Confused and a little jealous. Lol! ;)

[Shoediva]

I think this kind of growth is possible. It seems her products are working for her like they should. Her hair is getting what it needs.

when I was going to the salon, I didnt wrap my hair, (I did sleep a certain way, lol) but my hair still looked fresh from the salon. I didnt moisturized my hair inbetween salon visits either.

NOw that i'm 3 mos post relaxer I have to moisturized my hair on the 3rd day after washing and sleep in a bonnet to combat dryness.

 

[Miss AJ]

Her methods are not the healthiest but the key is low manipulation. My BFF had WL hair a few years ago and I swear she did nothing to it. I don't even think she knows what a deep conditioner is. All I ever saw her do was shampoo and quick condition every 2-3 weeks, grease it and throw it in a bun. Her ends were horrible at WL though but she ended up cutting to about BSL and even then, did virtually nothing and still had long hair. When I was in basic training all I did was wash and bun, and once I got to tech school and had internet access I added oil rinsing to the equation and at that point I was grazing APL. If you look at the long haired members regimens they are about an eighth of a paragraph long. Simplicity is the key to great lengths.

 

[Victorian]

She probably has a faster than average growth rate. Her regimen sounds more or less like an extended version of mine, which I imagine would mean pretty good retention.

My scalp gets oily now too (but my scalp tended to be dry when relaxed), so much so that I don't like going more than a week without washing. My scalp starts itching and I start shedding more. So I couldn't go 3 weeks myself, but I understand the concept.

 

[Jetblackhair]

Your cousin's hair is beautiful. I'm amazed that she can keep her hair that straight in 90 degree weather!

 

[hair4romheaven]

I'm starting to realize when i did nothing to my hair it grew tremendously. I'm back on that. I have braids and I wash every two weeks. When my hair is out I don't apply heat. I just cut the co-washing and oils, henna etc..and going old school with my regimen and products.

 

[Fine 4s]

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.

I'm not sure I have a good/fast growth rate as I thought.
When I consider the length I started at and the number of years I've been growing, my growth rate is not impressive. Since my hair is put 'away' most of the time I guess I don't even notice it until I straighten.
Your cousin may have (as mentioned) a fast growth rate and coarse hair to withstand the frequent heat straightening process. Very impressive progress for a 4b given especially knowing how breakage works against us.

The bolded: The first I don't do either and don't believe in wrapping hair and a big proponent of low manipulation, PS-ing and a K.I.S.S. regimen

 

[newbiemom]

I have a similar situation. My cousin who cut her hair in a bob when her daughter was born less than 2 years ago came to visit my mom and ahe had bsb hair.I was lik wth. She only washes when she goes to the domincan salon which is every 3 weeks and she puts it in pony tail when iit starts to get puffy. That was her regimen. erplexed

 

[Taleah2009]

Interesting. But like everyone said, different strokes for different folks. When my hair is straight, it gets oily on its on, with out me adding any products. I hate that feeling. I like to wash my every week. Two weeks is the longest I can go because I just look like an oily monkey any time past that.

 

[Kerryann]

I realize that doing nothing grows the hair ive been trying this for a month and a half now i comb my hair once a week i oil my scalp everyday or maybe 5 days out of the week and ive seen growth to my suprise

so now this is what im going to do to get to brastrap lenght and mbl hopefully by december 2010 i will have i whole lot to work with

 

[ladytee2]

I can get with the low malipulation that is perfectly logical. But if I didnt put any moisturizer in my hair I would have a dried out crows nest. Hmp I have deep conditioned faithfully 1 a week with a no heat regimen since I found lhcf and my hair still looked dry when I finally did straighten after a year. Im going to repent for my jealousy.

 

[natalie20121]

I think because she keeps her hair straight she's able to get moisture to her ends. She doesn't wear her hair in her natural state at all. But whatever shes doing is working for her. I would have thought that not sleeping on at least a satin pillow that her ends would be shot, but they aren't. I cant find not one thing wrong with that girls hair. As much as I would love to hate. Lol!

 

[naijamerican]

This makes total sense to me because my sister is very similar. She was natural for 9 or 10 years, relaxed it, and then cut all the relaxer out because her hair was falling out. She cornrows her hair and slaps a wig on it. She shampoos maybe twice a month and wouldn't know a deep conditioner if it fell from the sky and introduced itself to her. Yet, her hair is growing leaps and bounds. I will say, though, that I think being natural helps her be able to do such a low manipulation style. Her hair fell out precisely because it was low manipulation/sheer laziness on her part. Now that she's natural again it's more conducive to her inattentive ways.

 

[MangaManiac]

Wow, OP! That does remind me of when I barely washed my hair when in braids and didn't do ANYTHING to it (before LHCF) my hair grew like crazy, plus it was thick as hell. Since find out all this information though I have found that my hair looks and feels better. We'll see what kind of growth I get in braids now. If it's not better I think I'll just save myself some money and go back to what I was doing before, lol!

 

[msdeevee]

I think that is key. I have been through so many regimes since I started here but when most of us think back to when we were kids and had longer , healthier hair we were under our Mothers care and they were not washing our hair every day and putting all kinda stuff in it to make it grow.

I was fortunate if I got washed every 2 weeks and got a press with a straightening comb off the stove.

Since it's going into Winter I think I'm gonna go back to that simple routine washing every 2-3 weeks , moisturizing with something and otherwise leaving my hair alone and see what happens .

 

[thenimblelife22]

This post is super interesting; I agree with everyone that low manipulation is key for most people. My only question is how "low" can you go?

