When Going Natural: Does your hair grow faster when you cut off the relaxed ends

BrockStar

New Member
I want to know what you all think about this. My natural hair is about 4 inches now and I would really consider cutting it now and just doing weave or something, but will it grow faster? The trade off is that I wouldn't be able to do the phony pony anymore, but it would be worth it for faster growth. Any thoughts?
 

blue_flower

Well-Known Member
The last time I went natural I had my relaxed ends cut off and so my natural hair was short. Shrinkage was a major factor and it seemed like it was taking forever for my hair to grow. The only way I could tell if it had grown at all was if I straightened it. But I don't think cutting the relaxed ends would make your hair grow faster. It will probably grow at the same rate and there'll be shrinkage to deal with.
 

Blackoutzangel05

New Member
There will be some that tell you it grows faster with the relaxed ends cut off however it doesn't make your hair grow faster. The hair grows from the root so how would cutting the end make it grow faster??? I believe that some believe that because its the taking care of 2 textures that is the torture..For me its just teaching me how to be sweeter to my hair and learning what does and does not work. If you feel the need to BC for the health of your hair then by all means do so, but please do not believe that its some miracle growth formula. It simply going to show you how long your natural hair is a lot clearer than if you had left the relaxed ends on.
 

cocosweet

Well-Known Member
Cutting it won't make it grow faster, but it will go a long way to minimize breakage from dealing with two textures. When I transistioned, I kept my hair braided and trimmed a little off each month.
 

glamazon386

Well-Known Member
I would think that it grows at the same rate. But once I chopped my relaxed ends it seemed like my growth really took off. My hair is almost as long as it was when I chopped it all off back in September. It grew back kind of quick. I guess since now that my hair is free of the relaxer and free of damage I can see it's real growth rate. It was probably breaking off quicker than it was growing before. But now I have shrinkage so it looks short.
 

ladylibra

New Member
i think it just seems that way because you go from long hair to short hair... you know, if you already have 15 inches of hair, anothe 2 inches doesn't seem that long, but if you have 2 inches of hair, another 2 inches is double the length.

well that's my experience anyway, since i did a major BC... :lol:

BrockStar, if you have enough natural hair you could get it braided up into a little ponytail and stick the phony pony on that. i did it with 4-5 inches... and i still do it now in the summertime since my hair is thick and it can get really hot otherwise! :look:
 

bLackButtaFly

Well-Known Member
It definitely will not make it grow faster. I agree with the other ladies, especially lady libra, that it will only seem that way because it's short hair. But taking care of the two textures is not an extremely healthy way to go, the longer you wait, the more breakage you could potentially have. I say, if you'd like my .02 cents, that if you're only doing protective stylinglike braids, etc, then don't worry about cutting it, but that if you're doing things that require alot of manipulation and stress on your hair like blow drying, straightening everyday, etc, then you may want to cut it off, so you don't get bad breakage. I wish you lots of hair luck though;)
 

nikkivale

New Member
your hair won't grow 'faster' per se but the last time I went natural i just ended up cutting the relaxed ends off, since I wasn't working with two different textures I 'retained' more length as a natural than when I was transitioning becuase I didn't know how to work with that demarcation line very well and didn't notice much growth because of the breakage.
HTH
 

healthyhairin07

New Member
blue_flower said:
The last time I went natural I had my relaxed ends cut off and so my natural hair was short. Shrinkage was a major factor and it seemed like it was taking forever for my hair to grow. The only way I could tell if it had grown at all was if I straightened it. But I don't think cutting the relaxed ends would make your hair grow faster. It will probably grow at the same rate and there'll be shrinkage to deal with.

I agree. Shrinkage can be very discouraging if you're trying to grow your hair, so you may want to deal with the relaxed ends until you get more growth or just keep getting major trims so you can still do your phony pony.
 
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