From Shoulders to the waistline and beyond.... help!

[ccd]

Ok, I realize everyone here wants to achieve a certain length, more importantly the health of your hair and you have a goal but what if your goal is actually becoming alot of work?

What do you do then?

I've had thoughts of cutting my hair actually, I think I need some alternatives and I've read many here ( twists, braids and bantu knots) the problem is now that my hair is taking a long time to dry.....I can't sit still these days...

And WHAT in Heaven do women with small children do? Not that this is an issue I would have to be dealing with any time soon...BUT what about husband, SO, livein boyfriends...do they think you spend alot of time on your hair?

OK. well, back to the issue.....What I wanna know is....SO, you've reached your goal, or your approaching your goal and now its time to really maintain...

How are you all ( especially the brastraps and beyond brastraps.....) maintaining your hair?

is it airdried braids, bantus, buns or rollersets and how often are you all doing this....once a week is killing I cant image more times

 

[Cincysweetie]

Maybe I'm not fit to answer b/c I'm not yet at my goal (bra strap), but I can already feel you on this. I really do not plan on going longer than bra strap b/c I know without a doubt that I won't be able to handle it. Waistline? Never. I would go mad and chop my hair in a fit of impatience. I am lazy and not good with hair, so I know that it's best for me to keep mine within a certain length limit. Good luck to you, I am sure if you have the patience and desire you will find styles that will help you cope.

 

[ccd]

Maybe I'm not fit to answer b/c I'm not yet at my goal (bra strap), but I can already feel you on this. I really do not plan on going longer than bra strap b/c I know without a doubt that I won't be able to handle it. Waistline? Never. I would go mad and chop my hair in a fit of impatience. I am lazy and not good with hair, so I know that it's best for me to keep mine within a certain length limit. Good luck to you, I am sure if you have the patience and desire you will find styles that will help you cope.

OHHH Please this is for EVERYone to answer...i just gave it that title because I reminescing ( spelling sucks) about when shoulders was "easier" to handle....ANYway,

so I just wanted a visual....to see how many of us are doing certain things

I hope this poll thing works Thanks for your response girl..

 

[simplycee]

My goal is a blunt cut, bra strap. I have NO dreams to go any farther than that and will cut if necessary to maintain that length. Currently, I'm on the bun and baggie challenges in order to push me over the hump towards bra strap. Washing a couple times a week is a breeze because I'm air drying in a ponytail and wear a bun or french twist almost daily. Luckily, I know how to cornrow my own hair and can switch to braids or a braid out for a change up.

 

[Jewell]

From touch up to 6 weeks post I maintain by air drying it straight (hanging down) and then I wrap it every night...never any heat...I always wear it down until this point. 6 weeks forward and the wrap becomes too hard to get my hair to do...I'm 7 weeks post this week. I lubricate with Nexxus Botanic Oil/WGHO each day and twist it up and pin it. If I wore my hair down, even though I could, I'd always have my hands in it combing and brushing many times a day. I HATE wearing my hair up, but to avoid dryness at the ends and me messing in it all the time, I have to!

I also do this bun at the back that is very full and like a little bouffant. It looks very nice, and all the Asian ladies at work wonder how I do it, and whether its all my hair. I really have to volumize it! I just put it in a ponytail in the back center, and pin my hair. I take it down at night and redo in the morning...it only takes like 10 min.

I've started maintiaining with CO washes twice a week and shampoo only once a week. My hair won't do too much for me as far as manageability if I don't do hot oil, oil on the new growth, and oil on the hair. I just try to keep my hands off it, and keep it moist/soft at this point...I have like an inch of newgrowth, and a long way to go! Even with all the oil, my hair is hardly weighed down, because I oil my scalp/new growth when its wet. Hope this helps...I might do corn rows from week 12 forward, but I hate to do them because I get tired of them in a week-so its money down the drain...I'm trying to learn to be patient with my hair! I wish I could french braid it or corn row it myself!

I can say that I haven't contemplated cutting the least bit. I'm not hardly thinking of that, because I always wish I had my same hair even after a trim. My grandma has gray hair that is thick and wavy (she only relaxes once or twice a year) she's 64 and has hair that reaches within 3 in of her waist. I noticed that she always wears her hair up during the day and only takes it down at night, and believe me she has a problem with dryness and shedding, because she has psoriasis. She still seems to maintain a very full head of hair though! She never combs too much...I needed to take note of that.

