Does anyone retain 100% of their growth?

thenimblelife22

thenimblelife22

Active Member
Hey Ladies,

This thought just popped in my mind as I was browsing the forum looking for a "BSL or MBL by X month, 2011" challenge to join:

Do any of you have your regimen so down pat that you retain 100% of your growth for the year? (Or at least 6 months?)

What I mean by this is not whether or not you make your hair goals in the time frame that you set for them, but whether or not any of you retain all the hair growth that your body produces for the year?

I ask because I'm just coming off the heels of a pretty disappointing "year in review" for my hair. From November 2009 to April 2010 my hair grew from just past SL to APL. I was pretty excited to have retained a full 3 inches in that period of time and was planning to make it to at least the top of my bust line (I'm tall with a super long torso, so "top of the bustline" is the next stop for me before BSL, unfortunately :rolleyes:) by November 2010. November 2010 came and went, only to confirm what I suspected given my hair issues all year—my hair was still firmly at APL.

I knew my hair would be at APL even after a whole year because I kept experiencing raggedy/split ends and fairy knots to no avail. I think I trimmed my hair 4 or 5 times since last April, including a pretty serious trim (3/4 inch all around) just a week ago. My ends look and feel great now and I believe I made the proper changes to my regimen so that I won't have to deal with those issues anymore, but I'm wondering whether or not I can still hope to retain 100% of my length by next year.

In other words, if I do everything right and baby my ends, will they look as great a year from now as they do today and allow me to retain all of my length, or is it a fact of life that I'm going to have to trim a bit of my growth here and there in order to get to my goal? How has it been for you ladies? Do any of you retain 100% of your growth?
 
I'm pretty sure from the time I started my hair journey to a few months into my transition (around March or April), I retained all of my growth. This is assuming my growth rate was the same last year as it was this year. Of course I can't be sure because I did not measure my growth last year but I had 3 trims and still made it from full SL to mbl in a year. But how much you retain is individual I guess because I went through periods of strict protecive styling and periods of daily braidouts.
 
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did. I started my hhj with a fresh hair cut and my ends still look great (from what I can tell). I definitely think you can do it.
:yep:
 
from what i can tell yes ive retained all my growth i have been in the hide ur hair and wig challenges so that has made it alot easier. i only comb my hair with conditioner in it and i have hardly no breakage so yea ide say yes
 
You should check out Kimmaytube on yOutube..I heard she retains nearly every inch she grows. Her regimen is very detailed as well with pH balancing & recipes for homemade products.

HTH
 
Sorry OP, I have a question because I would like to know too. What do you ladies attribute to retaining your growth?
 
Well your not suppose to keep 100%. Everyone needs to trim their damaged ends off every so often. It happens regardless of what you do, so if you dust about a 1/8" to a 1/4" every 4-8 weeks, it keeps those annoying split ends. Using that logic, you should lose no more than 1" to 2" each year, in favorable conditions. But we all have set backs and occasional visits with scissor happy stylist, so take it with a grain of salt.

For me, it used to be "no." But now that I've decided to dust instead of trim and also steam DC it seems like I'm retaining more. I like things to be blunt and even so I've decided to trim at least 2 times a year. If I calculate how much I might lose, that equals around 3 inches. But I keep around 6", so good deal.
 
I retain all of what I grow. I do search and destroys. I rollerset my hair and bun/do braidouts all week. I only comb my hair on Sundays when I do my weekly wash.

I BC to 1/4th of an inch in the back and it's about 12 inches now. I just reached my two year mark.
 
frida1980 said:
Well your not suppose to keep 100%. Everyone needs to trim their damaged ends off every so often. It happens regardless of what you do, so if you dust about a 1/8" to a 1/4" every 4-8 weeks, it keeps those annoying split ends. Using that logic, you should lose no more than 1" to 2" each year, in favorable conditions. But we all have set backs and occasional visits with scissor happy stylist, so take it with a grain of salt.

