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How long does it take to have long natural hair?

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Chimma

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How long does it take to have like shoulder length or longer natural 4a/4b hair when the hair is unchemically treated, not straightened, and not wet? I have been growing out a relaxer for about 10 months. My relaxed hair reaches to a few inches short of bra-strap length when straightened. My natural hair grows in very thick and at normal rate when stretched, but it seems that it is going to take a long long time before I have a glorious head full of natural hair.

I didn't want to cut off my relaxed hair until I had a LOT of natural hair, and I have been patiently enduring the entire transitioning process for almost a year. My long-term desire is to have bra-strap long natural hair
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, and seeing all the shrinkage issues - I am wondering - is this a reasonable goal? How much longer will I be waiting? 1 year, 2 years, 5 years? Does anyone on this forum have 4a/4b bra strap long natural hair when unstraightened?
 
Well it's really hard to say because everyone has slight differences in curl patterns and shrinkage. But a general pattern I've noticed with myself and other naturals is that just-above SD or shoulder length natural hair = just-above BS or BS b-dried/pressed, and just-aboveBS/BS/below BS natural hair= waist/just below waist b-dried/pressed hair, waist natural=butt-length pressed, and so on. This is only my opinion and what I've noticed it's not a rule, but it will give you something to go by.
i do think you can reach your goal but you will need plenty of patience and if you want to speed it up check out some hair vitamins-do a search. here's a site: www.hairformula37.com


hth
 
I honestly think it will take awhile unless you stretch it. I am 3b/c and therefore a looser curl pattern and my hair is two inches above brastrap but shoulder length while natural. And from what I have seen, I have alot less shrinkage than some naturals. Also, do you have hair that grows out or down? If your hair grows out moer than down, it will be even that much longer to have hair that sits on your shoulder without any manipulation. It took about two years for me to get and even shoulder length natural style. For me to get to brastrap natural hair, I estimate another 2-3 year (by then I should be wat waist length pressed). So that is a total of 4-5 years for me. depending on how bad your shrinkage is, it could be more or less. But if you have 4a/b hair, I would bet on more time before less.

And don't let this discourage you. There are ways to stretch the hair out and still have the same natural look! Every minute, everyday, every month is a step closer to your goal and you will STILL be there before you know it!
 
Yeah, it's going to take a while. I'm a 3c/4a with so much shrinkage it's ridiculous. My hair is past my brastrap when straightened- but when it's natural and dry it's not even to my shoulders. I'm seriously considering getting a texturizer, because I love the texture but I'm tired of the poofy frizziness. The only way that my hair retains any length is if I put in gel and do some serious finger styling.
 
Re: How long does it take to have long natural hai

its gonna take a minute. den1 has waist length hair when stretched and i think its around bs when shrunken.
im get frustrated because my hair gains length but its hard to tell since my shrinkage is so much. but keep the faith- someday we will have long glorious hair!
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My hair was just below my ears in 10/02 now it's on my shoulders and some areas are a little past shoulder length.

My hair looks like nappy waves when unmanipulated and totally dry and when combed out, it shapes out into a big fro.

I think the intense moisturizing treatments and minimal use of heat (I alternate btwn pressing and natural) is the reason for my growth.
 
my hair is shouler lenght in its natural state and past bra strap when streched out. i went natural in summer of 98. I would have been waist lenght by now if i didnt a few hair "accidents". with good care i figure it should take you about 2-3 years to reach bra strap depending on how fast your hair grows including trims and shedding.
 
Yes, it is hard to tell...it depends also on how tight your coils are. My friend has mid-back natural hair which she typically wears pressed, but when she washes it, it coils up very tight to about shoulder length. I guess it just takes a lot of patience?!
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Thanks for all the input! It seems that shoulder length natural hair will take me 1-2 more years, and bra strap length about 5 considering that it is waist length pressed hair. Damn I have a long way to go! I hope that in 2 years I will even remember my goal. lol
 
I agree with the rest of these ladies response. It depends on your hair type. I am mixture of 3b/3c/4a, and my hair never goes past my shoulders when dry. My hair touches my shoulders if i wear it in a bun. But if i don't my hair barely touches my shoulders, and i am approaching waist length hair. No matter how long my hair grow, it shrinks above my shoulders because i am learning my hair grows up and outward.
 
Just before I texturized my hair was 1 inch from shoulderlength. When I straightened it was 4 inches from brastrap.

Now with the texturizer my hair is shoulderlength on the sides a passed shoulderlength in the back.

I had 35% shrinkage when I was natural and my hair shrunk up so that my length was about 3.5 inches shorter than it actually was.

Edited to add if I wasn't texturized I would be shoulderlength in the back but shorter on the sides now. It would have taken me 18 months.
 
It took me about 24 months to grow my natural to shoulder lenghth..but that was before I bumped into this board. I think if I knew then, what I know now, the time would've been a bit shorter. I'm thinking of growing again, now.. so I know what to expect.
 