 

[DatJerseyDyme]

CCD your hair is very pretty.

I guess the simple answer to your question would be to bun it up and put it away, but at least it's still there when you need it. Kind of like a secret weapon!

 

[sylver2]

I have always cut it or trimmed my hair. This will be the first time that I'm going to go as far as I can. I'm going all the way baby..lol. I'm still going to continue doing the same o same-o. Wear hair out everyday, wraps and probably going to wash every 10-11 days. Mostly rollersets after touchups and scarf method during stretching.
styles will be either my favorite bone straight or bantu knots for waves and thats it. keeping it simple always.

 

[Jaelin]

I usually only wash and style (twists) once a week. It takes too much time to do my twists to wash more than once a week. I want them to look good so I take the time to do them small and I will redo one if I don't like how it looks.

I suspect I'll switch back to bigger twists when my hair reaches brastrap and try some styles that I've been waiting to have enough hair to do.

The longer my hair got the more time it took to air dry, so over Christmas break I bought a microfiber towel. I highly recommend it. I've got it worked out where I wrap my hair in the towel, twist the ends and pin it, and I leave it on like that for a while. It sucks up a good deal of moisture but I don't completely dry my hair with it. Usually, by the time I am on my last set of twist (hours later), my hair is almost dry, and will finish drying overnight.

 

[NAY007]

I was very very close to my goal of waistlength last summer/fall. I'd say I was about one or two inches away.

I really think that keeping it simple when it comes to a routine is a key. Also conditioning and airdrying (in braids and buns) helped me a LOT.

 

[unlvgirl]

I just trimmed about 3 more inches off of my hair last night because it just got to be too much to handle. It would not hold a curl and would easily go flat. I stopped pressing it thinking that It would be easier to handle becuase it would at least have some curl to it, but that just didn't work out. So I decided that I am going to just maintain my hair at waist length and just trim it every 4 or 6 months. I also don't think tailbone length hair looked that great on me because I am so short. I felt this way for a while but I didn't want to cut it cause I was .... attached to it. I feel alot better about it now and although I thought my hair looked short this morning I'm happy with my current length.

 

[ccd]

ooooo! Ladies thanks so much for your reponses,comments and/suggestions...

Yeah, I guess I am feeling a bit overwhelmed because its still cold and I cant handle a wash and go yet.....the every other day I would have to wash is not possible for me yet so I feel, I dont know, kinda trapped

But the options are out there....Im gonna go stalkin the albums now ( )


JAELIN..... is that the same as a turban towel...I have some of those, I use them for deep conditioning sometimes ( wrap freshly washed hair with deep conditioner and leave on for 2 to 3 hrs)

DAT J DyME THANKS HON!!!!girl.....you are right, I have my hair in a bun or clip most of the week so I guess I could CW and bun it for a while..... for a change

JEWELL thanks for the detailed regime, I appreciate it...my hair does go thru changes after 5 to 10th weeks


I will have to try Bantus again.....I did it over the summer and on dry hair it came out really nice but on wet hair, I need to figure that out...it was crinkley and tight waves...I wanted a looser wave so I will have to work on those..



THANKS Again ladies!!!!

 

[Jaelin]

ooooo! Ladies thanks so much for your reponses,comments and/suggestions...

JAELIN..... is that the same as a turban towel...I have some of those, I use them for deep conditioning sometimes ( wrap freshly washed hair with deep conditioner and leave on for 2 to 3 hrs)

If the turban towel has microfiber then it's the same material.

 

[Quinny]

I think I understand what you're saying ccd.
My hair is at brastrap length. I'm married and my husband doesn't mind the time. He's pretty encouraging about it and does my trims. I don't think I spend a lot of time though. I put it away at night (no not in a drawer LOL) in a manner that makes it easy to style in the morning. I wear it both natural and straightened. For straightening I just started trying rollers and that does require some extra time but I usually do my hair at night when I can just work on the computer while treatments are happening or something.
I'm not quite a parent yet but working with my hair (among other things) and having babies in the house is something I work on perfecting. We do foster parenting for babies but only ones that will be in the system for a short time since we are also trying to adopt etc. I know this is tmi but I wanted to get to the kids and hair. So far it's been okay because I do my stuff once they go to bed. I think with children and even so's you just have to plan more. I don't really have the time to do my hair spontaneously so I have to schedule it out and even moreso with kids.
My sister is a mother/wife/homeschooler/and WAHM and she finds plenty of time to do her hair. She wears it pressed.
Planning and maybe stretching your hair out to a 2 day process (e.g.-shampoo one day airdry then press the next) helps.
HTH

Q

 

[FlowerHair]

I agree it's hard work as your hair grows longer. Sometimes my scalp is aching from the sheer weight of my hair in the evenings.

