Suggestions for long-haired natural? Get in here...

I

inthepink

New Member
My natural hair is about mid-back length. You can see a length shot here of my hair straightened back in October - it is definitely a little longer than that now.

My routine this past winter was rollersets weekly. Now, it's spring and I'm ready to switch back to wearing my hair in its curly/natural state.

What do I do with my hair? I need some suggestions from others! Please help.

The problems I'm having are:

1. Takes forever to detangle my hair daily in the shower b/c of the length and curls and how it's styled (or lacktherof). Don't know how to fix this.
2. Once I condition my hair, rinse it, then what? I want to apply leave-in but the problems is that I have to separate so much hair that by then, my hair is drying out and it's going frizzy and poofy.
3. I try to smooth my hair back with my comb but then that forms a big tangle across the back where I smooth just up to the ponytail.
4. How do I make a ponytail combing all of this hair and keeping it neat at the same time?!
5. A wash n' go is practically out of the question b/c my hair is cut in a blunt u-shape.
6. What can I do in 20 min per day vs an hour per week?

Any suggestions? Would oils/butters help? What kind?
 
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Okay I just picked myself up off the floor from fainting, wait, gotta dust off my clothes and wipe my chin from drool...........

Okay, I am not sure I can give YOU any advice. I have been protective styling for the very reasons you mentioned with the addition of wanting more length.

I find that a protective style is easier to deal with daily and I don't have to deal with daily combing, detangling and trying to put a lot of product in my hair just to get it to act right for the day.

Are interested in braids or twists for the summer?

Maybe you can twist doing the night and have a twist out during the day?

Not sure these are helpful but it is a start. Okay ladies chime in and help the woman with all this natural hair.

Goodness and Mercy.
 
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I love your hair and your website! I used your tutorial on rollersetting and it works beautifully!
 
Aww you guys are too funny! I came in here thinking I had 5 sets of suggestions and saw these compliments! I am blushing. Thank you :)

Twisting my hair might be an option with styling - though I don't like the twist look for the office. But it could help my hair to not tangle.
 
WOW your hair is beautiful...what about putting a moisturizing leave-in with water in a spray bottle to detangle out of the shower, that really helps me when I am in real trouble...I sometimes use Rusk Smoother, water and a bit of Lacio Lacio ... You can try to pre-poo with either Shea butter and wheat germ oil which contains ceramides and they are very great . HTH :)
 
hairlove said:
Aww you guys are too funny! I came in here thinking I had 5 sets of suggestions and saw these compliments! I am blushing. Thank you :)

Twisting my hair might be an option with styling - though I don't like the twist look for the office. But it could help my hair to not tangle.
Click to expand...

Well you can do different buns, french rolls, and chingnon (sp?) it with the twist out and leave out tendrils for the office if you want a more neat appearance.

I have done that a few times and like the effects.
 
hairlove said:
1. Takes forever to detangle my hair daily in the shower b/c of the length and curls and how it's styled (or lacktherof). Don't know how to fix this.
It's increasingly more difficult to wet the whole hair daily when it grows longer. Not only does it take a long time in the shower, it also takes forever to dry! My solution to this is to wet my hair a little with my hands. I just wet my hands and scrunch the hair to get the curls back.

2. Once I condition my hair, rinse it, then what? I want to apply leave-in but the problems is that I have to separate so much hair that by then, my hair is drying out and it's going frizzy and poofy.
Apply all the lotions, leave-ins, oils and butters while your hair is still wet and in the shower. You can even flush the shower over your hair quickly after applying the product to get your hair to clump a little bit again.

3. I try to smooth my hair back with my comb but then that forms a big tangle across the back where I smooth just up to the ponytail.

4. How do I make a ponytail combing all of this hair and keeping it neat at the same time?!
Answer to 3 and 4: don't worry about tangles underneath the surface. No one knows they're there but you :grin: I smooth with my hands + water and tie a scarf on the front of my hair.

5. A wash n' go is practically out of the question b/c my hair is cut in a blunt u-shape.
Maybe you should try to put some layers in your hair to avoid the pyramid effect of a blunt cut?

6. What can I do in 20 min per day vs an hour per week?
I prefer fixing my hair in the shower, that takes around 45 minutes per week. I wash, condition, detangle, add carrot oil cream and avocado butter and let my hair air dry. That's more or less all I do until the next wash. I spend 2-3 mins on my hair in the morning. :yep:

Any suggestions? Would oils/butters help? What kind?
I use carrot oil cream from Africa's Best and organic avocado butter (pure).
Click to expand...

