Do you have to wear protective styles?

[vtoodler]

I want to grow out my hair like most women on this forum, but I hate wearing protective styles. I don't mind wearing them twice or thrice a week, but nothing more.

My question is, can I still grow out my hair even if I don't wear protective sytles. I like to leave my hair hanging down like Michelle Obama in the first picture or I like to wear half up/half down like Mrs. O in the second photo.

I also rarely use heat on my hair (like once a month usually).

Here's the photos of Mrs. O: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01377/michelle-obama_1377532i.jpg

 

[Americka]

Several of the ladies, including Sylver 2, have successfully retained length without using protective styles. This link is to a thread discussing growing hair without protective styles.

 

[Nonie]

^^ With that said, protective styling I believe is the secret to getting past shoulder length to APL. All the rubbing on your clothes that your ends endure is bound to cause more wear and tear and hence split ends that break off and less retention. I look at people like Adrienne0914 who made the sacrifice of not wearing her hair down but wore it protected in a phony pony and went over the shoulder-length hump all the way to waist-length and at Micarae who is a believer in Wanakee's protect-your-ends theory and I am convinced that if you are not one of those that can be careless with your hair and still retain length, then protective styling is the best thing you can do for your hair.

If having hair down is so important, why not get wigs or falls and let them take the "abuse"?