After the baggying of the ends, wearing hair in protective styles, etc,etc..

[Bublnbrnsuga]

when can you say enough is enough? If you reach your desired length by these means, do you stop these techniques? If so, do you experience damage all over again, or do you continue because once you start you can't stop? I kinda look at these techniques with the same viewpoint as dieting. You can go on the South Beach diet all you want, loose the weight, but do you continue?

 

[sweetpuff]

That is a very interesting point of view, when you say that you view all those techniques as you do dieting techniques. IMO, setting better habits that you keep forever are better than just doing a cure (diet or other) for a certain amount of time and you enlightened me to the fact that this can be applied for hair to. I am baggying my ends and hiding my hair in a phony pony right now but when I reach my goal, I will want to let my hair down more often. I would continue baggying my ends at night and adjusting my regimen in order to continue to treat my hair like they should.

 

[Guyaneek]

Sweetpuff, that is a wonderful balance you spoke of! Sometimes people say to me you are growing your hair and have made so much progress but if you where it up all of the time, what is the use. I told myself that once I hit MBL, I will wear it down more often but I will baggy at night and incorporate better care as I have done during the growth process. I agree with Sweetpuff.

 

[breezy]

I think that right now I am on more of a "retaining" routine, I baggy and deep condtion and am very careful w/ my hair and use no heat. I will do this once I reach my goal. Once I reach the goal, I feel that my hair will be in a healthy enough state to move on to my "maintaining" regimine, where I am still careful not to practice harmful things, but I won't baggy as much and I'll wear it down a lot more, but in a healthy way, by using rollersets, braidouts, etc.

I don't see the point in growing all this beautiful hurrr, if I can't have fun with it

 

[preciousjewel76]

I agree with all of your points. When I reach my goal length, I'll wear my hair "out" more often. But I'll still keep my phony pony or falls around for a quick change or a low manipulation option. This is one reason why I'm not really big on growth aides...sure, MTG may make your hair grow like crazy, but am I going to use it for the rest of my life? No way. Sustainability is the key.

 

[KiniKakes]

when can you say enough is enough? If you reach your desired length by these means, do you stop these techniques? If so, do you experience damage all over again, or do you continue because once you start you can't stop? I kinda look at these techniques with the same viewpoint as dieting. You can go on the South Beach diet all you want, loose the weight, but do you continue?

I have grown to love the buns that i wear daily..... i couldnt imagine wearing my hair down every day now. The longer it gets, the more of a hassle it becomes (lol). Right now i wear my hair down on the weekends.... enjoy its length, toss it, fling it, so on and so forth. Then Mon-Fri its back to the bun. I find the style is more professional anyway, and looks attractive (when jazzed up with some nice earrings, a touch of lipgloss, and liner).

So..... i dont expect to do things much differently once ive reached my goals. I'll still wash and DC once per week, and use the Aphogee after my touch-ups. I'll probably continue to take Biotin and a multi-vitamin, for overall health. I'll cut out the extra stuff tho..... not necessary.

So i guess to answer your question, i'll always continue a modified version of this regimen..... but it wont be the entire thing.

 

[angelita842002]

I think that right now I am on more of a "retaining" routine, I baggy and deep condtion and am very careful w/ my hair and use no heat. I will do this once I reach my goal. Once I reach the goal, I feel that my hair will be in a healthy enough state to move on to my "maintaining" regimine, where I am still careful not to practice harmful things, but I won't baggy as much and I'll wear it down a lot more, but in a healthy way, by using rollersets, braidouts, etc.

I don't see the point in growing all this beautiful hurrr, if I can't have fun with it

ITA I will keep my hair up in a bun and moisturizing my ends until I reach my goal MBL unstretched. Then I will probably leave it out more but will be "maintaining" it so it can stay healthy. I will continue deep conditioning weekly and cowashing which my hair totally agrees with.

 

[gradygirl]

I too agree that it depends on what stage you are in. If you are trying to grow your hair out you may have to do the bunning, baggying and etc. but once you reach your goal you can just focus on maintaining it and hopefully enjoying it with less effort.

 

[Softresses]

I have pretty much reached my goal. I have always loved elegant updo hairstyles. In fact I have worn them so long that people don't know who I am when my hair is down. I took over my own haircare and found out I was already doing protective styles quite by accident.

I continue to use good haircare practices. However if I want to wear it down I do. I am just more careful to moisturize. I don't use heat anymore. I continue to stretch my texturizer touchups. I love pretty accessories, and like to experiment with styles with them.

I think that long haircare is an ongoing process. You don't just get it and quit taking good care of it. Adrienne used to have in her signature a quote that sums it up nicely, "hair is like money, it is not how much you make it is how much you keep."


Softresses

 

[MrsHouston]

Cute costume in your pic.

I have grown to love the buns that i wear daily..... i couldnt imagine wearing my hair down every day now. The longer it gets, the more of a hassle it becomes (lol). Right now i wear my hair down on the weekends.... enjoy its length, toss it, fling it, so on and so forth. Then Mon-Fri its back to the bun. I find the style is more professional anyway, and looks attractive (when jazzed up with some nice earrings, a touch of lipgloss, and liner).

So..... i dont expect to do things much differently once ive reached my goals. I'll still wash and DC once per week, and use the Aphogee after my touch-ups. I'll probably continue to take Biotin and a multi-vitamin, for overall health. I'll cut out the extra stuff tho..... not necessary.

So i guess to answer your question, i'll always continue a modified version of this regimen..... but it wont be the entire thing.

