Do naturals who use heat on occasion reach greater lengths? HAIR PORN.

[LadyPaniolo]

I was mulling over this very topic in my head today. I wonder if I should be using the blow dryer a bit to get my hair semi-dry and then try to dry in bantus the rest of the way? Or dry in "color purple braids" aka Celie braids the rest of the way?

All I know is that I spent yesterday wanting to rip that stupid wig off and burn it. I felt like an idiot in that plastic wig, I don't think I can bear wearing one much longer. I want to start wearing my own hair out but I just really don't know how to go about it. Maybe when I reach Hip Length I'll start, I dunno. But I need to figure this situation out.

 

[Enyo]

Leaving direct heat behind is probably one of the best things I did for my hair. I take lithium and it makes my hair very weak and it just cannot stand up to the abuse of any heat. I occasionally with sit under a dryer but that's only when I want to give my curlformers a boost. The no-direct-heat policy really helps me.

I agree with Rocky about finding your own regime. Other people' can give you ideas on what to try, but what works for one doesn't work for everyone. Playing around is helpful.

 

[Rocky91]

i think anyone that finds the perfect regimen for their hair will achieve great lengths.
those methods work for those women(and i might even be one of them)....but we can't just make a blanket statement.

i wanted to add to this statement....heat definitely helps me. this year, i started to use it on the regular (at least once a month, and often more) and definitely retained way more length than in previous years (even though i protective styled LESS and colored my hair more than in previous years)
i used to be a big "no heat ever!!" advocate back when i was on Nappturality, but that obviously wasn't what my hair wanted.
Netta1, i say try it for a good two months and see what your hair thinks.

 

[msdeevee]

Just to add to what I posted before. My frustration with my hair comes from the fact that we have growing hair in my family.

My Niece was natural for a while but her hair shed and broke off too because of the knots. My Sis went back to relaxing her hair and blow drying and now her hair is waist length but I will never relax again. Yes, I can say NEVER.

However , I would like to reach my goal of healthy BSL natural hair if I have to do that with a little heat OK.

Remember back in the day when our Mama's used to straighten our natural hair with the hot comb ? a lot of us didn't have a problem having long braids back then.

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

What are purple braids?

She meant braids like Celie had in the color purple

Girl my hair is very kinky coily and it wraps around itself something fierce. This week I've been experimenting with not letting my hair completly kink up after washing and co washing. But even if I put my hair in two twist once i take the twist down the I have to separate four sections and the ends wrap on themselves while in the two twist!

For our hair texture I dont think separating in two twists is adequate.

Have you ever washed your hair in braided sections? I religiously braid my hair in eight beforehand keep my hair in those eight braids from wash to DC then style it......... that is key for me, with this technique I avoid tangles completely.

 

[maysay]

Honestly, I don't think the issue is heat usage, I think it's keeping the hair stretched out as much as possible (and heat is one way to do that). I do think one of the reasons heat works well for a lot of naturals is because once the kinks are out a person can be less gentle with their hair and not experience more breakage. Most naturals aren't nearly as gentle as they should be when their hair is in its natural state.

I've had the most success with my hair when I don't let it shrink up at all. Heat wouldn't work for me (the manipulation required ie use of combs/brushes would cause lots of breakage), but keeping my hair stretched until it dries via braids or rollersets works quite well.

Girl my hair is very kinky coily and it wraps around itself something fierce. This week I've been experimenting with not letting my hair completly kink up after washing and co washing. But even if I put my hair in two twist once i take the twist down the I have to separate four sections and the ends wrap on themselves while in the two twist!

My hair loves to wrap around itself and the way I've dealt with it is to keep it up from shrinking before water even touches my head. I detangle my dry hair (gently; you could even do it with conditioner) as much as I can and then braid it up in several sections. The braids need to be tight enough that the hair can't really shrink up, but loose enough to be able to rinse product out.

Then I wash my hair with the braids in. Once I'm out, I only deal with one braid at a time: de-shed it, moisturize it, and then rebraid (or put it on rollers). My hair dries stretched out, and I don't have to deal with tangles/knots. Literally, the only time I have to deal with tangles is when I wash my hair loose.

 

[Netta1]

She meant braids like Celie had in the color purple

For our hair texture I dont think separating in two twists is adequate.

Have you ever washed your hair in braided sections? I religiously braid my hair in eight beforehand keep my hair in those eight braids from wash to DC then style it......... that is key for me, with this technique I avoid tangles completely.

Interesting...so how do you go about separating the hair before you braid it....do you comb thorugh it with something?

