Does hair type really make a difference?

[Faith]

Re: Sulfur

Aaah, you beat me to it. That was the site I was going to post. I'm not sure how much of that info. I buy...ya know. To be honest my hair grew at the same rate when I was relaxed (less sulfur according to them) as it does now. The only difference is when I was relaxed my ends would chip/break off daily so it looked like it never grew.
All I know is my hair does grow slower than some (black and white) I get only 4.5-5"/year. And that is with a good diet and increase in moisture, etc. So maybe genetically I can only get 4.5-5"/year but the goal is keeping it all. If I didn't do these things I would probably get less than that I'm sure. I don't think there's anything wrong with acknowledging genes (black or white) when dealing with hair. We can help the genes along by vitamins, etc. But at least know what your starting point is.

 

[leejure]

BRIGHTEYES...Girl your hair is gorgeous! I love your twist!
/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Okay here's my two-cents...

I agree that hair type makes a difference BUT I don't think it's a RACE thing (if that make sense)... BTW - my white co-worker has the kinkiest hair ever. Her hair is very dry/brittle looking. /images/graemlins/blush.gif I suggested that she use black products which would add oil to her hair as oppose to white products which is designed to take some of the oil away.

OKAY, in saying that ---

Black hair tends to be drier than any other hair. If your hair is dry, it break or split. If your hair breaks or split, than it will not GROW. While Asians, Caucasians, other people hair tends to more "oily" (if you will) which results in less breakage and split ends which means GROWTH.
That is why Caucasians HAVE TO WASH their hair everyday or every two days because it will get oily. That is also the reason why WE (Black people) do not get lice or rather have problems with lice (dry hair/scalp).

The idea behind obtaining growth is to combat the dryness, which for us means finding products that will add oil to our hair which in turn would bring growth. That is also why we can not use a lot of products taht are not geared for Black hair b/c other products tend to be geared to hair that doesn't need a lot of oil (as a matter of fact, they need as less oil as possible so that they can obtain a more full and lively look)

So sure, when you look at like "growing our hair is a lot of work" and look at what we have to deal with, then it is a lot of work COMPARED to people have doens't have to deal with dry hair.

In a nutshell, I think that people who have dry hair will have problems SEEING growth (not growing hair becuase your hair will ALWYAS grow, but seeing the growth) and yes, Black people have the driest hair... But I still can not honestly say hair types make a difference - dry hair makes a difference!

 

[Tara]

Re: Sulfur

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Pandora said:
i agree with what the ladies had to say, our hair is dry so it tends to break easily thats why we need to really make a concious decision to grwo long hair. also remember that since our natural hair (esp. type 4) is coiled up it takes quite a while to realise any length (due to the shrinkage factor). if our roots grew in straight like relaxed you would see more grow month by month. REMEMBER that often its not till after your touch up that you can see how much your hair has grown. HTH

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I see what you are saying, and there is truth to the fact that our coily hair contributes to our dryness.

But I do know sooooo many African American MEN(not mixed) with 4b hair types, that started with a fade, and then when cornrows became popular it seemed within 3-6 months they had an afro touching their shoulders.

Meanwhile I was STILL at ear length, in some damn extenstions /images/graemlins/laugh.gif /images/graemlins/laugh.gif and [<font color="red">HATIN /images/graemlins/mad.gif</font> LOL!!

In fact I had one guy friend challenge me to a "grow off" (many years before I found these boards) lol, because he was teasing me about my short hair in a brotherly fashion. And it was true he started from bald and within a month he had enough to cornrow, and then within maybe 3-4 months his cornrows were already to his shoulders. And I thought men's hair was supposed to grow slower than OURS (humph! arms crossed in envy).

Now this was many years ago, but if I knew then what I know now, I think I would have challenged him.

What seemed to work for the fellas is I notice that they leave their hair alone, and most guys are working out daily (at least the ones I know) and then they get home and wet their scalp down daily. And they usually keep it cornrowed, moisturized, and oiled. And I almost forgot. The mighty Doo-Rag and stocking cap. Most men will wear their doo-rags, and we all learned here about protecting our hair at night right?

And somehow, through miracle,(actually just good handeling /images/graemlins/wink.gif), even though they have the same hair as us females, maybe even more nappy it just grows.....(and I hope no one is offended by the word nappy, I'm just using it to make a point since we are talking about hair texture. I want to make it clear that these men are not in the 3 type catagory)

Meanwhile you can have their sister who has short and skimpy hair. But she is probably scared of water, never conditions her hair, is over-styling it (not hard styles just styling it daily) and wondering why her hair isn't growing. And even though she has her Brother right next to her....she still believes that "black people's hair doesn't grow".

