Question for naturals....

PanamasOwn

PanamasOwn

New Member
O.k. so with all this talk of realistic goals and such, it got me to thinking..

With the dreaded enemy shrinkage, how long does it realistically take to acheive, SL, APL, BSL, MSL and the ultimate WL?

I have set some goals for myself but, realized that with shrinkage, it is unrealistic. Can Any natural ladies answer this for me??

I know that sometimes it is case by case (type of hair, etc...) but I'm not going to lie, I'm slighty discouraged:nono:

I look like a chia pet on crack right now with this mop on my head and realizing that the work I am putting in to become 100% natural will not even fully be at my goal until like 2020!!

Any inspiration would be great right now......
 
It really depends on your hair and how much shrinkage you have. There are some ladies here on the board that are natural with bsl and wsl hair that shrinks up to ear length. There are others who only have maybe 50% shrinkage and of course people fall anywhere between there. So there really is no guideline for hair length for unstretched natural hair.

As far as the actual hair length goes (stretched) the schedule should still be the same as relaxed hair. You should reach shoulder length at the 2 year mark, and I believe waist length around the year 4 mark. There was a chart floating around here with the timeline on it.
 
bmoreflyygirl said:
It really depends on your hair and how much shrinkage you have. There are some ladies here on the board that are natural with bsl and wsl hair that shrinks up to ear length. There are others who only have maybe 50% shrinkage and of course people fall anywhere between there. So there really is no guideline for hair length for unstretched natural hair.

As far as the actual hair length goes (stretched) the schedule should still be the same as relaxed hair. You should reach shoulder length at the 2 year mark, and I believe waist length around the year 4 mark. There was a chart floating around here with the timeline on it.
Click to expand...

What she said :yep:
 
bmoreflyygirl said:
It really depends on your hair and how much shrinkage you have. There are some ladies here on the board that are natural with bsl and wsl hair that shrinks up to ear length. There are others who only have maybe 50% shrinkage and of course people fall anywhere between there. So there really is no guideline for hair length for unstretched natural hair.

As far as the actual hair length goes (stretched) the schedule should still be the same as relaxed hair. You should reach shoulder length at the 2 year mark, and I believe waist length around the year 4 mark. There was a chart floating around here with the timeline on it.
Click to expand...


That's right:yep:
 
Glad you put this up I was thinking the same thing. I put heat on all of my hair for the first time in a year (I normally only do 1 section of the rear) just to determine length and I hated it (how my hair felt) but after 2 hours of hot ironing it shrunk before I could get good photos. How do you tell if you're a 50% shrinker? Thanks for this post btw.
 
trini_rican said:
Glad you put this up I was thinking the same thing. I put heat on all of my hair for the first time in a year (I normally only do 1 section of the rear) just to determine length and I hated it (how my hair felt) but after 2 hours of hot ironing it shrunk before I could get good photos. How do you tell if you're a 50% shrinker? Thanks for this post btw.
Click to expand...

By looking at a piece of your hair stretched and when it is in it's shrunken state.
 
Wait...shrinkage up to ear length, but MBL or WL straight??!!! no way... REALLY...I have never seen that in my life!! (See how much I need to learn)
 
PanamasOwn said:
Wait...shrinkage up to ear length, but MBL or WL straight??!!! no way... REALLY...I have never seen that in my life!! (See how much I need to learn)
Click to expand...

Check out Misscocoface's signature. Her hair is BSL. I believe Lala's hair shrunk like that too but I'm not sure if she's still natural. I think she's texturized now.

My roommate's hair is probably about APL, maybe even BSL stretched but her twists only hang at her chin. My twists hang just as long as hers do and I've only been natural a year. She's been natural about 5.
 
I must chime in and add that you can achieve SL in one year but this may not be the average....i only say that you can b/c i did it two years ago... and this was from having a brush cut....i wigged, and braided my hair for an entire year and when i finally decided to relax it.....ta da...i was SL....but then i hated the relaxer and BC'd.....so it is possible.
 
PanamasOwn said:
O.k. so with all this talk of realistic goals and such, it got me to thinking..

With the dreaded enemy shrinkage, how long does it realistically take to acheive, SL, APL, BSL, MSL and the ultimate WL?

I have set some goals for myself but, realized that with shrinkage, it is unrealistic. Can Any natural ladies answer this for me??

