Who DOESN'T Wear Protective Styles?

[StrawberryQueen]

Calling all naturals: Who DOESN'T Wear Protective Styles?

I'm looking more for naturals and their "hair experiences, but Relaxed heads may share their experiences as well!

And how has your hair fared? I didn't wear protective styles as a permie and I don't as a natural. My relaxed hair grew to almost BSL and so far my puff is growing (I think) just fine.


But I haven't been natureal for a long time, almost 7 months now, an I'm wondering if I will have to give in. I don't want my hair to break and I wear a puff everyday.


So how has your hair done w/o protective styles?

Thanks!

 

[Mystic]

This thread might help you out.....

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=105667&highlight=protective+styles

 

[Wishin4BSL]

*Raises hand* I did in the beginning before I hit APL, but now I wear my hair in regular loose ponytails. I got so used to having my hair up when I did buns for five months that I don't really want to wear it down very much (unless I'm showing off or trying to look cute!)

 

[StrawberryQueen]

This thread might help you out.....

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=105667&highlight=protective+styles

Aw, man! I didn't do my research! Thanks Mystic.

 

[locabouthair]

i dont. because my hair is too short. but once i get to shoulder length i'll be doing a lot of buns and up do's.

 

[camellia]

My hair is natural and I wear buns and French twists all of the time.

I didn't vote on the poll because there wasn't really an option for me. I started keeping my hair up after I had my first baby because he liked to play in it and put it in his mouth. After the first, I had three more babies and wearing my hair up had just become a habit.

My youngest ( and last!) will be two next month and I wear my hair down a bit more now. But I found that when my hair started getting "long" (waist length and beyond) that when I wore my hair down it got caught on things a lot more, I accidentally closed doors on it, it would hang down into food while I was cooking... So I wear it up out of convince now.

Bunning is a wonderful way to protect the fragile and old ends though. Almost every single female relative I have on my mom's side has very long hair, tail bone length and longer, and they all wear their hair up in either crowns of braids or buns.

I don't think my hair will break off if I wear it down all the time, it's healthy and I keep it in it's natural state. But I know wearing my hair down every day at this length will cause it to become a casualty of slamming doors, cooking pots, doorknobs, the banister on the stairs, getting eaten, ect... So I keep it up.

 

[caribeandiva]

I don't and probably never will

 

[prettypuff1]

I do.. i just started. I am trying to go against everything i did before. I normally didn't, i would wear it down all the time. My hair is texlaxed and just beyond shoulder length, and i hear that it is the time when it rubs agains the clothes and gets damaged so i want to prevent that. I know a lot of women who don't though..... Once i get to APL, then it will be back down and swinging

 

[Cheleigh]

I've been natural for almost 9 months, and I have almost never worn protective styles (other than shake and gos, which are a little bit protective). My hair has grown at a slightly slower than normal rate, but that's normal for my hair. The only thing I notice wearing my hair out all the time is that now that it's a bit longer (8-9"), my hair is getting a bit more tangled. My hair was prone to super tangles as a child, so I'm not that surprised I'm getting tangles now. I am wearing two-strand twists as I type, just because I want to protect my ends a little more from tangling. I hope to alternate two strands with twistouts and shake and gos until March.

 

[LipGlassHoney]

I've been natural for over 10 years and I have never worn protective styles for the purpose of protecting. I may throw some braids, a bun or ponytail in just for syle but not to protect. My hair has been every length between fade and waist but my focus is always on it being healthy and I haven't had a prblem with that. If it's not broke then I won't try to fix it. I would use them if I started having problems though.

 

[ToyToy]

I'm natural, and I don't wear protective styles. My hair grows fine. I braid it at night to cut down the knotting, but I take the braids out in the morning. I haven't had any problems doing this sofar.

 

[firecracker]

I wore my hair out and down 80% of the time when I was relaxed. Natural and Texturized I wear wash n go's and puffs. I doubt if I will ever were protective styles especially a tight bun because they make my head hurt. I like low side ponys because of course they don't hurt since it not at the top of my head.

 

[Vshanell]

I am natural and i never wear protective styles unless it's the rare occasion bun when I'm having a bad hair day. I pretty much wear a ponytail daily (for work because my hair gets in the way, and it makes me hottt!!). I wear it down whenever I want to.

 

[BrownSkin2]

I've been natural a little over a year and find that I retain more length with protective styles such as cornrows and braided styles.

 

[Country gal]

I usually wear protective styles when I wear two strand twists. As of late I have been wearing puffs. My experience is puffs can pull your hair and cause breakage at the crown. Next year I am going back to wearing my twists again. I notice when my hair is out I have to do more detangling.

 

[Amarech]

I dunno......would there be much difference in my hair right now if I wore ps?

I don't think so. When I first joined LHCF my hair was in such bad shape that I needed to protect it. But now the overall condition has improved so much so that I get length without putting it up all the time.

Perhaps I would retain more length and reach my goals faster if I put it up more but I believe that retaining length is much more than keeping my hair up. I love hair. I love my hair. I like to feel the weight of it hanging. I like to feel it move when I walk and then fall into place when I stop. I like how it hangs when I tilt my head to the side and then goes back to place when I put my head up again. Having my hair out is just pure, unadulterated fun!!!