Honestly, I don't think the issue is heat usage, I think it's keeping the hair stretched out as much as possible (and heat is one way to do that). I do think one of the reasons heat works well for a lot of naturals is because once the kinks are out a person can be less gentle with their hair and not experience more breakage. Most naturals aren't nearly as gentle as they should be when their hair is in its natural state.

I've had the most success with my hair when I don't let it shrink up at all. Heat wouldn't work for me (the manipulation required ie use of combs/brushes would cause lots of breakage), but keeping my hair stretched until it dries via braids or rollersets works quite well.


My hair loves to wrap around itself and the way I've dealt with it is to keep it up from shrinking before water even touches my head. I detangle my dry hair (gently; you could even do it with conditioner) as much as I can and then braid it up in several sections. The braids need to be tight enough that the hair can't really shrink up, but loose enough to be able to rinse product out.

Then I wash my hair with the braids in. Once I'm out, I only deal with one braid at a time: de-shed it, moisturize it, and then rebraid (or put it on rollers). My hair dries stretched out, and I don't have to deal with tangles/knots. Literally, the only time I have to deal with tangles is when I wash my hair loose.

What are you moisturizing with (when you detangle) b/c the more conditioner or moisturizer I add to my hair the more it absorbs it coils up/and shrinks??

 

[maysay]

What are you moisturizing with (when you detangle) b/c the more conditioner or moisturizer I add to my hair the more it absorbs it coils up/and shrinks??

Well, I do it one of two ways.

1) Usually, I don't allow my hair to get tangled in the first place. So detangling and braiding it before I wash just means I'm separating out any curls or pieces that have clumped together due to styling. Then I apply my coconut oil and braid. The oil doesn't "help" detangling, it's just a part of my routine. I usually end up with 6-8 braids.

2) If for some reason I've lost my mind and allowed my hair to get tangled up since my last wash, that's when I have to use a conditioner to help me. What I do is take a smallish section of hair, douse it with v05, let it sit for a minute, and then slowly go from the bottom up and get out all the shed hair and tangles/knots with my fingers. The key is that I literally soak the hair in the conditioner which makes it too heavy to coil up while I'm detangling/deshedding. I can use like half a bottle of conditioner doing this and I usually end up with 12-15 braids. This also takes longer (like up to an hour) and I always get breakage (from the tangles/knots) which is why I don't let my hair shrink up or get tangled.

So then, whether I do 1 or 2, I get in the shower and shampoo/condition my hair. When I get out my hair is soaking wet and I leave it that way. I take down a braid, put in whatever product I'm using (usually elasta qp mango butter, but sometimes v05 or something else), comb through with my fingers to get out any shed hair and then either rebraid or put it on rollers because those things stretch my hair the most. I use a lot of product because I don't like to moisturize between washes and it helps with detangling. My hair ends up nicely stretched and stays that way until my next wash.

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

Interesting...so how do you go about separating the hair before you braid it....do you comb thorugh it with something?

If my hair was straightened prior then theres no need to detangle whatsoever and I'll just keep it in those eight braids from wash to DC, if my hair was in some kinda wet set style (straw set, flat twist out, two-strand twist, braid out or fro) then I'll braid it in eight while tangled, get it sopping wet, saturate one braid at a time with a slippy conditioner like Aussie Moist or Trader Joe's NourishSpa and very gently detangle with my wide toothed comb from the ends to roots, rebraiding as I go. Thats usually very easy and takes me 10-15 minutes overall....I'm left with 8 rebraided, detangled sections on my head and from that point on I continue with my routine and proceed to style

 

[Chameleonchick]

She meant braids like Celie had in the color purple

For our hair texture I dont think separating in two twists is adequate.

Have you ever washed your hair in braided sections? I religiously braid my hair in eight beforehand keep my hair in those eight braids from wash to DC then style it......... that is key for me, with this technique I avoid tangles completely.

Okay BMP here is my question. I have been washing my son's hair like that, and It seems that it takes forever to wash the conditioner out(he's an inch away from MBL). He gets too squirmy(he's only 4) so I have to undo the braids and just rinse it out loosely. Luckily his hair doesn't shrink up too much but I still put his hair in four braids to let it air dry afterwards. So am I using too much conditioner in his hair or what?

 

[msdeevee]

BMP...I noticed that I had less breakage if I just washed my hair w/o detangling first. I usually wash in braids too but even if I got in the shower with it loose it seemed to do better when I detangled afterward with a conditioner in my wet hair.

