Tips for achieving BSL?

[myhairgrowstoo]

I want to not use heat but my hair is best stretched. Otherwise I get SSK. I want to rollerset but I live in a cramp dorm room and there'd be no where to put my hairdryer :/

 

[myhairgrowstoo]

Macadamia oil is a medium weight oil like almond oil. It seems to nourish my hair a bit more than almond oil does. Consider something like crisco or a butter to coat and protect the hair from the elements in the winter.

This is good because I have this oil! I'm starting to use a creamy leave in (Aloe Leave In from Komaza Care). I think my hair is fine (not sure) so would a butter be too thick or is a creamy leave in sufficient?

 

[myhairgrowstoo]

i am on the BSL train myself. the thing that is helping me is the LOC method and keeping my hair protected. i bun everyday unless, i go somewhere special. i just use spin pins to pin my hair up. i don't use things that will snag my hair. even when i am at home, my hair is covered in my scarf.

so the best thing is to keep your ends moisturized and protected until you can get over the hump.

Spin pins? Is that a good alternative to ponytail holders? I always lose hair in my ponytail holders. And are headbands bad for the hair--like does the cotton ones rub hair of moisture and are the plastic ones too harsh? Is there such a thing as a silk-lined headband??

 

[prospurr4]

It seems that the concensus here is protecting your ends and keeping them off your clothes.

Question: I am 2 -3 inches away from APL. I mostly wear roller sets (curls are tight enough that my hair is off my shoulders and clothes). When I wear a wool coat, I always line the collar with a satin scarf and allow the length of the scarf to fall down the coat in case my curls fall. The only heat that I use is a hooded dryer to DC. My roller sets are even air dried.

Is this enough? Can I get to my goals without wearing my hair up all the time?[/QUOTE]

Mande30, if you are still retaining length, then I would say, it is enough...for now. Once your hair gets longer, and the ends are older, you may have to resort to putting your hair up more...every head of hair is different, though, so just experiment and see how your hair progresses.

I don't know what your goal is, but for me, to get to my current length of waistlength, I wore updos/buns almost exclusively...and still do, because I like them.

 

[Mande30]

@prospurr4
Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. My goal is WL. I have been retaining length thus far. But I credit most of that to ditching bad hair practices. But I see that if I want to hang with the big dogs I will have to PS.

 

[lana]

I'm past bra-strap length for the first time in my life. I bunned to get here.

But right now I'm wearing twist outs and I'm retaining mad length. I trim my own ends, that was the first thing that helped me shoot past ear length to collarbone length.

I use Mane & Tail conditioner as my prepoo and sometimes my overnight conditioner.

I moisturize and seal regularly. It's just part of my routine and I always try to deep condition with heat or overnight.

I literally have the best hair of my life because of the advice on LHCF and doing what works for me.

Protective styling is worth it...but I wish I had been able to stop using heat long ago.

I'm very pleased with my hair: love the thickness, length and swag (and the hair compliments)

I also credit conditioners with ceremides - while texlaxed these helped me tremendously. Now that I'm transitioning back to natural...I would say moisture, deep conditioning and no heat.

 

[myhairgrowstoo]

I'm past bra-strap length for the first time in my life. I bunned to get here.

But right now I'm wearing twist outs and I'm retaining mad length. I trim my own ends, that was the first thing that helped me shoot past ear length to collarbone length.

I use Mane & Tail conditioner as my prepoo and sometimes my overnight conditioner.

I moisturize and seal regularly. It's just part of my routine and I always try to deep condition with heat or overnight.

I literally have the best hair of my life because of the advice on LHCF and doing what works for me.

Protective styling is worth it...but I wish I had been able to stop using heat long ago.

I'm very pleased with my hair: love the thickness, length and swag (and the hair compliments)

I also credit conditioners with ceremides - while texlaxed these helped me tremendously. Now that I'm transitioning back to natural...I would say moisture, deep conditioning and no heat.

lana are you fine haired? And how do you keep your textlaxed hair from breaking? Do you treat it differently than your natural hair?

 

[coolsista-paris]

i have fine hair (4ab) and ive reached bsl .
2012 i had the best retention ever. what i did: protective style which is buns,buns,buns.
i personnally use heat to beat my ssk. i dust about every 3 months.(soooo important)! i protein dc every 2 weeks. between that i moisturize about every 2-3 days.
massage my scalp. i eat Well. drink LOTS of water. i take maxi hair tabs (strenthens my fine hair).

so most important for me was.: ps,add protein,dusting and stretching hair.very low manipulation

i tried rollerseting last week : great ! im gonna do this more instead of blow drying. ( ill blow dry or flat iron just the roots)

oh i forgot to mention : ive reached bsl. with my fine hair.
apl to bsl in 9 months with dusting included) .im happy im finally understanding my hair.

we can all do it girls !!!!!