I know that sometimes it is case by case (type of hair, etc...) but I'm not going to lie, I'm slighty discouraged:nono:

I look like a chia pet on crack right now with this mop on my head and realizing that the work I am putting in to become 100% natural will not even fully be at my goal until like 2020!!

Any inspiration would be great right now......
Click to expand...

I understand your frustration. I am the one who I think on this hair site has won the dubious honor of lady with the most shrinkage factor! :lachen:

I am BSL (check my fotki for proof) but if you look at my siggy you won't believe it. I really think I have 99% shrinkage based on what it looks like when dried and unmanipulated.

Now knowing that and understanding I could be in complete and full clinical depression with these findings, :drunk: I have determined that I cannot focus on my unstretched goals like I use to because in my case it will send me over the edge and running for a box of chemicals.

So I am focusing more on my stretched goals knowing that hair should NORMALLY grow somewhere between 5-6 inches a year. I take photos of my stretched goals so that I and others can see my progress. I am in a challenge with others for unstretched goals but I have come to realize that I may be one who supports others in making their unstretched goals because their shrinkage factor is not as severe as mine.

I have to look at and focus on the positives because at this point I do not want to go to chemicals. So for now, I do the twist outs, braids and protective styles to show length. That is my focus for now. Not sure what I am going to do when I reached my stretched goal of midback and waist length. But I do know I am going to treat this as an adventure because I have never ever in my life had hair this long and healthy.

So I am doing my best to enjoy this journey of learning about my hair and all the surprises it has in store for me. It does get frustrating but then someone comes along and I get inspired and hopeful and I am determined that as a 4b aka CNapp I am going to continue on this road of a healthy natural because there is just entirely too few of us in public (not including locks), we need to be represented and I am just stubborn enough to be one of the poster children for our type of hair.
 
mscocoface said:
I understand your frustration. I am the one who I think on this hair site has won the dubious honor of lady with the most shrinkage factor! :lachen:

I am BSL (check my fotki for proof) but if you look at my siggy you won't believe it. I really think I have 99% shrinkage based on what it looks like when dried and unmanipulated.

Now knowing that and understanding I could be in complete and full clinical depression with these findings, :drunk: I have determined that I cannot focus on my unstretched goals like I use to because in my case it will send me over the edge and running for a box of chemicals.

So I am focusing more on my stretched goals knowing that hair should NORMALLY grow somewhere between 5-6 inches a year. I take photos of my stretched goals so that I and others can see my progress. I am in a challenge with others for unstretched goals but I have come to realize that I may be one who supports others in making their unstretched goals because their shrinkage factor is not as severe as mine.

I have to look at and focus on the positives because at this point I do not want to go to chemicals. So for now, I do the twist outs, braids and protective styles to show length. That is my focus for now. Not sure what I am going to do when I reached my stretched goal of midback and waist length. But I do know I am going to treat this as an adventure because I have never ever in my life had hair this long and healthy.

So I am doing my best to enjoy this journey of learning about my hair and all the surprises it has in store for me. It does get frustrating but then someone comes along and I get inspired and hopeful and I am determined that as a 4b aka CNapp I am going to continue on this road of a healthy natural because there is just entirely too few of us in public (not including locks), we need to be represented and I am just stubborn enough to be one of the poster children for our type of hair.
Click to expand...


ALL I have to say is WOW:shocked:.... YOU must have the patience of a monk! here I am freaking out, and you are just calm, cool and collected. You really are an inspiration.. Man shrinkage is terrible.. but I guess with time, I can come to like it (loving it will take more time)
 
PanamasOwn said:
ALL I have to say is WOW:shocked:.... YOU must have the patience of a monk! here I am freaking out, and you are just calm, cool and collected. You really are an inspiration.. Man shrinkage is terrible.. but I guess with time, I can come to like it (loving it will take more time)
Click to expand...

:lachen::lachen::lachen:
I do have patience but this was a learned personality trait. I went into this thinking no big deal my hair will be down to my back in a few years and all the world will see, I even contemplated getting one of those T-Shirts that show length because at that time I had no idea that my hair would not LAY down like everyone else.

I am just glad I checked out about a billion fotki hair sites :lachen:and found two ladies who have hair almost identical to mine. They were further along the natural journey than I was and they taught me to embrace my shrinkage. Now I don't know if I love my shrinkage and some days I don't like it but it is what it is and it is mine and if I have healthy hair then I just need to accentuate the positives (I think that is a song, right?) :look:

I am glad I could inspire you. Hang in there and enjoy the journey. When you get discouraged come visit or visit other folks with hair like yours. For me it is worth whatever I find out about my hair. Also I am trying to be a poster child so gotta stay strong and focused right? :yep:.
 