For me, it used to be "no." But now that I've decided to dust instead of trim and also steam DC it seems like I'm retaining more. I like things to be blunt and even so I've decided to trim at least 2 times a year. If I calculate how much I might lose, that equals around 3 inches. But I keep around 6", so good deal.
Click to expand...

I don't know that I agree with the bolded. I've kept split-free ends since I've started in Jan. I did use a split ender twice but it wasn't because I needed to. It was because it was a new gadget and I wanted to try it out. Even now, my ends are split-free. I'm thinking of split-ending anyway tho (just to end the year with fresh ends) but, I don't think it's mandatory to trim. Only if necessary.

I'm gonna agree with @Abdijz. I attribute keeping my ends moisturized and protected to near-perfect retention. Shed hairs notwithstanding, I still think 100% for me is not accurate. I know I've snatched out a few hairs with pins and fasteners over the past year. :grin:
 
NJoy said:
I don't know that I agree with the bolded. I've kept split-free ends since I've started in Jan. I did use a split ender twice but it wasn't because I needed to. It was because it was a new gadget and I wanted to try it out. Even now, my ends are split-free. I'm thinking of split-ending anyway tho but, I don't think it's mandatory to trim. Only if necessary.

I'm gonna agree with @Abdijz. I attribute keeping my ends moisturized and protected to near-perfect retention. Shed hairs notwithstanding, I still think 100% for me is not accurate. I know I've snatched out a few hairs with pins and fasteners over the past year. :grin:
Click to expand...

I agree. Everyone's ends are not damaged, especially if they PS frequently. I've yet to see more than 10 split ends in my hair since the start of my journey. Some people are prone to split ends and some are not. I do agree that dusting is a good idea but it doesn't have to be so frequent. I only get trims because I want to even up my hair but my ends have not been damaged because I've only used heat 3 times in over a year.....now breakage due to me transitioning is another story lol

ETA: I should've said my STYLIST wanted to even up my hair. As you can see in my siggy, I did not do a good job of shaping it myself lol
 
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Yeah, that's another good thing to point out, LaFemmeNaturalle. I've only used heat twice this year. If I used it more often, I'd probably trim for preventative maintenance, if nothing else.
 
LaFemmeNaturelle said:
I agree. Everyone's ends are not damaged, especially if they PS frequently. I've yet to see more than 10 split ends in my hair since the start of my journey. Some people are prone to split ends and some are not. I do agree that dusting is a good idea but it doesn't have to be so frequent. I only get trims because I want to even up my hair but my ends have not been damaged because I've only used heat 3 times in over a year.....now breakage due to me transitioning is another story lol

ETA: I should've said my STYLIST wanted to even up my hair. As you can see in my siggy, I did not do a good job of shaping it myself lol
Click to expand...

Warning: Nonie comes bearing the same ol' depressing info.

Not seeing split ends doesn't mean they are not there. Splits start at a size that the naked eye cannot see. And it doesn't mean that they aren't that bad coz you can't see them. This split looks pretty ugly to me:
Split-Ends.jpg

...but it isn't visible to the naked eye. To get an idea at the scale you're looking at, that white line represents the 1/100 of a centimeter. The whole image is about 9 of those white lines. So the true size of the image you're looking at is a little less than a millimeter. In other words, if you look at a ruler's centimeter scale,
4139ruler.jpg

​
and then take one of the ten divisions in one centimeter (known as millimeters) and look inside that little space that makes the millimeter, and you would be looking at the width of a frame into which that^^ whole photo showing a split would fit into.

Now I know y'all aren't looking at 1 millimeter scales of your hair. So you just can't know for sure. What's more, remember that whole image fits inside a millimeter. But the splits seen in the image are way smaller, so how can anyone say s/he has no splits when it is impossible to see such tiny scales without a microscope? Usually when you're seeing splits they are pretty extensive and when you don't see them, it could be that they tore off leaving part of a hair that can no longer split so it doesn't look split.

