Lets Discuss : Hair Myths, Unthruths, LIES!!

[*ElleB]

Girls, I was reading the latest issue of Essence Magazine today and they had a section talking about this, and apparantly, the L'oreal Institute for Ethnic Skin and Hair (something of that matter) is doing research on why Black hair doesn't seem to "grow long" !!! I chuckled, and thought save your money and invest 5 bucks in LHCF...We'll teach a thing or two over here!

Ok now on to the myths....
Hair is programmed to grow to a certain length and then it breaks
Some people weren't meant to have hair! Double
Your hair will fall out if you wash it weekly

 

[erin558]

Hair is programmed to grow to a certain length and then it breaks
Some people weren't meant to have hair! :

I've always wondered about that.

 

[africa]

1) Grease makes your hair grow

2) Black people should not wash their hair too much

3) If you do not re-touch your hair every 4-6 wks it will break

 

[Legend]

Here’s two I just heard this weekend:

My cousin was visiting and I was walking around with a plastic cap after moisturizing. I explained to her why I do it, she was like “Doesn’t that cut off the oxygen to your hair?” I could barely even dignify the question with an answer.

Another one is from my co-worker who was looking at an advertisement with a young black woman with bra-scrap length hair. The caption was something like “Now everyone can have hair like this.” She was actually showing it around and laughing, saying “Yeah right!” I told her quite frankly that most women, including black women, can grow hair that long with the proper care. This is pretty much what I thought about that:

 

[Candy_C]

I can't say that my hair grows faster or slower with a certain type of relaxer but I KNOW from having watched my hair very closely over the last year that IT DOES GROW SLOWER THE FIRST 2 to 3 WEEKS after a relaxer. I can go almost 3 weeks after a retouch with almost no visible new growth and then BAM, here it comes. You know...I'll take photos cause ya'll gonna think I'm trippin.

Same here Vixxen. it happens alot. i would be surprised if people have any regrowth by 3 weeks. i dont see any till around 2 months!

plus, i KNOW it doesn't sound logical that dustings make the hair grow, but iguess i'm just a miracle then lol. my hair loves clippings every now and even in the past, my hair would grow quicker after a lil dust. i had a frizzy section on the left side of my head around last yr, and i knew if i trimmed it shorter it would catch up, no doubt it caught up with the rest of the hair.

 

[KhandiB]

Girls, I was reading the latest issue of Essence Magazine today and they had a section talking about this, and apparantly, the L'oreal Institute for Ethnic Skin and Hair (something of that matter) is doing research on why Black hair doesn't seem to "grow long" !!! I chuckled, and thought save your money and invest 5 bucks in LHCF...We'll teach a thing or two over here!

Ok now on to the myths....
Hair is programmed to grow to a certain length and then it breaks
Some people weren't meant to have hair! Double
Your hair will fall out if you wash it weekly

They acting like this is rocket science. Its not Jeez, maybe we should all send them emails about how they need to just pay some of us

 

[ONEBLESSEDRN]

I remember my grandmother used to say if you had lots of dandruff or "growing dandruff" as she called it. Your hair was in the "growing" phase.

 

[Tene]

I can't say that my hair grows faster or slower with a certain type of relaxer but I KNOW from having watched my hair very closely over the last year that IT DOES GROW SLOWER THE FIRST 2 to 3 WEEKS after a relaxer. I can go almost 3 weeks after a retouch with almost no visible new growth and then BAM, here it comes. You know...I'll take photos cause ya'll gonna think I'm trippin.

I can attest to that, I don't feel any new groth neither until after a few weeks. The only reason I got quite bit now is because I've been taking msm, vitamins, and using mtg.

 

[LaNecia]

Thanks Candy_C and Tene, I thought there was something wrong with me or I was living this URBAN LEGEND nightmare alone.

 

[Sistaslick]

I can't say that my hair grows faster or slower with a certain type of relaxer but I KNOW from having watched my hair very closely over the last year that IT DOES GROW SLOWER THE FIRST 2 to 3 WEEKS after a relaxer. I can go almost 3 weeks after a retouch with almost no visible new growth and then BAM, here it comes. You know...I'll take photos cause ya'll gonna think I'm trippin.

Hmmm, see week 3 is magic week for me too regardless of the relaxer \I thought this was pretty normal I'm just trying to wrap my mind around the "lasting longer" part. If anyone has had this experience, does the hair stay totally straight past week 3 w/ no sign of newgrowth?

Or was the lady trying to say that Affirm underprocessed her hair , where Optimum straightened it without reversion--so Optimum lasted longer in that sense? Because if thats the case Dark N Lovely lasts longer on me than Mizani Help a sista understand

 

[senimoni]

I think for me the reason why it seems like I don't seem to see it is b/c it takes XXX amount of hair length before it curls up and then all of a sudden you notice the hair growth. I know my hair is straighter in the back and it takes me much longer to notice new growth back there than it does elsewhere.

