Retaining Length with natural hair- What your best method?

[melodies815]

I just wanted to chime in if I have not already that twists are really giving me a huge benefit right now, and are boosting my retention.

I can see it. In December, my front was at my upper lip. My front is at the bottom of my lower lip. I will post pics in the Megatek Challenge tomorrow after church or Monday after work.

I've been swamped with work lately...

HHG to us all!

cj

 

[Truth]

I voted Low mani... my styles are either 2 big braids ,twist or my phony puff..(length is usually twisted and baggied underneath) ... what can I say.. it's cold and i'm a bum..lol

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

Its all about sticking to the fundamentals for me:

Religiously washing/conditioning and DCing in 8 braided sections

Religiously sleeping with a satin scarf/bonnet on my head

I straighten often with good techniques and I think that does help alot

In the warmer months I dabble in more air-dry styles like braids twists fro-hawks, curly sets, afro's you name it and with my techniques I still keep the tangles away.....thats about it!

 

[Fine 4s]

To Ladies that are natural- What have you done that works best for you to retain length?

Leave my hair alone for weeks in buns, twists or plaits and walk around looking *****...

When I first went 100% natural, I used to get my hair straightened every 2 weeks and I retained waaayy more length than when I did twist outs/wash and go's. WOW, this process gave me muchas heat damage which lead to excessive breakage which of course led me to stay between SL and APL -closer to SL than APL btw)

I did all natural styles from Dec 08-Jan 2010. I straightened my hair for the first time in over a year and I haven't retained as much length as I used to when I did constantly straighten. I believe it is due to my super coily/kinky hair wrapping around the other hairs and creating those balls on the end of my hair. Did you do protective styles? What did you do when you found those pesky knots? Did you rip them out or did they cause breakage? I'm noticing a lot of knots on wash day so I plan on blowdrying more often this year.

I am not stuck on the method of keeping my hair straight most of the time- even though it is what worked for me in the past.

I am looking for ideas and what helped others retain length and health. Is it the frequency that you detangle your hair, doing twist outs and staying away from wash and go's, keeping your hair in twists, bunning,baggying etc...? I see alot of Challenges with different styles and methods---but based on challenges that you have participated in..which worked the best for you to retain health and length? Thanks

I'm way to extreme with my PS to fix my mouth to offer any advice. The pics in your siggy look really cute and I doubt you'd want to walk around in plaits like I do. But it really works for me!

 

[danigurl18]

Definately low manipulation, moisture, and weaves for me

 

[Whimsy]

you aint no fun unless you got BUNS HUN!!!!

 

[beans08]

I voted low manipulation. Moisture is also a big deal, and I normally wear my hair up in twist or bun.

 

[Fhrizzball]

Braids don't give me as much knots as twists do. They last longer. I can curl them with rods easier. They don't get so puffy at the roots. And I just overall perfer them. THeydo take forever to but in though. I'm going to try PS with only braids till May and see how I like it. I hope you can find a PS that you like and benefits you.

 

[LadyRaider]

I don't think I have ever had a ssk. Can someone take a photo of one?

 

[locfreeme]

Twists and braids, definitely. Small to medium-sized and left in for as long as possible each time. My current obsession is the "twist-hawk" - cornrowed on the sides and the middle set in small twists. It's easy to convert into a french roll updo when I need it to look more professional and I can wear it for two weeks at a time without too much knotting. And it's cute and funky

My hair simply does not retain moisture unless it's twisted or braided. And my hair also coils around itself and breaks no matter how healthy it is, so the key for me is to just avoid manipulation as much as possible.

 

[mscocoface]

Low to no manipulation whatever that is. For me right now doing twists and putting it in a chignon (sp?) has been working wonders.

 

[Mook's hair]

Low-manipulation styles twists/cornrows
Regular deep conditioning with heat
regular conditioning rinses with twists/braids in
keeping my ends moisturized,
oiling my scalp & doing scalp massages (helps my growth)

I am thinking about trying the more heat method because I've also found that airdrying is a bad thing for my hair.

 

[BillsBackerz67]

Heat is saving my hair

 

[Rastafarai]

Internal - lots of water, fish and fruits

External - protein treatments, scalp massages, daily oiling/moisturizing of scalp and ends and protective styling (buns, flat twists).

 

[Stella B.]

Just recently decided to try these drying methods monthly: My goal is to stay away from direct heat, cause my ends are fragile and damaged.

Week 1- Rollerset/ silk wrap- (low, indirect heat under hooded dryer)
Week 2- Air dry- stretched in braids or bantu knots
Week 3- Blow dry- (cool setting only) using a blow dryer paddle brush. This works wonders on getting my hair straight
Week 4- Air dry-stretched in bantu knots, covered with a scarf, since it takes all day! Comb next day, when dry!

