Frustrated, naturals how do you tell if your hair is growing?

[aquarian1252004]

When you are relaxed it is much easier to determine new growth when you can compare the two textures. But how do you tell if you have natural hair.

Natural ladies how do you notice your growth progress?

 

[Bap]

I can feel the new growth because it will be a different texture than the rest of my hair.

 

[Shatani]

i can always see my growth cuz i keep my hair in twists....its tough not to notice those twists creeping down your shoulder....but i will admit i have suffered through the occasional bout with hair anorexia.....luckily length is not really that important to me...im good with my shrunken fro

 

[Chinagem]

My growth just kind of sneaks up on me. I'm not concerned with the length of my hair so I don't check for the growth. I just let my hair do its thing and one day out of the blue I'll think, "wow, my hair has really grown" or people will comment on how fast it is growing.

 

[PretteePlease]

i straighten but now i am thinking about avoiding that much heat in the future and will just blowdry

 

[Ayeshia]

I would have to blow it out..otherwise I cant tell. The next time I plan to blow out my hair is in April so hopefully Ill see some progress

 

[lsubabiedee]

well...its longer...lol...like i can tell how it hangs in the shower and when im playing in my hair or styling it, the strands are longer

 

[Belle Du Jour]

For me it's doing a blow out or seeing my black roots growing in. I know it's growing, although it doesn't appear to be.

 

[superstar]

Yeah natural hair can be like smoke mirrors, an illusion that your hair isn't growing at all. If you don't want to blow your hair out keep a picture progress. If your fro or puff looks thicker then your hair is growing.

 

[DelightfulFlame]

maybe I'm a minimalist, but I just grab a small section and pull it up next to a ruler. The next time I do it...if it's longer...then it has grown.

 

[naptrl]

Well, right now mine is kinda obvious because I went from TWA to the puff in my avatar in a few months. I think in the future, though, I will blow my hair out. I will definitely not be getting it pressed again!!! unless I do it myself!

 

[CatSuga]

When you are relaxed it is much easier to determine new growth when you can compare the two textures. But how do you tell if you have natural hair.

Natural ladies how do you notice your growth progress?

Measure it.
Or just observe how much hair covers your afro pick.

 

[PhonyBaloney500]

It's not something I ever thought about until joining this board lol. But definitely when it's blown out I can see a difference--you can also just look at it when it's wet and weighed down with water OR try braiding it into pigtails or something (dry) and see if there's a difference.

 

[Bublnbrnsuga]

For me:
Blow dry every three months or just do a pull down test. Trust- your hair is growing!

 

[SouthernGirl]

I think it's best when you don't look at it until after a long time. I say this because my mom did a big chop to this date last year. She came to visit me and it was very emotional because she had suffered so much hair trauma and did not want to cut it off.

I suggested that she chop due to the condition of her hair and the fact that she didn't want to relax anymore, and we went to a salon for a second opinion. Upon the stylists's recommendation, she went for the BC!! I see my mom only a few times a year (about 4) and each time it looks so much longer. I'm with her this weekend after not having seen her for about 5 months, and her hair is soooooooooo long!!! She's been sporting wigs the whole time and keeping her hair underneath in plaits. I promise, it must be about 7 or 8 inches long all around, and it's all natural. When she chopped it it was relaxed. It's so thick and long.

Even she didn't realize how much it had grown because she just covers it up all day. And she didn't take vitamins! All she did was use MNT poo and con, and WGO on her scalp.

Comparison pics are a great way to chart your growth too if you are wigging it or wearing a protective style. I took pics last year of my mom after the BC, and I'm going to take some this weekend. Hopefully she'll let me post results on my site for inspiration Sorry for going on so long about my mom, but the short answer is that I think when it's left alone and you look at comparison shots, that's how you really know it's growing and how much.

HTH,
SG

 

[mkstar826]

this is what i would do if i was worried about it. i'm too lazy, lol.

comparison pics work for me.

 

[SVT]

When you are relaxed it is much easier to determine new growth when you can compare the two textures. But how do you tell if you have natural hair.

Natural ladies how do you notice your growth progress?

drain clogs quicker - at first I thought maybe I was shedding more but now I think it's because my strands are longer

hair gets caught in new places - I've had just a few strands getting caught in my arm pits lately

Those are my two.

 

[pressncurl]

I notice when I press my hair, or just when I stretch it out sometimes to check. Neither of these is too often so usually I can see a difference.

 

[Peachtree]

Pictures!!! I'll take 1 pic with my hair stretched... then a comparison pic.

 

[Zeal]

I thought my hair was not growing until I looked at my pictures from December in my album. I just looked at them for the first time yesterday, since January.

 

[sweetascocoa]

i normally wear a shrunken fro so i usually cant tell.
1. i comb it out into a fro and do comparisons
2. when people tell me

 

[Country gal]

I take lots of pictures. When I twist my hair, I can tell how long it is growing. My friends and family are always telling me my hair is growing. I JUST WANT IT TO BE LOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG.

 

[SignatureBeauty]

I can see my hair growing, I started with a half inch Twa and now I have almost 2 inches since march, I also have people tell me my hair is growing, But in the mirror I see that it is getting bigger and that suits me just fine, But I don't focus on growth too much because then that will make it seems harder to grow.

 

[Lucia]

I can tell in the shower the curls stretch out underwater or, pull/stretch it or flat iron it but not often.

 

[Suri]

I can tell in the shower the curls stretch out underwater or, pull/stretch it or flat iron it but not often.

This is when I can usually tell. It hits a different place when it's wet and when I have conditioner in it. I am so in tuned with my hair. As soon as it grows an 1/8 of an inch, I'm jumping like, "what's that?!"

 

[EMJazzy]

I can tell by the length of my twists and how long it takes me to do them...plus my fro is getting bigger and bigger....I'll be doing a flat-iron length check in a few months.

 

[FlowerHair]

I just pull down a piece of hair and compare it to where it stopped before. You know, first armpit, then boob length etc.

 

[inthepink]

I try to ignore it so that when I straighten, I will be surprised at the length. Otherwise, I really only notice a difference every 6 months when wearing a wash n' go and it sits closer to my shoulders.

 

[silvergirl]

i stretch my hair out an measure, an take pictures once in a while so i have something to look back on.

 

[amorette]

i tried measuring it, but i dont know how accurate that was because my hair is different length all over, i also have taken a few pics. The main thing i notice is where it falls when i get out of the shower and it is sopping wet...i need to update my profile because my hair is past shoulder length now - it is between shoulder and armpit length.