4b/ 4c Naturals Growth Thread

[Aggie]

How do you all handle your hair when styling?
I'm still unable to separate my hair without tearing it apart despite all of my efforts.
So whenever I style, I lose a lot of hair to breakage. Even if I dont use a comb, lol.
That's what I believe is holding me back the most, so I'm really trying to get past it.

I'm sorry I really can't help much with this question because for the most part, I protective style with wigs and I wear my hair in a bun when I'm not wearing wigs. I hope someone else will chime in for you with a better answer.

 

[faithVA]

How do you all handle your hair when styling?
I'm still unable to separate my hair without tearing it apart despite all of my efforts.
So whenever I style, I lose a lot of hair to breakage. Even if I dont use a comb, lol.
That's what I believe is holding me back the most, so I'm really trying to get past it.

Are you styling when your hair is wet? damp? or dry?

I style on wet hair and sometimes damp. I rarely style dry hair unless it has been blown dry or flat ironed.

I put my leave-in on as soon as I get out of the shower and I coat my ends with oil or a pomade. After I get those two steps down I can take a little more time applying the rest of the products and styling my hair.

I also keep my hair clamped in sections or twisted while applying my product and until I'm ready to style.

 

[SAPNK]

@faithVA, it's usually a challenge, unless its soaking wet, but damp is better than dry and stretched.

I think you have the right idea! I should stick with wet hair styling, I didn't have such a hard time when doing plaits on wet hair. So I may have to leave the extensions behind. They cause too much breakage to install, whether it's wet, stretched or blow dried.

I still feel encouraged. It will either improve, or I'll work with it. Just wanted to know what others do.

 

[SAPNK]

I'm sorry I really can't help much with this question because for the most part, I protective style with wigs and I wear my hair in a bun when I'm not wearing wigs. I hope someone else will chime in for you with a better answer.

Wigs seem like the best protective style.

 

[ItsMeLilLucky]

How do you all handle your hair when styling?
I'm still unable to separate my hair without tearing it apart despite all of my efforts.
So whenever I style, I lose a lot of hair to breakage. Even if I dont use a comb, lol.
That's what I believe is holding me back the most, so I'm really trying to get past it.

Me too. I know my iron is probably low, and it’s time for a trim.

 

[icsonia22]

How do you all handle your hair when styling?
I'm still unable to separate my hair without tearing it apart despite all of my efforts.
So whenever I style, I lose a lot of hair to breakage. Even if I dont use a comb, lol.
That's what I believe is holding me back the most, so I'm really trying to get past it.

A good moisturizer (I love tgin leave ins and butters) followed by Shea butter that has been whipped with a large amount of olive oil until it reaches a fluffy texture. The combo of the moisturizer and the fluffy Shea give my strands the lubrication that they need in order to slide past each other when I'm pulling them apart. Keeping my hair stretched also helps but the moisturizer and fluffy Shea are the real key. I'm in the process of installing Nubian twist and there was very minimal breakage as I was parting my hair using this method.

SN: If your hair is as fragile as mine, stay on top of protein treatments

 

[SAPNK]

A good moisturizer (I love tgin leave ins and butters) followed by Shea butter that has been whipped with a large amount of olive oil until it reaches a fluffy texture. The combo of the moisturizer and the fluffy Shea give my strands the lubrication that they need in order to slide past each other when I'm pulling them apart. Keeping my hair stretched also helps but the moisturizer and fluffy Shea are the real key. I'm in the process of installing Nubian twist and there was very minimal breakage as I was parting my hair using this method.

SN: If your hair is as fragile as mine, stay on top of protein treatments

Thanks for this! I will give it a try! I've been doing protein treatments for a few weeks now.
So you are installing the nubian twists on wet hair?

 

[icsonia22]

Thanks for this! I will give it a try! I've been doing protein treatments for a few weeks now.
So you are installing the nubian twists on wet hair?

