Ending natural journey to pursue length?

[SimJam]

I stopped wearing my natural hair twisted for all the reasons you described above. I am now committed to low manipulation through washing once per month and flat ironing it. I haven't had a broken hair since.

:crazy: WHAAAAAAAT !!!!

twists have been a life saver for me !!!

SSK were becoming a serious issue for me until I just bit the bullet and decided that if Im gonna retain I HAVE to keep my hair in twists like 95% of the time.

I hope they continue to be my friend.

 

[BeetleBug]

:crazy: WHAAAAAAAT !!!!

twists have been a life saver for me !!!

SSK were becoming a serious issue for me until I just bit the bullet and decided that if Im gonna retain I HAVE to keep my hair in twists like 95% of the time.

I hope they continue to be my friend.

I love my twists and I have no problem retaining length w/ them. For me, twists keeps the ssk away

 

[Netta1]

I loced when I got tired of detangling...I have NEVER had thoughts of going back to the relaxer...

oh and my hair would tangle with twist if I was not EXTRA careful...

Now I don't have to be careful and my hair is already "protected"...I can wear my hair up or down, wash it with dish detergent and it will still grow...

i don't need to find the right product anymore...its just that simple.

Locs are easy imo...when I was ready to start seeing length....I got them.

 

[ms.blue]

I find just keeping the hair stretched helps with single strand knots. I still get them but not as much. I have been putting the qhemet amla oil grease on my ends put I'm going to change that to something cheaper (I use to put pure shea butter on my ends also but stopped when I ran out, I may start again since it never absorbed into my hair).

I like seeing length and I have been secrectly struggling to figure out if I want to put a relaxer in my hair even though my scalp hated it. I gave myself to the age 30 (im currently 28) to figure out my next step remain natural, become a straight natural or becoming relaxed.

 

[brittanynic16]

I have a whole video about this issue.

[video=youtube;IkuKwBFSQSs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkuKwBFSQSs&feature=related[/video]

 

[DMJ's Mom]

I still have knots but I've noticed that when I straighten monthly I get less knots

 

[EllePixie]

For my hair, detangling (lightly finger detangle when I style daily, detangle with a paddle brush every few days) more often has decreased shed hairs that get caught in my curls and cause SSKs. Furthermore, I've started baggying at night - not really for SSKs, but because I've been using MTG and I don't want my silk bonnet and pillowcase smelling like it!

 

[GodivaChocolate]

I was experiencing SSK at an alarming rate and it had me seriously thinking about relaxing also until I solicited advice from some wonderful ladies on the board. I started using a leavin in detangling spray for my 1st step (Redkin)then a hard water conditioner(Ion) to detangle while underneath the shower followed by a moisturizing conditioner (Joico K-Paks)and more detangling and then using heat to deep condition with the moisturizing conditioner in my hair. I also rinsed with cold water and ACV and used a leave in conditioner (silk protein by Curly hair solutions, they also have a great detangler)..and kept my hair braided or twisted through the entire process taking one braid down at a time. I did use both a comb and a denman and my hair had virtually no knots. I think the combination of hard water, not enough moisture and raised cuticles was the culprits for my hair.

 

[nikolite]

I loced when I got tired of detangling...I have NEVER had thoughts of going back to the relaxer...

oh and my hair would tangle with twist if I was not EXTRA careful...

Now I don't have to be careful and my hair is already "protected"...I can wear my hair up or down, wash it with dish detergent and it will still grow...

i don't need to find the right product anymore...its just that simple.

Locs are easy imo...when I was ready to start seeing length....I got them.

I'm more inclined to do this than get a relaxer. I'm on the growth journey with loose hair at the moment, but if I ever get fed up with lack of growth (hope that doesn't happen!) I'd switch to locs.

Actually, even if I someday grow bored of my long future tresses, I'd want to loc. Not the time for me but I've always been curious and interested in getting some.

