Stupid question for naturals

[Perfexion]

Is it possible to style your hair without stretching it? I'm still kinda new to natural and I've been surviving on pony puffs for the past 12 months. I want to try some more protective styles but all the twisting and untwisting is actually what's causing my ends to pop off. I tried banding but for some reason it doesn't stretch my hair as much as I'd like. I only get maybe an inch of stretching unless I keep re-banding it but that's really time consuming. I'm trying not to heat style at all. Are there any protective styling options for unstretched hair besides puffs? This is my hair type. I think it's 4b.

 

[missliberia]

When I had your length I did tuck and roll styles (but my puff was a staple!). I understand your pain. Why are your ends popping off? Please give us your regimen. DO you moisturize and seal? DO you keep the protein and moisture balance? What are you using?

 

[charmtreese]

I'm living in puffs too. However, I normally Baggie my puff and wear a phony puff over it. I was having success with this, but during my wash session today I had a few knots in my crown. Not sure what went wrong this week.

 

[Perfexion]

When I had your length I did tuck and roll styles (but my puff was a staple!). I understand your pain. Why are your ends popping off? Please give us your regimen. DO you moisturize and seal? DO you keep the protein and moisture balance? What are you using?

I'm trying to keep a low maintenance regimen but maybe that's my problem. I cowash every other day and slick my hair into a puff while it's still wet. I usually leave some of the conditioner on for extra moisture. Then I spritz glycerin and water on my puff and go. When I twist, I put a little WGO in the white bottle and ORS lock and twist butter on each section before I twist and I untwist with the WGO moisturizer oil in the yellow bottle. As I'm twisting, my ends knot up and pop off every time. I didn't think there was a wrong way to two strand twist but I'm clearly doing something wrong.

 

[Perfexion]

bumping for a response

 

[faithVA]

The longest my hair has been is SL so not sure if it gets better. But my hair really doesn't stretch a lot. No matter how tightly it is held it is continually trying to get back to a certain length. Out of all the styles though that help stretch my hair are flat twists. But even this needs to be a two part process. I need to let it dry in something like twists, then stretch it out with flat twists.

Perhaps you need to stretch in 2 steps; drying step then a stretching step.

Rollersets and curlformer sets do great for stretching.

 

[Blairx0]

I know you said you were trying be heat free. does that include indirect heat?

If you are not willing to use indirect heat curlformers are great! I got some fake on on ebay and my hair loves them.

If you are willing to use indirect heat( like aboonet dryer) you can also try rollersetting, which I love. Or blowdry using the tension method.

But if your ends are popping off it may be time for a trim and some TLC.

 

[Bajanmum]

OP, I know you didn't ask about your breakage, but...

By the products you've mentioned (Twist and Loc, and WGO) none of them sounds really moisturizing. Isn't the T.A.L, a gel? You sound like you need some creamy moisturizers in your regimen. Your strands need softening, once that happens your ends won't pop off when twisting.

I'm sure these ladies can recommend some more, but look into bee mine, or hairveda for reasonable creams.

Remember after DC ing, a creamy leave in, a creamy moisturizer and a butter or oil to seal it all in. 4b hair usually likes the creamy crack.

 

[bunnie82]

hmmmm.....the only style I can think of without stretching are braids, twsts, buns and wng's....

i know u r over the buns, but what about trying different styles of buns.....get creative!

 

[greenandchic]

Perfexion - To keep my ends intact, I have to seal them daily. Sometimes I add a little water based cream or leave-in for moisture before resealing my ends. I have to baby them and make sure they don't dry out. I leave my hair stretched via large twists most of the time. I twist at night after washing and protective style during the day.

I used to live in puffs but my hair was getting too tangled as it got longer. Tangled hair = more manipulation to detangle = more breakage for me.

My hair is almost MBL (finally!) so puffs are more of a "special" style for me and no longer the norm since I can't handle the tangles.

 

[nomadpixi]

Bumping, I've got the same dang problem.

 

[DarkJoy]

Perhaps its the state of your hair when you attempt stretching?

Unless it is soaking wet and I mean uncomfortably dripping everywhere, hardly touching it with a towel, it will REFUSE to stretch.

There is definately a diff in how our hair behaves at differing levels of moisture.

 

[Lila25]

Looks like you have enough hair to bun..as soon as I could bun after my big chop I did...not only did it preserve my ends, but I didn't worry too much about my hair..I just washed, conditioned, blew it out lightly to stretch it a little, sealed my ends, then bunned it..for the entire week..I spiced up my buns with hair ornaments, had lots of fun with them. I'm almost at my two year naturalversary..and my hair..is in a bun..lol!