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I Need Some Serious Help

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LegsLegsLegs

LegsLegsLegs

Active Member
I don't want to make this too long but I have been trying to hit waist length for YEARS. It seems like my hair just hits a plateau when it gets around mid back length and I don't understand why. I know about proper hair care, sticking to a regimen, moisturizing/sealing, all that. My hair stays in a protective style (bun or French braids) 95% of the time. I know for a fact my hair is growing like a weed but I'm obviously not retaining length and it's frustrating me :(
 
There is a thing called terminal hair length. I don't know if it's true but it says that certain people can only grow their hair so long. Hopefully someone else can chime in.
 
MileHighDiva said:
@LegsLegsLegs
:welcome4:

We will get you to WL and beyond, if you desire! However, we need more information.

What are your hair properties? What type of braids? Do you allow slack in your buns and re position them? What is your regimen? Is that you in your avi? If so, is your hair chemically colored?
Click to expand...

I hope so!! :) That is me in my avi. There's a very small section on the front top of my head that I bleach, I touch up the roots once or twice a year. I don't know my hair type but I have thick natural hair that is kinky/curly/wavy. I wear French braids/corn rolls most of the time. When I do wear buns, they are loose high buns that I take down nightly and put back up in the morning in a different position. I wash my hair once every 3-4 weeks, D.C. Once every 3-4 weeks. Moisturize/seal every other day or every day depending on how my hair feels. I have A LOT OF hair & it is very hard to manage, which is why I try to leave them alone in braids and it's also why I rarely wash because the whole wash process takes SEVERAL hours for me to complete.
 
Have you considered doing your hair in sections? So, it's not overwhelming. Sounds like we need to get you to cleansing at least bi-weekly. How frequently are you doing protein treatments for your bleached hair? Are you using a SLS free poo to cleanse? What products are your using in your reggie? How frequently are you dust/trimming your ends? Do you know the porosity of your non-bleached hair? I'm going to assume that the bleached part is high porosity?
 
Napp said:
Can you describe your wash day?

I have a feeling that leaving your hair alone for so long may actually be a hinderance to growth.
Click to expand...
I was thinking this as well...especially with bleached hair/processed. More than likely your hair is breaking just as fast as its growing bc your color treated hair isn't getting the type of treatment (moisture/protein balance) it needs.
 
LegsLegsLegs said:
I hope so!! :) That is me in my avi. There's a very small section on the front top of my head that I bleach, I touch up the roots once or twice a year. I don't know my hair type but I have thick natural hair that is kinky/curly/wavy. I wear French braids/corn rolls most of the time. When I do wear buns, they are loose high buns that I take down nightly and put back up in the morning in a different position. I wash my hair once every 3-4 weeks, D.C. Once every 3-4 weeks. Moisturize/seal every other day or every day depending on how my hair feels. I have A LOT OF hair & it is very hard to manage, which is why I try to leave them alone in braids and it's also why I rarely wash because the whole wash process takes SEVERAL hours for me to complete.
Click to expand...
When I read this, the first thing I thought was that you need to increase how often you DC. M&S does not replace saturating hair in water in my experience. Looks like you might have to decide if WL is worth the extra effort of increasing wash days.
 
LegsLegsLegs said:
I hope so!! :) That is me in my avi. There's a very small section on the front top of my head that I bleach, I touch up the roots once or twice a year. I don't know my hair type but I have thick natural hair that is kinky/curly/wavy. I wear French braids/corn rolls most of the time. When I do wear buns, they are loose high buns that I take down nightly and put back up in the morning in a different position. I wash my hair once every 3-4 weeks, D.C. Once every 3-4 weeks. Moisturize/seal every other day or every day depending on how my hair feels. I have A LOT OF hair & it is very hard to manage, which is why I try to leave them alone in braids and it's also why I rarely wash because the whole wash process takes SEVERAL hours for me to complete.
Click to expand...

Just a few questions (some of these have already been asked in the post of above):

1. Do you wear your french braids/conrolls under a wig or just as they are?
2. When you M&S your hair do you use just your fingers or combs and brushes?
3. Do you wash your hair in sections or all out?
4. What does your wash day look like?
5. On wash day do you finger detangle, use a comb or brush, or a combination?
6. Do you notice little broken pieces of hair when you manipulate your hair?
7. On the daily basis how does your hair strands feel? Are they bumpy, dry, tangly?
8. Do you take vitamins or hair supplements?
9. How long have you been on your journey to WL hair?
10. Do you have a consistent regimen with products that you feel work well with your hair?
 
