Now Forming an Army of SUPER-LONG HAIR 4B (or mostly 4b) NATURALS!! Come on in!

That's some fantastic growth in 6 months. I hope I have growth like that. :yep: Yes, i want to copy cat. :lol:

Ok, so I know you probably posted what you found to work in this thread, but would you share again. Please :grin:

It's definitely working.

faithVA- copycat, schmopy-cat :lol:. Girl, I've picked and borrowed and stolen from so many members' reggies it's not even funny (btw, thanks yaya24 for putting me on MT :grin:). See below for my reggie:

-cornrows using the deep moisture method for 4 weeks at a time (worn under wigs or turbans)
-MT applied to scalp every other day
-CW 2-3x week; DC once/week; light PT once/week
-Shampoo & henna once/month

I moisturize & seal daily. And that's it. I think it's pretty simple, at least it feels that way to me. I think most of my retention comes from the fact that I keep my hair super moisturized, I don't use heat (that often anyway- maybe a couple times per year) & I don't really manipulate it much, except for the week or so per month when I wear it out.

I hope this is helpful :)
 
Joining! I'm mostly 4a, but I do my nieces hair all the time and she's a thick 4b. I don't have any problems with detangling and moisturizing, but she still seems to have a lot of breakage.

A lot of it has to do with the fact that my sister doesn't do any follow-up care after I braid it, anything will help.

So I'm down:grin:
 
Did my first steam treatment and it was wonderful. I hope I can join the army sometime next year. LOL
 
Joining! I'm mostly 4a, but I do my nieces hair all the time and she's a thick 4b. I don't have any problems with detangling and moisturizing, but she still seems to have a lot of breakage.

A lot of it has to do with the fact that my sister doesn't do any follow-up care after I braid it, anything will help.

So I'm down:grin:

ladykpnyc I used to check out your youtube videos. I'm glad to see you here.

Welcome back!:yay:
 
faithVA- copycat, schmopy-cat :lol:. Girl, I've picked and borrowed and stolen from so many members' reggies it's not even funny (btw, thanks yaya24 for putting me on MT :grin:). See below for my reggie:

-cornrows using the deep moisture method for 4 weeks at a time (worn under wigs or turbans)
-MT applied to scalp every other day
-CW 2-3x week; DC once/week; light PT once/week
-Shampoo & henna once/month

I moisturize & seal daily. And that's it. I think it's pretty simple, at least it feels that way to me. I think most of my retention comes from the fact that I keep my hair super moisturized, I don't use heat (that often anyway- maybe a couple times per year) & I don't really manipulate it much, except for the week or so per month when I wear it out.

I hope this is helpful :)

bride91501 I was thinking about ordering MT. I used it a few years ago and got pretty good results. I'm not sure why I stopped. I've been wearing two-strand twists for a few weeks and I'm thinking about letting them lock. I just want more length because I have crazy shrinkage and it makes my hair look much shorter than it really is.
 
Joining! I'm mostly 4a, but I do my nieces hair all the time and she's a thick 4b. I don't have any problems with detangling and moisturizing, but she still seems to have a lot of breakage.

A lot of it has to do with the fact that my sister doesn't do any follow-up care after I braid it, anything will help.

So I'm down:grin:

oh I remember you from before! Welcome.

and bride91501 for real if this hair doesn't behave, I'm off to the barber's whether my big head looks good in a fade or not. :(
 
ceecy29 why do you think you haven't retained well since November? Isn't Joico a mainly protein-based product? I know we don't know the whole story, but if your ends feel dry, maybe you could benefit from more moisture? Just my amateur assessment :) Maybe some of the vets will chime in when you provide some more details....
 
I am a 4b natural with fine hair strands checking in, anyone with find hair strands can attest to the fact that it makes your HHJ that much more difficult because they are more prone to breakage due to their very delicate nature but I aspire to be HL one day.
 

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I am a 4b natural with fine hair strands checking in, anyone with find hair strands can attest to the fact that it makes your HHJ that much more difficult because they are more prone to breakage due to their very delicate nature but I aspire to be HL one day.

Thank you hanna_light for stopping through! Your hair is DROOL-WORTHY to say the least! Do you mind sharing pics of it in its natural state? Do you mind sharing your reggie too? I'm sure the other members are as anxious as I am to know what you're doing to grow all that pretty 4b hair down your back :yep: :grin: Thanks so much!
 
@Imani

I never forgot your question you asked me awhile back. I've been trying to figure out a regimen this whole time. lol The Bee Mine and Darcy's botanicals have stopped working for me. I tried Qhemet again, but had to return it. It still didn't work.

I bought Shea Moisture curly smoothie a month ago just to give it a try. I started to seal it with aloe vera gel, and got so and so results. I read through this entire thread, and got the idea of sealing with black Jamaican castor oil after my shea moisture. It has worked! I'm so shocked my hair has been moisturized for two days straight without reapplying. This is the first time this has happened to me, so I'm excited.

This thread is the best!!

I don't have any good pictures of my hair at the moment. Hopefully, I will have some soon when I start wearing it out. I'm hoping it becomes more photogenic as it gets longer. I hope this helps.

