Hip–Tailbone Length (HL–TBL) 2014 Challenge!

My deep waves looked cute this morning! So I decided not to bun. I've been enjoying my hair and wearing it down a lot! No adverse effects so far.
 
Gave myself another trim about 2 days ago, and now I'm back at BSB again :sad:. I'm so over wearing my natural texture so I hope to get my hair straightened at the end of the week. I haven't used heat on my hair in at least 3 years, and even then my hair never ever actually got straight. The salon I'm going to focuses on "health relaxed and natural hair," and has good prices for everything including some type of keratin treatment.

If everything goes well, I'll probably get my hair straightened a couple of times during the summer, and see how my hair does with possibly heat training. If that's a no-go, then relaxing it is :drunk:. After 5.5 years of being natural, I can't see the perks of wearing my natural texture anymore :nono:.
 
ckisland said:
Gave myself another trim about 2 days ago, and now I'm back at BSB again :sad:. I'm so over wearing my natural texture so I hope to get my hair straightened at the end of the week. I haven't used heat on my hair in at least 3 years, and even then my hair never ever actually got straight. The salon I'm going to focuses on "health relaxed and natural hair," and has good prices for everything including some type of keratin treatment.

If everything goes well, I'll probably get my hair straightened a couple of times during the summer, and see how my hair does with possibly heat training. If that's a no-go, then relaxing it is :drunk:. After 5.5 years of being natural, I can't see the perks of wearing my natural texture anymore :nono:.
Click to expand...

Almost 6 years natural & you're thinking of relaxing?! Oh no! *spank* You better suck it up missy!
 
pre_medicalrulz said:
Almost 6 years natural & you're thinking of relaxing?! Oh no! *spank* You better suck it up missy!
Click to expand...
I just don't know what to do with my hair or how to get over this MBL hump :sad:!! And unlike other ladies I see, my hair does not show any decent length even in stretched styles (and my ends knot up more). So I've been stuck with short, medium sized hair for all these years when what I want is waist to hip length hair :lick:. All I wanted when I went natural was an APL wash n'go, but I've accepted what my hair can and cannot do, and that's not happening :crying3:.

Right now the majority of my hair is the length it was when I got my last relaxer. 5.5 years of hair forums, expensive products, and all the time and energy spent trying to do/style my hair, and the all I have to show is the same length that I had before my hair journey :look:. Yeah I'm feeling some type of way.
 
ckisland said:
I just don't know what to do with my hair or how to get over this MBL hump :sad:!! And unlike other ladies I see, my hair does not show any decent length even in stretched styles (and my ends knot up more). So I've been stuck with short, medium sized hair for all these years when what I want is waist to hip length hair :lick:. All I wanted when I went natural was an APL wash n'go, but I've accepted what my hair can and cannot do, and that's not happening :crying3:.

Right now the majority of my hair is the length it was when I got my last relaxer. 5.5 years of hair forums, expensive products, and all the time and energy spent trying to do/style my hair, and the all I have to show is the same length that I had before my hair journey :look:. Yeah I'm feeling some type of way.
Click to expand...

******huuuugggggsssss*****
 
ckisland said:
I just don't know what to do with my hair or how to get over this MBL hump :sad:!! And unlike other ladies I see, my hair does not show any decent length even in stretched styles (and my ends knot up more). So I've been stuck with short, medium sized hair for all these years when what I want is waist to hip length hair :lick:. All I wanted when I went natural was an APL wash n'go, but I've accepted what my hair can and cannot do, and that's not happening :crying3:.

Right now the majority of my hair is the length it was when I got my last relaxer. 5.5 years of hair forums, expensive products, and all the time and energy spent trying to do/style my hair, and the all I have to show is the same length that I had before my hair journey :look:. Yeah I'm feeling some type of way.
Click to expand...

ckisland .. I just wanna say I wouldn't begin to use heat if i were you...coming from an ex heat ADDICT..I can't speak for everyone...but do you wrap your hair? that can leave it a lot straighter and easier to deal with..it's hard to get the hang of it but totally worth it once u do...also are you sure you are protective styling enough? for me personally, my ends neeeeeeed to be tucked away very often..I'm convinced any more than just a week of me havin my hair down is a no-no..lol..i've worn my hair down like 3 times tops this whole year
 
melahnee said:
ckisland .. I just wanna say I wouldn't begin to use heat if i were you...coming from an ex heat ADDICT..I can't speak for everyone...but do you wrap your hair? that can leave it a lot straighter and easier to deal with..it's hard to get the hang of it but totally worth it once u do...also are you sure you are protective styling enough? for me personally, my ends neeeeeeed to be tucked away very often..I'm convinced any more than just a week of me havin my hair down is a no-no..lol..i've worn my hair down like 3 times tops this whole year
Click to expand...