But most women can't leave their hair alone (I'm guilty which is why I now stay in cornrows) because we gotta look cute, and presentable right? Men have just a little more lee-way with what they can get away with. Before Alicia Keys came out there were many women who were afraid to wear cornrows because they thought they'd look "thuggish".

I think looking beyond the color, and peeping the handling is how we will get there. Because if black people couldn't grow hair, it wouldn't make sense to see so many black men (men are a people too)that can just grow their hair it seems without trying. Especially when the "long haired Bone-Thugs-n- Harmony" look was poppin' in Oakland. Some of those dudes had the THICKEST, LONGEST, healthiest looking hair I'd ever seen. I actually saw a guy that had cornrows down his thugged out back /images/graemlins/laugh.gif /images/graemlins/laugh.gif YUMMY! LOL! Hey it was the "look" back in the day. But anyway, I digress, I asked him how long he had been growing his hair, and he said "I don't know about two years". I was like /images/graemlins/shocked.gif at the time. Now I know that in 2 years it's ENTIRELY possible to have at least midback length hair, if you are able to keep what you grow, and if you get the average rate per month.

And um....just between you and me, I know it wasn't the diet, cuz some of these men were um......doing the whole Snoop (puff puff pass) thing. It came to the point where I was like (and don't laugh, cuz sadly I'm serious..ok laugh ) "Dang DOES weed grow hair????"

I actually went out and purchased hemp oil. Again, can you tell this was before I found any of the boards? LOL!! /images/graemlins/laugh.gif /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

So anyway, while I will say that vitamins, and oils and everything makes a HUGE difference between simply just LONG hair, and GORGEOUS hair, I still think our (meaning African American PEOPLE in general, and then us WOMEN specifically) can grow long hair even if we didn't have all that.

I'm not giving up my vitamins any time soon though /images/graemlins/wink.gif

And this post isn't to anyone specific btw, I was just reading and wanted to discuss and give my dollar and a quarter.

 

[marabou1]

Hi Leejure:

I agree with all that you said, except for one thing.

You said: "If your hair breaks or split, than it will not GROW". /images/graemlins/huh.gif

Did you mean to say, if your hair breaks or split, than it will not become longer?

I ask because this is where many qet confused. I can't remember who explained this in an earlier post, but it's not that our hair does not grow as much as others. The problem is that most of us don't know how to retain what we grow due to the texture of our hair.

I know this to be true after reading Cathy Howse's book. After reading it, everything made sense. /images/graemlins/think.gif

What's proof enough for me is when I took a trip to New York and met up with an old friend who has 4b coarse hair just like mine. When we last saw each other about 3 years ago, her hair was always the same length as mine. This time when I her, I could not believe my eyes! /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

My hair is shoulder length, while her hair is past the bottom of her bra strap. Why? She told me that she washes it more often, keeps it moisturized at all times, and most importantly, makes sure that her ends are moisturized more than anything. She never thought her hair could grow to that length, and it's still growing.

She is not mixed, not caucasian, and doesn't have 3a type hair. Her hair texture is the same as mine and this is the longest her hair has ever been. I now have confidence that my hair will also grow this long and I'm already seeing good results.

 

[Faith]

Re: Sulfur

Tara,

You're too funny..."Dang DOES weed grow hair????"
I actually went out and purchased hemp oil." LOL! LOL!
I would wonder too.

/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[leejure]

Hello Marabou...

In regards to your question...

&lt;&lt;If your hair breaks or split, than it will not GROW".

Did you mean to say, if your hair breaks or split, than it will not become longer? &gt;&gt;

Well, your hair will always grow, right? /images/graemlins/smile.gif (Unless for some medical reason growth has been stunted) but for the most part, your hair will grow. Our problem doesn't lie with "growth" our problem is RETAINING or actually seeing the LENGTH (as you mentioned)

Example of growth but not seeing the
length ---

A lady gets her shoulder length hair colored and a year later, the color is half way gone. Now lets say this lady has not had a hair cut BUT she is still at shoulder length /images/graemlins/confused.gif... The color diminishing means growth (color could only grow out or cut out and remember this lady did not get her her cut, so in this case "grew out") but the fact that she is still at the same length suggest that the hair is breaking or splitting just as fast as it is growing.