I second guessed myself though and said this can't be good I don't read of anybody else doing that.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

when i was natural and didnt straigthen i thought i was at least APL but i straighten and found out i was MBL.

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

Okay BMP here is my question. I have been washing my son's hair like that, and It seems that it takes forever to wash the conditioner out(he's an inch away from MBL). He gets too squirmy(he's only 4) so I have to undo the braids and just rinse it out loosely. Luckily his hair doesn't shrink up too much but I still put his hair in four braids to let it air dry afterwards. So am I using too much conditioner in his hair or what?

Well if you're doing an air-dry style afterward then I wouldn't worry much about rinsing all the conditioner out....leaving some in is great for our hair anyhow.....but if you're doing a style where you wanna get most of the rinse out conditioner out then you can do like me and just get the braids under a cascade of water and open and close your hand tightly repeatedly from root to tip under the water and that will help the water penetrate better

BMP...I noticed that I had less breakage if I just washed my hair w/o detangling first. I usually wash in braids too but even if I got in the shower with it loose it seemed to do better when I detangled afterward with a conditioner in my wet hair.

I second guessed myself though and said this can't be good I don't read of anybody else doing that.

Oh yea its always better to manipulate our hair when its full of conditioner and softened with water

 

[loulou82]

Hmmm... I'm definitely not opposed to trying heat regularly. Many naturals who've had retention success incorporated heat in their regimen (not high amounts but maybe 1-2x per month). I always thought I would blow dry more often once I reach BSL anyways.

 

[Hair2Here]

Very little heat works for me. I flat iron every three months and I think that's a bit much. I would like to take it down to every six months but length curosity kills me and I have to know what's up by the 3rd month. I retain good length too because I only comb and detangle my hair once a week on co-wash day. Since I am a 4a/b natural, I decided only to shampoo when needed. When I'm ready to use direct heat, I'll prepare my hair for a partial air dry and do not have any problems with breakage. Next time, I'll take extra steps to moisturize my hair to soften my curls. For my next length check, I'll do a dry dc overnight in addition to my regular dc.

 

[LunadeMiel]

I have been using heat (roller setting) for the past couple of months and it has helped me tremendously. I'm at a point now where I think I've gotten rid of most of the single strand knots. Also, keeping my ends straight helps me stay on top of split ends.

 

[SimplyBlessed]

All I know is that I spent yesterday wanting to rip that stupid wig off and burn it. I felt like an idiot in that plastic wig, I don't think I can bear wearing one much longer. I want to start wearing my own hair out but I just really don't know how to go about it. Maybe when I reach Hip Length I'll start, I dunno. But I need to figure this situation out.

Girl I sooo feel u..I have reached waist length and wear a damn wig everyday...my hair is super thin so I'm scared of using heat a lot but I think it would help with styling and detangling b/c my hair sheds A LOT and breaks easily...keep me posted on ur plans and I will keep you posted on mine

 

[SimplyBlessed]

when i was natural and didnt straigthen i thought i was at least APL but i straighten and found out i was MBL.

same thing happened to me

 

[Kash]

Girl, your eyes scared the hell outta me!

...me too! i jumped back from my computer screen!
oh... and using heat helps me retain my growth.

 

[virtuenow]

This is true-no blanket statments here?

Girl my hair is very kinky coily and it wraps around itself something fierce. This week I've been experimenting with not letting my hair completly kink up after washing and co washing. But even if I put my hair in two twist once i take the twist down the I have to separate four sections and the ends wrap on themselves while in the two twist!

Constantly stretched hair:

Well, your hair type looks like type 4a; I am 4b andI know you can do it (it just takes practice!)...Maybe try to incorporate some of the following over the next 2-4 months and see how u like it. It usually takes that long to see progress (4mo really!).

(1) Detangle: I keep hair in a constantly stretched state. If I am wearing a semi-straight style (like twistouts or bantu-knot outs) I detangle my dry hair by gently pulling the twist hair apart and removing tangles. It's hard to pull your hair apart until u detangle it; that's why I do it b4 wash instead of after.

(2) Prepare for washing: I then section my hair in 4 large sections; and make 4 twists out of each section.

(3) Wash/Cond in Twists: wash my hair in about 16 twists. Condition under dryer. Then rinse.

(4) Detangle here instead?: I rarely detangle on wet hair, but it seems to be an effective way also. I don't reallly do combs, but when detangle at this phase, I would take a comb thru the wet sections of my hair one by one right before i blowdry the individual section.

(5) Dry: Take one twist down. Blow dry in smaller sections using the tension method. (retwist as in #6) Move on to next twist...