 

[locabouthair]

I think my goal is a little different than others. right now i deep condition every week, moisturize every night, stretching, improving my diet (slowing working on this......).

i know a lot of you get tired of buns and wearing your hair up but i cant wait for my hair to be able to do buns and updos. i have short hair that cant be put into protective styles. it can be a hassle trying to make it look nice cuz i have to wear it down everyday. so once my hair reaches my shoulder (goal length) i will be bunning. ponytailing, and updoing a lot just because i think its more convenient. i want to be able to put it in a bun and keep it moving. so i'll be doing these things because of convience not necessarily more growth because i dont want really long hair (not even APL) but if it keeps growing due to the protective styling ill cut it if its too long. and my diet i will try to continue because it will contribute to less breakage and healthier hair even if it stays the same length which is fine as long as i reach my goal length.

 

[LovelyZ]

Until I reach my goal length, I will focus on rapid growth. My hair grows the fastest when I do protective styles, consistent vitamin regimen, exercise, minimal heat, minimal trims.

When i reach my goal, my focus will be retention, not necessarily more growth. So I will do everything I mentioned before but relax opn the protective styles. If my ends get a little damaged, that's ok. I can cut off an inch per month and grow and inch per month and still keep the same length.

 

[JustKiya]

I think that once you hit your goal length, you can stop doing a lot of that stuff, for the simple reason that you hair IS going to keep growing. So, if you lose a 1/4 incha month to wearing it down and catching it on stuff, and have to trim another 1/4 inch a month because of split ends/heat damage, and your hair GROWS 1/2 inch a month - no loss, but no gain.
Obviously though, while you are trying to GET to your goal - every 1/2 inch matters.

Personally, I want to grow my hair longer so that I CAN do updos/buns/long braids - ie. protective styles - I MIGHT wear it out occasionally or press it rarely - but not often.
I'm taking the vitamins that I do not only for my hair health, but also my overall health.

Relating this to exercising & dieting - it's kinda like asking - once I get to 150 lbs, am I going to stop working out and eating right? I COULD - but if I wanna STAY at 150, I can't.
Once my hair hits my tailbone am I going to stop moisturizing 2 a week and keeping it up and gently combing it? I COULD - but if I wanna keep my hair at tailbone with nice thick healthy ends - I CAN'T.
And I'm aiight with that.

 

[LocksOfLuV]

The only reason I want WSL hair is because once I meet this goal, wear it down, smell myself a little bit, I know it will break off and I can cut it off between MBL and BSL.

Seriously, I plan on wearing my hair down every other week once I meet my goal.

I work so hard to get this hurr you better believe I'm going to smell myself for a bit.

 

[Lucia]

ITA with maintenance regime, I mean who wants to grow out your hair just to damage it all over again and start over.
I'll basically do the same things I do now, but I'll wear it down some to enjoy the length-maybe 1 week down, 1 week up, I'll keep the same regime I have now cause it works.
My focus once I 've reached my goals will be thickness and getting all my hair to 1 length/even.

 

[FAMUDva]

when can you say enough is enough? If you reach your desired length by these means, do you stop these techniques? If so, do you experience damage all over again, or do you continue because once you start you can't stop? I kinda look at these techniques with the same viewpoint as dieting. You can go on the South Beach diet all you want, loose the weight, but do you continue?

Good points Bubln! I'm planning to use protective styles ONLY through December, which will be 3 months straight when I come out of it. My goal has never been to have long hair and always hide it in a bun... That's just me. I'm using protective styling to get me over the SL hump and hopefully to APL. My ultimate goal is mid back.

I do plan however to continue using no/low heat as I have for the last 3-4 yrs. I'm just too lazy to go back to ceramic irons at home often. I have been sweating Lauren450 and sylver2's albums and their approach to long hair care. Sure they use low manipulation, but they seem to enjoy their hair by wearing it down. Whether rollersets or just straight, I know I will not be a slave to the bun after I get past this current transition phase. Although I will use protective styling as a part of my maintainance.

I'm just thinking my roller sets will look better and be easier to do myself at home when I have longer hair. I can do them now, but they look a HAM! Unlike when the salon does it.

 

[secretdiamond]

The only reason I want WSL hair is because once I meet this goal, wear it down, smell myself a little bit, I know it will break off and I can cut it off between MBL and BSL.

Seriously, I plan on wearing my hair down every other week once I meet my goal.

I work so hard to get this hurr you better believe I'm going to smell myself for a bit.

I loved this post.

 

[nicki6]

I think that once you hit your goal length, you can stop doing a lot of that stuff, for the simple reason that you hair IS going to keep growing. So, if you lose a 1/4 incha month to wearing it down and catching it on stuff, and have to trim another 1/4 inch a month because of split ends/heat damage, and your hair GROWS 1/2 inch a month - no loss, but no gain.
Obviously though, while you are trying to GET to your goal - every 1/2 inch matters.

Personally, I want to grow my hair longer so that I CAN do updos/buns/long braids - ie. protective styles - I MIGHT wear it out occasionally or press it rarely - but not often.
I'm taking the vitamins that I do not only for my hair health, but also my overall health.

Relating this to exercising & dieting - it's kinda like asking - once I get to 150 lbs, am I going to stop working out and eating right? I COULD - but if I wanna STAY at 150, I can't.
Once my hair hits my tailbone am I going to stop moisturizing 2 a week and keeping it up and gently combing it? I COULD - but if I wanna keep my hair at tailbone with nice thick healthy ends - I CAN'T.
And I'm aiight with that.

This statement is the best analogy that I've read thus far. I totally agree!!