back shoulders esp in the winter when its cold out, I guess I need to invest in some head scarf's and start protecting my hair.

 

[KhandiB]

I would say that if you have hair that is brastrap, midback or longer , and you dont wear protective styles, you are doing a heck of a job retaining length

 

[sylver2]

No protective styles, wear my hair out everyday..even when it was all shaggy looking growing out from the Halle Berry pixie cut...lol

 

[MonaRae]

You all have inspired me to take the plung and start wearing my hair out again! I barely know how long my hair is now. I have been wearing protective styles for over a year!

I think I'm going to start a braid-out-a-thon!

MonaRae

 

[LocksOfLuV]

My hair never grows past mid-back and I am not sure if its because b4 LHCF I would hot curl my ends nearly everyday, or if its more contributed to me always wearing my hair down, I am sure it’s a little of both. So I have given up the heat but I am not going to give up wearing my hair down entirely until I feel like its not retaining enough. I feel my goal of July 07 for 4 inches should be possible even with me wearing my hair out. ...
Well I can see how it helps retain length, so I might try to bun occasionally, its jus hard for me cuz I am used to feeling my hair on my back shoulders esp in the winter when its cold out, I guess I need to invest in some head scarf's and start protecting my hair.

Seriously, I think you should give protective styling a try. You are already going the other route and your length isn't budging past MBL, why not? But IMO for protective styling to be useful you have to do it consistently, not every now and then.

 

[Shea]

I wear protctive styles now and it helps bc I am shoulder length I think when I get to my goal nearly bra strap I am going to wear it down most of the week or when its freshly done with a relaxer or roots blown out but maybe towards end of stretch like last 6 0r 5 weeks I will wear protective style bc thats when its most vulnerable. Also I feel like I might as well show off a little when I get to my goal why have long hair and not flaunt it a little. I feel like its like loosing weight and still buying big clothes but still to maintain the weight hit the gym up sometimes corellation wear protective sometimes to maintain it.

 

[2cute2B4gotten]

No protective styles for me either. I do bun ocassionally, but I do it because it's convenient. It has not stopped me from retaining length. What I do find interesting in this thread is that a lot of mid back to waistlength ladies do not wear protective styles to retain length. I do believe that it can help though.

 

[Lynnerie]

This is a great thread. My question is for the long-haired ladies, did you all wear your hair out when you were shoulder length? And is it good enough to throw your hair in a ponytail when your is shoulder length or does it have to be in a bun?

 

[sweetcashew]

This is a great thread. My question is for the long-haired ladies, did you all wear your hair out when you were shoulder length? And is it good enough to throw your hair in a ponytail when your is shoulder length or does it have to be in a bun?

Yep, I've worn my hair out at all lenghts. I had the Halle Berry cut and I never wore protective styles when I was growing it out.

 

[Southernbella.]

Yep, I've worn my hair out at all lenghts. I had the Halle Berry cut and I never wore protective styles when I was growing it out.

Same here. I've never worn them, from my Halle cut to now. Length was always my goal, but I was not willing to sacrifice style for it. Thankfully, that worked for me.

 

[winterinatl]

I used to wear my hair down/out growing from chin to shoulder. Had the hardest time passing shoulder and armpit length; and now I am stuck at the length you see now. I only consciously wore protective styles the last two or three years, and it did help me.

My personal thought is that the less manual stress on the hair, the better. If the protective style is going to stress your hair, or you are combing and brushing too much to achieve it, it won't make a difference. Likewise if you wear your hair out but don't comb it and it's able to recieve lubrication from your scalp and oils you add, you will retain the length and see growth.

 

[shunta]

I used to wear my hair down/out growing from chin to shoulder. Had the hardest time passing shoulder and armpit length; and now I am stuck at the length you see now. I only consciously wore protective styles the last two or three years, and it did help me.

My personal thought is that the less manual stress on the hair, the better. If the protective style is going to stress your hair, or you are combing and brushing too much to achieve it, it won't make a difference. Likewise if you wear your hair out but don't comb it and it's able to recieve lubrication from your scalp and oils you add, you will retain the length and see growth.

Great analysis.

 

[Isis]

I used to wear my hair down/out growing from chin to shoulder. Had the hardest time passing shoulder and armpit length; and now I am stuck at the length you see now. I only consciously wore protective styles the last two or three years, and it did help me.

My personal thought is that the less manual stress on the hair, the better. If the protective style is going to stress your hair, or you are combing and brushing too much to achieve it, it won't make a difference. Likewise if you wear your hair out but don't comb it and it's able to recieve lubrication from your scalp and oils you add, you will retain the length and see growth.

I agree with Shunta, very good analysis.