My natural hair is armpit length when stretched. When my hair is shrunken, it shrinks above my ears into a 2 inch teenie weenie afro!!! I don't have any hang time when my hair is in it's shrunken state.

I feel like my hair would have to be butt length for it ever to hang chin length in it's shrunken state. That's how shrinky and light-weighted my hair is. :)
 
I'm not really stressing shrinkage, because I'm not trying to walk around with loose hair all down my back - besides driving me crazy, it would break off in a matter of months... :nono: and we aren't even going to talk about the tangles/matting.

I want tailbone length hair because of the styles that I can do with it - and personally, I find it really convienent that I could go from BSL/MBL to ear length in a matter of hours - without cutting any hair off! Talk about the ultimate in flexible styling.. :grin:

If I ever want to show off my length, I could do boxbraids - that's how I airdry my hair 'stretched' and it would display my full length....but really, I want the length to give me more options - not to 'swang' it.
 
mscocoface said:
I understand your frustration. I am the one who I think on this hair site has won the dubious honor of lady with the most shrinkage factor! :lachen:

I am BSL (check my fotki for proof) but if you look at my siggy you won't believe it. I really think I have 99% shrinkage based on what it looks like when dried and unmanipulated.

Now knowing that and understanding I could be in complete and full clinical depression with these findings, :drunk: I have determined that I cannot focus on my unstretched goals like I use to because in my case it will send me over the edge and running for a box of chemicals.

So I am focusing more on my stretched goals knowing that hair should NORMALLY grow somewhere between 5-6 inches a year. I take photos of my stretched goals so that I and others can see my progress. I am in a challenge with others for unstretched goals but I have come to realize that I may be one who supports others in making their unstretched goals because their shrinkage factor is not as severe as mine.

I have to look at and focus on the positives because at this point I do not want to go to chemicals. So for now, I do the twist outs, braids and protective styles to show length. That is my focus for now. Not sure what I am going to do when I reached my stretched goal of midback and waist length. But I do know I am going to treat this as an adventure because I have never ever in my life had hair this long and healthy.

So I am doing my best to enjoy this journey of learning about my hair and all the surprises it has in store for me. It does get frustrating but then someone comes along and I get inspired and hopeful and I am determined that as a 4b aka CNapp I am going to continue on this road of a healthy natural because there is just entirely too few of us in public (not including locks), we need to be represented and I am just stubborn enough to be one of the poster children for our type of hair.
Click to expand...

Hey Mscocoface - you are my SS!

Shrinkage Shero :urock: Your hair is so BEAUTIFUL and INSPIRING!


I admit that my a length HO! :blush: So, while I love my natural hair and would not change its texture premenantly -could a sista see some length without pulling/tugging on my ends?

I guess I need to learn more about banding and other ways to stretching the strands without heat.

Any advice?
 
Last edited:
I have pretty interesting shrinkage so I'm at a point where I don't make goals for my shrunken hair...I actually don't think I ever did.
 
PanamasOwn said:
Wait...shrinkage up to ear length, but MBL or WL straight??!!! no way... REALLY...I have never seen that in my life!! (See how much I need to learn)
Click to expand...

Its very possible.



That was fully dried hair. I thought they say plaits are suppose to help with shrinkage:nono:.



That was after the maxiglide press (sorry about the flash).

My hair is layered from below apl to just above waistlength and it shrinks to as high as shoulder length.
 
CurliDiva said:
Hey Mscocoface - you are my SS!

Shrinkage Shero :urock: Your hair is so BEAUTIFUL and INSPIRING!


I admit that my a length HO! :blush: So, while I love my natural hair and would not change its texture premenantly -could a sista see some length without pulling/tugging on my ends?

I guess I need to learn more about banding and other ways to stretching the strands without heat.

Any advice?
Click to expand...


:lachen::lachen:

You are hysterical! :lachen: I was a length fiend too when I started but I got a seriously rude awaking by my hair and it told me NO, now go sit down somewhere while I school you about ME!!! :lachen:

Check out what I have done (via my fotki) to create length with and without assistance (extra hair). I am still learning and trying to create new styles myself but I do have a few. I did the banding but for me it was just as easy to just braid. But who knows banding could be the answer for you. My advice would be to experiment, try, try and try again. You have got nothing but time as your hair grows more healthy and you obtain the length you want even if people may not notice it. :look:
 
wonderstar88 said:
Its very possible.



