Is There Anyone That Did Not Have Long Hair As A Child But Now You Do?

[nothidden]

A relative had short hair as a child, not really enough for a whole pony tail. As an adult it grew to shoulder length. Not sure what the issue was growing up. I think it was stress.

 

[snoop]

OP I have to disagree with the statement that because your hair was in cornrows it was taken care of..."you" in the general sense, that is. As a kid, my hair was mostly in plaits and cornrows as well. The longest it ever reached was NL. My mom didn't have the best hair care practices as per the things I learned from this board. We just didn't know about finger combing, and cowashing, and moisturized with anything other than grease or dampening the hair before combing. I remember thinking that I'd achieved some sort of hair success if I broke the teeth out of a comb...or better yet when the comb snapped in half. Woo! I'd arrived! Then of the closest half was the half with the fine teeth, just rake that through until the style was done. Plus the product offering I think was way different. Much more patroleum-based products vs water-based. I'd braid my hair and grease my scalp a few times a week. And there was no way water was going to touch my hair before wash day.

Finding this forum was the turning point for my retention. The pp have already summarized many of the successful retention practices. I know better and trying to help others do better as well.

My hair is struggling to graze WL. I think I had a mini setback this year wearing so many twist outs for the summer -- my punishment for trying to "enjoy" my hair I guess. I'm hoping to claim by New Years though.

Patience and consistency.

 

[DST1913]

I want to thank all of you ladies for giving me encouragement and sharing your stories. It really helps me to believe that its not an impossible feat. I am going to continue my transition and HHJ and hope I get results like all of you. I do think the relaxer has been definitely one of my hindrances because I already have fine hair and the relaxer was making it even thinner.

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

I want to thank all of you ladies for giving me encouragement and sharing your stories. It really helps me to believe that its not an impossible feat. I am going to continue my transition and HHJ and hope I get results like all of you. I do think the relaxer has been definitely one of my hindrances because I already have fine hair and the relaxer was making it even thinner.

Thank you for this thread!

Sending you warm vibes for the rest of your hair journey, and wishing for you utter and profound patience and joy-about-your-hair-in-the-meanwhile type appreciation for your hair!!!

I've got about three years of growing left! I'll be with you in great solidarity. :hug:

 

[Bunnyhaslonghair]

I ask this question because I've been contemplating this answer. A lot of women that have long hair as adults or that are taking care of their hair and their hair grows very long, also had very long hair as a child, just throughout the years their hair has been relaxed or they didn't take care of it and it wasn't healthy so it did not grow. Once they started taking care of it grew to the length it was when they were young. As a child I always had shoulder length hair that never grew beyond that and my hair was in cornrows 99% of the time so it was taken care of. I wonder if it's even possible for me to get lengths like armpit and bra strap or if I am genetically predisposed not to. I wanted to know if anyone went from having no hair as a child to having long hair as an adult.

Yes it's possible! My hair is longer as an adult than it was as a child. Terminal length on humans imo is probably knee length and beyond. I get sad when I see people say their terminal length is something much shorter. People/stylists have been using terminal length when it comes to black women's hair as an excuse since I was a kid.

 

[VictoriousBrownFlower]

Awesome thread...Thanks @Bunnyhaslonghair for the bump. Def a great and encouraging read.

 

[DST1913]

This was a really good thread. Im glad I started this as it helped me to be more positive about my hair journey and gave me hope that I may be able to achieve length. I just read it over again and it made me feel good.

 

[Cattypus1]

I ask this question because I've been contemplating this answer. A lot of women that have long hair as adults or that are taking care of their hair and their hair grows very long, also had very long hair as a child, just throughout the years their hair has been relaxed or they didn't take care of it and it wasn't healthy so it did not grow. Once they started taking care of it grew to the length it was when they were young. As a child I always had shoulder length hair that never grew beyond that and my hair was in cornrows 99% of the time so it was taken care of. I wonder if it's even possible for me to get lengths like armpit and bra strap or if I am genetically predisposed not to. I wanted to know if anyone went from having no hair as a child to having long hair as an adult.