I love updo's and protective styles but I love having my hair out even more!
I have reached my goals so far without protective styles and I don't even take care of my hair like I should.

Actually now that I think about it, I think the reason why my hair isn't longer is that I don't protect it when I go to bed!!! Yeah man!!! I got major bed head and it ain't pretty

Seriously though, I don't think I will ever committ to wearing PS for a long period of time. Actually in about a week I'll be wearing cornrows but only for like a week.

 

[dlewis]

I did for years but the last three month I started to enjoy my hair and wearing it down almost daily.

 

[KiSseS03]

I'm natural, and have been for the past five months. For the past 3 and a half months I've been wearing a wash/rinse and go puff almost daily and my hair is doing fine! I find that my hair retains more moisture in it's shrunken state and being rinsed or washed daily.

 

[velvet]

No way.

I don't see what the point is of having all this hair if I have to hide it all of the time.

 

[navsegda]

I used to never wear protective styles but I recently started bunning. I figured it couldn't hurt and it makes it easier to do things like washing my face or brushing my teeth. Bunning is also really convenient for me to sleep in because it keeps my hair from getting all in my face when it spreads out on my pillow. I moisturize my hair really well and seal in the moisture with Amla Lite oil, then put it in a bun. When I take it down, it's really pretty and has a nice little curl/wave pattern to it (until I comb it out of course, lol).

 

[DDTexlaxed]

My option wasn't listed. I want to wear PS, but have no clue on how to put the style in my hair.

 

[Blu217]

I do when it's wash time or humid out, don't when it's clean and fluffy and cute. I'm growing my hair as an experiment just to see how long it can get--but foremost I want to enjoy it, cause in my opinion that's what it's there for. And it just keeps growing longer and stays healthy, so I guess it's working well for me.

 

[Artemis]

I just started back bunning/pinning up my anorexic ends . BUT I'm only doing this a couple of days/week. Don't know where that fits in w/the poll. I figure some days are better than no days, right? I like wearing my hair down, and don't want to feel like I'm punishing myself. And I've always suffered from Hand in Hair Disease...I'm starting to re-gain the length I lost, so I want to hold onto as much as I can, though. I just found a cute little octopus clip, so that I won't feel bad that my hair is up because it now gives the illusion that I have enough hair back there to be bunning anyways .

 

[Mizani_Mrs]

I'm relaxed. I dont do protective styles. My hair grew just fine, as you can see in my siggy. I do notice that my ends tend to thin when i was blowdrying weekly and i had to trim more than i wanted. After seeing the heads of the ladies who did do protective styling...it was clear to see they retained more than me. But we are talking maybe only 1 to 2 inches more retained each year. I rather wear my cute hair styles daily and have my hair get longer slowly, than keeping it hidden in an effort to grow it fast. just my preference. but i do plan to do more rollersets, pincurls, and ponys and stop blowing...

 

[so1913]

I don't wear protective styles at all, or haven't for the past year. My hair seems to be doing fairly well. I may see a difference if I started wearing protective styles, but so far, no problems that I can tell from now wearing them.

 

[janiebaby]

I didn't see a category for me but I have begun to wear protective styles again because it seems that my hair grows faster that way. I now wear my hair pinned up for the most part but I started seeing how fast it grew when I used to wear wigs. I haven't had split ends when I wore it down though.

 

[dlewis]

I do when it's wash time or humid out, don't when it's clean and fluffy and cute. I'm growing my hair as an experiment just to see how long it can get--but foremost I want to enjoy it, cause in my opinion that's what it's there for. And it just keeps growing longer and stays healthy, so I guess it's working well for me.

i agree............

 

[SerenityBreeze]

I agree with enjoying your hair. I think that after it reaches bra strap, I would wear it down more often and maintain it at that length with frequent trims.But until I get there, I am afraid of the cotton from my shirts. As a matter of fact I used to (cant now cause of boot camp only wear my hair down when wearing tanks or double scooped sleeveless shirts. Cotton from clothes can really take its toll on our ends.

 

[InnerSoul]

I voted No, I don't wear pro.styles and my hair is great
I am also relaxed.
I may clip it up once in a while for a cute style or if I am wearing wool fabric.. but this is not done everyday. I personally prefer to wear my hair loose (rollerset style)..and if I get bored with that I will wear a braid/twist out style with a headband! but very seldomly is my hair clipped up. I also am not a bun wearer...but this is just me and what I do.

 

[cheetarah1980]

I never wore protective styles when I was relaxed. I kept my hair in low heat/low manipulation styles (rollersets & wraps, braidouts, twistouts). When I first went natural I didn't wear protective styles to retain lenth. I wore them for styling purposes only and because they allowed me to not have to do my hair everyday, which is wonderful for someone as lazy as me. My hair grew just fine wearing fros, puffs, twists, braids, whatever. However, as my hair got longer it started to tangle more and more whenever I wore it out and breakage started to happen in certain areas. Now I'm a consistent protective styler. I want to retain length, but I'm also still really lazy so PS work for me. I've noticed in the last six months that I've retained more length than I did all of last year. I find my hair grows best when left alone. I can't do that with my hair out in a fro or puff (too much manipulation needed to maintain the look).