Confused and a little jealous. Lol! ;)

[natalie20121]

Confused and a little jealous. Lol! (Update with Pics)

****Edited to Add pics**** Here is my cousins hair. It's been over a week since it was done and her roots reverted a bit.



So I went to the Aquarium this weekend with my son and my little cousin. Well not so little she's a couple years younger then me... well anyway she has been a major inspiration for why I want to go natural.

When I moved to Atlanta in 2005 her hair was very short. Like Halle Berry short. She had cut it for her 21st birthday. Well maybe 2 1/2 years later she decided to cut it all off to go natural down to about 2 inches. So when I go to pick her up her hair is Below BSL!!!! Just thick and black and I'm like drooling and what not.

So we started talking about her regimen. All she does... prepare yourself... is....
Shampoo and Condition every three weeks
She blow drys and flat irons every three weeks
She does NOT wrap her hair or sleep on a satin pillow case or use a bonnet.
She does NOT moisturize daily or do any particular protective styling.
She wears it out for the first week and in a pony tail for the last 2 weeks. No buns or anything.
She does clip her ends often similar to a S&D
She credits the growth to just leaving her hair alone. No manipulation.

I wish I took pictures. Everyone at the aquarium was just staring to see if they could spot tracks. She is very close to being waist length in less the 3 years!

So now I'm wondering if all this that I'm doing to my hair is necessary. Has anyone grown their hair long without all protective styling and no heat???? I think I need to re-evaluate my regimen.

 

[Rocky91]

I'm not surprised at all. It's a very low manipulation routine, and a lot of folks' hair will thrive on that.

 

[*Muffin*]

Thanks for sharing this info. I recently decreased how much I wash and comb my hair. I remember that I used to wash my hair every 2-3 weeks when I was a little girl and my mom rarely ever manipulated it, and it was quite long.

 

[Golden75]

Thats what I am thinking-the low manipulation may be the key. I recently decided I am going to try and only wash 2x per month

 

[melissa-bee]

Do you know her natural hair type?

 

[Jeech]

So her hair is still all natural without any relaxer?

 

[GoingNatural]

So I went to the Aquarium this weekend with my son and my little cousin. Well not so little she's a couple years younger then me... well anyway she has been a major inspiration for why I want to go natural.

When I moved to Atlanta in 2005 her hair was very short. Like Halle Berry short. She had cut it for her 21st birthday. Well maybe 2 1/2 years later she decided to cut it all off to go natural down to about 2 inches. So when I go to pick her up her hair is Below BSL!!!! Just thick and black and I'm like drooling and what not.

So we started talking about her regimen. All she does... prepare yourself... is....
Shampoo and Condition every three weeks
She blow drys and flat irons every three weeks
She does NOT wrap her hair or sleep on a satin pillow case or use a bonnet.
She does NOT moisturize daily or do any particular protective styling.
She wears it out for the first week and in a pony tail for the last 2 weeks. No buns or anything.
She does clip her ends often similar to a S&D
She credits the growth to just leaving her hair alone. No manipulation.

I wish I took pictures. Everyone at the aquarium was just staring to see if they could spot tracks. She is very close to being waist length in less the 3 years!

So now I'm wondering if all this that I'm doing to my hair is necessary. Has anyone grown their hair long without all protective styling and no heat???? I think I need to re-evaluate my regimen.

sounds about right to me. the best advice is to KEEP IT SIMPLE! all the"growth aides" and long, scientific regimens are doing too much. Less IS More!

 

[Embyra]

sounds about right to me people tend to fuss with there hair way to much sometimes its good to be a simpleton

 

[destine2grow]

After reading this I know I will be doing less. I have braids now and I am thinking it is not for me. My scalp is sore and it itch.

 

[Mz.MoMo5235]

i've been considering a similar reggie... i remember in h.s. when i didnt do crap to my hair i was below wl. grant it, my hair was on the dry side and probably not as healthy as it is now. but i think if maybe i reduced washes and combing, it would be better. i just cant figure out how to get out of combing at this time.

 

[natalie20121]

Do you know her natural hair type?

She is a 4B.

 

[natalie20121]

My cousin is all natural no relaxer and uses heat everytime she washes. I think I'm going to adopt this low manipulation regimen. The next time I see her wich will be soon... I'll snap some pictures. I just can't believe it grew to that length so quickly.

When I was pregnant I washed my hair every 2 or 3 weeks because I was just lazy and My hair grew very nicely and retained length. I was trying to grow it out from bad breakage I had from someone putting a bad relaxer in my hair. It went from chin length to APL in a year.

