Based on what Sylver2 does....

[tthreat08]

Your hair is beautiful. I believe that if you continue to pamper your and use all of the wonderful tips that you've learned here you will be able to gain and retain length. However, I would not blow dry weekly. I retired my blowdryer in 2005 and my hair is still thanking me. I don't even miss it. Why not do a roller set on Sat and then wrap it at night. Wear it down a couple of days and then towards the end of the week pull it back or opt for somthing low maintenance like one braid or something. You are very attractive and have curly hair so you could easily get away with this. I just would not blow dry.

Thanks for the advice and compliments! I will just have to find some time to roller set. I am going to do the braidout as well....just have to per-fect it so it's not drwn up on me.

 

[tthreat08]

Just wanted to say you've made great progress! Your hair is beautiful!

Also, maybe you can try drying under a hooded dryer, perhaps before your braidout. Not as direct as a blowdryer but still pretty quick. I do this sometimes.

Good luck with your new regimen!

Thanks baglady215!

 

[tthreat08]

Maybe banding until your hair dries and then braiding. Banding will help your natural hair dry more stretched out almost like a blow-out. I have pics in my album of how I band my hair.

Hmmmm....banding....this might work! I was thinking that I would just twist my hair in a clip until it was a good ways dry and then do the braid out, but banding may be a good option as well!

I'll try them both and see what happens!

 

[ChasingBliss]

I am giving up my indentured servitude to buns and protective styling! I think that what I have learned after close study of my own regimen (compared to past regimens), the regimen of others, and board postings is this:

As long as myhair is healthy overall, I maintain moisture, and I'm kind to my hair with regular maintance (deep conditioning, dustings, trims), then I should be able to wear my hair out like regular society and still have hair that retains growth. Sylver2 does!! And based on her progress, I think it's worth a shot!

Couple issues/questions:

1. I have three actively involved in activities kids, work full time, plus teach part-time.....I don't want to have to do roller sets all the time (takes a while).

2. Who has success with weekly blow drying (on cool settings of course), and what dryer (comb attachments) would you recommend?

Thanks a bunch!!

I will be joining society right behind you as soon as I reach my goal length which is the reason for my bunning 90% of the time. I definitely dont want to hid my hair forever...
You and your hair are pretty by the way.

 

[Southernbella.]

Beautiful hair, and congrats on your decision! I'm a big believer in wearing the hair out.

I now how you feel about rollersetting. I don't have as much time as I used to now, and that really frustrates me because rollersetting is the center of my regimen. The last time I did it, though, I noticed that I was a lot faster. That really gave me hope that I can do it regularly again.

Good luck!

 

[SandySea]

One of my closest friend grew her hair from BSL (barely) to full waist length in less than one year. She wears her hair down almost every day and hasn't even heard of protective styles or half of the hair prods. that we swear by. BTW, her hair has never been that long before. She has extremely strong, coarse hair that is relaxed. We are all amazed at her effortless hair growth. I think you just have to do what works for your hair. I'm sure you can wear it down and grow it long. In the real world, it is hard to walk around in even the cutest protective style every day. Good luck to you.

 

[tthreat08]

Beautiful hair, and congrats on your decision! I'm a big believer in wearing the hair out.

I now how you feel about rollersetting. I don't have as much time as I used to now, and that really frustrates me because rollersetting is the center of my regimen. The last time I did it, though, I noticed that I was a lot faster. That really gave me hope that I can do it regularly again.

Good luck!

Cool....Inspriring!

 

[tthreat08]

One of my closest friend grew her hair from BSL (barely) to full waist length in less than one year. She wears her hair down almost every day and hasn't even heard of protective styles or half of the hair prods. that we swear by. BTW, her hair has never been that long before. She has extremely strong, coarse hair that is relaxed. We are all amazed at her effortless hair growth. I think you just have to do what works for your hair. I'm sure you can wear it down and grow it long. In the real world, it is hard to walk around in even the cutest protective style every day. Good luck to you.

Thanks....more inspiration!

 

[Keen]

I will be joining society right behind you as soon as I reach my goal length which is the reason for my bunning 90% of the time. I definitely dont want to hid my hair forever...
You and your hair are pretty by the way.

That's how I feel. I will try this as soon as I reach BSL.

