Quietly Reached Hip Length Natural 4a/ 4b Hair

[LovelyNaps26]

once i got to waist length in 2013 i stopped tracking length. i was fine with anything midback or longer and honestly thought that was my length plateau (which i was totally okay with)

so i got my hair professionally straightened on a whim for the first time in a LONG time on saturday. I had it trimmed so it is in between waist and hip at this point. (

my back story: when I joined the forum I was just at shoulder length and I had been natural for 5 years. my hair was stuck. protective styling, moisturizing my ends, only detangling when damp and conditioned all helped to reduce breakage. I've tried msm, megatek, fish oil...but stopped all that before I reached bra strap. low maintenance was key...just had to be patient.

on Saturday :
my hair was blown out. side note: the stylist was a 20 something year old white woman. i've only seen black stylists there and was like" for real, y'all gotta give me the little white girl. what she gonna do with my hair?...ate my humble pie because that child spent 2 hours blowing out my type 4 coils and kinks and detangled with a wide toothed comb when necessary. she used heat protectant on each section she later flat ironed. oh and she used the comb chase method to flat iron. she trimmed and showed me how much she would trim before cutting.

2006


2007



2010


June 2016

 

[almond eyes]

Beautiful. Congrats. Gives us all hope that with patience it will happen.

How does it feel?

What is your regiment?

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[Nightingale]

Looks great, congratulations!

 

[Crackers Phinn]

I don't know why I'm disappointed that you're not really Phylicia Rashad.

Your hair is lovely.

 

[msbettyboop]

Lovely!!!

So what would you say you eventually did for you to start seeing results after 5 years at the same length? What's your regimen like?

 

[curlicarib]

Damn, Girl! You're KILLING it!

Congrats and beautiful hair!

 

[trclemons]

Whew, your hair is awesome..............Congratulations!!!

 

[naturalmanenyc]

Gorgeous! I agree, patience is key.

I'm at that same point after being natural since 12/2009. I've been at APL for years and generally have to trim back to APL if I do retain. Protective styles don't help me retain...tried them for years including crochet braids for the last year.
My hair is too fine for all of that. I'm doing wash & go styles all summer (maybe fall too) to see what happens.

 

[melisandre]

Gorgeous!

 

[Bunnyhaslonghair]

Gorgeous and great work. I selfishly want to ask you for more pictures....

 

[faithVA]

Thanks for a wonderful update. Congratulations on your progress. It's very inspiring.

 

[Aggie]

Congrats on your great progress @LovelyNaps26

 

[IDareT'sHair]

Such an Inspiration. Great Progress. Nice & Healthy.

Thanks for sharing your progress.

 

[PinkDiamond]

Congratulations on such wonderful progress! Thanks for the update.

 

[LovelyNaps26]

Beautiful. Congrats. Gives us all hope that with patience it will happen.

How does it feel?

What is your regiment?

Best,
Almond Eyes

this is the longest my hair has ever been. I was actually surprised to see it so long.

I am a low maintenance gal. was every 2 weeks or as needed. prepoo with oil and conditioner. detangle before washing. ..usually in 8 big twists. wash with shea moisture . retwist 8 twists after washing, and moisturize with Qhemet Biologics amla heavy cream. I then put my hair up in a simple do. it's simple and I'm busy so it works. I used to wear mini twists but they take too long now.

 

[LovelyNaps26]

Lovely!!!

So what would you say you eventually did for you to start seeing results after 5 years at the same length? What's your regimen like?

the BIGGEST difference was detangling only when my hair was coated with oil and conditioner. I wasn't breaking my hair anymore. the next was being gentle with my ends. moisturizing them daily and protecting them. I started this in the fall of 2009 and by may 2010 the difference was astounding. longer and thicker. I retained 5 inches that first year...because I trimmed.

 

[MileHighDiva]

Beautiful! Your growth and retention are inspirational to me, I low maintenance too.

 

[lux10023]

beautiful hair...

i realized that i killed my length with my non- detangling routine...

for yrsssss i would just go straight to washing my hair and then it was tangled like crazy....i finally realized my ridiculous behind was not detangling at all..smGdh....im relaxed now and finally get it!!! im retaining so much length and i cant wait until the end of this year!!!

the BIGGEST difference was detangling only when my hair was coated with oil and conditioner. I wasn't breaking my hair anymore. the next was being gentle with my ends. moisturizing them daily and protecting them. I started this in the fall of 2009 and by may 2010 the difference was astounding. longer and thicker. I retained 5 inches that first year...because I trimmed.

