Naturals (and former naturals): At what length...

[pinkchocolatedaisy]

It did get harder as my hair grew longer but I eliminated the problem by not wearing wng a lot. Also deep conditioning 2x a week and bunning have helped me trememdously. Now if I try to wear a wng and then a puff and then think I can wash my hair the next day, I KNOW I am asking for trouble!

 

[natural2be]

I have been natural since August and have also noticed the longer my hair gets the more tangled it gets. My hair is near or at shoulder length (sorry I don't measure often) and I noticed the single strands more when I tried to straighten superbowl weekend. To say the least I straightened one corner and said forget it because I refused to damage my hair with to much heat.

I have gotten lazy with sectioning my hair when washing and I now have to start doing that again because not sectioning adds to the tangles. Monday I washed and slowly separated the tangles (took forever) but it was worth it. I finger detangles slowly, then detangled with denman section by section, twisted sections and then dusted. This has helped tremendously. I know just have to keep it up.

 

[ChocoKitty]

I voted 10 in. I've recently discovered I can no longer do wng's if I want to maintain waist-length and grow beyond. My hair must be remain 80-100% straight. I recently trimmed my hair due to wearing wng's for about a week. I may revisit wng's in the summer if I've BKT'd 1st.

 

[Ms Lala]

I'm not sure about inches but between APL and BSL it became an issue.

 

[FroFab]

I may have always had them but now that I am between APL and BSB I am becoming obsessed with finding and eliminating them. I don't get ridiculous tangles but the SSKs are my enemy. I wash and condition in sections and mostly keep my hair braided or twisted...yet SSKs flourish. I think it has to do with the fact that I shed so much hair, my hair is fine, and the ends of my twists/braids generally curl up on themselves.

 

[RubyWoo]

Bump............................

 

[MsLizziA]

DCing has obliterated my ssks. I was having serious problems with them before until i realized i was being a lazy *** :\. Well now i wear stretched styles, even if its just me braiding the ends of my hair. I am about to put braids back in my hair and i just ordered a half wig as well so we shall see how this all works out since my hair will be in a continuous stretched state. I think my hair will be fine though

 

[tkj25]

it was from about 7 in. onward for me. -- as soon as my hair was long enough to really tie loops around itself. keeping my hair stretched in braids or twists keeps them in check. also consistent moisturizing & sealing keeps my strands lubricated & happy s&d when needed handles the rest.

 

[**SaSSy**]

I'm having trouble using the inches method since I'm not sure what starting point you want but from SL to WL I'm 15 inches. So I'd say at about 10 inches stretched or MBL+ I started experienced 'knot' issues. Or at least it became more noticeable during the grooming process. Perhaps straightening and trimming more might help. However, if I straighten more (ie blowdry) I suspect I might not need more trims.

Sassy, you started getting knots AFTER straightening with heat? I thought it was the other way around since the strands are not coiling around each other.

We'll see what works for me I guess...

I know that might sound strange but my hair is very anti high levels of heat and I was abusing heat at least once to twice a week. The blow dryer would be so hot that smoke would come from it while I was blow drying and fill up my entire room and needed the AC on. It was a horrible sight, especially now with all the knowledge I know. Instead of having heat trained hair, I had extremely bad heat damage. The bottom of my ends looked like the bottom of a broom! No wonder I didn't retain length back then.

 

[LaFemmeNaturelle]

I never experienced knots as a natural but I also blowdried after every wash....and I only washed once a month....I was between apl-bsl...so maybe it was the heat and no manipulation....this was all before my HJ but I plan to blowdry once a month when I become natural again since everyone says heat helps.

 

[She-Ra]

After 5 inches, When I washed my hair loose, went to bed without a head scarf, leave loose to rub against sweaters/fabrics with textures during the winter(shoulder length was the worst).

Now? I wear a lot of protective styles, dust per month, zero wash & gos, and wash in braids - It helps so much.

 

[Stormy]

It was between 4-5 inches for me. Thank god I don't get them anymore! I keep my hair stretched or straight now. I miss my WNGs though.