I've been natural for 6 years, and my growth has been pretty unimpressive. I know most of it has to do with that fact that I was a color junkie, but I think a lot of it had to do with my wash n' go styles. Essentially, I was doing the natural version of the OP's cousin's hands off routine: Wash and quick condition hair, let it air dry or blow dry, sleep uncovered on cotton pillowcase at night, and repeat a few days (or weeks) later. My ends are TERRIBLE from years of doing this and my hair is not any longer than it was when I first went natural. I have 3c/4a hair.

I'm now switching my routine to a grown up version of the regimen my mom did when I was a natural-haired child. Back then, she'd wash it and deep condition it 1x a week, alternating between natural plaits for one week and pressed plaits (complete with blue magic grease) for the next. I now plan on washing and deep conditioning 1x a week just like dear ol' mom, alternating between a braidout one week and flat ironed hair the next. I truly believe in "keeping it simple" and low manipulation, but I think it's important to understand the least amount of attention your hair has to have to remain healthy and never crossing that line. Everyone's "hands-off" threshold is different.

 

[Golden75]

Yup-def going low mani. I tried co-washing daily, then 2-3 days, bunning. My hair is definately healthier, and it is growing, but I am not retaining much. It's been a year and I am pretty much the same length. The only thing I haven't tried-leaving it alone. So my plan is to wash every 2 weeks, keep it moisturized with a spritz, and other products, cornrow and wig it. The only part I will do is re-cornrow every week so I can detangle.

 

[ryanshope]

Yeah..that is great...and the fact that she is natural=confirmation. My regime has gotten SO simple since going natural I am almost embarrassed.

 

[mahogany_horizons]

My hair is the opposite. It does not thrive unless washed twice a week. But I also have scalp dermatitus. If I did not, and did not work out religiously, I definitely would scale back to washing once a week.

 

[mahogany_horizons]

When I was growing up my mom washed my hair once a week. I had too much dandruff to do otherwise.

 

[BeetleBug]

That sounds like normal growth to me. A lot of naturals reach apl 2 years post relaxer ( I just reached apl 22 months post relaxer) so bsl would have been right on target with 2.5 years post relaxer.

 

[natalie20121]

I agree with everyone.... When I think back to my childhood, I also got my hair done every 2 to 3 weeks and I would get it pressed with a hot comb. I never had heat damage and my hair was very long. My hair got short and thin when I relaxed it. Before then my hair was in great condition and mid back. I haven't seen that kind of length since then. My cousin, has never had hair that long in her life. She was relaxed at 9 years old. I hope that once i'm done transitioning, I will see similar growth. I'm a slow grower tho so I don't think I will get there as quickly as she did but here's hoping.

I will say that I started taking Nouritress Vitamins over a month ago and Instead of growing 1/4 of an inch a month, my hair grew a little over 1/2 an inch. I'm hoping with continued use I will keep seeing this kind of growth.

 

[Daughter]

Re: the OP, I agree! When I didn't do much at all to my hair from say 2007 to this summer, my hair had grown so much and I managed to retain the length (I had cut to neck length and am mainly APL and have some hair touching BSL) though I wasn't focused very much on my hair. I still keep it very simple now I'm back on the boards, just trying to eat well, avoid heat, keep my scalp clean and moisturise with glycerine + water and sometimes shea butter.

 

[mscocoface]

Like the saying goes what works for some may not work for others.

I have been doing the twist challenge which keeps me from doing the daily cowashing I was doing. By accident I have been going every other week or two weeks without co washing. But I make sure to spritz my hair in the morning and the evenings each day. I will pull the twists apart after the second or third week once I do a co wash then I leave the twist out style for another two weeks.

Last week when I redid my twists one of my twists at the top of my head landed on my shoulder I thought it was a fluke and then another one did the same thing.

I am really seeing a difference with the low manipulation, no braid extensions and no wigs. Just keeping it simple twists and twist outs I can pin up most of my hair or do a chignon (sp and go about my buisness.

When I need to redo my style, that is when I do the deep conditioning, oiling or whatever. It seems to be working so I am staying with it.

I do use my bonnet and my silk pillow cases though.

OP your family members hair is truly pretty and very healthy looking.

 

[Mz.MoMo5235]

between this thread, domin, as well as my own issues with my hair, i've decided to try an equally simple reggie... i figure i'll do it for the golder winter months and see how it works and decide in spring if i'll go back to the OgR (original reggie lol) or stick with the new more simple reggie lol

 

[*Muffin*]

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.

Exactly! I never had below WL hair, you lucky girl you , but I was always a tomboy and never paid attention to my hair, and I would always get weave checked everytime I wore it down (which I rarely did). It wasn't until I started taking care of my own hair at around 13 or 14 that the lengths started diminishing, and even then I was always below SL.

The combing habit is bad for me, too, but I notice that when I braid my hair every night I can easily go a week between combing and only comb on wash days. Another key for me is not to over-laden the hair with product (which I'm notoriously heavy-handed ), and to scarve the hair up at night so it doesn't get tangled.

I'm also trying to stretch my relaxers. I only want to relax two times a year because it seems like naturals and those who rarely relax (aka Sylver 2 ) retain length better. Sylver is also really good at not touching her hair.

 

[natalie20121]

updated with pics on page 1

 

[Madeinthe80s]

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

Totally off-topic here:

What shade is that you have in your hair (in the siggy pic)? And how do you maintain it? I've been wanting to go red for the longest while but it fades so quickly!

 

[mariofmagdal]

Keep it simple seems to work best, even for me. ;0)

 

[Keshieshimmer]

How does she keep it straight in this humity? This is very perplexing to me.

 

[natalie20121]

Well there isn't much humidity at the moment in Atlanta being that its November. Doesn't stay bone straight in the summer. It definitely gets poofy and she throws it in a pony tail. For my sons birthday party it wasn't bone straight.