BSL & longer Got Fresh Start MC - What's Best Way to Retain Length

[wyldcurlz]

i had an MC (major/minor chop) today. which is not exactly the big chop, but they took enough off to give me a fresh start with healthy ends. what is the best way to retain length, prevent split ends and keep my hair moisturized?

the fill-in stylist said i shouldn't do anything to my hair aside from wash & DC weekly. he said no need to put oil or anything else on hair because it produces its own oil (duh.)

but so many of you BSL & longers have had great success by moisturizing, oiling, buttering, DC-ing. what would you recommend i do?

ps: what exactly is sealing? is it adding an oil or vaseline atop a moisturizer?

 

[Irresistible]

i had an MC (major/minor chop) today. which is not exactly the big chop, but they took enough off to give me a fresh start with healthy ends. what is the best way to retain length, prevent split ends and keep my hair moisturized?

the fill-in stylist said i shouldn't do anything to my hair aside from wash & DC weekly. he said no need to put oil or anything else on hair because it produces its own oil (duh.)

but so many of you BSL & longers have had great success by moisturizing, oiling, buttering, DC-ing. what would you recommend i do?

ps: what exactly is sealing? is it adding an oil or vaseline atop a moisturizer?

blashemy! no oil? pshhh

use oil!

 

[wyldcurlz]

blashemy! no oil? pshhh

use oil!

yay! iris! one of my favorites!! how should i use oil? i've been warned before about "over-conditioning" my hair, i don't know what that means, but, should i use a tiny dime sized dab and smooth it on my ends? or on the length? how often should i use it? should i use some sort of moisturizer daily? (and seal with an oil by applying it to the ends after the moisturizer?) i like oil, but all of a sudden i feel like i don't know what i'm doing. i see all this progress everyone has made and i'm stuck, same length as 4 yrs ago...actually shorter in the front!

not sure what to do....

 

[Irresistible]

yay! iris! one of my favorites!! how should i use oil? i've been warned before about "over-conditioning" my hair, i don't know what that means, but, should i use a tiny dime sized dab and smooth it on my ends? or on the length? how often should i use it? should i use some sort of moisturizer daily? (and seal with an oil by applying it to the ends after the moisturizer?) i like oil, but all of a sudden i feel like i don't know what i'm doing. i see all this progress everyone has made and i'm stuck, same length as 4 yrs ago...actually shorter in the front!

not sure what to do....

you can use oil however you want to, before a moisturizer or conditioner is how I do it, some do it after saying it 'seals' in the moisturizer, I like to seal in my oil

you can use it all throughout your hair and scalp like I do, or just on your ends, however you want to girl, it totally depends on you and your hair, if you dont mind oily hair, just pour it on like I do, if you want less you can do that too, you can use it overnight, pre shampoo, nightly for your ends and/daily for hardressing use. its limitless

 

[Irresistible]

on the 'over conditioning' girl I aint seen that happen to my hair yet and I use gobs of it and leave it in, so I dont know about all that, its nothing I can personally speak on, I dont think its possible for my hair to be over conditioned , I just really dont, I guess it doesnt mean its impossible for others though, but I wouldnt worry about it much

 

[Cichelle]

For another perspective:

Oil is iffy for me. I can only use very little without eventually getting the crunchies. Oil will actually dry my hair out if I'm not careful. I like coconut oil and use it successfully for certain purposes, but I can do fine without it, too.

The best thing I ever did for my hair was keep it really simple. Using too many or too much product dries out my hair and I had to learn that the hard way. I don't even use butters right now. And I love butters. I'm kind of on this experiment where I use very little product, detangle often and keep my hair in a protective style, usually a bun.

I'm only writing this to give a different perspective. The stylist might be right on, as for some, the best thing you can do for hair is the minimal...and leave it alone. But for others, their hair thrives on lots of moisturizing and oils, etc.

You'll have to experiment and see what works best for you.

As for over conditioning...like with conditioner...that never happened to me. Over moisturizing has, I think, in the sense that my hair felt yucky. But I never had any structural change in my hair due to it. A good wash solved the problem.

 

[wyldcurlz]

For another perspective:

Oil is iffy for me. I can only use very little without eventually getting the crunchies. Oil will actually dry my hair out if I'm not careful. I like coconut oil and use it successfully for certain purposes, but I can do fine without it, too.

The best thing I ever did for my hair was keep it really simple. Using too many or too much product dries out my hair and I had to learn that the hard way. I don't even use butters right now. And I love butters. I'm kind of on this experiment where I use very little product, detangle often and keep my hair in a protective style, usually a bun.

I'm only writing this to give a different perspective. The stylist might be right on, as for some, the best thing you can do for hair is the minimal...and leave it alone. But for others, their hair thrives on lots of moisturizing and oils, etc.

You'll have to experiment and see what works best for you.