Didn't have long or even average length hair as a child. My hair did not reach my ears. I didn't have braids, I had plaits that stuck up in the air every chance they got. My relaxed hair got to touching BSL. I BC-ed and been natural for about 3 years and I'm longer now than I ever was as a child. I'm approaching APL and confident I can grow longer.

 

[DST1913]

Didn't have long or even average length hair as a child. My hair did not reach my ears. I didn't have braids, I had plaits that stuck up in the air every chance they got. My relaxed hair got to touching BSL. I BC-ed and been natural for about 3 years and I'm longer now than I ever was as a child. I'm approaching APL and confident I can grow longer.

How did you get your relaxed hair long? Was it just healthy hair practices?

 

[Cattypus1]

The longest my hair has been as a child was shoulder length. It grew to APL when I relaxed as an adult. Then I transitioned to natural and suffered a few setbacks before I texlaxed. First setback was a black tea rinse that made my hair shrink to the point where I couldn't even comb it. Second setback was when I had an SSK and split ends city on my head. Third setback in June 2014 was heat damage from a Chi Enviro Treatment.

Finally I understand my hair a lot better, I'm still texlaxed and my hair is at BSB length right now - the longest it has ever been. Funny thing is, it seemed to have grown a lot faster after the third setback. I PS a lot using wigs on braided/plait hair, trim only 2 times a year, deep condition once a week and take vitamins daily. These practices have helped me retain my hair lately.

OMG! I've been thinking that I might have some heat damage from a Chi Enviro treatment last September. I've done some research and you are the first person to say that you experienced damage from that. I was thinking I was crazy! Thank you.

 

[Cattypus1]

How did you get your relaxed hair long? Was it just healthy hair practices?

I love conditioners and I went through a no heat challenge before I even knew these forums existed. I realized that I didn't want straight hair except on occasion and that I was doing something stupid by relaxing every 8 weeks to wear twistouts all the time. I have to admit that my relaxed hair was easier to get 3 or 4 days from a twistout.

 

[Aggie]

OMG! I've been thinking that I might have some heat damage from a Chi Enviro treatment last September. I've done some research and you are the first person to say that you experienced damage from that. I was thinking I was crazy! Thank you.

Oh yeah, I saw that within days of doing the Chi Enviro treatment that my hair was damaged, so I just cut it all off and started all over again. No use crying over spoiled milk and hair I couldn't keep

 

[Cattypus1]

@Aggie i didn't notice mine immediately but then again I don't think I even knew what to look for. I didn't have a lot but there are specific areas where the ends won't stay twisted. It's not bad enough that I would cut it off especially since I'm partial to every dang inch...LOL. I'm just working around it.

 

[Aggie]

@Aggie i didn't notice mine immediately but then again I don't think I even knew what to look for. I didn't have a lot but there are specific areas where the ends won't stay twisted. It's not bad enough that I would cut it off especially since I'm partial to every dang inch...LOL. I'm just working around it.

Oh no, my hair was snapping off left, right, and center every time I touched it, so I knew I had heat damage all over. I will never do one of those treatments again. I was tempted to try another brand but after that horrific experience, I decided against it.

 

[Evolving78]

I didn't answer the question in this thread, but I had SL hair when I was in elementary school. I kept my hair in a short pixie starting at the age of 12. I was allowed to get my hair cut like that, since I was able to maintain it on my own with washing and styling. The longest my hair has been with BSL before I had a serious setback with knotting from shedding hair. Before I would grow out my hair to APL, then cut it off to try something different.
I have fine hair. I was told as a kid it was fine and behaved like cotton candy. It was soft and didn't hold a style/press for long. It still doesn't.
I'm SL right now and my goal this year is APL. After that i would like WL hair. lol I know I can get there.