I have realized that the washn'go is no longer an option for me except for special occasions. It takes too much time and preparation to come out right.

So I wash once or twice a week and air dry or blow dry on cool (that saves a lot of time sometimes!!) and after that I braid it at nights and braid or bun it in the daytime.

A braid out works fine after sleeping with two French braids.

 

[EXSQUISIT]

I mostly conditioner wash or rinse daily due to heavy morning exercises, then I airdry in braids. On the weekends, I do my weekly wash, blowdry or rollerset for a sleek look.

 

[Poohbear]

My hair isn't long or all that great or anything, but I've been seeing progress with my hair. Ever since I joined the forum, I cut down on the amount of heat I was using and started taking vitamins and using other products to help get my hair back into shape. I was on the no trim challenge but decided that it wasn't going to work for me because I hated having see-thru ends and having them tangle after I wash. I did the no heat challenge too but stopped because I like using heat on my hair as long as I keep it at a minimum. I like having my hair look somewhat decent wherever I go. I went to a stylist yesterday to cut off some thin damaged ends that I had been hanging on to and I felt so relieved and my hair was much thicker and healthier looking. Now, I'm going back to rollersetting with big rollers, airdry, and then use the Maxiglide on my roots to straighten them every 2 weeks. I dont feel like that's too much heat, plus I'm going to flat iron on the lowest heat setting that my hair can take and still get straight. I feel like as long as I keep heat and manipulation at a minimum, my hair should be fine in the long run. At night, I'm just gonna wear my hair out or all piled up in a satin cap and fluff it out in the morning and maybe use a wide tooth comb if my hair looks out of control after I wake up. So that's how I'm going to maintain my hair as I grow out my natural hair.

 

[Kalani]

I normally air dry or rollerset. During the winter monthes I rollerset but as summer(and mass humidity) approaches I will air dry.

When rollersetting I do it once a week(using hood dryer). The set usually last a full week before it starts to look bad. During the week I will keep the ends moisturized and comb in some serum here and there(usually NTM healing shine serum or Aveda).
When I air dry I usually condition wash every other day and shampoo 2-3 times a week. I leave my hair out as it air drys, then once its dries I pull it into some sort of a style.

 

[Jewell]

You're welcomed CCD...You have great looking hair!! Just be patient with it...trust me, i know its easier said than done!!

 

[amy1234]

I chose rollersets, I do these especially when I am lazy. After I remove the rollers I'll just pull it back into a bun and keep the hair from my face and avoid any manipulation to the hair.

 

[ccd]

Great advice ladies....you gave me some great ideas and a feeling of encouragement....

I managed a wash and set today, after a 4 day washnset ,....it took me 2 1/2 hrs as opposed to 3 and change ( sometimes longer, cause the more time I have the longer the conditioner stays in the hair...I'm in and out in and out of the shower ( ok only once but still)

I did the wash and con in 1/2 hr, rollers in 1/2 and sitting in dryer 1 hr and 15 roughly, airdrying still cause I know someof my ends are stubborn

When it gets warmer I'm going to definitely bring back the wet buns, braids and bantus......can't wait!

Thanks all!!!

 

[Isis]

I'm always looking for ways to simplify my haircare regimen so it isn't time consuming. So far, I've been airdrying in rollersets, then braiding it for a braidout , bun or updo.

 

[tryn2growmyhair]

I'm always looking for ways to simplify my haircare regimen so it isn't time consuming. So far, I've been airdrying in rollersets, then braiding it for a braidout , bun or updo.

How long does it takes for your rollersets to airdry and what do you add to your hair when you do the airdry rollersets? I did a version of that for the first time yesterday and my ends came out nice and my hair felt more moisturized than when it dried loose, but it still felt a little greasy.

