Long time Growers... Do you wear your hair down?

[Te'TahHead]

Okay, so I made APL in 2007 and plan on making BSL and ultimately WSL in 2008 and 2009. I have been on the hair Journey Since March 2006. I am at a point within my life where PS'n just ain't workin for me (not my hair, but ME). But, PS'n along with low heat and low manipulation has made my hair thrive.

So, my question to you all, how often do you wear your hair down? Has any of you ever switched up the game and quit PS'n for a while?

 

[Moroni]

I think Sylver2 wears her hair down quite often. You may want to check her fotki.

 

[HopefulOne]

Okay, so I made APL in 2007 and plan on making BSL and ultimately WSL in 2008 and 2009. I have been on the hair Journey Since March 2006. I am at a point within my life where PS'n just ain't workin for me (not my hair, but ME). But, PS'n along with low heat and low manipulation has made my hair thrive.

So, my question to you all, how often do you wear your hair down? Has any of you ever switched up the game and quit PS'n for a while?

I am about 3/4 of an inch from BSL and I never PS anymore. In fact I have a thread now about that. I think my hair is long enough and pretty enough that I want to wear it down. I Caruso every other day and I love my hair.

 

[sonce]

I Caruso every other day and I love my hair.

What is this?

I pretty much live in protective styles but that's because it's how I prefer to wear my hair. I hate feeling hair on my back and shoulders yet I like long hair. Compromise: Wear it up all the time.

Edit: When it is in large braids, I wear a braid-out when I go on dates and now that I have one, when I am with my boyfriend.

 

[Lissa0821]

I have a ways to go before I have BSL hair, but I want to start training my hair to be worn down more often. I am getting bored with protective styles lately.

 

[curlcomplexity]

I may have worn my hair down 4x since last July I would like to wear it down more, but I really don't go anywhere to show it off LOL

 

[Mars_Reiko]

I have came to the point a long time ago where I didn't want to hide my hair anymore. I wear it down everyday except for the few days prior to wash day, as long as I keep up with the conditioning and protein treatments, everything is fine

 

[Starr1]

I wear my hair down whenever I feel like it, which isn't very often since I have a toddler and can't be bothered with the sticky-fingers-in-my-hair thing or the climb-on-mommy's-head-and-take-out-a-clump-of-hair-while-I'm-at thing, but I don't let my hair rule my life. I protective style when I'm at home and I take my activities into consideration when I go out. If it's windy or I'm going to exercise or I'm going to the zoo/amusement park/kid thing then I wear my hair up, if it's nice outside or I'm going on a date with my DH or I'm going out for drinks with the girls then I might wear it down or half up. If I'm going somewhere like the movies or if I'm going to be sitting down and my hair is going to rub up against chair and get frizzy and break off, then you better believe my hair is going to be up, it'll be cute, but it'll be up.

If protective styling works for your hair now and wearing it down all the time in the past didn't, then you have to take that into consideration. Let your hair down every once in a while and enjoy it.

 

[FlowerHair]

I have found that my hair can take a lot more "down time" since I stopped combing/brushing. I wear my hair in a ponytail almost every day, but a few days a week I wear my hair half up, half down sorta. I just put a big clip at the crown of my head to pull away the front hair and let the rest hang.

In the summer time I can wear my hair all down with more ease, because there are no jackets, scarves, snow, sleet, rain, hail etc to mess with it!

 

[Vshanell]

I wear my hair down whenever I feel like it, which isn't very often since I have a toddler and can't be bothered with the sticky-fingers-in-my-hair thing or the climb-on-mommy's-head-and-take-out-a-clump-of-hair-while-I'm-at thing, but I don't let my hair rule my life. I protective style when I'm at home and I take my activities into consideration when I go out. If it's windy or I'm going to exercise or I'm going to the zoo/amusement park/kid thing then I wear my hair up, if it's nice outside or I'm going on a date with my DH or I'm going out for drinks with the girls then I might wear it down or half up. If I'm going somewhere like the movies or if I'm going to be sitting down and my hair is going to rub up against chair and get frizzy and break off, then you better believe my hair is going to be up, it'll be cute, but it'll be up.

If protective styling works for your hair now and wearing it down all the time in the past didn't, then you have to take that into consideration. Let your hair down every once in a while and enjoy it.

I agree with everything you said. I wear my hair down whenever I want which isn't much (once a week at most). The rest of the time it's in a ponytail or half up half down. I'm not worried about ps's, I just wear my hair like I want.

 

[Crystalicequeen123]

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.

 

[Iansan]

I wear my hair down everyday. The only time I ever wore it up was when I was growing my hair from chin length to a little past shoulder length.

 

[Cichelle]

I still wear protective styles most of the time. I'm used to them and they are more convenient. I'm not opposed to wearing my hair down, though. I just prefer it to be contained.

 

[Fine 4s]

I have came to the point a long time ago where I didn't want to hide my hair anymore. I wear it down everyday except for the few days prior to wash day, as long as I keep up with the conditioning and protein treatments, everything is fine

I haven't worn my hair out straight since 2006 but I wore it out big wihtout any real curl to it this weekend...a funky kinky do!
I'm going for the SURPRISE hair show off at some point this year. At first my goal was to now blow dry until the summer of 07. Then it moved to Jan of 08. Now it's the Summer of 08 and needless to say I feel like I want to wait until Xmas of 08 lol.

 

[cheeks87]

For me, there would be no point in growing my hair long if I never wear it down. Half the time my hair's down and the other half it's in a ponytail or bun.

The whole point of having long hair is to enjoy it!

 

[PinkSkates]

Originally posted by cheeks87
For me, there would be no point in growing my hair long if I never wear it down. Half the time my hair's down and the other half it's in a ponytail or bun.

