Has anyone successfully trained their natural hair to hang?

[Smiley79]

In the coming months, I plan on breaking up with my puff hair styles and stop using my hair pick so much. Of course I'll style my hair like that from time to time, but that is literally all I've done with my hair during my natural journey. Now that I am well out of the TWA phase, I want to style my hair in styles that will just hang more so than puff out. (I hope I'm making sense) But I'm a little clueless about this; I just want to know what I should stop doing and start doing in order to train my hair to accept and achieve hanging hairstyles from now on. In the past when I do twist outs or flat twists, the next morning their so frizzy and I end up picking it out to fluff them into a presentable style. smh. Anyways, any tips will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Prettymetty]

You can use a diffuser to set your hair into the style you want. For example you can dry your wash and go so that it hangs a bit. Airdrying causes it to shrink more I think

 

[Napp]

You can use a diffuser to set your hair into the style you want. For example you can dry your wash and go so that it hangs a bit. Airdrying causes it to shrink more I think

I actually get the reverse results. Diffusing gives me tighter less defined curls than air drying.

as for training, no i havent. Perhaps my hair isnt long enough though.

 

[Smiley79]

^^I was thinking that too...I thought maybe my hair isn't long enough yet, but I think it is enough to at least go in a downward motion rather than straight out.

 

[prettyinpurple]

Honestly I did not have any hang time until it got longer.

Perhaps blow dry your hair a bit before twisting, that will help with frizziness and getting it to hang a little.

 

[MiamiChic]

Its all about what you put in your hair of course. When I clarify my hair with a watery mixture of bentonite clay and water, my hair hangssss after I wash the mixture out. My hair is still super light and falls instead of standing straight up after a wash. My curls are also super defined. (I will come back & post pics) I use this time to do a wash & go with flaxseed gel I made. You can also use a bit of flaxseed gel and twist your hair and you will still get a twistout with results that hang.

What I have come to figure out about my hair is that, the more products I use, the less cooperative my hair is. When I "over moisturize" my hair by adding too much curl enhancing smoothie, or just using any product that attracts moisture to my hair as "leave ins" my hair usually fluffs up & I end up just going into a puff (much like you explained). I've come to learn that my styles come out WAAAAYYY better by deep conditioning well and then apply a light leave in, such as any Giovanni leave in and then an oil such as grapeseed or castor oil just to seal in the moisture from deep conditioning. This allows my hair to actually dry & my styles actually set instead of shrinking up because:

A. my hair is still damp or
B. the products in my hair are attracting moisture.

Also, washing my hair in twists definitely helps with hang time. If my twists become loose, I just retwist under running water to ensure that my hair stays stretched. If you would like, you can follow the above steps after deep conditioning and then just stretch your twists and let them dry. This will also give you a twist out that hangs.

HTH.

 

[Smiley79]

MiamiChic Awww, thank you so much for the detailed advice. If that's your hair in the avi than that is my dream "hanging" hair. But I have no curl/wave definition whatsoever, so I gave up on that hope, lol. I will save these tips and give it a try to see what happens. A little while back I posted about wanting to try betonite clay and then I just passed on it, but I have always been curious about it to see if my hair would respond well to it.

 

[almond eyes]

Your hair begins to hang once it gets to a certain length. Not hang like straight hair does. Hair can hang if it is worn in stretched styles. I saw a woman two weeks ago and her hair was stretched and she told me that it took her four years to get to that level. Her hair hung BSL length though she said when stretched was waist length.

For most people the hang stage begins between 4-7 years of consistent healthy hair practises.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[Smiley79]

almond_eyes Yes I was reading an article that mentioned that too... it could happen on its own once you get to a certain length. I'm also gonna try pinning down my twists at the root to to see if I can get them to not stick upwards when i unravel them.

 

[Froreal3]

Your hang will happen when your hair gets longer. The roots will of course go out, then the length will kind of droop over (if that makes sense).

For more hang, I like to use a butter to twist and do a twist out. It can be dry or damp hair.

 

[MiamiChic]

Smiley79 Don't be fooled by my avi! Lol. I have type 4B/C hair that does not have a curl when dry. HOWEVER, I did the steps above and that's how I got my hair to look like that in my avi. I had to do so much fluffing and picking at it so it can be fluffy because it just wanted to be all tamed and such. Don't give up on your dream. Not giving up is what helped me find out what works for me.

 

[Smiley79]

lol, thanks MiamiChic...girl, while we on the subject, let me tell you about the fluffing and picking! okay that is my biggest frustration EVER when I do a twist out, it's fully dry, I unravel the twists and I have all those spaces between to fill up, so I gently fluff and pick and, boom, I end up with a messy frizz ball of hair. It never fails.
But you're right, i wont give up, I just get real frustrated each time.

