Does your hair seem RIDICULOUSLY shorter before a relaxer?

[lesedi]

I'm 21 weeks post and have just taken out some box braids (1 week ago) that I had in for nearly 7 weeks, I have an appointment to relax my hair tomorrow... and my new growth is CRAZY....but the length of my hair feels MUCH shorter. I know that shrinkage usually makes hair appear shorter before a relaxer but my longest stretch before this was only 12 weeks and the difference was not as drastic..

Is it normal for someone with an APL head of hair to APPEAR barely SL after 21 weeks? ( My "bun" is laughable right now!)

 

[nymane]

Yes! I relaxed after 27 weeks post and the difference was significant...I love the surprise

 

[BlaqBella]

SHRINKAGE.....
And if you were natural you would(prolly) have it BIGTIME.

 

[Barbie83]

YES! I always get discouraged late into my stretch because it feels like I'm not making progress.

 

[dlewis]

My hair is the same way. My daughters hair is too.

 

[melissa-bee]

Yeah. It's normal

 

[LushLox]

Yes, I know it's the shrinkage effect but it's so strange! Deep into a stretch it hardly seems as if I have any hair at all; those final weeks before a touch up are hard!!

 

[bellebebe]

Girl, I'm getting one this Saturday and I tell ya. My junk look like shrubs lol. My hair has a serious shrinkage issue. When I apply heat to it, it just grows and I'm like :sweet:!

 

[beans4reezy]

Yes! I relaxed after 27 weeks post and the difference was significant...I love the surprise

I sure hope so! I have gotten so discouraged at looking at my 50 week post hair, I braided that bad boy up to not have to look at it!

I hope my jaw hits the floor when I finally do relax (June-ish/July-ish, after I deliver my second boy).

 

[Serenity_Peace]

I am 5 months post-relaxer.

My wash day was yesterday after going two weeks without combing. I still lost hair, but I know it's shedded hair. While rinsing in the shower, I could feel my hair flowing down my back, past bra strap. But when I got out of the show, I looked barely past shoulder. I'm having serious hair anoerexia.

 

[sharifeh]

Ya, I hate it. It feels like you made no progress whatsoever. I hate it so much!

 

[PDub]

Thanks for posting this OP. I'm only 9 weeks post and my SL hair seems as if it is only NL. I just washed/DC'ed today and I was really discouraged. Shrinkage plays tricks on your mind big time; especially when you're not used to it!!!

 

[NikkiGirl]

I don't really think so. I kind of think it feels close, not overly shorter or anything.

 

[teacherjess]

Yup. Shrinkage sucks. I am currently between 10 and 11 weeks post with all kinds of tangly, coily, thick NG (thanks to WGO/ MN mix and frequent co- washing) and my hair seems shorter than it did at my last touch up in Dec.

I'm counting on a nice surprise when I get my relaxer on Apr. 3!

 

[sunnieb]

Yup! Sucks too! I will be 12 weeks post on Wednesday and my APL hair is barely past SL now. I guess the bantu knot outs don't help, but dang! Where's all my hair!

I can't wait for my relaxer touch up in 2 days! Woohoo!

 

[nymane]

I sure hope so! I have gotten so discouraged at looking at my 50 week post hair, I braided that bad boy up to not have to look at it!

I hope my jaw hits the floor when I finally do relax (June-ish/July-ish, after I deliver my second boy).

50 weeks...WOW that must be a lot of new growth! I'm sure it's going to pay off thickness & length wise.

 

[Dposh167]

I'm 20 weeks too! and my apl hair is at my shoulders. My co-worker actually asked me if i cut my hair. I felt some kinda way about that lol

But i do looooooooove the surprise when i finally get it relaxed

 

[beans4reezy]

This is an encouraging thread, so I am bumping this for all of our stretchers!!

 

[LushLox]

You know the surprise is great when you finally touch up though ladies - it's like Christmas. It is a great feeling when you see the progress you've made, especially if you reach a goal; it makes all struggle and effort worth it!

 

[Salsarisma]

I'm 11 weeks post and feeling the same way. Someone asked me if I got my hair cut and I'm sure you could see steam coming out of my ears! My problem is I love wearing flexi rod curls (straw style), but I don't know how to do them myself. I go to a stylist for relaxers and I usually always get a flexi set as a treat. But then I have no idea what progress I made because my hair is curly! I have to wait 4-7 days after that until I wash to find out. I plan to stretch to 20-26 weeks this time, and the curiosity may be too much to bear. I may just get a silk wrap so I can see my progress right away. Idk!