 

[~*~ShopAholic~*~]

Not sure if you can french braid, but french braid braid-outs come out more wavy and less shrinkage. Also I don't blow dry but thought maybe you could airdry in 2-4 large platts and then blowdry (that would help take out some of the bulk/poof and will only need a few passing through the hair to help straighten it out. Or you could dry under the hooded dryer like baglady215 suggest and then past the blowdryer through your strands. (I think the comb attachment passing through the hair over and over again causes more damage (since it's alot of manipulation) than the actual heat does, but thats just my opinion.

Have you ever tried Caruso Steam rollers on airdryied hair? Their great too.HTH's

ETA: another thing I do is rollerset or about 60-80% dry hair, I mist my hair on the ends so they easily stick to the magnetic rollers this cut's my drying time down to 20-30 min. under the dryer on medium heat. Sometimes I'll mist my entire rolled head depending on how I feel and it comes out lovely.

 

[Bublnbrnsuga]

I am wearing my hair out more,too. Bump them buns!

Oh, nothing important to add but I think you are absolutely stunning!

 

[tthreat08]

Not sure if you can french braid, but french braid braid-outs come out more wavy and less shrinkage. Also I don't blow dry but thought maybe you could airdry in 2-4 large platts and then blowdry (that would help take out some of the bulk/poof and will only need a few passing through the hair to help straighten it out. Or you could dry under the hooded dryer like baglady215 suggest and then past the blowdryer through your strands. (I think the comb attachment passing through the hair over and over again causes more damage (since it's alot of manipulation) than the actual heat does, but thats just my opinion.

Have you ever tried Caruso Steam rollers on airdryied hair? Their great too.HTH's

ETA: another thing I do is rollerset or about 60-80% dry hair, I mist my hair on the ends so they easily stick to the magnetic rollers this cut's my drying time down to 20-30 min. under the dryer on medium heat. Sometimes I'll mist my entire rolled head depending on how I feel and it comes out lovely.

Thanks! I'll try this...

 

[tthreat08]

I am wearing my hair out more,too. Bump them buns!

Oh, nothing important to add but I think you are absolutely stunning!

Well, thank you so much!

 

[tthreat08]

It's been almost a week with my hair out, and it's time to wash. I'll be trying the braid out tonight. If it comes out crazy, I'll be wearing an updo tomorrow. But, I will find a braid-out technique that works for me. My scalp seems like it is screaming to be washed. I usually wash a minimum of twice a week.

Does your scalp re-adjust to less frequent washes over time??

 

[Mahalialee4]

I am going to start wearing my hair out from time to time. I can just hear my hair screaming..."please free us...let us go....we need to breathe, get out in the sunshine...it is so dark in here!"...lol..NO, i AM NOT HEARING VOICES...LOL, just jokin with ya'll.bonjour

 

[GodsPromises]

You could also try flexi rod rollers. They are not as hard as they look to put in and I who swears by magnatic rollers think that the flexi rods were faster to put in. I'm not sure about how long to dry because I did mine to experiment with damp not wet hair.

Also you could probably do the sylver's scraf method and use regular rollers or flexi rod rollers. I am going to try that tomorrow when I wash and dc my hair.

 

[tetbelle]

I wouldn't say I have a regimen per say but I believe in rotation as well.

Things that I do:

I co-wash and wear my hair in a bun with leave in conditioner and a little ic polisher gel

Roller set blow the roots

New favorite: Aid dry then flat iron. This is by far my favorite. I wash my hair put leave in conditioner, wear it down to air dry, if I have to go somewhere I put it in a loose ponytail. Once it's dry I flat iron which only takes me about 20 minutes. I flat iron in such a way it looks like a roller set.

I notice when I blow dry a lot of my hair ends up on the floor and my hair looks really dry afterwards. When I airdry my hair looks healthy

 

[SleekandBouncy]

Congrats on your decision. If the white and latino chicas can wear there hair out I'll be damned if I'm going to keep mine bundled up.
I do think there are benefits to protective styling so I try to replicate them by wearing my hair up once or twice in a 7 day period and when I'm by myself I'll clip up my ends, but I let them right back down as soon as I'm moving around again or around ppl.

 

[tthreat08]

Congrats on your decision. If the white and latino chicas can wear there hair out I'll be damned if I'm going to keep mine bundled up.I do think there are benefits to protective styling so I try to replicate them by wearing my hair up once or twice in a 7 day period and when I'm by myself I'll clip up my ends, but I let them right back down as soon as I'm moving around again or around ppl.

That is funny!

I've been wearing my hair out. I went ahead and texlaxed, and I'm VERY happy. I still have the natural wave in my hair, but it is relaxed enough that my roller sets come out fabulous, and my braid outs are nice and lengthy with minimal poof factor! Don't know why I didn't think of this before. And I don't even have to use heat! Who knew? Can't wait to see how things progress from this point forward.