I do things very differently than a lot of ladies on this board.
I only comb my hair on wash days
I wash my hair 2-3 times a week
I deep condition each time
I have no problem with heat. (I think everyone can use heat once a week...)
I trim often
I don't believe in mixing up a lot of products.
I don't care for natural hair products for my natural or relaxed hair
I believe in sulfates and having a clean hair and scalp
I don't use weave to protective style. (I feel that's a crutch)

The key to my hair growth is washing my hair often, drinking water, no brushes, and not combing daily. Hydration is the Key!

 

[DST1913]

I didn't answer the question in this thread, but I had SL hair when I was in elementary school. I kept my hair in a short pixie starting at the age of 12. I was allowed to get my hair cut like that, since I was able to maintain it on my own with washing and styling. The longest my hair has been with BSL before I had a serious setback with knotting from shedding hair. Before I would grow out my hair to APL, then cut it off to try something different.
I have fine hair. I was told as a kid it was fine and behaved like cotton candy. It was soft and didn't hold a style/press for long. It still doesn't.
I'm SL right now and my goal this year is APL. After that i would like WL hair. lol I know I can get there.

I do things very differently than a lot of ladies on this board.
I only comb my hair on wash days
I wash my hair 2-3 times a week
I deep condition each time
I have no problem with heat. (I think everyone can use heat once a week...)
I trim often
I don't believe in mixing up a lot of products.
I don't care for natural hair products for my natural or relaxed hair
I believe in sulfates and having a clean hair and scalp
I don't use weave to protective style. (I feel that's a crutch)

The key to my hair growth is washing my hair often, drinking water, no brushes, and not combing daily. Hydration is the Key!

Oh man I have never heard anyone else refer to their hair as cotton candy except me! I have been told this all my life. My hair is sooo soft. Its also fine and has never held a style especially anything with a curl. Nice to hear Im not alone.

You have to do what you know works for your hair. I went the no cone/sulfate free route due to transitioning and its really worked wonders for my scalp which I think was part of my growth issues. I also am finding that to keep hair on my head I need lots of protein to strengthen my fine strands. My hair has really been thriving with more protein. I also just discovered homemade goat milk conditioner which left my hair pretty strong. Im going to use that on a regular basis. I'm thinking of incorporating cones as I think my hair really responds to them well.

 

[Evolving78]

Oh man I have never heard anyone else refer to their hair as cotton candy except me! I have been told this all my life. My hair is sooo soft. Its also fine and has never held a style especially anything with a curl. Nice to hear Im not alone.

You have to do what you know works for your hair. I went the no cone/sulfate free route due to transitioning and its really worked wonders for my scalp which I think was part of my growth issues. I also am finding that to keep hair on my head I need lots of protein to strengthen my fine strands. My hair has really been thriving with more protein. I also just discovered homemade goat milk conditioner which left my hair pretty strong. Im going to use that on a regular basis. I'm thinking of incorporating cones as I think my hair really responds to them well.

See I can't handle too much protein. I can't do any hard protein treatments. I know my ends are a little more porous due to them being bleached. I can't deep condition for too long either, and I can't do the baggy method overnight. I use a sulfate shampoo and follow with a non sulfate. Non sulfates causes buildup over time. Using sulfates and washing frequently allows me to not have to rely on a clarifying shampoo.

I use cones since it provides smoothness and slip. I can't use heavy creams and butters. And I use liquid moisturizers/leave-ins. They are light.

 

[DST1913]

See I can't handle too much protein. I can't do any hard protein treatments. I know my ends are a little more porous due to them being bleached. I can't deep condition for too long either, and I can't do the baggy method overnight. I use a sulfate shampoo and follow with a non sulfate. Non sulfates causes buildup over time. Using sulfates and washing frequently allows me to not have to rely on a clarifying shampoo.

I use cones since it provides smoothness and slip. I can't use heavy creams and butters. And I use liquid moisturizers/leave-ins. They are light.