 

[Leslie_C]

i have fine hair (4ab). 2012 i had the best retention ever. what i did: protective style which is buns,buns,buns.
i personnally use heat to beat my ssk. i dust about every 3 months.(soooo important)! i protein dc every 2 weeks. between that i moisturize about every 2-3 days.
massage my scalp. i eat Well.

so most important for me was.: ps,add protein,dusting and stretching hair.

i tried rollerseting last week : great !

coolsista-paris what kind of protein do you use every 2 weeks?

 

[Evolving78]

Spin pins? Is that a good alternative to ponytail holders? I always lose hair in my ponytail holders. And are headbands bad for the hair--like does the cotton ones rub hair of moisture and are the plastic ones too harsh? Is there such a thing as a silk-lined headband??

spin pins are the best! they don't snag, do the duty of 10 hair pins, and they are durable!

 

[Mande30]

I did roller sets and flatironed my roots only, no direct heat on the length of my hair. Moisturized and sealed very consistently!

Sent from my ice cold evo 3d y'all!

marta9227 Did you do protective styling also?

 

[coolsista-paris]

coolsista-paris what kind of protein do you use every 2 weeks?

aphoghee 2 min. i spray water on each section of my hair (8 in total) just to make it damp. then add the apoghee,detangle with it(it has lots of slip) then braid.
i leave it for 3 hours if im in à rush ,or overnight (works for me as i know my hair needs protein).
i co wash .if à shampoo is needed ill use one that doesnt strip my hair.

i clarify sometimes too with creamy aloe of organic root stimulator .

 

[myhairgrowstoo]

aphoghee 2 min. i spray water on each section of my hair (8 in total) just to make it damp. then add the apoghee,detangle with it(it has lots of slip) then braid.
i leave it for 3 hours if im in à rush ,or overnight (works for me as i know my hair needs protein).
i co wash .if à shampoo is needed ill use one that doesnt strip my hair.

i clarify sometimes too with creamy aloe of organic root stimulator .

Are you natural or...?

 

[coolsista-paris]

Are you natural or...?

im natural yes . got upset sometimes felt like shaving (lol yes) but....im still natural with hair

 

[deedoswell]

if you are shoulder length or shorter and considering going natural, and you have fine hair, do it! do it now..... fine hair is really hard to get to retain to bsl and treat with chemicals. that hair on your ends will just eventually melt away at a certain point.....this is for fine haired ladies. ladies with thicker hair don't have as many issues with that.

don't do what i did and reach BSB, then decide to transition....you will be so attached to your hair length at that point that you will have to do a long term transition....problem with long term transition you ask? well, you don't get to retain any length. you will spend a year or two or three just trimming away your relaxed ends. your hair will be the same length for awhile. that can be discouraging when you spent years trying to achieve a certain goal length.

deep condition every week at least, if not twice a week.

stay off heat. period.

protective style like your life depends on it. pick 3-6 occasions during the year you will wear your hair down for and only wear it down then. i promise you will retain more. in the years that i protective styled 12 months straight, i retained WAY MORE than when i wore my hair down 1-2 times a month.

learn to trim your ends yourself. don't let stylists touch your growing mane. just don't.

^^ I agree!

 

[Hair Iam]

Coolsista-Paris

,your routine , is almost the same as mine, I found in the last 7 months using a little heat and protecting my ends have been the best thing I could have done for my hair.
Who knew! Also less manipulation another big factor.

 

[coolsista-paris]

,your routine , is almost the same as mine, I found in the last 7 months using a little heat and protecting my ends have been the best thing I could have done for my hair.
Who knew! Also less manipulation another big factor.

i listened to all naturals that kept saying :nooo heat!
Well its only when i used heat that i retained+ dusting.

our reggie is nice.huh? ( Well....at least for our hair)

 

[myhairgrowstoo]

i listened to all naturals that kept saying :nooo heat!
Well its only when i used heat that i retained+ dusting.

our reggie is nice.huh? ( Well....at least for our hair)

How many times a month you used heat? I have fine strands too and my hair seems to respond best to heat. However I don't want to be counterproductive with my heat usage

 

[lana]

In answer to your questions myhairgrowstoo - are you fine haired?
No I do not consider my strands to be fine. Each strand appears thick although I have two different textures 4b at the top and 4a below my ear.

And how do you keep your textlaxed hair from breaking? I credit the Mane & Tail conditioner with the health of my hair. A friend once told me that she couldn't keep her hair shaped into a bob hairstyle because she was using Mane & Tail and it kept growing out faster than her stylist could cut it! From that point forward I started using Mane & Tail conditioner (not the shampoo) and it really does work for me. I also moisturize and seal daily and deep condition regularly

Do you treat it differently than your natural hair? My natural hair is shinier and stronger than my texlaxed hair, but overall I treat it the same. My natural hair just looks healthier, darker and thicker than the texlaxed hair. At the same time, I used to think my texlaxed hair was great, just easier to straighten...now I feel that it is weaker in comparison to the thick natural hair growing out of my head.