I don't wrap my hair since it's shrunken most of the time. Do you mean wrapping after straightening or do you mean wrapping hair in its curly state? If it's the latter could you explain how to do it :D ?
After a bit of research, I think that I will go with straightening my hair once a month. I'm not worried about being a heat addict, because it would take way more effort than I'm willing to put in on a regular basis :lol:. I have to look after my natural hair all the time because I know knots, tangles, and matts are lurking around every corner :nono:. I just want to be able to wear a ponytail, bun, or it just down without having to worry about my hair turning into a poofy, tangled mess. I tried PSing, but all twists, braids, and buns with my ends tucked in led to are either scraggily or knotty ends :perplexed.

I have a style idea that I'm going to try out, and hopefully it will be a happy medium. But one of my big big issues is that I want feel and deal with the full length of my hair. I want to play in my hair DANGIT!!!! :lol:
 
Last edited:
ckisland said:
I don't wrap my hair since it's shrunken most of the time. Do you mean wrapping after straightening or do you mean wrapping hair in its curly state? If it's the latter could you explain how to do it :D ?
After a bit of research, I think that I will go with straightening my hair once a month. I'm not worried about being a heat addict, because it would take way more effort than I'm willing to put in on a regular basis :lol:. I have to look after my natural hair all the time because I know knots, tangles, and matts are lurking around every corner :nono:. I just want to be able to wear a ponytail, bun, or it just down without having to worry about my hair turning into a poofy, tangled mess. I tried PSing, but all twists, braids, and buns with my ends tucked in led to are either scraggily or knotty ends :perplexed.

I have a style idea that I'm going to try out, and hopefully it will be a happy medium. But one of my big big issues is that I want feel and deal with the full length of my hair. I want to play in my hair DANGIT!!!! :lol:
Click to expand...

GIRL i know the feeling!! my hair has been hiding for soo long but that's just gonna make it so much better when we finally let it breathe! :grin:
I'm sorry to hear PS'ing and such isn't working out for you too well..my answer to your question is heck NO I do not wrap my hair when it's in its curly state lol, I begin wrapping it once it's "stretched"..my hair gets very stretched with bantu knots all over the place, i do them when my hair is still damp and it dries wavy and much easier to wrap...NOT easy..but easier :lachen: it took me lots of practice to get it down, but you know what? I suck at hairstyles and I'm not even kidding :blush: If I can do this, anyone can..trust me :spinning:
but straightening once a month really doesn't sound TOO bad..i would try my hardest to go without if i were you..but if you must, you know what to do..heat protectant and take care of that beautiful hurr you are workin hard for! :lick:
 
OooOoo my bun is looking HOT today!! I figured bun all week & take it down, loosely pinned up or something, during the weekend. ;) *yummy*

I've heard a lot of ladies say switch up diff places of your bun but honestly my buns are not tight & are tied w/ a sock, not a hairband so I think I'll be ok. ;)
 
@ckisland I know what you mean. It's nice to actually feel your length from time to time. I'm not one who thinks heat, in itself, will have a negative impact on your hair. I think once a month sounds reasonable to me.

Now, I know this won't show your length but, have you tried Curlformers. I can see you with a head full of those curls. :yep: Just something to consider.