Are you relaxed or natural? I couldnt use creams or butters when I was relaxed but with transitioning I can. I also find liquid leave ins work better for me as well with the exception of "knot today"

 

[Evolving78]

Are you relaxed or natural? I couldnt use creams or butters when I was relaxed but with transitioning I can. I also find liquid leave ins work better for me as well with the exception of "knot today"

I'm relaxed now. I couldn't get Knot today to work for me as a natural, or relaxed. The aloe was too much. It would feel good at first, then my hair would feel still like straw.
Are you gonna big chop, or just trim off the relaxed ends?

 

[Misseyl]

I will come back to this question in 2019-2020.

 

[DST1913]

I'm relaxed now. I couldn't get Knot today to work for me as a natural, or relaxed. The aloe was too much. It would feel good at first, then my hair would feel still like straw.
Are you gonna big chop, or just trim off the relaxed ends?

I'm trimming as I go. I am almost APL and my psyche couldn't handle a big chop. I've decided to be a long term transitioner. Im surprised knot today didnt work. Aloe vera juice alone does absolutely nothing for me. I've never had to deal with tangles until I started transitioning. Knot today or Jane Carters detangler works well although last week I discovered Tressamme Botanique conditioner and that stuff melted every single tangle. Im definitely keeping that in my stash.

 

[SAPNK]

I think my hair is about the same as it was when I was a child and my mom was caring for it. A little past shoulder length. However, when I hit middle school I wanted to do my own hair, and I don't know how it could happen in less than a year, but looking at my picture on the last day of school in fifth grade to my sixth grade school photos, my hair went from shoulder length to neck length. I couldn't even put it in a ponytail. It was horrid. So my hair is longer than it was from sixth grade to going natural in high school.

 

[sgold04]

My hair is longer now than it ever was as a child. When I was really young it was about shoulder length. When I was relaxed in high school and college, the longest my hair ever got was to my collarbone. I've been natural for 10 or 11 years, but I didn't learn how to take care of my hair until about 5 years ago. My natural hair still grew quite long with me doing everything wrong.

My hair is now MBL when stretched, I've gotten close to waist length, but then I'll have a set back (ALWAYS a stylist who "trims" 4-5 inches). Right now I'm enjoying my recent cut (gave my natural hair some shape), so I'm letting my hair roam free a lot longer than usual, which means I have a ton of ssks *shrug*. I kinda want to give WL a go again, but I'm also loving my hair as is. It's easy, and the people love it lol.

 

[Crackers Phinn]

My hair is longer now than I ever dreamed it would be as a kid. After a natural/relaxed/natural/relaxed/currently transitioning ???? rollercoaster I'm apl now, the longest my hair has been was wsl. As a kid the longest my hair ever got was shoulder length.

I was a caregiver to my mother and her hair was always shorter than mine and I got her to bsl for the first time in her 60's through relaxer stretching and protective styling.

For both of us there were no magic potions or creams, it was all technique. Even though I know we read the relaxer instructions, prior to joining the board I always relaxed root to tip and the same was done when I went to a salon. Just relaxing roots and preventing overlapping was a revolutionary concept even though it was right there plain as day in the instructions.

Also, resisting the urge to wear my hair down everyday to retain length was a game changer. Mind you this is also the bane of my existence because I'm style challenged and hate always looking like a librarian.

 

[Pygmy_puff]

My hair is longer now than I ever dreamed it would be as a kid. After a natural/relaxed/natural/relaxed/currently transitioning ???? rollercoaster I'm apl now, the longest my hair has been was wsl. As a kid the longest my hair ever got was shoulder length.

I was a caregiver to my mother and her hair was always shorter than mine and I got her to bsl for the first time in her 60's through relaxer stretching and protective styling.

For both of us there were no magic potions or creams, it was all technique. Even though I know we read the relaxer instructions, prior to joining the board I always relaxed root to tip and the same was done when I went to a salon. Just relaxing roots and preventing overlapping was a revolutionary concept even though it was right there plain as day in the instructions.