ETA: I have an almost empty bottle of AO HSR and want to try this AO/JBCO castor oil deep conditioning treatment everyone is raving about tonight.
 
Thank you hanna_light for stopping through! Your hair is DROOL-WORTHY to say the least! Do you mind sharing pics of it in its natural state? Do you mind sharing your reggie too? I'm sure the other members are as anxious as I am to know what you're doing to grow all that pretty 4b hair down your back :yep: :grin: Thanks so much!

:yep: Especially a 4b w/fine strands. Most of the 4bs with long hair have coarse crazy thick Oprah hair. I'm always on the lookout for some fine strand inspiration.
 
I straightened my hair last Thursday and even though I was sad and disappointed because I hadn't retained anything since I last straightened November 2010 (in fact it appears shorter), I got weave checked when I wore my straight hair out on Saturday. I was at a cook out and If I counted correctly, I was weave checked at least 7 times, by both male and female. I wasn't mad though lol!

I've decided to switch to a mainly joico regimen (took advantage of the ulta sale while I was out in Maryland). Straightening for the second time has shown me that my ends need some help. They are dry (the stylist said so and I could hear it too) and they still stick together even when straight. Every strand is split and has ssks. I just want to shave my whole head off but we'll see what joico can do before I go that route.


I can't wait to get weave checked! :grin: I feel it coming later this year...I hope!
 
I wish that I could state that my regimen involved something as drastic and avant-guard as sacrificing virgins and using the tears from unicorns to promote optimum growth. However, out of necessity, and the fact that my hair has very diva like behavior in that she actually takes delight in severing our relationship at what she deems as any minor transgression on my part which usually means that I have used the wrong products or tools.

I have been forced to keep my reggie very simple out of share necessarily because of the nature of my fine strands. I also have unique issues with my hair tangling at the drop of a hat regardless of the tools or methods used even detangling before I wash, pre-pooing, and washing my hair in 8 section has not alleviated the situation, what I find to be true is that less manipulations means more growth at least for me.

I only wash my hair once a week adhering to the Cathy Howse method, which espouses finding the right balancing of moisture and protein and I've recently incooperated a bootleg version of the steam treatment into the mix because my hair loves the extra moisture. Midweek I usually co-wash as well as do a tea rinse I truly wish that I could CW more. A minimum of twice a week I also apply Castor oil to my scalp and I M&S every other day. But I always keep my hair stretched in braids and then put into a bun.


Tomorrow is CW day so I will try to take a pic of my hair in its natural state.
 
Another fine 4b checking in. I totally agree it def has diva tendancies....
Loving the inspiration I'm seeing here :yep:
 
ceecy29 why do you think you haven't retained well since November? Isn't Joico a mainly protein-based product? I know we don't know the whole story, but if your ends feel dry, maybe you could benefit from more moisture? Just my amateur assessment :) Maybe some of the vets will chime in when you provide some more details....

I'm just trying something else. I've been on a moisture kick since the beginning of my journey. Washing and deep conditioning once a week; my lifestyle won't allow me add an extra co-wash or whatever mid-week. Plus I don't think my hair likes being cowashed.

I'm also realizing my strands are fine and joico/frequent protein seems to have helped quite a number of fine 4bs that I've talked to. We'll see how it goes.
 
@Loveygram well it seems like you are showing the wannabe diva who's boss with all that retention. Please share your regimen. Thanks!!!

@ceecy29

Yeah, I probably should've changed my siggy cause the "diva" showed who's boss about 6 months ago and I'm working my way back. But it reminds me It's possible. At best it got a little past this - still in layers and was like that for a minute, then I messed up (burnt it off) and oh well... I know better now :ohwell:.

Best wishes on getting your retention :yep:

BTW my regimen is listed in my profile. Thanks for asking :blush3:
 
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So-so hair pics where I tried to capture my natural hair texture without product in it 1) Close-up of wet hair, 2) shrinkage, 3) comparison shot of one side of my hair with shrinkage and the other side in a braid, and finally 4) close- up of todays braids.
 

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All of these beautiful heads are drool worthy.

Can someone just let me know what to do about tangles, though?
Should I use a denman?

When I flat iron, I have those awful, awful tangles.

Help!
 
All of these beautiful heads are drool worthy.

Can someone just let me know what to do about tangles, though?
Should I use a denman?

When I flat iron, I have those awful, awful tangles.

Help!

You can use the Denman. They actually have a 'line' where they have brushes with teeth which are spaced further apart compared to their other brushes and lines. Denman D31 is awesome (on package it also says ideal for thick or Afro textured hair) and I love love love this Denman brush.
 
All of these times during my journey I have struggled to detangle my hair without breakage etc but I have finally managed it! I'm very pleased and happy to have found a way of detangling my hair with minimum to no snags, breaking and tangles. I can't wait to begin retaining length!
 

You can use the Denman. They actually have a 'line' where they have brushes with teeth which are spaced further apart compared to their other brushes and lines. Denman D31 is awesome (on package it also says ideal for thick or Afro textured hair) and I love love love this Denman brush.

Thanks for answering. This is what is driving me crazy. I am retaining and I love my natural hair. The idea of having to cut it off because of tangles is causing me to freak OUT. :perplexed

I miss my long hair...
 
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