 

[MiamiChic]

Smiley79 Is your hair moisturized enough?

I wash my hair in twists and this particular time I used Aphogee curl treatment (or whatever). Rinse. Then keep them in those twists to apply my leave in & oil. Then I retwist them without disturbing the two separate pieces because that will disturb my curls that are stretched and clumping. I bantu knotted my twists and took them out the next day and my hair was super moisturized, defined & bouncy. I had about 15 twists in total. I separated them without disturbing the definition because my curls clumped, so I just separated each piece that wanted to be separated (basically each curl) SO..in the end it looked like that was my natural curl pattern because my clumped curls took the shape of the bantu knot. I also pinned down the front so it can lay how I want it to because I cut the front a lot so its kind of short.

Whew! I hope that made sense.

 

[whiteoleander91]

More length and hair gel, for me. We need a gel appreciation thread lol. I love gel so much

 

[MilkChocolateOne]

Unpopular opinion warning

Some hair types will never experience hang time without manipulation. I have seen past waist length type 4 hair shrink into a 2 inch Afro. the hair remained that way while it was saturated with water.

 

[Smiley79]

Smiley79 Is your hair moisturized enough?

I wash my hair in twists and this particular time I used Aphogee curl treatment (or whatever). Rinse. Then keep them in those twists to apply my leave in & oil. Then I retwist them without disturbing the two separate pieces because that will disturb my curls that are stretched and clumping. I bantu knotted my twists and took them out the next day and my hair was super moisturized, defined & bouncy. I had about 15 twists in total. I separated them without disturbing the definition because my curls clumped, so I just separated each piece that wanted to be separated (basically each curl) SO..in the end it looked like that was my natural curl pattern because my clumped curls took the shape of the bantu knot. I also pinned down the front so it can lay how I want it to because I cut the front a lot so its kind of short.

Whew! I hope that made sense.

Yes I get your point. I need to keep trial and error til I get it.

 

[Smiley79]

Unpopular opinion warning

Some hair types will never experience hang time without manipulation. I have seen past waist length type 4 hair shrink into a 2 inch Afro. the hair remained that way while it was saturated with water.

That's a true point. I'll see as my hair grows more what the deal is for me.

 

[almond eyes]

Unpopular opinion warning

Some hair types will never experience hang time without manipulation. I have seen past waist length type 4 hair shrink into a 2 inch Afro. the hair remained that way while it was saturated with water.

Yes, that could be the case, but I think hair in that case needs to be stretched or lightly blown out. However, I think if you hair is waist length it won't hang like it is two inches either unless it is without product and is super dry. And a lot of it has to do with your hair hydration and stretching.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[MilkChocolateOne]

Yes, that could be the case, but I think hair in that case needs to be stretched or lightly blown out. However, I think if you hair is waist length it won't hang like it is two inches either unless it is without product and is super dry. And a lot of it has to do with your hair hydration and stretching.

Best,
Almond Eyes

have you ever seen mwedzi's fotki or her youtube video of her detangling process? her wet hair was extremely compact and shrunk down to a few inches. why is it so hard to accept that some hair types curl pattern does not hang, stretch or loosen as it gets longer? no amount of water or moisturizer will change it. the only way is to stretch that type of hair and make it hold the new pattern is through product(heavy butters, clay or gels) and or manipulation(banding, braiding, shingling or twisting).

 

[ms-gg]

have you ever seen mwedzi's fotki or her youtube video of her detangling process? her wet hair was extremely compact and shrunk down to a few inches. why is it so hard to accept that some hair types curl pattern does not hang, stretch or loosen as it gets longer? no amount of water or moisturizer will change it. the only way is to stretch that type of hair and make it hold the new pattern is through product(heavy butters, clay or gels) and or manipulation(banding, braiding, shingling or twisting).

I agree and in my opinion, doing what your hair doesn't want to do naturally is how you can end up damaging your hair.

 

[almond eyes]

have you ever seen mwedzi's fotki or her youtube video of her detangling process? her wet hair was extremely compact and shrunk down to a few inches. why is it so hard to accept that some hair types curl pattern does not hang, stretch or loosen as it gets longer? no amount of water or moisturizer will change it. the only way is to stretch that type of hair and make it hold the new pattern is through product(heavy butters, clay or gels) and or manipulation(banding, braiding, shingling or twisting).

I did mention stretching if you saw my comment.

 

[WYSIWYG]

Train my hair? TRAIN MY HAIR?! She has trained ME to give her exactly what she wants and let her do what she wanna do, Missy. Anything less than that is met with deep scorn and endless sass. Train my hair... HA!!!