Hence the reason I think dusting is way more efficient than S&D.

S&D won't show you that^ damage and ensure that you don't keep it, but dusting will get be sure to rid you of that^^ mess w/o fail. :yep:
​
 
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Yes yes Nonie we know. But since you quoted me, I'll let you know that I also do not do search and destroys because I don't have time for that. But if my retention is not being hindered and my ends do not LOOK bad, then why do I need to dust every 4-6 weeks? I dust/trim when I straighten so the overall appearance of my hair looks healthy but other than that, what's really the point when retention is not at risk and my ends are behaving?

Dusting also does not solve the problems of mid-shaft splits, which do occur for people. So even with dusting, you are not getting rid of all damaged hair.
 
Do you ladies protective style daily? For the past year I cant seem to get my crown to grow past shoulder length . But I have to trim 2x my nape because It was going to past brastrap length. I don't use heat and I protective style daily. What gives?
 
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LaFemmeNaturelle said:
Yes yes Nonie we know. But since you quoted me, I'll let you know that I also do not do search and destroys because I don't have time for that. But if my retention is not being hindered and my ends do not LOOK bad, then why do I need to dust every 4-6 weeks? I dust/trim when I straighten so the overall appearance of my hair looks healthy but other than that, what's really the point when retention is not at risk and my ends are behaving?
Click to expand...

The point is you dust/trim. I was just pointing out/saying that Frida1980's suggestion that everyone needs to trim damaged ends isn't as much a stretch as some seem to think. I keep hearing people saying their hair has no damage or has no splits, but I just wanted to point out that no one can know that for sure unless one examines every strand under a microscope. The fact that you do dust/trim and not S&D like many do serves to keep your ends looking as good as they do.
 
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Great thread, I'm hoping to retain 100% of my growth also..... Noting a little shedding here and there but retain overall growth......
 
LaFemmeNaturelle said:
Yes yes Nonie we know. But since you quoted me, I'll let you know that I also do not do search and destroys because I don't have time for that. But if my retention is not being hindered and my ends do not LOOK bad, then why do I need to dust every 4-6 weeks? I dust/trim when I straighten so the overall appearance of my hair looks healthy but other than that, what's really the point when retention is not at risk and my ends are behaving?

Dusting also does not solve the problems of mid-shaft splits, which do occur for people. So even with dusting, you are not getting rid of all damaged hair.
Click to expand...

Well natural hair hides a lot of things, mostly thinning spots. I don't really get split ends anymore, especially not when I'm full natural. But when I straighten out, I notice how thin my ends have gotten. Regular dusting helps prevent this thinning.

People are acting like losing a 1/8 of an inch a few times a year will keep their hair from growing. I'm more interested in keeping it thicker and avoiding set backs. Because I didn't dust last summer I lost a lot of potential length. This happens after lots of PS, babying my ends, and DCing. Nah, I don't worry about losing a little length in exchange for being a full BSL rather than having a few strands touching it and starting all over again.
 
I would say yes I retain all of my growth, I did a small dusting in August, just because the ends were little bit too uneven and were getting tangled with SSK's when I was washing my hair.

I think the dusting helped because since I came out of my last weave, my ends still look pretty good and I'm not losing unnecessary breakage. But overall, I think I retain prety much all of my growth, I'd say 97%
 
Thanks everyone for the really thoughtful responses. I am aiming for BSL this year which is a full 5 inches (maybe even 6 or 7, I need to measure) from my current APL. I think that's a logical goal, but I was beginning to take a defeatist attitude because BSL would require darn near 100% retention and I wasn't sure if I could do it. Looking at the comments you ladies have made, I know I need to do better with moisturizing (I can get busy and not moisturize my hair for 3 or 4 days!) and get consistent with protective styling.

NJoy said:
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did. I started my hhj with a fresh hair cut and my ends still look great (from what I can tell). I definitely think you can do it.
:yep:
Click to expand...