In any case, we gotcho back.

pre_medicalrulz said:
OooOoo my bun is looking HOT today!! I figured bun all week & take it down, loosely pinned up or something, during the weekend. ;) *yummy*

I've heard a lot of ladies say switch up diff places of your bun but honestly my buns are not tight & are tied w/ a sock, not a hairband so I think I'll be ok. ;)
Click to expand...

pre_medicalrulz Ok, I know you didn't just come fluttering through going on about your Hot, yummy bun with no pics for us to drool over. Shame! You've been here long enough to know better. :spank:
 
melahnee , I just gave your wrapping idea a try. It's real bootleg, but I hope it comes out. . . well. I actually don't know what I should be expecting :lol:

NJoy , I want to try curlformers but they're just so expensive :ohwell:, and they would still probably leave me with only SL hair :spinning:. Heat once a month just sounds so appealing.

I keep picturing flipping my hair over my shoulder, having a ponytail long enough to brush against my back, and being able to walk anywhere and have everyone know that my hair is long. Is that too much to ask :weird: ?
 
ckisland said:
@melahnee , I just gave your wrapping idea a try. It's real bootleg, but I hope it comes out. . . well. I actually don't know what I should be expecting :lol:

@NJoy , I want to try curlformers but they're just so expensive :ohwell:, and they would still probably leave me with only SL hair :spinning:. Heat once a month just sounds so appealing.

I keep picturing flipping my hair over my shoulder, having a ponytail long enough to brush against my back, and being able to walk anywhere and have everyone know that my hair is long. Is that too much to ask :weird: ?
Click to expand...


put a silk scarf on too if you have one! it makes a difference for me, probably something to do with my own body heat. i really hope it works for you!! it makes my hair quite a bit straighter.
 
I hope I can add my two cents in and it'll make a difference because this one really has me stumped, @ckisland. :nono: I say really think long and hard about this one. You probably have but I think since you were able to gather your thoughts together to form words, you should take some time to reflect on those words and see if they really stand true to their meaning.

Maybe take a blank sheet of paper and go through some pros and cons of being natural vs heat trained vs relaxed? Make some simple then complex pros and cons for each to really weigh in on which could be more beneficial? Take your time, it doesn't have to be complete in one day. A lot of the time other people's opinions subconsciously reflect on our decisions so make sure this list is based on you and you alone. At the end of the day, it's just hair and even though on LHCF we act a little crazy over it sometimes, it isn't the be all and end all. You can always transition back to being fully natural if you hate your heat trained or relaxed hair, it'll take long but it's not like you can never get your hair back.

Personally, if I was in your shoes, I would stay natural as long as I can until I was absolutely secure in what I wanted to do. Like... I'd probably wait this year out and see how I felt in early 2014. You seem to be too much on the fence to make any type of decision any time soon. Give it a few more months before you act while trying every technique to try to solve your hair woes.
 
@ Aireen, thank you for your post :yep:. I've considered relaxing or heat training at the end of year, and like four other times besides that. In the past, I've punked out, because I couldn't see myself without my natural curl pattern and because I wanted to stay natural for the sole purpose of being natural. I was holding on to visions of my dream hair, but since it ain't happening, and I can't wear my curl pattern anyway (needing to keep it stretched), then there's no loss :ohwell:. I made a list in my head, but putting it on paper is a great idea.

I'm getting my hair straightened at salon on Monday, so I'll see if I like it straight and if heat is on the table. That's a good way to test the waters.
 
ckisland said:
@ Aireen, thank you for your post :yep:. I've considered relaxing or heat training at the end of year, and like four other times besides that. In the past, I've punked out, because I couldn't see myself without my natural curl pattern and because I wanted to stay natural for the sole purpose of being natural. I was holding on to visions of my dream hair, but since it ain't happening, and I can't wear my curl pattern anyway (needing to keep it stretched), then there's no loss :ohwell:. I made a list in my head, but putting it on paper is a great idea.

I'm getting my hair straightened at salon on Monday, so I'll see if I like it straight and if heat is on the table. That's a good way to test the waters.
Click to expand...
Sorry if the advice is pretty straight forward but I kind of felt like I needed to say at least something since you're going through a tough time. This may not be popular opinion but I don't suggest staying natural just for the sake of it, it makes no sense to put up with something just for the title. At the end of the day, you have to know what you're doing and love what you're doing. I like that you're at least waiting, I don't want to see a new thread or post stating you relaxed hastily and regret it -- I know a lot of the time I just shake my head when I read those. I'd wait until at least next March to decide.
 