That was fully dried hair. I thought they say plaits are suppose to help with shrinkage:nono:.



That was after the maxiglide press (sorry about the flash).

My hair is layered from below apl to just above waistlength and it shrinks to as high as shoulder length.
Click to expand...


WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So you have somewhere about 50-60% shrinkage huh?!

I have not checked my length for a minute. Not sure what mine is now. I am going to check it sometime in either Dec or Jan.

Your hair is beautiful!!!!
 
Last edited:
i think i have 50 % shrinkage, but i love looking at the various textures and shrinkage of everyones hair, i love the variety of natural hair :)
 
uh oh...looks like I have to be the bad child who got away:nono:

Panama I was natural for 2 and a half years, and I just permed on Sunday. I haven't fount many hair twins except for Rudy Huxtable. I couldn't take the thickness. Shrinkage wasn't that huge of a deal to me. I think I had about 50% shrinkage. My hair stretched (before I trimmed it) was almost bra strap air dried it was kissing my shoulders. When I first went natural I had the idea that my hair would be healthy (which it was) and I would have lots of versatility. I thought I could go from, afro, to puff, to curly with gel, to str8 by press. Well I was in for a surprise. I could do the afro and puff just fine but it was a lot of picking out with the pick every time I wore that style. I could wear the gel but it took forever for it to saturate all of my hair because it was sooo thick and light. I had to use huge HUGE amounts of gel. And the only gel that worked for me was that brown amparo stuff. None of that clear or blue gel worked. If I wore a puff I had to saturate the top with gel and then tie it down just for it to lay (Some people can get away with just using grease and water...my hair laughed at that!:lachen::lachen::lachen::lachen: I'm laughing now thinking about it!) And do you know how many bubbles I popped trying to pull all of my hair back in one!? Goody made a Good profit with me and bubbles! I felt like I had to wrestle with my hair to get the bubbles to connect. I just started twisting them rather than trying to pull one bubble over the other.
Once when I was transitioning I went to get it pressed do you know my texture never came back? No matter how much conditioner I slathered on it stayed str8. So i had to cut that off and cut off the option of heat. I was traumatized. So it seemed that the only practical style I could do that would show length was to braid and put beads at the ends to weigh the hair down. Well that style took forever to do and undo, though I did keep it in for 3 weeks at a time.
So the walls started to cave in when I was itching to have a str8 style. I tried all kinds of things to get my hair str8 with out heat. Nothing worked. Then my mom pressed it lightly and I was a bit satisfied but it was still soo thick and I knew I didn't want to put heat in my hair to acheive str8ness. So I had come to a fork in the road and I chose the dark BUT lovely path. I don't regret any of it! I think you should continue down the natural path for as long as you love it! And I think if you can take care of your hair natural you can do anything because it is not easy!

Now that my thesis is finished here are some links to pics of my hair:

My permed hair in college
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/1/at-first-there-was-/img0197.html

Newly natural 3 months old
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/1/4a-debut/img0688.html

pressed hair
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/1/pretty-hair-style!!/img0722.html

amparo gel...alot cuter and easier with short hair
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/1/so-i-tried-the-ampa/img1037.html

first real pony puff..you can almost hear the bubble screaming! See the brown gel inside of them?
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/1/1/finally-out-of-that/img1142.html

first set of braids and beads
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/1/1/the-start-of-my-bea/img1282.html

Last set of braids and beads
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/2/back-from-europe-an/img0095.html

BAA
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/1/1/look-at-my-baa-and-/img1543.html

Trying to achieve str8 hair w/o heat that was a mess that has no after pics
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/2/my-first-attempt-at/img0186.html

Mom lightly pressed my hair
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/2/my-first-press-in-t/img0209.html

Permed hair Nov 2007
http://public.fotki.com/lipyt/okthats-differenti-/the-dawn-of-a-new-day/img0242.html

Hope my 2 cents helps!
 
mscocoface said:
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So you have somewhere about 50-60% shrinkage huh?!

I have not checked my length for a minute. Not sure what mine is now. I am going to check it sometime in either Dec or Jan.

Your hair is beautiful!!!!
Click to expand...

Yea I'd say about 60% in the back and 50% in the front.

I do think you're the queen of shrinkage though:yep:.
 
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