(6) Retwist each dried section while still warm from blow dryer -with heathy amt of hair butter (shea/coconut oil mix).

 

[CocoGlow]

Honestly, I don't think the issue is heat usage, I think it's keeping the hair stretched out as much as possible (and heat is one way to do that). I do think one of the reasons heat works well for a lot of naturals is because once the kinks are out a person can be less gentle with their hair and not experience more breakage. Most naturals aren't nearly as gentle as they should be when their hair is in its natural state.

I've had the most success with my hair when I don't let it shrink up at all. Heat wouldn't work for me (the manipulation required ie use of combs/brushes would cause lots of breakage), but keeping my hair stretched until it dries via braids or rollersets works quite well.

My hair loves to wrap around itself and the way I've dealt with it is to keep it up from shrinking before water even touches my head. I detangle my dry hair (gently; you could even do it with conditioner) as much as I can and then braid it up in several sections. The braids need to be tight enough that the hair can't really shrink up, but loose enough to be able to rinse product out.

Then I wash my hair with the braids in. Once I'm out, I only deal with one braid at a time: de-shed it, moisturize it, and then rebraid (or put it on rollers). My hair dries stretched out, and I don't have to deal with tangles/knots. Literally, the only time I have to deal with tangles is when I wash my hair loose.

Well, I do it one of two ways.

1) Usually, I don't allow my hair to get tangled in the first place. So detangling and braiding it before I wash just means I'm separating out any curls or pieces that have clumped together due to styling. Then I apply my coconut oil and braid. The oil doesn't "help" detangling, it's just a part of my routine. I usually end up with 6-8 braids.

2) If for some reason I've lost my mind and allowed my hair to get tangled up since my last wash, that's when I have to use a conditioner to help me. What I do is take a smallish section of hair, douse it with v05, let it sit for a minute, and then slowly go from the bottom up and get out all the shed hair and tangles/knots with my fingers. The key is that I literally soak the hair in the conditioner which makes it too heavy to coil up while I'm detangling/deshedding. I can use like half a bottle of conditioner doing this and I usually end up with 12-15 braids. This also takes longer (like up to an hour) and I always get breakage (from the tangles/knots) which is why I don't let my hair shrink up or get tangled.

So then, whether I do 1 or 2, I get in the shower and shampoo/condition my hair. When I get out my hair is soaking wet and I leave it that way. I take down a braid, put in whatever product I'm using (usually elasta qp mango butter, but sometimes v05 or something else), comb through with my fingers to get out any shed hair and then either rebraid or put it on rollers because those things stretch my hair the most. I use a lot of product because I don't like to moisturize between washes and it helps with detangling. My hair ends up nicely stretched and stays that way until my next wash.

I have to agree with MaySay! Whenever I stick to a similar routine of keeping my hair stretched at ALL times, I experience less breakage & knots ... it has not eradicated breakage & knots for me but maybe that's all in my amateur technique

I've found that braiding my hair prior to washing (keeping the braids loose near the scalp to allow for massaging & rinsing -they get tighter toward the ends to keep the braid intact) better than twisting b/c usually a few twists come loose during the wash process

I also dilute my cleanser of choice: conditioner, shampoo, baking soda/tea rinses, etc ... & apply with an applicator bottle with the pointy tip for easier application & rinsing in my braids

~ I'm still trying to figure out how I will adapt this routine when using bentonite/rhassoul clay treatments, henna etc which would be much harder to rinse out in braids .. maybe I'll just section my hair in puffs held by elastic & wash each section by taking down the elastic, rinsing thoroughly & replacing the elastic..this way my hair will still be semi-stretched and not allowed to shrink completely hmmm ~

I also stay away from wash n go styles or any style where my hair shrinks too much.. I prefer to keep it semi-stretched (braid-outs, twist-outs, stretched puffs, buns, rolls, etc) ...so that means after washing my hair is placed in braids (this time tight from root to tip),or twists or bands to stretch

I was anti-heat for a while but I have recently purchased a blow dryer and plan to use it occasionally ...

Question for those that use the "Tension Method"

I've seen this on youtube & there seems to be 2 different schools of thought...
1) some use the comb attachment & also stretch out the hair with their hands....
2) others just stretch out the hair with their hands and may use the concentrator nozzle to direct the heat

How do you ladies define the "tension method"?

 

[glamazon386]

Hmmm... I don't think it's the heat persay it's just keeping the hair that is prone to tangles stretched. There are ways to keep it stretched without using heat.