So instead of trying to stay away from heat I will just wash every 2 weeks and leave it the hell alone. Lol!

 

[meecee]

Her regimen makes sense to me. I was natural for 7 years straight. During that time I big chopped twice. After my 2nd big chop I texurized my afro and then grow the texurized parts out. Once long enough I wore twists and twistouts for 3 years straight. My hair grew to BSL in this time and that includes me trimming off the texturized ends. I was extremely lazy with my natural hair and only washed every 2-3 weeks.

Once I relaxed my virgin hair at BSL I cut it back to APL. I mostly wear buns and other up styles. I might wear a braidout once a month and only flat iron every 3 months. Wearing a bun/braid/clip has grown my hair out to MBL. I only comb on my wash day 1x per week and maybe midweek if my hair is acting funny. Low manipulation is the way to go for relaxed and natural hair.

I will say my natural hair can take much more manipulation than my relaxed hair.

 

[ClassicBeauty]

This is basically my regimen. I deep condition when I wash. The longer it gets, the less frequent I wash. 3 weeks is about my average. The 3rd week is all ponytail or bun. I'm all natural, and I flat iron once every 3-4 weeks.

 

[lexiwiththecurls]

I totally agree. Less is more...I think alot of people feel like products can help hair growth or doing a whole lot to it which I personally don't believe..I don't think any product or anything can get into your scalp and make your hair grow faster. I believe the less manipulation, the better.
I actually retained waaayyy more length when I used to get my hair straightened every 2 weeks- because it was actually being detangled more frequently and I could take care of the ends better since I could see if any ends were split.. I wouldn't do this again though-moreso because of money and fear of damage. My hair is BSL and I put all the stuff they said curly haired girls shouldn't put in their hair and I dont wash my hair that often.

 

[yodie]

I learned by way of doing so many things to my hair these past three years that less is definitely more when it comes to my 4a/b hair. I'm part of the washing every three weeks club. My hair is thickening up nicely and it isn't dirty or stinky. I do rinse my scalp several times a week with nettle tea, but that's it. I'm keeping it this way until June.

 

[Lucia]

Not too shocking, except for the shampooing being so far apart, also she lives in Atlanta and that's a humid warm climate, that's the prime climate for growing hair. If you live in colder or drier climes you have to make up for that with other products and extra care like bonnets, and stuff. oh yeah please get a length pic

I used to jump on almost every, and I mean every bandwagon, the bad thing is I couldn't get a good regime down, the good part is that I know exactly what works for my hair, and simple regime minimal products, is best for me and that's when my hair really took off. I will try a "new" product every now and then if I think it's something I need or can replace something I have and do better.

 

[Renovating]

Different strokes for different folks. I honestly think that our hair requires different things. Some people can get away with that and still retain length and grow, but others may need a little extra.

 

[prettybrowneyescutie]

this works. I sister has a pretty simple regimen and her hair is bsl. she cut her hair a few years ago and in no time she was back to bsl.

she washes every 2wks
she relaxes 2-3 months (not bone straight)
she mostly keep her hair in a bun
she doesn't use a deep conditioner
she uses product that contain petroleum and/or mineral oil
no growth aides
no vitamins
no regular trims

I did notice a rapid hair growth when I had my hair in braids for the summer. I just can't afford right now.

 

[natalie20121]

She only shampoos every three weeks because its so much work to blow dry and flat iron. She has so much hair its crazy. I agree different things work for different people. But I do remember my hair thriving when I only washed every couple weeks and left it alone. I've been washing once a week and deep conditioning and my hair is definitely healthier but I'm starting to get burned out on doing my hair. Plus... I'm starting cosmetology school in a couple weeks so i won't have time to mess with my hair as much. We'll see how that works and I'll reassess in a couple months.

I'll be sure to snap a few pictures of her soon and post

 

[Bene]

Growing at normal rate, 4 years seems about right for that length, including a few trims along the way.

 

[Aspire]

Growing at normal rate, 4 years seems about right for that length, including a few trims along the way.

. . . I was thinking the same thing. Also, I am wondering about her height. Some of the star WLers on LHCF who reached their goals quickly are petite woman. I think that is a factor when looking at time. But I will state that my hair grows like crazy when I do absolutely nothing to it. Unfortunately, I rarely seem to have that ability .

 

[30something]

Before I started my hair journey that is basically what I was doing with my hair never went past shoulder length, sure as hell wasn't even full shoulder length. I guess different strokes different folks.