Ladies, thank you for being so supportive and helpful to me in these troubling times lol. I really appreciate it :blowkiss: .

I typed out a natural (no heat) vs heat regularly/heat training vs relaxed list and the conclusion was:
natural had the least pros and most cons
heat had the most pros and least cons
lack of shrinkage, less daily maintenance, and more styling options were the major pros of both heat and relaxing
heat/relaxing would allow me to wash my hair less (my hair gets weak from constant washing yet tangled from not enough washing :perplexed) and PS more since I would have better style options
the possibility of chemical damage is a big con for relaxing

The only real positives I could honestly think of for my natural state was no possibility for chemical or heat damage (which is a duh) and I can wear wash n'gos. But I hate the shrinkage of my wash n'gos, only 1 out of my 3 textures really cooperates, and I hate using and the feel of gel, but that's the only way for me to do a "healthy" wash n'go. So it's a pro with a lot of stipulations :lol: . Basically, I love my natural hair because it's mine, rather than because of some awesome characteristic or perk it has. Now that I'm out of the honeymoon/ first year of marriage phase, my hair is mine as long as it keeps growing out of my scalp :lol:.
 
Last edited:
ckisland I was natural for 7 years before texlaxing 4 years ago. I decided to relax in the end because, when natural or textlaxed if I straightened my hair, by the time I woke up in the morning I was back to square one and dealing with curls again. This led to my using a lot of heat in an attempt to keep the hair straight, the high heat usage started to take a toll on my hair. I didn't see the point in using heat so regularly as it would only lead to damage and I wanted to wear my hair straight so I relaxed.

IMO if you have hair that reverts quickly, I don't think that using heat once a month will have a big impact on the issues you listed. I'm also a little sceptical about heat trained hair, I kind of equate it to heat damage, if my hair is natural and curly and I am able to use heat to train my hair to behave straight, the curl pattern would have to be damaged for my hair to be straight if that makes sense (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), as a long term solution, I see that as a setback waiting to happen.

How do you feel about wigs and weaves for PS?
 
ckisland said:
I just don't know what to do with my hair or how to get over this MBL hump :sad:!! And unlike other ladies I see, my hair does not show any decent length even in stretched styles (and my ends knot up more). So I've been stuck with short, medium sized hair for all these years when what I want is waist to hip length hair :lick:. All I wanted when I went natural was an APL wash n'go, but I've accepted what my hair can and cannot do, and that's not happening :crying3:.

Right now the majority of my hair is the length it was when I got my last relaxer. 5.5 years of hair forums, expensive products, and all the time and energy spent trying to do/style my hair, and the all I have to show is the same length that I had before my hair journey :look:. Yeah I'm feeling some type of way.
Click to expand...

ckisland I get that you want to show your true length all the time as your hair grows longer but it's not that your hair wasn't retaining length, it was - until something happened to slow down your retention. Do you know what that thing was?

You are right, the only way to see your length all the time is by permanently stretching the hair by a chemical process. If you are sure that's what you want to do and that it will make a difference to your length retention, choose the process wisely and just go for it!

To get over a hump, the only way I've done it is to keep the hair properly moisturised, in a PS and on a no heat regimen. When you get to HL/TBL natural, somehow, I don't think you'll be too bothered about showing your length :lol: Your twist-outs and braid-outs, flat-irons, wash and gos, etc. will hang longer because the hair will be heavier and longer. I think that right now you are just frustrated at being stuck at the same point and even worse now since you've had to cut back. If you can hang in there until about WL and beyond, your natural hair may surprise you.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Aireen
Hip–Tailbone Length (HL–TBL) 2015-2016 Challenge!
36 37 38
Replies
1K
Views
146K
Chicoro
Chicoro
F
~~TBL 2012 Challenge~~
10 11 12
Replies
357
Views
62K
FoxxyLocs
F
Blairx0
Setting to Success 2014 Challenge
83 84 85
Replies
3K
Views
252K
sexypebbly
sexypebbly
Janet'
Hip Length (HL) 2012!!!!
21 22 23
Replies
666
Views
144K
eocceas
eocceas
SingBrina
BSL 2014 Challenge
Replies
4
Views
2K
MayaNatural
MayaNatural
Back
Top