If you've had a TWA and wore it as an afro...

[yamilee21]

how many inches was your hair before it started becoming a lot of work to shape it into an afro? (Assuming you have about 90% shrinkage.)

 

[Nonie]

I've never really had problem shaping my hair into an afro coz S Curl makes it shrink and form coils that if combed out just form a roundish shape that can be patted into perfection.

I'm not sure I follow: why are you having difficulty shaping it into an afro? Is it flopping? Are you blowdrying it?

BTW, I have type 4B which can form into a roundish shape at any length. You just need a pick with longer teeth when it grows longer.

 

[yamilee21]

I'm just curious. My son doesn't want to cut his hair; it's about 4 1/2 to 5 inches long now, but still shrinks to a 1/2 to 3/4 inch afro, so it is still easy to shape. I am wondering how much longer it can get before it starts becoming harder to shape. His hair is type 4, too.

 

[LadyPaniolo]

I never really worried about shaping it... after I had moisturized it and combed it out, I'd just kinda pat the top. It seemed to look okay to me, but I wasn't really sweating it either way.

 

[OhSoOthentik]

I dont worry about shape either. I kind of like a more chunky look to my fro anyway, with curl definition.

 

[Nonie]

I'm just curious. My son doesn't want to cut his hair; it's about 4 1/2 to 5 inches long now, but still shrinks to a 1/2 to 3/4 inch afro, so it is still easy to shape. I am wondering how much longer it can get before it starts becoming harder to shape. His hair is type 4, too.

I don't think he'll ever have a problem with shaping. This was my hair after the BC, about 3 inches stretched:

This is my hair 2 years later, while not deliberately shaped into an afro (I was getting ready to press--and you can see even my press could probably create a weird looking afro ), you can see shrinkage makes it easy to shape into an afro:

This is my hair slightly stretched with braids still able to make an afro puff which means an afro would be no problem either:

This is the same hair that was stretched as it looks on wash day after S Curl was applied to damp hair:

So you see, with 4B hair, there's never a length when an afro can't be formed IMO.

 

[yamilee21]

I don't think he'll ever have a problem with shaping. ... So you see, with 4B hair, there's never a length when an afro can't be formed IMO.

That's what I was afraid of; he wants the Jackson 5 style "big hair," as he calls it. It will be interesting to see if there is a length at which it finally can no longer defy gravity.

Nonie, how long was your hair, stretched, in the 2 years later picture? Two years of growth would have been 6 to 12+ inches in addition to the original 3 inches.

 

[Nonie]

That's what I was afraid of; he wants the Jackson 5 style "big hair," as he calls it. It will be interesting to see if there is a length at which it finally can no longer defy gravity.

Nonie, how long was your hair, stretched, in the 2 years later picture? Two years of growth would have been 6 to 12+ inches in addition to the original 3 inches.

I didn't measure it but I dust my hair regularly and don't protective style so there's no way I'd retain 12 inches in two years. For maximum retention IMO, once you dust, then you must keep ends sealed and hidden away from the drying air. Not only did I NOT use any leave-in product in my hair in those two years, which means no sealing of ends was taking place, I never protective styled so retention was a joke. Ever since I proved I can grow my hair to shoulder length, I don't seem to take the hair growth journey as seriously as I once did. Story of my life. It's like once I prove to myself I can do something I never thought I could, it's like I put that info on a shelf.

So while I didn't measure my hair, this was the pic of the hair you saw above when not shrunken:

 

[OhSoOthentik]

Wow Nonie you have serious shrinkage. I like your fro.