 

[natalie20121]

Growing at normal rate, 4 years seems about right for that length, including a few trims along the way.

Actually she cut it all off 2 1/2 years ago when she decided to go natural. So it's actually went from 2 inches to Below BSL in these past couple years and we are the same height. 5'5"

That's why I'm so amazed. For her hair to grow that long is insane. She was just at my son's birthday party in july and her hair was long but not below bra strap. I think I have a pic of that... Let me dig for it.

 

[nubiennze]

OP, what does your cousin do for moisture?

I know for a fact that my hair is diva-ish and does not thrive without attention...unless it's well-hidden in protective styles. The most growth I've realized has been while I was wearing braids and sew-ins (natural) or WNGs (texturized). I'm going back to what I know.

I had a friend who went natural a couple years ago and didn't have a clue how to take care of her hair...so she didn't. She wore a perpetual puff and ended up amassing a huge head of hair in a relatively short period of time. Once we were at her place getting ready to go out, and she was complaining about not being able to do anything with it. I asked her what she normally does, and she made a face like erplexed, asking "How could I comb this?" She never conditioned, detangled, moisturized...just sprayed on a leave-in, finger-styled, and went on. Last time I saw her hair straightened (which was a while ago) it was well past SL. I had a do-nothing, indefinite puff period my second semester of graduate school and ended up having to BC to about a half inch of hair.

As others have said, to each her own...

 

[Chaosbutterfly]

I agree that keeping it super simple isn't always the best thing for everyone...I believe that reggies low in manipulation (less combing, less brushing and less heat) are beneficial to almost everyone, but some people do need to go that extra step or two (protective styling, protein treatments, almost daily moisturizing) to retain length. Different heads of hair need different things.
But that's really great that she can retain so much length with such an easy reggie......I really wanna see some pictures though.

 

[natalie20121]

Here are a couple pics. Not the best quality. But that was her hair length in June. Now I do live in Atlanta and it was about 90 degrees that day.





Sorry no back length shots. This was just taken for family photos.

 

[Theresamonet]

So I went to the Aquarium this weekend with my son and my little cousin. Well not so little she's a couple years younger then me... well anyway she has been a major inspiration for why I want to go natural.

When I moved to Atlanta in 2005 her hair was very short. Like Halle Berry short. She had cut it for her 21st birthday. Well maybe 2 1/2 years later she decided to cut it all off to go natural down to about 2 inches. So when I go to pick her up her hair is Below BSL!!!! Just thick and black and I'm like drooling and what not.

So we started talking about her regimen. All she does... prepare yourself... is....
Shampoo and Condition every three weeks
She blow drys and flat irons every three weeks
She does NOT wrap her hair or sleep on a satin pillow case or use a bonnet.
She does NOT moisturize daily or do any particular protective styling.
She wears it out for the first week and in a pony tail for the last 2 weeks. No buns or anything.
She does clip her ends often similar to a S&D
She credits the growth to just leaving her hair alone. No manipulation.

I wish I took pictures. Everyone at the aquarium was just staring to see if they could spot tracks. She is very close to being waist length in less the 3 years!

So now I'm wondering if all this that I'm doing to my hair is necessary. Has anyone grown their hair long without all protective styling and no heat???? I think I need to re-evaluate my regimen.

Wouldn't sleeping with your hair out be considered manipulation? Is her hair dry? She doesn't need to detangle? Was her hair healthy or just long?

I'm confused and jealous too op! Am I doing too much with my daily co-washes, weekly shampoo/DC, and moisturizing every second?!?!

 

[natalie20121]

OP, what does your cousin do for moisture?

All she does for moisture is wash it. She doesn't do anything else to it for 3 weeks. Nothing at all. Trust me I asked her every question in the book. But like everyone else said. Different strokes for different folks. My hair tends to get very oily on its own so I had to stop the daily moisturizing. she said her hair would be to oily if she put anything else in it.

 

[natalie20121]

Wouldn't sleeping with your hair out be considered manipulation? Is her hair dry? She doesn't need to detangle? Was her hair healthy or just long?

I'm confused and jealous too op! Am I doing too much with my daily co-washes, weekly shampoo/DC, and moisturizing every second?!?!

Her hair isn't dry at all. It's very thick and healthy. She checks for split ends often. She detangles on wash day. I told her she should wrap it and she's said she gave me the hell naw look. She did say she sleeps very carefully in one place. She stayed with me a few days in the summer and she always woke up with her hair looking done... like in soap operas