Your hair is gorgeous hairlove! I remember so well when you started your transitioning... From looking at your hair it's hard to imagine that you have any problems with it :D

My answers are in blue.
 
hairlove said:
Aww you guys are too funny! I came in here thinking I had 5 sets of suggestions and saw these compliments! I am blushing. Thank you :)

Twisting my hair might be an option with styling - though I don't like the twist look for the office. But it could help my hair to not tangle.
Click to expand...

If you can call it a twist out when you only do one twist, that's what I do at night :yep:

I put my hair in one very loose twist and secure with a hair comb. It's soft enough to sleep on and keeps my hair out of the way when I'm sleeping. No self-strangling :lol: After a few days the hair will be a little straighter than it normally is, but I just wet it to get the curls back.
 
Judging by your hair YOU need to be giving ME suggestions! :look::grin:

No but seriously your hair is beyond midback (judging by that last Oct 08 pic)...and I must say "THANK YOU" for the rollerset tutorial...I tried it last year and it turned out great! :drunk::drunk::drunk:

So again, I don't have any suggestions but I'm sure others will chime in with some...just wanted to say that I love your hair!!
 
Like everyone else said, your hair is gorgeous! I'll be checking out your site for your roller set tutorial!
 
MAMATO said:
WOW your hair is beautiful...what about putting a moisturizing leave-in with water in a spray bottle to detangle out of the shower, that really helps me when I am in real trouble...I sometimes use Rusk Smoother, water and a bit of Lacio Lacio ... You can try to pre-poo with either Shea butter and wheat germ oil which contains ceramides and they are very great . HTH :)
Click to expand...

Off topic---your hair is d*mn gorgeous TOO!
 
wow...I drooled. :lachen:wow...its not only ridiculously long its thick and full and luscious...that's some gorgeous hair!!! i have no helpful insight and I'm merely centuries away from that kinda length:spinning:
 
Thanks again for the compliments.

These are also great suggestions. I'm starting to feel like a daily co-wash isn't going to work for me on a daily basis with this hair length. I will freely admit that shorter natural hair was MUCH easier to manage!!! :)

I am going to try some of these suggestions. I especially like the idea of applying products while in the shower and then re-wetting for clumping.

I will report back on it goes. :)
 
MAMATO said:
WOW your hair is beautiful...what about putting a moisturizing leave-in with water in a spray bottle to detangle out of the shower, that really helps me when I am in real trouble...I sometimes use Rusk Smoother, water and a bit of Lacio Lacio ... You can try to pre-poo with either Shea butter and wheat germ oil which contains ceramides and they are very great . HTH :)
Click to expand...

What is wheat germ oil and where do you get it?

What is the consistency of Lacio Lacio? Salerm 21 does wonders for my hair. It makes it so soft but it is too thick to "apply" to my natural hair. This works fine when preparing for a rollerset but I need to loosness of a leave-in that's not so thick.
 
hairlove said:
My natural hair is about mid-back length. You can see a length shot here of my hair straightened back in October - it is definitely a little longer than that now. http://www.long-healthy-hair-advisor.com/my-hair-is-growing.html

My routine this past winter was rollersets weekly. Now, it's spring and I'm ready to switch back to wearing my hair in its curly/natural state.

What do I do with my hair? I need some suggestions from others! Please help.

The problems I'm having are:

1. Takes forever to detangle my hair daily in the shower b/c of the length and curls and how it's styled (or lacktherof). Don't know how to fix this.
2. Once I condition my hair, rinse it, then what? I want to apply leave-in but the problems is that I have to separate so much hair that by then, my hair is drying out and it's going frizzy and poofy.
3. I try to smooth my hair back with my comb but then that forms a big tangle across the back where I smooth just up to the ponytail.
4. How do I make a ponytail combing all of this hair and keeping it neat at the same time?!
5. A wash n' go is practically out of the question b/c my hair is cut in a blunt u-shape.
6. What can I do in 20 min per day vs an hour per week?

Any suggestions? Would oils/butters help? What kind?
Click to expand...
1. Try detangling before getting in the shower. This is what I do most of the time especially when my hair is super tangled. I can take my time this way and not have to rush in the shower. I just divide my hair into 4 sections (you can do however many you want), wet it down with water or detangler then slather on some kind of conditioner and detangle with my k-cutter comb and braid up the section. It works very well and I don't loose much hair. I like it because I can work through the tangles and take my time.

2. For this question I will tell you what I do. Once I condition my hair and rinse it I add my leave in (about a quarter size amount) to each side of my head and comb through. It should comb through very easy since your hair is already detangled. What comes next varies depending on how I'm going to style it. I can go into more detail if you want to know how to do a particular style.