More so damp. I blow dried my hair first with the revair so that it was fully stretched and then I applied tgin leave in and layer whipped Shea butter on top of it. That way my hair can stay stretched and moisturized inside of the Nubian twist. I don't intend to wash the twist but rather to keep my scalp clean and free of product.

 

[SAPNK]

I was so exited to try this, I took my twists out after only one week.


Lol, let's just say, it was a lot harder and longer than it seemed to be for her. I didn't have a brush, so I used a wide tooth comb.
I think I have twice as much hair on my head than she has, which is good, because I lost half of it trying to comb it out. I may attempt it again next week, just to see if my hair being more detangled now will have an effect. But I'll only try one section, and if it's the same, I'll just do what I was doing before.

Her hair is sort of fine and... idk. My hair, when wet, is more like a big poofy sponge, or something. But this might work for someone else. It's an interesting technique.

I do like the banding of the roots. I mentioned trying this way up thread.
When it's dry I'll see how it turned out. Glad to have my hair out and be able to experiment again.

 

[SAPNK]

I more so followed this one actually.

 

[LdyKamz]

I was so exited to try this, I took my twists out after only one week.

Yeah this would totally work on my hair. Sometimes when I wash my hair I will use my denman to brush out my hair in the shower and brush back into a ponytail. My roots and the front of my hair is super stretched when I do that. I would do this except I'm too lazy to section my hair like this in the shower.

In other news, I gave myself an undercut since again I was having nape problems. I used my clippers with a 2 guard and called it a day. My sister lined it up and I'm all set. I actually love it. The rest of my hair is doing great and the only products I use (after wash day) is shea butter. I ran out of leave ins and such some time ago and never reupped.

 

[SAPNK]

Yeah this would totally work on my hair. Sometimes when I wash my hair I will use my denman to brush out my hair in the shower and brush back into a ponytail. My roots and the front of my hair is super stretched when I do that. I would do this except I'm too lazy to section my hair like this in the shower.

In other news, I gave myself an undercut since again I was having nape problems. I used my clippers with a 2 guard and called it a day. My sister lined it up and I'm all set. I actually love it. The rest of my hair is doing great and the only products I use (after wash day) is shea butter. I ran out of leave ins and such some time ago and never reupped.

Though it wasn't efficient for me, after I took the plaits down, I was able to part my hair for the first time in what feels like forever, so I'd say it was worth the effort to try it.


I'll try to modify it a bit, and be more patient. It's similar enough to what I was already doing, except that I was finger detangling, so maybe my hair needs to be combed or brushed while wet just more gently than what I did.

 

[blazingbeauty]

I tried this too last year and gave up when I saw all the breakage it caused . No shade to her method, it just didnt work for me. It would have been great if it did though.

I was so exited to try this, I took my twists out after only one week.


Lol, let's just say, it was a lot harder and longer than it seemed to be for her. I didn't have a brush, so I used a wide tooth comb.
I think I have twice as much hair on my head than she has, which is good, because I lost half of it trying to comb it out. I may attempt it again next week, just to see if my hair being more detangled now will have an effect. But I'll only try one section, and if it's the same, I'll just do what I was doing before.

Her hair is sort of fine and... idk. My hair, when wet, is more like a big poofy sponge, or something. But this might work for someone else. It's an interesting technique.

I do like the banding of the roots. I mentioned trying this way up thread.
When it's dry I'll see how it turned out. Glad to have my hair out and be able to experiment again.

 

[Maracujá]

Have we spoken about her?

​

 

[SAPNK]

Have we spoken about her?

​

Wow! Amazing!

 

[SAPNK]

Wow! Amazing!

Oh, I'm already subscribed... lol.

 

[snoop]

Have we spoken about her?

​

She's got beautiful hair. I subscribed to her channel earlier this week! Two things that I found interesting:

1. She braids the ends of her twists. I've seen people twist the ends of their braids, but never the other way around.
2. Her hair doesn't shrink that much when it's washed. I feel like mine is the only head of hair that seems to struggle with showing it's length.