 

[LadyPBC]

Before I installed these crochet braids I have in I blew my hair out and it made manipulating my hair into cornrows a breeze.

Eww BlackMasterPiece. I'd love to see your crochet braids and hear how you approached it. I've watched all the YouTube videos. I'm dreaming of self installing crochet braids in two weeks. Also, what method do you use to cornrow your hair. I'd like to try it. I normally just cornrow while its wet or damp and my hair sticks/tangles like metal to a magnet or like velcro .

 

[biancaelyse]

My hair reverts very easily so the amount of heat it takes to straighten and keep it straight is problematic.

Rather than risk the heat damage, I work with the natural texture and seldom straighten at all.

 

[LadyPBC]

I have been using heat (roller setting) for the past couple of months and it has helped me tremendously. I'm at a point now where I think I've gotten rid of most of the single strand knots. Also, keeping my ends straight helps me stay on top of split ends.

Wait what is your hair type? Are you all natural? You hair looks so straight and shiny . What rollersetting method did you use. I'm mostly 4a and if you're the same I MUST try it

 

[CocoGlow]

I have to agree with MaySay! Whenever I stick to a similar routine of keeping my hair stretched at ALL times, I experience less breakage & knots ... it has not eradicated breakage & knots for me but maybe that's all in my amateur technique

I've found that braiding my hair prior to washing (keeping the braids loose near the scalp to allow for massaging & rinsing -they get tighter toward the ends to keep the braid intact) better than twisting b/c usually a few twists come loose during the wash process

I also dilute my cleanser of choice: conditioner, shampoo, baking soda/tea rinses, etc ... & apply with an applicator bottle with the pointy tip for easier application & rinsing in my braids

~ I'm still trying to figure out how I will adapt this routine when using bentonite/rhassoul clay treatments, henna etc which would be much harder to rinse out in braids .. maybe I'll just section my hair in puffs held by elastic & wash each section by taking down the elastic, rinsing thoroughly & replacing the elastic..this way my hair will still be semi-stretched and not allowed to shrink completely hmmm ~

I also stay away from wash n go styles or any style where my hair shrinks too much.. I prefer to keep it semi-stretched (braid-outs, twist-outs, stretched puffs, buns, rolls, etc) ...so that means after washing my hair is placed in braids (this time tight from root to tip),or twists or bands to stretch

I was anti-heat for a while but I have recently purchased a blow dryer and plan to use it occasionally ...

Question for those that use the "Tension Method"

I've seen this on youtube & there seems to be 2 different schools of thought...
1) some use the comb attachment & also stretch out the hair with their hands....
2) others just stretch out the hair with their hands and may use the concentrator nozzle to direct the heat

How do you ladies define the "tension method"?

Anybody??

 

[levone]

Great post...I'm going to follow this one. There's some good suggestions posted.

NappyRina, #2 is what I understood to be the 'tension' method. Basically stretching your hair gently with your hands and moving the dryer in an up and down motion over the hair, but not touching the hair. I actually prefer the comb attachment, but I did try that a few times and it works (dries your hair as well as stretches). If I'm going to use heat though, most of the time I do it to uncoil my ends so I prefer the comb attachment for that.

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

Eww BlackMasterPiece. I'd love to see your crochet braids and hear how you approached it. I've watched all the YouTube videos. I'm dreaming of self installing crochet braids in two weeks. Also, what method do you use to cornrow your hair. I'd like to try it. I normally just cornrow while its wet or damp and my hair sticks/tangles like metal to a magnet or like velcro .

Here are my Auburn and Brown Crochet Braids if you have any questions you can respond to that thread.

Here's the way I recommend you cornrow your hair prior to doing them, thats how I plan to do them next time, it'll help them last better

If you have issues with tangling when wet braiding then I think you should do what I did and blow your hair out prior to cornrowing

 

[hair4romheaven]

How do you ladies define the "tension method"?[/QUOTE]

I only use my hand and blow dryer with hot sock. I do this once a month. I stay in cornrows under my wig for a month. When I detangle 1x a month its only during dry time when my hair is 80% dry I take braid out one by one and dry using my hands to stretch the hair and detangle the roots. I loose minimal hair being almost 7mnths post.

 

[CocoGlow]

Thanks ladies for responding about how you define the "Tension Method"....

I plan to try out both ways .. with the comb attachment & stretching with my hands AND just using my hands to stretch .... levone I too notice from several youtube videos that the ends do not straighten well when just using the hands to stretch

Anybody else want to chime in on how they practice the Tension Method & why???