The whole point of having long hair is to enjoy it!

AMEN to your statement! I wear my hair down most of the time and enjoy having hair that swings down my back! I'll start wearing buns when I hit 70!

 

[DayStar]

AMEN to your statement! I wear my hair down most of the time and enjoy having hair that swings down my back! I'll start wearing buns when I hit 70!

CHURCH!

 

[tthreat08]

AMEN to your statement! I wear my hair down most of the time and enjoy having hair that swings down my back! I'll start wearing buns when I hit 70!

I happen to wear a bun almost always. I'd decided some time back that I was going to start wearing my hair out more often and stop hiding. However, I forgot I have all these kids with activities and a career and my boo to tend to....so I wear the bun. There's just not enough time in the day to be doing my hair all the time. I have fine hair and after about three days of not washing, I am about to scream. The oil accumulates quickly. However, when DH and I go somewhere I wear it out. I have started trying to experiment with braid outs though.

 

[SherryLove]

I wear my hair down quite often. I oil my ends every night though....

 

[Royal Glory]

Where is the "everyday button"?

I wear my hair down most days and up once or twice a week, if that. It depends on the weather, the occassion and whether I rolled or wrapped my hair the night before.

 

[foxieroxienyc]

You have the "Purple People Heater"! lol I love my Hot Tools Dryer - so much so that I've opted to wait on getting a Pibbs....

In any case, ladies thanks so much for this thread. This has been a major question in my mind for a long while, even had a thread about it. I want to ENJOY my journey, hard work, and love for my hair. I dont want to feel like I have to hide it all the time because of fear. Now I find myself enjoying my hair down, CAREFULLY watching my edges, DC 2x a week, and my hair seems to be thriving. I moisturize and seal my ends nightly, so i dont feel like I'm doing harm. For every single day that I wear it out, I'm trying to do 2 days up until I'm APL, I'm about 2 inches (or a little more) past SL and I've have a lot of growth in the last month. I'm glad to hear all of your opinions, it's making me breathe so much easier!

 

[trini_rican]

I just made it a few inches past BSL and I've been doing a pony since my Dominican Blowout. Hair is bouncing and behaving. I put it in a bun when I'm in the house but when I go out I leave my pony hanging and I like it but I've been having a bit of guilt for doing it. I do moisturize my ends before letting the bun down and wearing the loose pony. Thanks for the thread. I feel better now.

 

[MizAvalon]

No, not that much. I'm going to try and start enjoying my hair more though in '08. Not necessarily wearing it down more but just having more fun with some different styles.

 

[Lavendar]

I've been PS'n ever since my hair grew long enough to put in a bun and I'm so used to it now. It's just so easy, but it is definitely boring. However, I really don't want to wear my hair out on a regular basis until I reach my final goal, which is MBL. I've discovered that I don't have to trim my hair every 3 months as long as I'm baggying my ends, so that means protective styling for me to retain more of my length. When I reach MBL, I will definitely be wearing my hair out more often.

 

[brownsugarflyygirl]

I dont now...but once I get to BSL...I plan to wear my hair out often.

 

[TLC1020]

Since beginning my hair care journey I wore my hair almost all the time in a bun. I started my journey at SL trying to reach APL and now I'm 2' past APL aiming for BSL and I used the same method only b/c it has worked so well. I wear my hair down the first few weeks after touch-up then back in a bun at 4 or 5 weeks post.

 

[sareca]

I don't know if 2 years is considered a "long time" but I don't wear protective styles. I wear my hair out almost every day. I just started wearing buns last week because I think they look kinda cute now that my hair is longer.

 

[SleekandBouncy]

I have came to the point a long time ago where I didn't want to hide my hair anymore. I wear it down everyday except for the few days prior to wash day, as long as I keep up with the conditioning and protein treatments, everything is fine

Your hair is gorgeous!!!

To answer the OP:
I grew my hair to the length in my siggy (the long hair) all while wearing it out. I do think protective styling can help you reach your goal faster and helps to retain the length, but it was just not an option for me, not long term at least. Relaxer hair is very delicate and as a result it can be hard to maintain thick ends with continuous non protective styles. To contrast the abuse to my ends I used Tigi Ego boost or Salerm 21 on my ends every 2-3 days. It seals and buffers your ends from damage.

 

[Sunshine0801]

No, I don't wear my hair down (or out) nearly as often as I thought I would once I hit BSL. Sure, it's cute, but I get tired rather quickly of the hot feeling on the back of my neck and shoulders from my hair. Come to think of it, I usually wore my hair up when I was relaxed as well. I can take it for a day or two, but not much longer than that. That's why after taking out my braids/twists, sometimes even after I tell myself I'm not putting them back up for weeks, they always end up back on my head after 2-4 days of having my hair out/down.

I'm growing my hair out because I love the look of long hair and the versatility of it, but for me that does not necessarily mean wearing my hair down. I think long twists and braids are very lovely and beautiful, and appreciate the fact that I can wear a rollerset or even straighten my hair one day if I want to really see my length. But would I want to wear these styles on the daily? Nah. I love my braids/twists, so I don't feel like I'm not getting the most out of my length by wearing them so often.

 

[DayStar]

Your hair is gorgeous!!!

To answer the OP:
I grew my hair to the length in my siggy (the long hair) all while wearing it out. I do think protective styling can help you reach your goal faster and helps to retain the length, but it was just not an option for me, not long term at least. Relaxer hair is very delicate and as a result it can be hard to maintain thick ends with continuous non protective styles. To contrast the abuse to my ends I used Tigi Ego boost or Salerm 21 on my ends every 2-3 days. It seals and buffers your ends from damage.

your hair is fabulous!