&lt;&lt;I ask because this is where many qet confused. I can't remember who explained this in an earlier post, but it's not that our hair does not grow as much as others. The problem is that most of us don't know how to retain what we grow due to the texture of our hair&gt;&gt;

Exactly Right! Agree 100%!

&lt;&lt;What's proof enough for me is when I took a trip to New York and met up with an old friend who has 4b coarse hair just like mine. When we last saw each other about 3 years ago, her hair was always the same length as mine. This time when I her, I could not believe my eyes! &gt;&gt;

Yes, do know that our hair can/will grow as long as our heart desires. We have to take extra care of it, but the fact remains, it will grow longer and with the care, we can see the results! Sure, one person may not have to wear protective styles (becuase their ends are more moisturized (oily) than mine or yours) and still see growth. While others, like me, have to conceal my ends and take a little extra time out and care to insure that I reach my goals.

hopefully that made sense...

-lee

 

[leejure]

Re: Sulfur

VERY WELL SAID TARA!!! (and very /images/graemlins/laugh.gif funny! Crazy girl!)

I totally agree!

-lee

 

[Guest]

Re:

i dont think hair type makes any difference at all, im a 4a and my hair has never had a problem growing past bra starp lenght. before coming to this board ive always just washed my hair , condition it, air dry and do absolutly nothing else to it, i didnt blow dry, curling iron, fry, grease my hair, nothing. the longest its been was bra strap lenght.. untill a one time trip to the hair dressers and a disater of a bleaching gone seriously wrong.. lol

my hair was 3inchs in someplaces last hair, right now my is 2 inchs past my shoulders im hoping by christmas ill be back to where i was before the bleaching disaster.

i dont plan on doing anything that different to my hair, expect for putting in protein once a month and oiling my ends which i learned from this board. other that that, i wear my hair down an dont touch it.

 

[Valerie]

Re:

I agree with many of the ladies, when they mention, over handling of the hair, however I was in my local bank, there were a lot of white women, sruggling to get their hair shoulder length or even more. Their hair was bleached, permed, dye and they looked a sorry site. I also think diet has a lot to do with it. A friend told me that she has a white friend and her hair could have only grown to shoulder length and she took some hair vitamins and she has been able to get her hair past her shoulders and below bra strap length and it is a lot thicker, she is obviously very happy and excited about her new hair length. Diet is very important.

 

[adrienne0914]

i LOVED this entire thread. everyone brought up so many valid points! i won't try to elaborate on anyone else's posts because everything was so well stated. i will just share my story...

when i discovered my first hair board in june 2000, my hair was grazing my shoulders. i had been trying to grow it for almost 20 years. it looked really healthy and was always styled well, but it basically stayed the same length all that time despite the fact that i rarely got major cuts, always conditioned, and took care of it.

at the time, i was washing, blow drying and curling my hair twice a week. i remember so clearly asking "what am i doing wrong?" /images/graemlins/laugh.gif i was told to eliminate some of the heat and try wearing protective styles. it was really hard, but i did just that. now, less than three years later, i'm hoping to reach my waist by the end of this year.

and if you're thinking my hair grows fast, fuggitaboutit! i'm like faith. my hair grows VERY slowly. my growth rate has increased slightly recently, but the increase probably only equates to what others get without really trying. i think the increase is more because of my diet improving. i've been taking vitamins for almost two years, but i believe they were making up for what my diet was lacking. so if your diet isn't that great, that's something that can be controlled.

even if your hair (personally) grows slower than other people's, i really think how you care for it is more important than genetics or even type. why? because you can control how you care for it. you have no control over genetics. of course you could chemically alter the type, but that in itself brings its own set of problems.

anyway, i said all that to say, "hair's like money. it's not what you make. it's what you keep!" /images/graemlins/smile.gif

adrienne

 

[pebbles]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
even if your hair (personally) grows slower than other people's, i really think how you care for it is more important than genetics or even type. why? because you can control how you care for it. you have no control over genetics. of course you could chemically alter the type, but that in itself brings its own set of problems.

anyway, i said all that to say, "hair's like money. it's not what you make. it's what you keep!" /images/graemlins/smile.gif

adrienne

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/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Excellent!! /images/graemlins/up.gif

 

[Allandra]

I don't think hair type makes a difference. I believe lots of moisture and less manipulation is also the key.

 

[ms jadu]

Thanks ladies for the great responses. I brought this topic up because that is such a great debate to me. my firends and I go at it all the time when it comes to this particular topic. I have learned some great things from this thread.

 

[marabou1]

Hi Adrienne:

You are such an inspiration to me!!! /images/graemlins/notworthy.gif