Did anybody get past SL without protective styles?

[sexyeyes3616]

My hair is stuck at sl. I started a thread about it and the ladies had said i should try protective styling. But i look better when my hair is down. So has anybody gotten past sl without protective styles?

 

[sexyeyes3616]

bump bump bump

 

[mscocoface]

Nope, I didn't. Had to be in protective styles and am still in protective styles probably for another 2 years with temporary reprieves once or twice a year.

 

[MrsWatson]

I know a couple of people who have....I think for most though, protective styling is a must in order to retain what you grow and get past the SL hump...

 

[MonPetite]

I don't think it's a prerequisite for most folks. I did it relaxed and texlaxed stylng my hair everyday. I'm going to do it again natural.

When it was longer I wore it up on the below zero days but that's because I don't want ANY part of me out when its 25 below with the windchill and I STILL have to walk to class.

 

[blasianbeauty]

I'm interested in hearing more replies on this also...

 

[anon123]

i did. i do something that could be called a protective style nowadays 50-70% of the time, but it wasn't always that way. When I cut my hair the first time, it was like this. I don't have a picture 2 years later, but after I cut off this much, I had this much left, so it was definitely past shoulder. And I wore a puff at least 80% of the time.

But I'm natural, so I'm not sure which SL you mean for naturals: unstretched or stretched. Right now some of my twists/twistouts graze my shoulders, but my loose hair does not and neither do my puffs. I have no intention of wearing my twistouts up all the time so they don't touch my shoulders. Shoot, I am enjoying my twists touching my shoulders! Do you know how much hair I had to grow just to get my twist out to touch my shoulders! I ain't pinning 'em up!

I don't believe in the shoulder-grazing breaks your hair off theory, and here's why. Given the shape of your head, some parts are going to reach the shoulders before others. Especially the crown or the bangs or parts in the front will be the last to reach the shoulders. If it were true that touching your shoulders breaks your hair off, what you would expect to see is the part that reaches the shoulders first, your lower layers, start to break off while the other layers should keep growing because they're not touching the shoulders yet, right? You would expect someone with a layered cut, just be virtue of wearing their hair down when it was around SL, to be automatically giving themselves a blunt cut, bit-by-bit, until all the layers reached SL and nothing would pass that and the hair would stay blunt around SL. But when I look at at people's hair, this is not what I'm seeing. Definitely this is not the case for me.

Besides, whose hair is that fragile? My hair is naturally fragile, but just touching my shoulders or some clothing isn't enough to break it off. I mean, if it's boucle fabric, that's one thing, but just regular shirts and stuff? It can't even touch stuff now or it will break off? If someone's hair is that fragile, they probably need to address the cause of that first instead of avoiding the issue and just keeping it up all the time.

 

[Neith]

Besides, whose hair is that fragile? My hair is naturally fragile, but just touching my shoulders or some clothing isn't enough to break it off. I mean, if it's boucle fabric, that's one thing, but just regular shirts and stuff? It can't even touch stuff now or it will break off? If someone's hair is that fragile, they probably need to address the cause of that first instead of avoiding the issue and just keeping it up all the time.

I agree.

You probably would get MAXIMUM retention if you keep your ends up or baggied, but it isn't the only way to get your hair to grow past shoulder length.

Just like if you start with shorter hair, but you keep it clean, moisturized and styled in cornrows all the time... you'll retain all the length you can because you aren't manipulating it much, but plenty people grow their hair from short to shoulder length without using protective styles all the time.


I would hate to wear my hair up so much.

Keep those ends moisturized and wear your hair up in moderation and you should be fine

 

[leona2025]

I never use protective styling. I put my hair in a donut one time. Other wise it's down or in a ponytail. If ponytails count as protective styling then I do that most often, but my hair still rubs against my shirts and don't see any kind of breakage from it.

 

[cmw45]

i did. i do something that could be called a protective style nowadays 50-70% of the time, but it wasn't always that way. When I cut my hair the first time, it was like this. I don't have a picture 2 years later, but after I cut off this much, I had this much left, so it was definitely past shoulder. And I wore a puff at least 80% of the time.

But I'm natural, so I'm not sure which SL you mean for naturals: unstretched or stretched. Right now some of my twists/twistouts graze my shoulders, but my loose hair does not and neither do my puffs. I have no intention of wearing my twistouts up all the time so they don't touch my shoulders. Shoot, I am enjoying my twists touching my shoulders! Do you know how much hair I had to grow just to get my twist out to touch my shoulders! I ain't pinning 'em up!

I don't believe in the shoulder-grazing breaks your hair off theory, and here's why. Given the shape of your head, some parts are going to reach the shoulders before others. Especially the crown or the bangs or parts in the front will be the last to reach the shoulders. If it were true that touching your shoulders breaks your hair off, what you would expect to see is the part that reaches the shoulders first, your lower layers, start to break off while the other layers should keep growing because they're not touching the shoulders yet, right? You would expect someone with a layered cut, just be virtue of wearing their hair down when it was around SL, to be automatically giving themselves a blunt cut, bit-by-bit, until all the layers reached SL and nothing would pass that and the hair would stay blunt around SL. But when I look at at people's hair, this is not what I'm seeing. Definitely this is not the case for me.

Besides, whose hair is that fragile? My hair is naturally fragile, but just touching my shoulders or some clothing isn't enough to break it off. I mean, if it's boucle fabric, that's one thing, but just regular shirts and stuff? It can't even touch stuff now or it will break off? If someone's hair is that fragile, they probably need to address the cause of that first instead of avoiding the issue and just keeping it up all the time.