MileHighDiva said:
Have you considered doing your hair in sections? So, it's not overwhelming. Sounds like we need to get you to cleansing at least bi-weekly. How frequently are you doing protein treatments for your bleached hair? Are you using a SLS free poo to cleanse? What products are your using in your reggie? How frequently are you dust/trimming your ends? Do you know the porosity of your non-bleached hair? I'm going to assume that the bleached part is high porosity?
Click to expand...
I wash my hair in braided sections. I do everything with my hair in sections. I posted a couple pics of my hair products. I will see how bi-weekly washes goes with the Shea Moisture Dandruff Control Shampoo, which is the shampoo I have on hand for now and prepooing first since it leaves my hair feeling stripped. I normally use Joico Color Therapy Shampoo which has SLS which doesn't leave my hair feeling stripped like SM shampoo does. I normally use braid spray, hair lotion, leave in conditioner , evco, reconstructor spray and castor oil regularly. I don't use them all at once but I keep all of them in rotation & use each product depending on my hair's needs. Moisture D.C. is the SM Instensive Hydration. Protein D.C. is Ion. I do not trim often, which might be a problem, so afew months ago I cut my hair a good 2-3 inches because of that. I don't know my hairs porosity but it has no problems keeping moisture. Im not really concerned about my bleached hair since it takes up about 1/8 of my hair, just a small portion at the top.
 

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Napp said:
Can you describe your wash day?

I have a feeling that leaving your hair alone for so long may actually be a hinderance to growth.
Click to expand...
I detangle, put my hair in 4-6 plats. I wash and D.C. With coconut oil with hair still in plats.. I rinse out and take the plats out. Cold rinse. Apply leave in. Detangle in sections . Apply oils. French braids to air dry.
 
Bunnyhaslonghair said:
When I read this, the first thing I thought was that you need to increase how often you DC. M&S does not replace saturating hair in water in my experience. Looks like you might have to decide if WL is worth the extra effort of increasing wash days.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think I will try to do every two weeks after I wash . Hopefully that'll be enough. I cannot see myself washing more often than that with all this hair. My hair gets tangled too and so when I detangle, I lose hair. Not a lot though. And I do detangle with my fingers.
 
charmtreese said:
Just a few questions (some of these have already been asked in the post of above):

1. Do you wear your french braids/conrolls under a wig or just as they are? As they are but I want to start wiggling again.
2. When you M&S your hair do you use just your fingers or combs and brushes? Just fingers.
3. Do you wash your hair in sections or all out? Sections is a MUST :)
4. What does your wash day look like? I posted my wash day above :)
5. On wash day do you finger detangle, use a comb or brush, or a combination? I forget detangle .
6. Do you notice little broken pieces of hair when you manipulate your hair? No. they're all long strands.
7. On the daily basis how does your hair strands feel? Are they bumpy, dry, tangly? My hair is in 2 French braids and it feels soft and moist and oily probably from the Evco. I just braided it a few days ago and it felt somewhat dry but I can't tell if it's due to my hair being kinky.
8. Do you take vitamins or hair supplements? Not anymore. Now I just take a huge multivitamin and msn daily.
9. How long have you been on your journey to WL hair? Years. Like, at least 5 years and I started at APL.
10. Do you have a consistent regimen with products that you feel work well with your hair? Yes I mentioned I wash and D.C. every 3-4 weeks and moisturize seal daily or every other day. My products work great for me.
Click to expand...
 
@LegsLegsLegs, how often do you baggy your ends? Sometimes even in buns and braids, your ends can dry out and break off without much notice. You can hide the baggy under your bun like @Chicoro does. When in braids, just add extra moisture to your ends, seal it with oil and stick those ends in baggies overnight. I hope this helps and that you find a solution quickly.
 
Do you have a good detangler? I recently started using Design Essentials Leave In Detangling conditioner. It has been a life saver. I lost a lot of hair due to tangling and breakage
 

Have you ever measured your rate of hair growth?

Your hair could just be growing at a slower rate than average.

It appears that you have a pretty solid regimen. Washing your hair more often may or may not help your hair grow any faster or with retention, but it's a good place to start.

Many people including myself wash their hair bi-weekly, which in the "healthy" hair world is normally the bare minimal to wash ones hair. I know there are long haired youtubers and bloggers that wash monthly. However, the standard is usually weekly or bi-weekly. When I went from washing every 3 days to weekly to bi-weekly I didn't notice a change in hair growth or retention. My hair just looks lack luster after 2 weeks and needs to be cleaned.

Based on your responses it doesn't appear that your hair is breaking at an alarming rate. How do your ends look? Also, when you say you are Mid-back length, how many inches is that and how tall are you?
 
sparkle25 said:
There is a thing called terminal hair length. I don't know if it's true but it says that certain people can only grow their hair so long. Hopefully someone else can chime in.
Click to expand...


I agree with this and yes there is biologically such a thing. If your hair got to MBL, I would think it's safe to say that your current haircare practices are great and is working quite well! Good luck on the rest of your journey!
 
Do you think growing your hair out to longer lengths is something your really want? You stated your issues about dealing with a lot of hair, so would you consider focusing on maintaining, or cutting it to a length that you feel more comfortable to work with?
 