 

[macherieamour]

If you use heat weekly, id just do one heat source like just blowdrying or airdrying and flatironing. Rollersets, flexirods, braid outs/twist outs are great too

 

[Isis]

That is funny!

I've been wearing my hair out. I went ahead and texlaxed, and I'm VERY happy. I still have the natural wave in my hair, but it is relaxed enough that my roller sets come out fabulous, and my braid outs are nice and lengthy with minimal poof factor! Don't know why I didn't think of this before. And I don't even have to use heat! Who knew? Can't wait to see how things progress from this point forward.

I'll bet things will progress just fine for you! I've been just loving my texlaxed hair all along--rollersets, pincurls and braidouts--all without heat. It only gets better as time goes on.

 

[Mars_Reiko]

I know what u mean. When i first saw Sylver's album I decided to give up the bun. And that was almost a wear ago. I cut back to only blow drying and flat ironing once a month. I do roller sets or braid outs the rest of the time,You just have to use common sense. NTM leave in and Kemi oyl are my staples. And so far so good

 

[curlyj]

THIS IS WHY I LOVE THIS FORUM!!!!!!!!!
my thoughts exactly on wearing my hair out. I'm natural and have protected my hair for a full two years and reach the health, length, and thickness I wanted achieve and didnt even know I had, b/c I just kept going. My nat. has surpassed my wiggy...I plan on wearing my hair straight(natural, but straight)using heat every two weeks to keep it up.

I was also inspired by Sylver2...Mochamadness...Nume2004...pinkskates

I feel I know my hair well enough to wear it out mostly and up when I need to. keeping the balance is the most important thing- balancing moisture, protein, and of course clarifying and starting the process all over again. And a healthy inside=healthy outside...


I'M COMING OUT! AND I WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW!!!! YOU GOTTA LET IT SHOW....I think thats how goes

 

[TLC1020]

I luv Sylver2 foki it is very inspiring, I will wear my hair out more once I get over the SL to APL hurtle. I believe the key is not doing things that would damage your hair and too much of anything is not good for you.
Thanks for bumping this thread ;-)

 

[mw138]

I soooo agree. What's the point of having healthy, long or growing hair if you can't enjoy it and you spend all your time trying to protect it. I don't use heat, I wash and condition often and I do believe that less manipulation is best, but I intend to wear my hair and not to let it wear me out :wink2: .

Blessings!

I agree!

 

[luvmesumhair]

I love braidouts....on other people's heads...yours are awesome! The problem I have with braidouts is my hair is so curly that after it dries and I remove the braids, it's all sitting on top of my shoulders like I'm Rosanne Rosanna Danna (I'm dating myself I know....old Saturday Night Live character played by Gilda Radner)....I like a more relaxed looking braid out...any suggestions on how I might achieve this?

Ever thought about braiding with dry hair and using more hair to braid so that it would not come out so tight?

 

[NuMe2004]

Thank you for posting this!

I totally agree that some of the ladies here are doing too much by hiding their hair for long periods of time. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the philosophy behind it, as I used to do it to. However, now I see that you can show off your luscious locks everyday and still achieve great lengths.

 

[MonaLisa]

*originally came into thread to drool on curlyj's and NuMe2004's hair...

I've been on the Sylver braidout bandwagon for almost 3 months now....and I'm loving it.... I had forgotten the feel of air on my doggone scalp...

I just try to watch my ends best I can and just leave my hair the heyall alone.

 

[morehairplease]

BEAUTIFUL progress sweetie:Flahsssss !

THIS IS WHY I LOVE THIS FORUM!!!!!!!!!
my thoughts exactly on wearing my hair out. I'm natural and have protected my hair for a full two years and reach the health, length, and thickness I wanted achieve and didnt even know I had, b/c I just kept going. My nat. has surpassed my wiggy...I plan on wearing my hair straight(natural, but straight)using heat every two weeks to keep it up.

I was also inspired by Sylver2...Mochamadness...Nume2004...pinkskates

I feel I know my hair well enough to wear it out mostly and up when I need to. keeping the balance is the most important thing- balancing moisture, protein, and of course clarifying and starting the process all over again. And a healthy inside=healthy outside...


I'M COMING OUT! AND I WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW!!!! YOU GOTTA LET IT SHOW....I think thats how goes

 

[curlyj]

Thanks Tishee, I'm sure you will reach those goals b4 you think you will...