Slow Growers Unite 2019

[faithVA]

I've been rinsing and conditioning every day since mid January. I'm hoping it keeps my hair and ends from drying out and over time helps me retain moisture longer. My ends are a bit smoother. And before I twist I coat my ends in crisco.

Its too early to tell if it is working. I don't notice any new splits. My hair splits when the sun rises and the moon beams and the wind blows. It doesn't care.

 

[icsonia22]

Lately I've been trying to take my prenatal vitamins consistently. It's sad that I'm just now starting to do this in my 5th month of pregnancy but I guess better now than never. My hair growth and retention was amazing during my first pregnancy. I rocked mini braids for most of last year so I installed some about a week ago and I'm going to try to keep them in for a few weeks. Hopefully the prenatal vitamins will give me a little boost in my hair growth rate. If not, I'll just stick to the mini braids to retain whatever I do grow.

 

[Chicoro]

Happy Monday!!!

I hope everyone is growing well! I had two quick points (discoveries) to make and figured I would leave them in this thread!

1. Every few years I rediscover that sealing the ends of my twist with a pomade gives me that best moisture retention and it keeps me free from SSK's. I'm going to commit to doing this for a year to help with retention. I've been using Qhemet Biologics Pomade for about a month now and my ends have been responding great! I was going to give all the praise to Qhemet...but then I started to think, and I was like "Angela every time you seal your ends with a light pomade your ends respond well." I think the key is to just use a little at a time and since pomade is heavier then oil, I may can skip a night or alternate sealing with pomade one night and oil or butter the next.
2. Even though I'm a slow grower, the best thing that I could have done is to stick with my regimen despite the slow growth. I kind of compare this to my savings account. Once I established how I was going to save and stuck to it, my savings blossomed! It was just a matter of finding out what works and then sticking to it come hell or high water. For example I spent the weekend with friends and after having a full day and night of libations and celebrations everyone including myself was beat...but before laying it down for the night I did my hair routine. I've noticed unless I'm truly sick, I do my hair, and slowly but surely it pays off.

Hi,
Can you share what kind of butter you use, please? Thank you!

 

[icsonia22]

My hair has been chugging along. I'm finally seeing some progress in the nape area. I can put in a small pony tail after using my revair. The top and front are about an inch from APL. My butter of choice is Shea butter

 

[icsonia22]

So I finally did a thorough measurement of my hair. I put my hair into 15 plats on the top and 9 cornrows in the back where my undercut was. Most of my hair in the undercut area is 3.75 inches except for the finest part of the nape area. I've been growing out the undercut for 9 months.

The top of my hair ranges mostly from 9.5 inches to 10 inches with a few areas with scraggly hairs up to 11 inches (25 months of growth) except for the very front widows peak area that is just a little past 8 inches. Therefore I can assume that the average growth rate on my head is somewhere between 4.5-5 inches a year in most places.

The key to length retention for me is keeping my hair stretched with my revair and making sure that my hair is moisturized and sealed with Shea butter so that the shed hairs can slide out without taking others hairs along with it. This also helps me keep single strand knots at bay. I never allow my hair to shrink unless I'm washing it or doing a henna treatment. I alternate between low manipulation and protective styling mostly out of sheer laziness and 7 months of pregnancy. I haven't noticed a growth spurt from pregnancy and I haven't taken my prenatal vitamins consistently (skipping entire months smh and then followed by consistency for 5 days).

Overall I think it's important to measure your hair in tinier sections and at different seasonal periods to really gain an accurate understanding of your growth rate. Now that I know what my growth potential is for the year, I can set realistic expectations for growth goals without being disappointed in my own hair when I see someone else go from a twa to APL in a year.

 

[faithVA]

So I finally did a thorough measurement of my hair. I put my hair into 15 plats on the top and 9 cornrows in the back where my undercut was. Most of my hair in the undercut area is 3.75 inches except for the finest part of the nape area. I've been growing out the undercut for 9 months.

The top of my hair ranges mostly from 9.5 inches to 10 inches with a few areas with scraggly hairs up to 11 inches (25 months of growth) except for the very front widows peak area that is just a little past 8 inches. Therefore I can assume that the average growth rate on my head is somewhere between 4.5-5.5 inches a month.

The key to length retention for me is keeping my hair stretched with my revair and making sure that my hair is moisturized and sealed with Shea butter so that the shed hairs can slide out without taking others hairs along with it. This also helps me keep single strand knots at bay. I never allow my hair to shrink unless I'm washing it or doing a henna treatment. I alternate between low manipulation and protective styling mostly out of sheer laziness and 7 months of pregnancy. I haven't noticed a growth spurt from pregnancy and I haven't taken my prenatal vitamins consistently (skipping entire months smh and then followed by consistency for 5 days).

Overall I think it's important to measure your hair in tinier sections and at different seasonal periods to really gain an accurate understanding of your growth rate. Now that I know what my growth potential is for the year, I can set realistic expectations for growth goals without being disappointed in my own hair when I see someone else go from a twa to APL in a year.

I think you meant to type 4.5 a year.

4.5 to 5.5 isn't too bad. The average is only 6

 

[blazingbeauty]

Reposted from another thread:

Going into marley twists for 2 months (I’m giving myself one pass as a break from my hair)! I feel like I’m really on a Pamper My Hair Challenge, bc my hair is the softest, most defined, and resilient it has ever been - and I’ve been keeping my hair and ends protected 100% of the time.

I’m just hope this translates into length retention

I’ve been trimming/dusting every 3 months and incorporating a seamless wide tooth comb again after years of finger detangling (about every 6 weeks bc of my protective style rotation). These may be hidden length retention inhibitors

 

[faithVA]

Going to accept that I only get about 4 inches a year. Just need to keep improving my ends to keep more of that. Due to my frail ends I think I only keep 2.5 inches of that 4.

Since I now know I'm only getting 4 o can set my goals more realistically. Its going to take me to 3 times as long to get to any goal.

 

[blazingbeauty]

I’ll be trimming again in December to prep for the new year. It looks like the bulk of my hair will be able to hit ~ 19-20 in by the end of next year (taking into acct my growth rate).

My “problem” areas are still the nape and bang areas. I’ve made a lot of good changes to my routine this year and so I’m not sure what more I can do for those areas besides be patient and trim as needed. Maybe more protein?