 

[Successfulmiss]

1) Moisture, Moisture, Moisture(amla oil, evoo, evco mainly at the moment)
2) DC 1x-2x weekly Nunaat intensive treatment hairmask from amazon.com
3) Fingercombing always
4) Bagging overnite
5) I keep a spray battle with filtered water to keep my hair from getting crunchy

I dont have a serious "regi" I do these things every other day when I feel the need or weekly

 

[ebonylocs]

I had a similar problem as a natural. Not that I had a problem retaining length, per se. I grew my hair to mid-back length, but I did it by doing C& G - two months in extension braids, two months out of extensions. When it was out of extensions, I wore it in twists for two weeks at a time. Very low manipulation. However, those detangling sessions after washing every two weeks were horrendous, and I sometimes had a whole lot of single-stranded knots. What's more, since I was in extensions or twists most of the time, I didn't get to enjoy my length, or even to really know that it was there, until... I relaxed and had bra-strap length hair even after the stylist took off three inches.

Since I was iffy about the relaxing, I tried to go back to natural last year, but couldn't hang with the tangles and shrinkage, and didn't have the time or patience to do the twists and extensions anymore. My hair was just frustrating to me and I felt like I was breaking it off every time i tried to fight through it. I also wanted to enjoy my length. SO I decided to relax again. Not because it can't grow long while I'm natural, but because I am not at this moment prepared to do what *my* natural hair requires to grow long. But I do believe my hair per se is stronger and (if I didn't have to comb it) retains better when I'm natural. SO if I could find a way to stretch my natural hair out without compromising on strength, I would be one happy camper.

 

[Curlykale]

I posted a thread about SSK in the summer because I trimmed 3 times, I was having so many of them! For some reason (I followed all of your advice) they stopped. What I have done different is (although I don't know what of the following changes are responsible for the result):

- paying attention to shed hair (I always remove it with my hands every other day and I remove it all on wash days... I didn't really use to pay attention to this)
- braiding my hair in at least 4 braids when I air dry, for the first 4-5 hours or overnight (then I can shake it to bring back the curls)... or every 2-3 nights overnight after moisturizing
- adding a ceramide oil to my DC (rice bran or hemp)... I feel they smooth and lay down the cuticles significantly, they act differently compared to other oils in my opinion.

I feel like these 3 ones have made the difference.

- this last one is accidental and I don't know if it can help, some people say it did help them, but the leave in I often use (Giovanni) has a ph of 4 and when I make my own mixes (gel) at home I keep a ph of 4 to 5.
- another maybe not so important one, but still interesting: I mix my different leave-ins/moisturizers (=different natural conditioners) and I noticed that this gives me more, longer lasting moisture.

 

[lamaria211]

Recently, and not so recently, I have considered ending my natural hair journey to pursue a maximum hair length journey. Now, now, now, before anyone says the two journeys do not have to be mutually exclusive...I would say that I agree. For a lot of women, pursuing length does not seem to require a chemical of any sort and yes I have seen the various inspiration threads on this forum and on youtube. However, after more than two years of dealing with single strand knots and the multi-strand knots (which results from shed hair getting tangled with non-shed hair) and the continuous cutting that results from both, I think I may have come to the end of my natural hair journey...

...but I haven't decided yet. I love my natural hair but I would really like to start retaining a little more length. So...my sorority is having our Eastern Regional Conference this weekend in Baltimore and I plan to have my hair professionally flat ironed (by a natural hairstylist) and trimmed to get rid of all of the knots. After the conference, I plan to start a 2 year Crown & Glory Challenge with continuous braids (with about one week breaks) in between. After two years of braids I will then make the decision as to whether or not to continue natural, to BKT or to texturize.

So...are there any naturals who have struggled with this decision, relaxed or texturized and found they were able to retain more length after knot issues went away. I see some naturals mention this problem in threads but did not found a single thread dedicated to this issue so...

sounds like me talking i just started the crown and glory method i really hope that i can continue for at least a whole year!! good luck

 

[lalla]

I used to have knots when I wore my hair out very often ( from 2006 to 2009). AT one point, I was not moisturizing my hair out of laziness. My hair did not gain much length then. I also cut my hair a lot, about 5 times a year, mostly because of SSK/split ends ( and boredom).

I BC in March 2005 ( I'm not exactly sure of the date) and started out with 6 to 8cms of hair.
In July 2007, my hair was APL and stayed about the same length until July 2009.
In January 2010, it was BSL.

I notice that when I am most consistent with my hair routine, I can retain about 5 cms in a 6 months provided I don't cut my hair. Moisturizing often and PS ( braids, twists, buns, fewer afros) have helped me avoid SSKs.