I'm pretty sure I will see this transition through, slowly cutting off the texlaxed ends and ending up natural. If you need encouragement or support during your journey - pm me and I'll be happy to respond. My hair buddy is the reason that I now have hair like hers. She took me on when I was ear length and she was close to BSL...now I have longer hair than I ever imagined (for me).

 

[HeChangedMyName]

This is a great question OP. When I was relaxed, my hair would always have a setback somewhere between SL and APL. I could never figure it out. I believe it was definitely the fact that my ends were brushing on my clothing.

I'm natural now and due to shrinkage, I am about 2-3 inches shy of BSL in the back and 1" from APL in the front. The kicker is that my ends can't touch my clothing yet because they stay all nestled up in coils. At a shrinkage rate of around 75% all around the back of my hair, I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I will reach BSL this year.

Good luck.

There has been some great advice given to you in this thread. my favs:
hide your hair
protect your ends
moisturize
go natural

 

[marta9227]

marta9227 Did you do protective styling also?

sorry just seeing this! Yes I am very consistent with protective styling as well. I work four days a week ten to twelve hours a day and I bun the whole time. I wear it out on the weekend.

 

[coolsista-paris]

How many times a month you used heat? I have fine strands too and my hair seems to respond best to heat. However I don't want to be counterproductive with my heat usage

2 times à.month i blow dry with tension method. i will not use the comb on fine hair.
i use ic fantatia heat serum and my hair.is so soft after.
if i use high heat ill end up with dry hair....if im patient use médium heat and holding the dryer far that will keep it soft.

i put some s curl on my hands,rub it on the blow dried section then twist . when i take down the twists (2 hours or next morning) my hair is so nice. volume ,à cute.twists out. stretched hair. its great.

i did rollersets last week my hair came out nice.
i think im going to try this out again. it also gives hair volume and swing. i need to practice if i want silk looking hair though.. as that was not really my goal i dont mind it the way it came out:

 

[Hair Iam]

i listened to all naturals that kept saying :nooo heat!
Well its only when i used heat that i retained+ dusting.

our reggie is nice.huh? ( Well....at least for our hair)

yes it is
the last 7 months have chaned my hair life....keeping my ends healthy and using heat with wisdom "wisdom" have made all the difference

 

[coolsista-paris]

@coolsista-paris what kind of protein do you use every 2 weeks?

i use apoghee 2 min. Leave it in for about 3 hours, or overnight (works for me).

I like this reconstructor because ir has great slip. I wet my hair to make it damp, then add the conditionner, finger detangle + detangle with wide tooth comb. I braid each section after detangling ,sleep or do housework.

Rinse in braids , co wash or shampoo. sometimes oil rinse but usually not.

Almost no breakage.

 

[Mande30]

prospurr4 I have a few questions for you:

1. What are some of the protective styles that you wore when you were an inch or so away from APL?

2. I have been contemplating texlaxing (I am relaxed now). What stops me is the thought of SSK's, matting, and some of the other things that the natural ladies talk about. Were you ever relaxed and what have been the pros and cons of being texlaxed?

3. If you were relaxed, did you do a big chop to transition to texlaxing? (This may sound funny, but I have read this on here.)

4. How long do you stretch your texlax (relaxer)?

5. How long do you leave the relaxer on your head and do you smooth?

 

[Hyacinthe]

I went to check out what are spin pins. I'm sold!
Anything that can do the work of 20 bobby pins without snagging my hair is fine by me
Not to mention no more lil black bits of residue leftover in my hair from the pins.WIN WIN!
Thanks girls

sent from IPad using LHCF app. POW!

 

[Aviah]

Everytime I'm almost BSL I hit a setback. I get APL, once even BSB, then BAM! I hit a wall. I'm usually always in between SL and APL nowdays. What was it that you had to finally learn before you achieved full BSL?

Keep your hair off your clothes and keep it moisturized. Just keep it put up until u reach BSL.

Allow yourself one time out of a few months to wear it down until u reach BSL.

This has been my problem. I just realized my usual braidouts are roughly SL and are rubbing on my clothes.

I guess being past SL when straight I was "safe" .

 

[HoneyA]

Apart from regular DCs, I basically kept my hair very moisturised and in a bun back in 2006/2008 to get to BSL and past BSL.

 

[felic1]

myhairgrowstoo....my college roommate used a portable hair dryer with a bonnet in a case. Her hair was past shoulder length and she did roller sets. I am not sure what company dryer she used though

 

[myhairgrowstoo]

myhairgrowstoo....my college roommate used a portable hair dryer with a bonnet in a case. Her hair was past shoulder length and she did roller sets. I am not sure what company dryer she used though

I'm going to see can I google it...Thanks