Okay Seriously...My hair looks much longer wet than dry..

[freshlikemoi]

I'm just sayingerplexed. When my hair is wet it beats on my collar bone. Oh but don't let me wash, blow and flat iron with my FHI; it looks like it's neck length. Can anyone "please" tell me what the deal is with that? It kinda gives me false hopes.

 

[TLC1020]

My hair looks longer wet as well I don't know why though!

 

[candy1214]

I'm just sayingerplexed. When my hair is wet it beats on my collar bone. Oh but don't let me wash, blow and flat iron with my FHI; it looks like it's neck length. Can anyone "please" tell me what the deal is with that? It kinda gives me false hopes.

The weight of the water stretches the strands. When you dry the hair, it goes back to its actual length. It happens to all of us.

 

[JustKiya]

It's because your hair stretches some while it's wet - so it looks longer than it really is. It's the same reason that hair is a little 'weaker' while it's wet - it's stretched out some, so it's less of a jump to breakage.

 

[naturalmanenyc]

It happens to all of us. I can only see my length with a flat iron or with wet hair. And since I am not good at flat ironing my own hair, I check my length when its wet.

 

[vestaluv1]

Yep! As everyone else has said, the weight of the water stretches the hair. When the hair shaft is fully saturated, its diameter increases by 15 - 20% and it stretches/gets longer.
Thats why I've stopped taking progress pics with just wet hair...coz I'm jus foolin' myself man LOL

 

[tocktick]

Yep! As everyone else has said, the weight of the water stretches the hair. When the hair shaft is fully saturated, its diameter increases by 15 - 20% and it stretches/gets longer.
Thats why I've stopped taking progress pics with just wet hair...coz I'm jus foolin' myself man LOL

i agree, this is why i stopped taking wet hair pics. my texture looks looser and my hair looks totally different (in terms of length and shape) when wet. i think wet hair shots are misleading as the water weighs your hair down. if you're not walking around with your hair wet constantly then that's not your true length. dry hair is the most accurate representation of how long your hair is, imo.

 

[MzOptimistic]

Yep! As everyone else has said, the weight of the water stretches the hair. When the hair shaft is fully saturated, its diameter increases by 15 - 20% and it stretches/gets longer.
Thats why I've stopped taking progress pics with just wet hair...coz I'm jus foolin' myself man LOL

I wouldn't say you're fooling yourself. I always take pics on wet hair but that's because I don't wear my hair down or dry. My ends are always baggied but when taking my progress pics, I always make sure both pics coordinate with each other, meaning I never mix n match both pics will always be wet shots

ETA: And -um- true length is done on dry hair NOT wet hair!!!! I'm not talking to you vestaluv, just saying in general

 

[glamazon386]

The water is weighing it down.

 

[wonderstar]

How can wet hair be misleading or a false representation if all it does is stretches the hair to it's maximum? The way how I see it is, you can't get something out of nothing.

 

[*Happily Me*]

How can wet hair be misleading or a false representation if all it does is stretches the hair to it's maximum? The way how I see it is, you can't get something out of nothing.

thank you!!

 

[Traycee]

I think it's fun to see how long my hair stretches......Makes me work a little harder because I can see I'm not that far from my goals...

 

[tocktick]

How can wet hair be misleading or a false representation if all it does is stretches the hair to it's maximum? The way how I see it is, you can't get something out of nothing.

i said it was because for the vast majority of time, people are wearing their hair dry and not wet. my wet hair is pretty different to how it is dry, which is what people irl see 99% of the time.

i think wet hair shots it can be used to show growth (like another poster said, so long as the pics are not "mixed and matched") but i personally don't believe it to be the best method to show how long ones hair is.

regardless, people are free to use whatever method they feel is best for them. just do you...

 

[charmtreese]

My hair appears longer and thicker while wet.

 

[Traycee]

My hair appears longer and thicker while wet.

That's a good thing...You have very thick hair like myself .......The average person hair looks thinner when wet especially at ends !!!!

 

[silvergirl]

as long as ppl are contantly taking wet pics and not trying to compare one wet to one dry in their progress pics i have no real big problem with it.

but taking wet pics to show texture is beyond me. when i was natural. a wet hair pic would have made me look like i have 2c/3a hair when thats obviously not what my real texture is... so i dont get why ppl do it.erplexed

 

[wonderstar]

i said it was because for the vast majority of time, people are wearing their hair dry and not wet. my wet hair is pretty different to how it is dry, which is what people irl see 99% of the time.

i think wet hair shots it can be used to show growth (like another poster said, so long as the pics are not "mixed and matched") but i personally don't believe it to be the best method to show how long ones hair is.

regardless, people are free to use whatever method they feel is best for them. just do you...

I agree with what you just said . I just don't see it as "mis-leading" or "false representation". Mis-leading and false representation are things like tilting head backwards, raising shoulders and even holding the camera way overhead with both arms.

 

[Prettypsych]

Some of us have the exact opposite problem. My hair shrinks to 25% of its length when it's wet. My stylist finds it amusing... I do, too, unless i just got it flatironed and there's an unexpected rainstorm!

 

[SimpleKomplexity]

I think it's fun to see how long my hair stretches......Makes me work a little harder because I can see I'm not that far from my goals...

yup! I'm like dang I'm not that far away!!

 

[MzOptimistic]

How can wet hair be misleading or a false representation if all it does is stretches the hair to it's maximum? The way how I see it is, you can't get something out of nothing.