Start dusting your ends every business quarter. I learned the hard way, not dusting my ends cost me inches. :nono:

Only use the SM poo when you need to clarify. Even then follow-up with a moisturizing poo. You need to get a moisturizing poo, so your hair is not drying out, during the cleansing process.

Keep your ends well lubed.

Re-evaluate your retention in three months.

Are your French braids/ends resting on your clothing?
 
beingofserenity said:
Not to derail....but what would be the solution if you notice lots of little hairs breaking?
Click to expand...
I get breakage from dryness, or product overload, so I hydrate, remove product, and condition my hair often. If I was to wash once a week, I would wear a curly style and sleep pretty. I would spray a light leave-in or hair mist for moisture, use a light oil, or an oil sheen spray. As a natural, I cowashed daily, and shampooed once a week. I would put my hair in several twists or braids to stretch. If that's too much manipulation, I would wear twists for a week and use a Moisturizing spray so I don't have to take the twists down to moisturize.
Are you seeing breakage while your hair is wet, or dry? Wet will tell you that it needs protein, dry will tell you it needs moisture.
 
shortdub78 said:
I get breakage from dryness, or product overload, so I hydrate, remove product, and condition my hair often. If I was to wash once a week, I would wear a curly style and sleep pretty. I would spray a light leave-in or hair mist for moisture, use a light oil, or an oil sheen spray. As a natural, I cowashed daily, and shampooed once a week. I would put my hair in several twists or braids to stretch. If that's too much manipulation, I would wear twists for a week and use a Moisturizing spray so I don't have to take the twists down to moisturize.
Are you seeing breakage while your hair is wet, or dry? Wet will tell you that it needs protein, dry will tell you it needs moisture.
Click to expand...

Wow, I've never heard the breakage when hair is wet/dry. It seems to break worse while wet. Just running my hands over my hair, I'll see breakage. Dry there is very little breakage. I just did a protein treatment today. I hope that it helps.
 
beingofserenity said:
Wow, I've never heard the breakage when hair is wet/dry. It seems to break worse while wet. Just running my hands over my hair, I'll see breakage. Dry there is very little breakage. I just did a protein treatment today. I hope that it helps.
Click to expand...
Wet hair is more fragile and prone to breakage, but if they hair is snapping off just by touching it when wet, could be a sign of moisture overload. When the hair snaps off while it dry (broken little pieces) it could be a sign that it needs moisture or it needs to be cleansed. Moisture is escaping, or not being able to penetrate at all. My hair acts like a Christmas tree. Too many ornaments, and branches will start snapping off. If it's not getting enough moisture, the pine needles will fall all over the place.
 
If your hair isn't breaking, it sounds like it could be your lack of trimming, and then doing a large, 2-3 inch trim. How often do you trim/ dust and how much would you say usually comes off?
 
newgrowth15 said:
@LegsLegsLegs, how often do you baggy your ends? Sometimes even in buns and braids, your ends can dry out and break off without much notice. You can hide the baggy under your bun like @Chicoro does. When in braids, just add extra moisture to your ends, seal it with oil and stick those ends in baggies overnight. I hope this helps and that you find a solution quickly.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the baggying tip under my bun. I never really baggied unless u count Green House Effect, which I tried years ago but I stopped.
@Chicoro how do u baggy under your bun?
 
Last edited:
leona2025 said:
Do you have a good detangler? I recently started using Design Essentials Leave In Detangling conditioner. It has been a life saver. I lost a lot of hair due to tangling and breakage
Click to expand...
Yes Beautiful Textures and cold water rinses work GREAT for me :) I might try out the Design Essentials because I'm sure all naturals know that the hunt for a good detangler is never over lol
 
charmtreese said:
Have you ever measured your rate of hair growth?

Your hair could just be growing at a slower rate than average.

It appears that you have a pretty solid regimen. Washing your hair more often may or may not help your hair grow any faster or with retention, but it's a good place to start.

Many people including myself wash their hair bi-weekly, which in the "healthy" hair world is normally the bare minimal to wash ones hair. I know there are long haired youtubers and bloggers that wash monthly. However, the standard is usually weekly or bi-weekly. When I went from washing every 3 days to weekly to bi-weekly I didn't notice a change in hair growth or retention. My hair just looks lack luster after 2 weeks and needs to be cleaned.

Based on your responses it doesn't appear that your hair is breaking at an alarming rate. How do your ends look? Also, when you say you are Mid-back length, how many inches is that and how tall are you?
Click to expand...
I measured years ago and it was about 2/3" per month. My hair grows at a good rate and I can always tell by my dark roots. I last bleached the top of my hair for my wedding last year in June and I have probably a good 5" of black roots. My ends are okay now since I cut them. I haven't measured my hair but I am tall. I'm 5'11". I'm going to start incorporating bi-weekly washes and more D.C. To see if it works for me.
 
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