 

[SAPNK]

She's got beautiful hair. I subscribed to her channel earlier this week! Two things that I found interesting:

1. She braids the ends of her twists. I've seen people twist the ends of their braids, but never the other way around.
2. Her hair doesn't shrink that much when it's washed. I feel like mine is the only head of hair that seems to struggle with showing it's length.

Dont worry, I'm with you. My hair shrinks considerably even when weighed down by the water. I dont even care anymore, lol.

 

[snookes]

I'll start.

My hair:
I consider my hair to be 4c. My hair is mostly 7-8 inches long. It barely reaches 9 in some places. It is bleached and colored in some spots (I was messing around with it one day). It shrinks quite a bit. I don't have much of a curl pattern. Sometimes, when it's wet, some hairs will do a little curl at the end. I've tried adding different products and shingling which kinda does something, but the pics always look like nothing's going on, and there's always residue. I might need to stop trying to do that.

Porosity:
I have no idea what my porosity is. I never thought it was important. Maybe I'll do the test but I always thought that if its dry then moisturize if not then don't, lol.

Goals:
I honestly want to reach tailbone length. I want to to it for me, but I also think that the more of us that reach great lengths, the easier we make it for others to get there. So I feel like I have to do this.

Issues:
SSKs
Length retention
Protective styling is something I'm just beginning to get the hang of
I get curl envy bad, haha. I'm learning to get over it, but sometimes...
Consistency is not my strong suit

I can't give a regimen. I'm working on it.

The first two pics are of my wet hair. The last is with ecostyler in it.

You can format your intro however you like. You don't have to say everything I did.

How the heck do get curl envy with hair like that?? It's beautiful

 

[SAPNK]

Wow, thank you! You're so kind.
Since that post I've grown to love my hair so much. It is beautiful, unique, and amazing!

 

[ItsMeLilLucky]

Wow, thank you! You're so kind.
Since that post I've grown to love my hair so much. It is beautiful, unique, and amazing!

Just like you

 

[SAPNK]

Just like you

We all are

 

[snookes]

Wow, thank you! You're so kind.
Since that post I've grown to love my hair so much. It is beautiful, unique, and amazing!

It sure is. Glad to hear you have grown to love it... It's awesome your hair I mean lol

 

[NowIAmNappy]

If you need a retro updo check out this video. Who says natural aint classy?!

 

[Ipanema]

I managed to complete my wash routine in 90 minutes. Progress, lol!

I still haven't decided on a warm weather hairstyle. My hair is past waist-length, but I care more about style than length now. I want china bangs, but I'm afraid of cutting so much from the top.

 

[FadingDelilah]

I think imma start wearing crochet braids.... for a couple years.

 

[Aggie]

Tonight my own diy Fenugreek oil on scalp and Lustrasilk Curl Max Moisturizer and shea butter on the ends of my hair.

 

[LdyKamz]

So any naturals in here who wash often but don't do wash n gos? The warm weather is coming and I usually like water on my scalp a lot during this time. But by this length I abandon wash and gos because they don't look good. So how are other ladies wearing their hair? I've been thinking about rinsing nightly instead of in the morning and doing big bantu knots so I have a semi decent base to work with the next morning for styling. But still not sure what else I would do with it.

 

[ItsMeLilLucky]

Hey, if y’all got something similar to Oyin’s Juices and Berries spray, Melanin Twist Cream, and some Castor Oil (I use HBCO), try that combo and lemme know what you think.

 

[ItsMeLilLucky]

So any naturals in here who wash often but don't do wash n gos? The warm weather is coming and I usually like water on my scalp a lot during this time. But by this length I abandon wash and gos because they don't look good. So how are other ladies wearing their hair? I've been thinking about rinsing nightly instead of in the morning and doing big bantu knots so I have a semi decent base to work with the next morning for styling. But still not sure what else I would do with it.

I wash and puff because I’m lazy af. The Bantu Knots sounds like a good idea. I might try them once my hair gets longer.