Okay, let's compare hair to a rubber band. When you take a rubber band and pull it far, it stretchs far, right? If the rubberband is not being pulled that far, is it truly that long? No, it's not. It's only that long because it's being pulled. The same goes for wet hair. The water is weighing the hair down/stretching the hair Wet hair stretches That's it and That's All Folx

 

[MzOptimistic]

i said it was because for the vast majority of time, people are wearing their hair dry and not wet. my wet hair is pretty different to how it is dry, which is what people irl see 99% of the time.

i think wet hair shots it can be used to show growth (like another poster said, so long as the pics are not "mixed and matched") but i personally don't believe it to be the best method to show how long ones hair is.

regardless, people are free to use whatever method they feel is best for them. just do you...

I totally agree Hayl, I take pics of wet shots all the time and don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I never have dry hair and when my hair is wet, it's stretches about 1 inches longer but I don't claim a certain length from wet shots, I track my growth but that's it. Actually according to my wet hair, I'm bs at the bottom of my bra but when my hair is dry my hair is touching the top part of the bra. That's why I say wet hair is not the true length but that's my opinion. However which ever method works for yall. Much success

 

[wonderstar]

Okay, let's compare hair to a rubber band. When you take a rubber band and pull it far, it stretchs far, right? If the rubberband is not being pulled that far, is it truly that long? No, it's not. It's only that long because it's being pulled. The same goes for wet hair. The water is weighing the hair down/stretching the hair Wet hair stretches That's it and That's All Folx

If it wasn't truely that long trust me you won't be able to pull it that far it would burst. That rubberband example.......but since you used it it just goes to show that looks may be deceiving.

 

[glamazon386]

i agree, this is why i stopped taking wet hair pics. my texture looks looser and my hair looks totally different (in terms of length and shape) when wet. i think wet hair shots are misleading as the water weighs your hair down. if you're not walking around with your hair wet constantly then that's not your true length. dry hair is the most accurate representation of how long your hair is, imo.

I disagree with that because that doesn't account for shrinkage with naturals. Many naturals have massive shrinkage. Like for instance MsCocoFace (I think that's her sn here on the board) has BSL length hair but it shrinks to neck length if it dries unmanipulated. Her true length wouldn't be neck length bc that's where it dries. My hair shows more of it's true length (not all of it but still more) wet versus dry. Even when flat ironed I still have some degree of shrinkage.

I don't think that's false/misrepresentation. You can't pull something out of nothing. If it's not there, it's not there. If you hair is neck length, it's not gonna stretch to BSL from water. I know that's an extreme example, but what ya'll are saying doesn't totally make sense. It might for relaxed heads but even with that most people aren't relaxed bone straight so wouldn't that mean they'd have some shrinkage?

 

[wonderstar]

I totally agree with everything you just said. I wasn't even trying to speak from the perspective as a natural which I happen to be. Nobody is going to tell me my mid-back to waist length hair is truely shoulder to armpit length because that's the length it is dry.

Let's put it this way, if your hair stretches or shrinks when it's wet then you know it's healthy.

I disagree with that because that doesn't account for shrinkage with naturals. Many naturals have massive shrinkage. Like for instance MsCocoFace (I think that's her sn here on the board) has BSL length hair but it shrinks to neck length if it dries unmanipulated. Her true length wouldn't be neck length bc that's where it dries. My hair shows more of it's true length (not all of it but still more) wet versus dry. Even when flat ironed I still have some degree of shrinkage.

I don't think that's false/misrepresentation. You can't pull something out of nothing. If it's not there, it's not there. If you hair is neck length, it's not gonna stretch to BSL from water. I know that's an extreme example, but what ya'll are saying doesn't totally make sense. It might for relaxed heads but even with that most people aren't relaxed bone straight so wouldn't that mean they'd have some shrinkage?

 

[mnemosyne]

Hehe I wish my hair looked thicker wet. I always compare wet to wet, cause I don't get my hair done that often and I don't flat iron myself.

 

[poookie]

my hair is past APL when wet, but when dry, i've only got about a 1 inch patch that actually touches APL. which sucks. maybe i will walk around with my hair dripping wet all day; so i can feel better about reaching my goals!

 

[glamazon386]

I totally agree with everything you just said. I wasn't even trying to speak from the perspective as a natural which I happen to be. Nobody is going to tell me my mid-back to waist length hair is truely shoulder to armpit length because that's the length it is dry.

Let's put it this way, if your hair stretches or shrinks when it's wet then you know it's healthy.

Exactly....

 

[MzOptimistic]

If it wasn't truely that long trust me you won't be able to pull it that far it would burst. That rubberband example.......but since you used it it just goes to show that looks may be deceiving.

Editing because there was some misunderstanding. I'm referencing relaxed hair and you're talking in terms of Natural hair.

ETA Again: Obviously there was no misunderstanding but since I forgot what I wrote before I edited the first time. I'm forced to leave my post like this:-/

 

[MzOptimistic]

I totally agree with everything you just said. I wasn't even trying to speak from the perspective as a natural which I happen to be. Nobody is going to tell me my mid-back to waist length hair is truely shoulder to armpit length because that's the length it is dry.

Let's put it this way, if your hair stretches or shrinks when it's wet then you know it's healthy.

Oh Wow! I was speaking from the perspective of relaxed hair. Natural hair have major shrinkage when dry. Actually, I was not thinking about naturals at all when I was talking about wet hair.

 

[wonderstar]

TSmith I wasn't talking about natural hair and I know the same goes for you too. I hear you loud and clear but I respectfully disagree.