Thabks NJoy, your hair looks the bomb!

theeREALmccoy said:
You should check out Kimmaytube on yOutube..I heard she retains nearly every inch she grows. Her regimen is very detailed as well with pH balancing & recipes for homemade products.

HTH
Click to expand...

I've been following Kimmaytube a while now, her growth is super impressive. I can't wait to see it straightened or at least blown out. I was following her regimen pretty closely, but I can't do the twists for long periods of time as my PS. When I take them down, it's like I'm tearing my ends apart just to untangle them. Kimmaytube's regimen is what got me from SL to APL, but my ends were super thin and I have been trimming ever since. I've decided to omit the twists all together (except for when trimming, I clip the ends of my twists as a trim) and just PS on chunky twistout or braiout hair.

LaFemmeNaturelle said:
Yes yes Nonie we know. But since you quoted me, I'll let you know that I also do not do search and destroys because I don't have time for that. But if my retention is not being hindered and my ends do not LOOK bad, then why do I need to dust every 4-6 weeks? I dust/trim when I straighten so the overall appearance of my hair looks healthy but other than that, what's really the point when retention is not at risk and my ends are behaving?

Dusting also does not solve the problems of mid-shaft splits, which do occur for people. So even with dusting, you are not getting rid of all damaged hair.
Click to expand...

Nonie said:
The point is you dust/trim. I was just pointing out/saying that Frida1980's suggestion that everyone needs to trim damaged ends isn't as much a stretch as some seem to think. I keep hearing people saying their hair has no damage or has no splits, but I just wanted to point out that no one can know that for sure unless one examines every strand under a microscope. The fact that you do dust/trim and not S&D like many do serves to keep your ends looking as good as they do.
Click to expand...

I know what a S&D is (at least the way Tracy of kiss.biz does it) but how is that different from a dust/trim?
 
frida1980 said:
Well natural hair hides a lot of things, mostly thinning spots. I don't really get split ends anymore, especially not when I'm full natural. But when I straighten out, I notice how thin my ends have gotten. Regular dusting helps prevent this thinning.

People are acting like losing a 1/8 of an inch a few times a year will keep their hair from growing. I'm more interested in keeping it thicker and avoiding set backs. Because I didn't dust last summer I lost a lot of potential length. This happens after lots of PS, babying my ends, and DCing. Nah, I don't worry about losing a little length in exchange for being a full BSL rather than having a few strands touching it and starting all over again.
Click to expand...

This happens to me too and it drives me crazy! Why is that??? Is natural hair just more prone to thin ends? Is it possible to wear your hair natural the majority of the time and still have full ends when you straighten? I personally like my ends to be even and full, so I know that leads me to cut off more than necessary sometimes. I'm trying to curb the habit until I get to my ultimate goal (WL) but still...
 
I think I do. I got about 8 inches last year. I just keep it in braids and use my bootleg boundless tresses mix (sulfur, peppermint/rosemary, olive and coconut oil but instead of using jojoba oil i used jbco)
 
GrowGirl22 said:
I know what a S&D is (at least the way Tracy of kiss.biz does it) but how is that different from a dust/trim?
Click to expand...

The difference is with dust/trimming you don't waste time looking for what you will obviously miss since splits can be at such a small scale that your eyes miss them. You instead just trim the same amount from the ends of all your hairs--which will most likely get rid of splits. Takes less time and if you do it regularly enough, you can keep your ends looking good.
 
This year I didn't retain all my growth b/c I would have met my goal. 2011 I'm aiming to retain at least 80-90% of my growth (not 100% b/c I will be trimming).
 
MissGomes said:
^^^^ you had 8 inches too? What would you say contributed most?
Click to expand...

Probably the sulfur and taking hsn vitamin (includes 3000 biotin) are increasing my growth but protective styling 24/7 is probably whats keeping it from breaking off
 
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