 

[caliscurls]

@LovelyNaps26
Congrats on your progress and I love how you "quietly" reached hip length. How do you think that contributed to your success, if at all? By the way, thanks for always sharing your tips. You're one of the key people I've followed on YouTube and I've learned quite a bit from you over the years!!

 

[NaturallyATLPCH]

Your hair is beautiful! Congratulations on reaching your goal!

 

[Evolving78]

Congrats!

 

[Bibliophile]

As soon as I read the title I knew there were gonna be some good pictures... They were awesome

@LovelyNaps26 congratulations on reaching hip length

*adds @LovelyNaps26 to the LHCF Unicorn List*

 

[Misseyl]

After 5 years, you retained a lot of length, beautiful hair.

 

[LdyKamz]

Your hair is beautiful. Your tips are very helpful. How often would you say you trimmed? Did you do that on a schedule?

 

[Prettymetty]

Beautiful hair. I'm inspired. My hair has been around the same length for 2 years or so and I was thinking about giving up, but now I know that it is possible to grow our hair to super long lengths.

 

[charmingt]

Ok, so, lovely. what exactly did you do to preserve your length? Did you comb it while damp or really wet? Did you slather products on it before combing it. Could you write a step by step of your length preserving routine? Was this weekly....daily?. Sorry that I am coming across so dense . I have an inquiring mind.

Your hair looks so lovely and well maintained.

Thanks!

 

[LovelyNaps26]

Your hair is beautiful. Your tips are very helpful. How often would you say you trimmed? Did you do that on a schedule?

I don't have a schedule. whenever I would blow out my hair...about twice a year, I'd dust the ends. on Saturday damaged ends were more visible. she cit about 2 inches.

 

[LovelyNaps26]

Ok, so, lovely. what exactly did you do to preserve your length? Did you comb it while damp or really wet? Did you slather products on it before combing it. Could you write a step by step of your length preserving routine? Was this weekly....daily?. Sorry that I am coming across so dense . I have an inquiring mind.

Your hair looks so lovely and well maintained.

Thanks!

Okay so this will be long but I wrote this up before. I pasted my regime below:

Hair Type

My hair is kinky-coily. For those who use hair typing I fall within the “4” type range. A few patches of my hair curl when wet but most of my hair takes on a cottony appearance and shrinks about 75%. My hair seems pretty thick but I actually think I’m at average density. I think I have a mix of medium and thick strands which makes my hair appear full.

Regimen
I now wash every other week with a non-sulfate cleanser. I pre-poo my my hair with oil and a conditioner and wash my hair in twisted sections. I usually twist my hair in medium twists or air dry in large twists and style later. I wear mostly protective styles and moisturize my hair every other day with a water based moisturizer.

Retain length and moisture
Low manipulation and low maintenance is key! I only use a comb on wash day when my hair is loaded with conditioner and oil. Because I’m on a bi-monthly wash schedule that means there are several months where I’ve only picked up a comb twice. I wear protective styles that can last two weeks with minimal touching up so that I manipulate as little as possible. I try to moisturize my ends 3 to 4 times a week.

Biggest Mistakes

In July of 2007 I flat ironed my hair into oblivion. I would touch up my hair daily (sometimes twice a day) with my flat iron set on 450 degrees. After two weeks of heat styling I washed my hair only to find my hair was straight, limp and fried. I slowly cut off the straight ends over the next year.

Best/most effective thing you do for your hair
Only combing my hair when it is coated with conditioner or at least a leave in moisturizer has been key to my length retention. For me, dry combing my hair is equivalent to a hair cut. The moment I realized that I saw the inches pile on.

 

[NaturallyATLPCH]

Excellent advice. My regimen is similar (I wash and comb once a week but it's protected most of the time). I should get to waist length by retirement .

I swear my hair grows so dang gone SLOW.

 

[Ajna]

What a wonderful story and your hair is beautiful!

Thank you so much for the inspiration.