Also, resisting the urge to wear my hair down everyday to retain length was a game changer. Mind you this is also the bane of my existence because I'm style challenged and hate always looking like a librarian.

The fact that you got your mom's hair to grow long in her 60's really gives me hope. Growing up, my mom always warned me never to cut my hair because she believed that once it was cut, it would never grow long again.

Now I know that sounds kind of silly, but my mom's fear wasn't entirely baseless. You see, when she was in her teens she had extremely long, relaxed hair. It was a source of pride for her. Then, one day when she was in her mid-20s, she decided on a whim to cut her hair into a pixie cut, fully believing that it would grow long again.

But it never did.

The longest she has been able to achieve since those days is CBL. I went natural in my late 20s because my hair had slowly become shorter and more damaged over the years from relaxers and poor hair care. So when I big chopped, I 90% believed that with proper care my hair would grow long again like it did in my teens. I know, of course, that my mother's hair likely hasn't retained because of her poor hair care habits, and not because it somehow stopped growing. But still, there is that 10% of me that worries my hair won't grow.

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

 

[Evolving78]

I'm trimming as I go. I am almost APL and my psyche couldn't handle a big chop. I've decided to be a long term transitioner. Im surprised knot today didnt work. Aloe vera juice alone does absolutely nothing for me. I've never had to deal with tangles until I started transitioning. Knot today or Jane Carters detangler works well although last week I discovered Tressamme Botanique conditioner and that stuff melted every single tangle. Im definitely keeping that in my stash.

I had to throw that conditioner away! lol I was so mad it didn't work! I thought I was gonna use it for cowashing...no ma'am to caused tangles and left my hair feeling waxy.

 

[DST1913]

I had to throw that conditioner away! lol I was so mad it didn't work! I thought I was gonna use it for cowashing...no ma'am to caused tangles and left my hair feeling waxy.

Girl! You may have unicorn hair. Lol I thought my hair was persnickity but you have me beat. Some unconventional things for me are... My hair HATES ACV. I cant do rinses or use that shea moisture JBCO shampoo. My hair will tangle immediately. I also cant do any type of water spritz on a daily basis or my hair gets mushy, and my hair loveesss the sun. I see so many articles on protecting your hair from sun rays but for some reason my hair thrives in the sun. The more I spend out in the sun the more my hair grows. It also changes to a pretty brownish blonde.

 

[Evolving78]

Girl! You may have unicorn hair. Lol I thought my hair was persnickity but you have me beat. Some unconventional things for me are... My hair HATES ACV. I cant do rinses or use that shea moisture JBCO shampoo. My hair will tangle immediately. I also cant do any type of water spritz on a daily basis or my hair gets mushy, and my hair loveesss the sun. I see so many articles on protecting your hair from sun rays but for some reason my hair thrives in the sun. The more I spend out in the sun the more my hair grows. It also changes to a pretty brownish blonde.

You are a sun goddess!
But all of those things you mentioned, I can't do those either. Lol I just can't! Call me Can't Do Nothing! Lol

 

[beingofserenity]

Girl! You may have unicorn hair. Lol I thought my hair was persnickity but you have me beat. Some unconventional things for me are... My hair HATES ACV. I cant do rinses or use that shea moisture JBCO shampoo. My hair will tangle immediately. I also cant do any type of water spritz on a daily basis or my hair gets mushy, and my hair loveesss the sun. I see so many articles on protecting your hair from sun rays but for some reason my hair thrives in the sun. The more I spend out in the sun the more my hair grows. It also changes to a pretty brownish blonde.

How can you tell the effect sun had on your hair growth?

Just curious. I've never heard this before.

 

[Coilystep]

My hair was always between shoulder length and bra strap as a kid and adult. I received my first perm when I was 12. My hair was always considered long by family and friends. My hair now between apl and bsl. I hope to reach at least waist length. I have a lot of shrinkage and it hovers around neck length when dry.