I plan on flat ironing no more than 3X's a year, if the above straightening methods work for me. This will be my year to experiment, and so far, I'm happy!

 

[Vonnieluvs08]

So far for me twists have been a life saver. I do them every 7-10days and keep them well moisturized. I've gotten a little lazy keeping them off my shoulders or in a satin bonnet but I've noticed some breakage so I'm back on it.

Good techniques and general hair care (protein/moisture, henna, etc) have helped me grow as well as retain my length. And realizing that my hair is unique and what works for one may not work for me. So just experimenting until I get it right.

I've learned that I can't leave in mini twist longer than a week because my hair sheds a lot and then would start to loc as that shed hair starts wrapping around the twists.

 

[mEmYSELFaNDj]

Definitely Weaves for me. They are no manipulation, and I retain all growth and length using weaves.

 

[Bene]

A good bun can be your best friend

 

[CocoGlow]

been natural 3yrs and still learning! .. subscribing

KEEP THE GREAT TIPS COMING!

 

[Sweet_Ambrosia]

Low Manipulation+Moisture+Patience

 

[Lucia]

Bene nice bun
where did you get that hair stick?

 

[Bene]

Bene nice bun
where did you get that hair stick?

That's a Ravenscroft moon shape. The vendor has been sick for a little bit, so she hasn't been making that design, but I keep an eye out at her shop to see if she's listed any new ones.

 

[Filmatic]

Mine is a mix of braids and weaves. My hair like to be cornrowed and hid. I am moving back to wigs from sew-ins for a while.

 

[Barbara]

Start back oiling my hair at least once a week; more if time permits. I've been really lazy about this; and since my five or six inch cut a year ago, I haven't made much progress.

 

[FindingMe]

twists (and twist outs) on wet hair and then air-drying help me the most. that and just plain leaving it alone once I have chosen a style.

if i have a frofro/WnG/twist-out , it's a fro/WnG/twist-out until I wash again and I try to use really moisturizing & conditioning products (especially on the ends) so I don't have to add anything else until wash day (every 7-10 days). if it's looking too janky for a puff, I wear a hat or scarf to cover creatively until wash day.

i let my scalp tell me when it's time to wash. when my scalp begins to itch a lot (i notice i'm itching), i wash. other than that, i leave it alone.


ETA: I did maybe 3-4 WnGs over the 6 months I've ben natural and used heat to dry maybe 3-4 times as well in the last 6 months. My hair doesn't like WnG's they look fine as a style, but my hair always ends up more dry and scraggly and more tangled than when I wet twist/wear twist-out...

 

[Chromia]

I think I retain length because of
-Low manipulation.
-Usually air drying in flat twists for a twistout.
-Finding conditioners that make my hair easy to detangle.

 

[ashiah]

Here's the thing: what if you think twists and braids are ugly?

I usually air dry my hair in twists and then just wear the twists up with a clippy. It's boring and it's ugly and I'm sick of it. My hair is growing, but it's losing its thickness; so I need to think of another method.

 

[FindingMe]

Here's the thing: what if you think twists and braids are ugly?

I usually air dry my hair in twists and then just wear the twists up with a clippy. It's boring and it's ugly and I'm sick of it. My hair is growing, but it's losing its thickness; so I need to think of another method.

ooh, I dunno....Are you doing large twists or small twists? I usually do larger ones as the smaller ones take a lot more manipulation for me on the front end and the back end to undo

 

[Hair2Here]

You know what back, in the 1980's, almost everybody use to swing a jheri curl. My mom use to spray her hair at night and bag that head up like it was nothing. In the morning, she'd slap some curl activator in her head and walk around with a towel on her shoulders until the drippings stopped dripping! For a time there, everybody who was swinging their Jheri Curl hair had naturally long hair. We laughed at men and women wearing Jherri Curls back then. It was hilarous then but I'm taking that stuff serious now. My mom's hair was at her longest when she sported her Jherri Curl. It only tells me now that her hair absolutely loved moisture. So, what do I do now? I swing my wash-n-go look and use Jherri Curl products (alternating with other instant moisturizers). I bag it up at night and my hair has never been healthier. I guess I owe a huge apology to all the folks I laughed at who sported these curls and a big thank you to the kind folks who invented the Jherri Curl. The products were/are the best thing for my hair.

 

[ashiah]

ooh, I dunno....Are you doing large twists or small twists? I usually do larger ones as the smaller ones take a lot more manipulation for me on the front end and the back end to undo

Sloppy, large twists. Too lazy for small twists even though those are the ones that look better. Even with the big ones I sometimes get knots when I pull them apart/take them down.