 

[Sistaslick]

:scratchch thats a very good point there seni!

 

[ekomba]

My cousins used to tell me that dirt makes your hair grow. Their kids all had long 3b and they wouldn't comb/brush/wash their hair for like 2-3 weeks at a time sometimes. When you took the ponytails out, the dirt had gathered where the hair bow was, so it was like you never removed it! Gross!

hubby believes the same thing he keeps telling me it s when his hair is dirty it grows and i m like no it s the fact we keep your hair braided and with low manipulation that allows you to retain what you naturally grow, but he doesnt wanna hear it just because he sweat a lot at the gym and basketball courts and his hair is always dirty even though we wash it once a week and rebraid sometimes twice a week.

One of my best friends from France till this day buy 2 boxes of perm to perm the whole head. I told it s bad to perm from roots to tips just perm the new growth we argue for days til this day cause she insists that she has to do the whole thing cause the perm doesnt last and relaxed hair go back nappy with time and that s the reason too hairdressers in france used to perm my whole head all the time. My friend said that she if she just perms the roots, the rest of the hair is not the same texture but rough looking like thicker and not bone straight like the roots go figure that s cause everything go back nappy with time

 

[RabiaElaine]

I can't say that my hair grows faster or slower with a certain type of relaxer but I KNOW from having watched my hair very closely over the last year that IT DOES GROW SLOWER THE FIRST 2 to 3 WEEKS after a relaxer. I can go almost 3 weeks after a retouch with almost no visible new growth and then BAM, here it comes. You know...I'll take photos cause ya'll gonna think I'm trippin.

I know what you're saying the same thing seems to happen to me too. On that fourth week you suddenly see that 1/2 inch of new growth when you wash your hair. I don't know why that is since it was growing week 1, 2, and 3 also.

 

[Shashemane]

I've heard this as well, but this one miserably fails the science and logic test. A relaxer "lasting longer" doesn't seem to me like it would be a good thing anyway. Doesn't that mean your hair isn't growing? No way its gonna come out of your scalp naturally chemically relaxed a few weeks after the relaxer. If I'm not seeing kink by week 3, I'm starting to panic.

and ITA on the dusting/trimming not equaling faster growth. It is just not meshing with science and reason here. If you subtract something from something else--- mathematically you'll end up with less. Each and every time. I've never seen subtraction land anyone on the plus side of things

Sistaslick,
Believe me, I cannot understand how it adds up either, but it was actually happening to my hair. The funny thing is that the kit that I was using was claiming to have longer lasting results.

This is what actally scared me away from using the product. I feared that it was penetrating layers of my scalp (much like in that experiment they did a few years ago), and the hair pushing thru it was coming out with a looser curl pattern as a result.

Scary, but it REALLY did happen!

 

[SexySin985]

I can't say that my hair grows faster or slower with a certain type of relaxer but I KNOW from having watched my hair very closely over the last year that IT DOES GROW SLOWER THE FIRST 2 to 3 WEEKS after a relaxer. I can go almost 3 weeks after a retouch with almost no visible new growth and then BAM, here it comes. You know...I'll take photos cause ya'll gonna think I'm trippin.

Same with me. I dont see any signs of growth until the 5th week. The month after my relaxer is when my growth takes off . I would be beyond excited if I seen growth by week three

 

[cocoberry10]

I've heard that washing too much would dry my hair out.

WRONG! Actually is does just the opposite for me.

ha ha! Me too, and probably almost everyone on this board, which is why our hair is growing and healthier now!

 

[cocoberry10]

Or was the lady trying to say that Affirm underprocessed her hair , where Optimum straightened it without reversion--so Optimum lasted longer in that sense? Because if thats the case Dark N Lovely lasts longer on me than Mizani Help a sista understand

Maybe that's what she meant, but didn't know how to say it. One of the reasons I love Affirm is because it doesn't tend to overprocess my hair. I use mild lye, and the results are great. My hair gets really soft, but there is still a curl to it. When I used other brands (motions, Hawaiian Silky, Proclaim, etc) they always got my hair bone straight!

 

[Sistaslick]

Maybe that's what she meant, but didn't know how to say it. One of the reasons I love Affirm is because it doesn't tend to overprocess my hair. I use mild lye, and the results are great. My hair gets really soft, but there is still a curl to it. When I used other brands (motions, Hawaiian Silky, Proclaim, etc) they always got my hair bone straight!

yeah! I stick with mizani for just that reason!

 

[pyxis777]

I'm with you, Sistaslick. I don't understand this whole "lasts longer thing." I usually start seeing some growth around week 3.

 

[krissyprissy]

My braider told me she had growing hands. As if her hands were magical or had special powers.

 

[ONEBLESSEDRN]

My braider told me she had growing hands. As if her hands were magical or had special powers.

I've heard that foolishness before!