4. I'm not sure I'm understanding the ponytail. Are you trying to make a ponytail on wet hair? If so just brush it into a smooth ponytail and secure then to comb the tangles out from making the ponytail just run the comb through the ponytail part.

As far as styling have you tried a twist n' curl or twist-out?
 
Pokahontas said:
1. Try detangling before getting in the shower. This is what I do most of the time especially when my hair is super tangled. I can take my time this way and not have to rush in the shower. I just divide my hair into 4 sections (you can do however many you want), wet it down with water or detangler then slather on some kind of conditioner and detangle with my k-cutter comb and braid up the section. It works very well and I don't loose much hair. I like it because I can work through the tangles and take my time.

2. For this question I will tell you what I do. Once I condition my hair and rinse it I add my leave in (about a quarter size amount) to each side of my head and comb through. It should comb through very easy since your hair is already detangled. What comes next varies depending on how I'm going to style it. I can go into more detail if you want to know how to do a particular style.

4. I'm not sure I'm understanding the ponytail. Are you trying to make a ponytail on wet hair? If so just brush it into a smooth ponytail and secure then to comb the tangles out from making the ponytail just run the comb through the ponytail part.

As far as styling have you tried a twist n' curl or twist-out?
Click to expand...

Thanks Poka!!

So comb through the curls after applying leave-in? I was worried this would remove my curl definition. But I'll give it a go - What leave-in do you use and what comb do you use for this step?

Number 4 - Yep, that's exactly what I mean. Once I've got the ponytail done there is SO much hair that it's practically impossible to comb through the whole thing so I just leave the tangle at the root of the ponytail - no one can see it - I just know the trouble it will cause the next day. I guess I will have to section it off to avoid this.

What is a twist n' curl?
 
hairlove said:
Thanks again for the compliments.

These are also great suggestions. I'm starting to feel like a daily co-wash isn't going to work for me on a daily basis with this hair length. I will freely admit that shorter natural hair was MUCH easier to manage!!! :)

I am going to try some of these suggestions. I especially like the idea of applying products while in the shower and then re-wetting for clumping.

I will report back on it goes. :)
Click to expand...


Wow, I am sooo waiting to get to a point where my hair is so long and wearing it out of protective styles twists that I can't cowash everyday. I may need a serious intervention to help me from not falling apart. I love cowashing. Man...never gave thought to having to give that up on a daily basis. I think this will requiring some serious weening like starting a year before. Yep, sometimes it is that serious.:ohwell:

Hairlove let us know how you progress. But please give us a warning that drooling may ensue with pics inside. Okay Mommie?!?!?
 
mscocoface said:
Wow, I am sooo waiting to get to a point where my hair is so long and wearing it out of protective styles twists that I can't cowash everyday. I may need a serious intervention to help me from not falling apart. I love cowashing. Man...never gave thought to having to give that up on a daily basis. I think this will requiring some serious weening like starting a year before. Yep, sometimes it is that serious.:ohwell:

Hairlove let us know how you progress. But please give us a warning that drooling may ensue with pics inside. Okay Mommie?!?!?
Click to expand...

I will keep everyone posted. :)

But yes, I love daily co-washing - feeling that water pulse through my scalp and the feel of the conditioner on my hair. Aggh. I won't miss all the hair in the shower though!
 
Oooh purdy long hair! :lick::yep:

Just wanted to say that I hope you take up the suggestion on detangling out of the shower. It's so nice to be able take your own sweet time detangling, you won't have to worry about running out of hot water before you've finished and you won't have to use so much water either.
 
hairlove said:
I will keep everyone posted. :)

But yes, I love daily co-washing - feeling that water pulse through my scalp and the feel of the conditioner on my hair. Aggh. I won't miss all the hair in the shower though!
Click to expand...


Okay see I wasn't going to go there, but that was exactly what I was thinking having the water go through my scalp. Hmmmmmmmm.

Understand about the hair in the shower, I keep that hairnet in the drain whenever I get in there.
 
Mmm - we have completely different hair types, but I think that perhaps a Denman Brush on your damp moisturized hair would help get rid of those underneath tangles. :yep:

I used to always feel like there was a big snarl in the middle of my hair right below the ponytail holder and I could never get a flat pony. The denman helped me detangle that, get rid of the shed hair, and flatten the hair a bit so now my buns and ponies are smooth.

Also, if you detangle your hair first, then add the leave in in sections just with your fingers it shouldn't disturb your curls too much. I've noticed that if I re-add some conditioner (I have V thick hair though, that might be too heavy for you) after I've detangled my hair clumps back up.
 
Hairlove your hair still rocks. I just thought of Chicoro. Maybe her book or regimen might help?
 
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