 

[ccd]

Its so good to see this poll......I like to know who is doing what in this format ( easier for me to see)

I also realize thru reading this, as my hair is growing, I need to :

a- decide what my realistic goal is

b- accept the fact that rollersetting maybe for special occasions only or when I feel up to the process... I have to get use to aidrying more frequently.....
part of my hestitation to start airdrying is because after my touchup.....I had Cellephanes put in...so it will wash out pretty quickly if I washed more that 1x a week... AND I planed on putting one again in a week or so....

c-I have simplify styling (maybe... on this one.) I get sooo bored with buns after a while...but anyway,


Thanks ladies for all your supportive words and suggestions!!!!

 

[goldensugar23]

hey ladies i saw this posting and read some comments.I feel like some of u ladies go through the same thing i do.My hair is currently i guess tailbone/lower back.

I have to say and agree with some of these ladies the more simple my regime the more my hair grew and takes better.I wear my hair out every day and wear no protective styles.I may wear my hair in a clip during the summer time,My hair tends to get heavy with the heat against my neck.

I do wrap my hair alot however.If i'm home my hair is wrapped.I notice most homes have very dry air which will dry out ur hair.

I will say though my ends can get really dry.I can keep that at bay by putting a small amount of coconut oil on my ends.I carry a small container of it in my purse..lol.I do braid out about twice a month.My hair takes well to them as long as i do not overload product on my hair.My hair thrives on braids and wet sets.I truly can not live without my coconut pre-poo treatmnts.
With long hair its all about the ends and patience.Ur ends are old and old hair is porous and thirsty.

 

[Honi]

I'm between lower bra strap and closer to waist. At the moment I do alot of airdried buns. I plan to enjoy my hair a little this summer so I will wear it out more with rollersets.

 

[balisi]

I believe that the longer my hair gets, the more simple my routine will be. Since my hair is not yet long, I have a fair amount of time to get used to styling and finding what works for my natural hair texture in terms of washing, drying, products, etc. Since long hair has a beauty all its own, I don't think it'll take as much to make it look good. Looking ahead, I'll probably wear lots of buns, twists and twist outs for everyday. For special occasions, I would do a bantu knot set on dry hair for full curls/waves or incorporating into an updo.

 

[brickhouse]

hey ladies i saw this posting and read some comments.I feel like some of u ladies go through the same thing i do.My hair is currently i guess tailbone/lower back.

I have to say and agree with some of these ladies the more simple my regime the more my hair grew and takes better.I wear my hair out every day and wear no protective styles.I may wear my hair in a clip during the summer time,My hair tends to get heavy with the heat against my neck.

I do wrap my hair alot however.If i'm home my hair is wrapped.I notice most homes have very dry air which will dry out ur hair.

I will say though my ends can get really dry.I can keep that at bay by putting a small amount of coconut oil on my ends.I carry a small container of it in my purse..lol.I do braid out about twice a month.My hair takes well to them as long as i do not overload product on my hair.My hair thrives on braids and wet sets.I truly can not live without my coconut pre-poo treatmnts.
With long hair its all about the ends and patience.Ur ends are old and old hair is porous and thirsty.

I am going to have to get some more coconut oil for my ends because they do tend to get dry even though I am about an half of an inch from brastrap. I love doing rollersets and letting them airdry. I learned this from Isis.

 

[brickhouse]

I'm between lower bra strap and closer to waist. At the moment I do alot of airdried buns. I plan to enjoy my hair a little this summer so I will wear it out more with rollersets.

Honi I love your hair. What is your goal as far as length?

 

[Ashee]

I do the protective styles to get my hair closer to BS because it will get snagged on my clothes or bag handles & the ends will break... As for moisture I apply at night & spritz in the morning.
Since I've noticed getting more colds when airdrying during the week I leave that for the weekend when I'm not rushing to go anywhere... I now use my brand new Ion Hood Dryer... *now to wait for the BS Hair Length to arrive*

 

[ccd]

Thanks again for the info ladies.....

I am still working ona simplier routine...the only think that is simple for me now is the rollersetting process believe it or not....I have found the magic solution to make my post 11 week hair get into a roller set...at the later stages my hair cant go thru the airdrying process ( especially in the winter) for a couple of reasons:

1....I have to wet it every other day to keep it looking healthy, other wise it looks dry and fragile

2....detangling becomes a terror

3...I get bored with buns, I will admit that...its hard for me to be in one style at a time but anyway...thats just me


Thanks again (Your words help me figure things out!)