Hmmm...I thought that the process was a lot more indirect. That the brushing of your hair constantly against your clothes caused dryness, which can lead to breakage for hair that is already dry or chemically damaged. Or that the hair can get caught on the clothes and causes breakage.

 

[ladylibra]

Hmmm...I thought that the process was a lot more indirect. That the brushing of your hair constantly against your clothes caused dryness, which can lead to breakage for hair that is already dry or chemically damaged. Or that the hair can get caught on the clothes and causes breakage.

that's what i thought too.

in any case... when i was relaxed i had no problem growing my hair out from right above SL to APL without protective styling. and it was super easy as a natural, but i suppose that goes without saying since my WnGs don't touch my shoulders at all so that wasn't even an issue.

 

[zoj2]

I dont do protective styling and neither do my friends who have APL to BSL hair. We all go to dominican salons biweekly (or a Black salon) and wrap our hair everynight. I wear my hair out almost everyday.

 

[SvelteVelvet]

I did. I DC'd, rollersetted, and flat-ironed roots weekly and for a few months straight and I got to APL with this regimen. I either wrapped nightly or did pincurls to keep up styling in between. I also used BT pretty regularly and I was on vitamins long enough for them to show some effect. I'm past APL now and I never did protective styling such as bunning. Right now I'm doing a long stint of washing my hair in braids and wearing braid-outs for the majority of this month before my relaxer is due. This is as much protective styling I've ever done.

 

[BrockStar]

When I initially BC'ed I put in a Sew In and cornrows, but that was only 6 weeks out of the past year so I would say I got to SL without protective styles b/c it was way above SL when I stopped using protective styles...I hope that made sense..lol

 

[Tarae]

I was able to but it seems like it took forever.
This was before I even knew about LHCF and protective styles, so I wasn't taking care of my hair as best as I could.

I used a lot of heat and didn't do half of the things I do now. I think protective styles make it a lot easier to retain length but they aren't necessary.

 

[MAMATO]

It depends if you are relaxed or natural. Natural hairs tend to grow out and not down, so when they wear their hair out, it doesn't rub against their shoulders. Relaxed hairs grow down and wearing it out more often increases the risk of damaging it (too much friction).

I went from SL to APL in about 3 months by doing protective styling (buns, twists,braids). I am relaxed. I've been SL all my life, so I think it's a good improvement. Hope that helps you.

 

[curleeq]

I haven't used protective styles at all since I went natural. I either wear my hair out, in a puff or pulled back in a ponytail. I am going to start doing protective styles if my being lazy doesn't get in the way, lol.

 

[Jenai]

My hair is stuck at sl. I started a thread about it and the ladies had said i should try protective styling. But i look better when my hair is down. So has anybody gotten past sl without protective styles?

Sylver did. I'm surprised she hasn't popped in.

 

[remnant]

My hair is stuck at sl. I started a thread about it and the ladies had said i should try protective styling. But i look better when my hair is down. So has anybody gotten past sl without protective styles?

IMO if you had not Protective Style and your hair didn't grow longer than SL your hair is more fragile than the members' hair who grew longer than Shoulder Lenght without Protective style
May be you should try PT just to pass that step and when your hair will be longer stop PT

 

[loulou82]

IMO if you had not Protective Style and your hair didn't grow longer than SL your hair is more fragile than the members' hair who grew longer than Shoulder Lenght without Protective style
May be you should try PT just to pass that step and when your hair will be longer stop PT

IA. If length is what you are after and wearing it down isn't getting you there, I would suggest trying protective styles.

If having a certain length within a set time isn't important, I'd continue to wear my hair down and get over SL whenever it happens.

For me, I went from NL to an inch above APL in a year wearing protective styles.

HTH.

 

[JustKiya]

IMO if you had not Protective Style and your hair didn't grow longer than SL your hair is more fragile than the members' hair who grew longer than Shoulder Lenght without Protective style
May be you should try PT just to pass that step and when your hair will be longer stop PT

Exactly - you can't really use other members getting past shoulder without wearing protective styles without knowing what kind of hair they have - it's comparing apples to oranges - unless you already know that several of the people who replied are hair twins/cousins.
And - if you are willing to wait however long it would take to get past shoulder length and wear your hair out - go 'head!! But, I strongly suspect you'd get over that hump faster with your hair up. I'm impatient, personally.

 

[CookieLAD]

This did the trick for me as well (Dominican's). I also restricted use of heat, deep conditioned at every visit without exception and stretched relaxers (12 wks avg). I no longer wrap (my beyond BSL length hair doesn't look as good straight anymore). I now prefer to pin curl nightly (2-6 curls depending on the look I'm trying to get) and will get to waist length by the end of summer, with any luck. I've never worn protective styles and I would guess that my hair is a mixture of 3c/4a.

BTW....my schedule no longer permits biweekly visits, but my hair is still healthier than ever

We all go to dominican salons biweekly (or a Black salon) and wrap our hair everynight.

 

[1QTPie]

When I was relaxed I did once I started rollersetting vs. the Curling iron every other day.

As a nappy I did no problem.

I rarely twist or bun my hair, I hate the restriction.

 

[chellero]

I've grown from shoulder length to APL without protective styles, but I think it's because my shrinkage keeps my hair off my shoulders.