As for over conditioning...like with conditioner...that never happened to me. Over moisturizing has, I think, in the sense that my hair felt yucky. But I never had any structural change in my hair due to it. A good wash solved the problem.

Thanks Cichelle - you're another one of my idols, i LOVE your curls & i'm constantly looking at your fotki & consulting your regimen. my goal is to wear my hair long & curly, just the way yours looks in your avatar. i'm glad to hear you & iris say that over conditioning has never been a problem, structurally. the stylits had me worried that over conditioning would increase breakage.

like your hair, i think my hair likes to be detangled. do you think wearing protective styles were a huge factor in your growth/retaining length?

thanks!

 

[wyldcurlz]

on the 'over conditioning' girl I aint seen that happen to my hair yet and I use gobs of it and leave it in, so I dont know about all that, its nothing I can personally speak on, I dont think its possible for my hair to be over conditioned , I just really dont, I guess it doesnt mean its impossible for others though, but I wouldnt worry about it much

thanks - cuz i was worried about that. he was one of those "hair must be trimmed every 8 wks to prevent split ends from riding up the hair strand" and "hair can break when its damp & over conditioned, don't rinse daily after your workouts, just wash weekly" types.

i'm all for keeping it simple, but i know some people benefit from the added moisture. here i go again, but i'm just not sure where to go from here. i feel like i'm not sure how to figure out what my hair wants or needs (aka: creating a regimen for my hair.)

mostly, i'm just glad to see 2 beautiful, very long haired members say over conditioning hasn't caused breakage for them. that's most important for me!

iris do you think you would've retained as much length without protective styling?

 

[Cichelle]

Thanks Cichelle - you're another one of my idols, i LOVE your curls & i'm constantly looking at your fotki & consulting your regimen. my goal is to wear my hair long & curly, just the way yours looks in your avatar. i'm glad to hear you & iris say that over conditioning has never been a problem, structurally. the stylits had me worried that over conditioning would increase breakage.

like your hair, i think my hair likes to be detangled. do you think wearing protective styles were a huge factor in your growth/retaining length?

thanks!

I think so. Yes.

 

[Irresistible]

thanks - cuz i was worried about that. he was one of those "hair must be trimmed every 8 wks to prevent split ends from riding up the hair strand" and "hair can break when its damp & over conditioned, don't rinse daily after your workouts, just wash weekly" types.

i'm all for keeping it simple, but i know some people benefit from the added moisture. here i go again, but i'm just not sure where to go from here. i feel like i'm not sure how to figure out what my hair wants or needs (aka: creating a regimen for my hair.)

mostly, i'm just glad to see 2 beautiful, very long haired members say over conditioning hasn't caused breakage for them. that's most important for me!

iris do you think you would've retained as much length without protective styling?

No girl, my hair wouldnt have retained length as well without protective styling

 

[chicacanella]

i had an MC (major/minor chop) today. which is not exactly the big chop, but they took enough off to give me a fresh start with healthy ends. what is the best way to retain length, prevent split ends and keep my hair moisturized?

the fill-in stylist said i shouldn't do anything to my hair aside from wash & DC weekly. he said no need to put oil or anything else on hair because it produces its own oil (duh.)

but so many of you BSL & longers have had great success by moisturizing, oiling, buttering, DC-ing. what would you recommend i do?

ps: what exactly is sealing? is it adding an oil or vaseline atop a moisturizer?

I understand what he is tryin to say in the bolded but he is kind of wrong. The SCALP produces its own oils and for people with straight hair, the oil is distributed along the hair strand but for people with curly hair it is harder for that oil to get down the hair shaft which is why many curly/kinky haired people use moisturizers to supplement.

For me, the best way to maintain length is to keep my hair up or protective styled, no use of heat since it is protective styled and always keep it moisturized.

 

[wyldcurlz]

No girl, my hair wouldnt have retained length as well without protective styling

oh i guess that's good news/bad news for me. i HATE protective styling cuz to me that means "buns" and i look BAD in buns. BUT i love my hair and want it healthy so i need to figure out how to wear a bun. (ugh, just the word depresses me....)

 

[wyldcurlz]

I understand what he is tryin to say in the bolded but he is kind of wrong. The SCALP produces its own oils and for people with straight hair, the oil is distributed along the hair strand but for people with curly hair it is harder for that oil to get down the hair shaft which is why many curly/kinky haired people use moisturizers to supplement.

For me, the best way to maintain length is to keep my hair up or protective styled, no use of heat since it is protective styled and always keep it moisturized.

very good point that i didn't think of. right now, my hair is flat ironed, so it doesn't feel dry or like it needs moisture. when its curly, though, it does feel drier. which probably means i need to add some moisture. chicacanella, what's your favorite moisturizer? what's your protective style of choice? how often are you moisturizing?