Shrinkage is a hard taskmaster or mistress!!!!
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Am I am not lovin' it!!!
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And you know what I just did, i braided up the back and pinned it up in a bun. I just don't want to deal with the frustration right now and hopefully I will get some super growth in the next couple of months. I just do not want to look at it right now or be tempted to do something to it on a whim. Bonjour
 
This is hard to answer for me because I didn't exactly shave my head when starting to grow natural, and I've had some road bumps along the way. I started in '99 and as of today my hair stretches to my shoulders, and if blow dried would be an 1" or so past my shoulders. But I wouldn't say it took me 5 years to get there.
 
I will be natural for two years coming this August. I battle with a lot of shrinkage and oftentimes I am befuddled and a bit frustrated because I think my hair is not growing. However, as I began to experiment with other styles, rather than just my trademark afro puff, I noticed that my hair IS long. For the last two years, I was convinced that naturals had to keep their hair trimmed often. So, every six weeks or so, I would cut about 1/4 of an inch, sometimes more. My natural hairstylist recently told me that trimming this often was unnecessary, and could in fact stifle growth. So, now here I am; and I have about 10 inches of healthy, nappy hair. I realize that with better care and unncessary trims, my hair could've been a lot longer. Now that I do a lot of two-strand twist-outs, I am seeing a lot more length and others are commenting on how healthy and long my hair is...

Just hang in there and keep treating your naps right. Take care of your body and drink lots of water and exercise...
 
I have about 50% shrinkage right now. Maybe as it grows out, the shrinkage percentage will decrease some.

I want to be able to wear a twistout where the hair reaches almost to my bra strap. I'm guessing that it would be almost waistlength when straightened. To reach that goal, it will probably take another 3-4 years. The question is, can I grow my hair to my waist?

-Ebony
 
It would take I think 3 years for type 3b-4b hair and mabe two for wavey and ligther curled hair. But when you straighten it. It should be bra strap or longer.
 
I am about bra-strap when straightened but still, even though I am texturized, my hair would dry to right above my shoulders :wallbash: .
 
I have been growing my hair out for a year...

My hair grows very fast ... I do NOT trim my hair that much ... like some of the girls... so I can retain length...

I noticed my hair as no split ends since became natural ....

All that to say ... in a year my hair grew about 11 inches maybe more .. it's about 3 inches from brastrap .... I really need measure it ...
and it shrinks up to my neck ....

I really think that if your are natural ... to show some real length your hair has to be almost waist length...
 
I honestly believe that with proper hair care shoulder length hair can be achieved within 2yrs! Since visiting and learning from this forum I have been able to achieve a very good standard of hair care which is forever changing. My hair really is thanking me and I all the ladies who have offered very good advice.

Quite a few ladies in your position do a BC. Sometimes this can seem a bit drastic but from experience it works. Working with 2 very different textures is hard work, also in addition to different textures of natural hair. My hair always stayed at the same length and now I don't blame it! The damaged ends need to go asap. You can maintain them but eventually they have to go!

I hated the thought of cutting my hair and eventually went to a male barber to have my hair scissor-cut, he used electric shears! Then cut my hair in a style which I did not want or ask for, a rounded afro which he thought would suit me! Even when I confirmed with him that he would use scissors he insisted he would! I even left a tip out of respect, despite not being happy with the cut, because of his generation!

The next day I went to a female salon and the owner suggested a treatment and comb twists, on finishing she suggested vitamins. The barber really did me a big favour, he forced me to experiment! I left the salon very very happy. Unable to do my own comb twists I eventually did my own 2-strand twists.

I'm finding that regular experimenting with protective styles, moisturising, treatments (*hot oil, deep conditioning, cw, misting & reconstructors) and dusting are a key part of my regime. My hair is unbelieveably healthy and the surprising factors are the thickness and the dusting. I dust anywhere between 2wks and 2mths it stops the development of split ends and really helps me to retain more length. I am also getting major shrinkage and the only way to check the true length is to blow-dry my hair, which I rarely do.

People are complimenting me on my hair growth which is great, but good hair care and experimenting takes my mind off the length, which is important, because it allows me to achieve new styles with my longer hair. No, I don't have shoulder length natural hair when unstretched, but I am very very confident that I will have by this time next year.

MeechUK
 
I've decided to focus more on actual length than on how my hair looks unstretched. As my hair grows out, the difference will show in my hairstyles, even if it doesn't look that different when just loose and airdried. My hair has grown around 4 inches since I did the BC almost 5 months ago, and it barely looks longer unless I stretch it out.
I'm working with almost 80% shrinkage here (a 2 inch coil stretches out to about 8.5 inches) , so umm...yeah, won't be looking for hair that just rests at brastrap length anytime soon :lol: It's all good, though :cool:
 
I would have been shoulder length right now if I didn'tget almost 5 inches cut since my BC in Nov 2003. Now that I know what to do with my hair to avoid breakage and splits, I trim less often. In fact my last trim was Jan 28, 2005 :)
 
well i am certainly looking forward to getting the kind of growth u ladies are getting...i am just a newbie with a TWA..
 
Ayeshia said:
I would have been shoulder length right now if I didn'tget almost 5 inches cut since my BC in Nov 2003. Now that I know what to do with my hair to avoid breakage and splits, I trim less often. In fact my last trim was Jan 28, 2005 :)
Click to expand...

I just love your hair girl... you help me to decide to go natural ....

so glad i did ! :kiss:
 
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