When I first joined the LHCF and started on my hair care journey, I took everyone's advice and barely (if ever) wore my hair down. I wore protective styles and funky hair styles (twists, braid-outs, bantu knots, pig-tail braids, etc) all the time. It was VERY rare that people saw my hair down. For the time being it was working. My hair was always up or in a bun somehow, so I suppose it was keeping my ends protected. Plus, I was a student at the time, and only worked doing an internship, so my "funky hair styles" didn't really matter.
But now that I have graduated and work in the corporate industry, I now try to wear my hair down more often, and wear more traditional styles for the "work world". Plus, no offense, but I got tired of hiding my hair!
People would always come up to me and tell me (during the rare occasion that I would wear my hair down) that I looked so "beautiful" and "pretty" when I wore my hair out. They said that I always hid my beauty by stuffing my hair in those hair buns.
So now days, I just do what I feel like doing. When I get my hair freshly done at the salon, I try to wear my hair down for as often as I can until my next wash. I feel like: Hey, I worked hard to grow long hair, I should at least ENJOY it! Sheesh! What's the use of growing my hair all the way to bra-strap length, if I'm barely going to even wear it out??
So, my moto is...I think people should basically do what they need to do for their own hair and health. If it doesn't kill you to wear your hair down some days during the week, then by all means...show that length! We should be proud to show our hair out. Our hair is our crown and glory. Plus, I know of women (black women too!) who wear their hair down MOST of the time, and their hair isn't breaking or full of split ends. So, I think I can ease up on the protective styles. Plus, I think wearing my hair in buns for so long was giving me some traction alopecia.
My edges still aren't as thick as I'd like them to be.
But yeah....I wear my hair up some times, and I wear it down sometimes. I'm not hiding my hair anymore.