longer the hair the shorter it looks?

[Glamorous_chic]

hi all, i am a 4a fine haired natural. i've been protective styling for the past 10 months and was excited to finally straighten my hair after 10 months of no heat. so, blow dried, my hair is apl-bsl. but in its curly state, my hair appears the same length if not shorter than when it was sl. has anyone noticed this? its frustrating. could it be since the hair is soo fine, it doesn't have enough weight to elongate the curl? this is soo strange. i've completly forgotten most of my techniques, since i've been ps under weaves for the last 10 months. anyone else experience this?

 

[bunnie82]

hmmmm...do u have comparison pics u can share?

 

[knt1229]

I have noticed this in my hair, too. My hair seems to be getting bigger/fuller as opposed to longer. But, when I straighten I can see the growth. It is frustrating because it makes me feel I am not progressing when really I am.

 

[Glamorous_chic]

I have noticed this in my hair, too. My hair seems to be getting bigger/fuller as opposed to longer. But, when I straighten I can see the growth. It is frustrating because it makes me feel I am not progressing when really I am.

yes. exactly this.

 

[Glamorous_chic]

hmmmm...do u have comparison pics u can share?

none right now.

 

[chrisanddonniesmommy]

Welcome to the wonderful world of shrinkage!

You'll get used to it. After a while, big hair may be more important to you than length.

 

[NowIAmNappy]

Yea that's the nature of my hair. I'm use to it now. My sister has almost hip length hair and hers still shrinks to about neck length. Yep Its the nature of the beast.

 

[Just11412]

wordT! that is my issue as well. and i can't get my hair to stretch big and long like naptural85, no matter how long i leave twists in my hair. that mess always shrinks and puffs up especially at the roots.

like my bangs stretch to my nips. but if i let it do the full shrinkage it will shrink up to my eyes

 

[PatTodd]

I have this exact issue. We have to smooth and elongate the hair as much as possible. Twist outs work but leave my hair a tangled, where-are-my-scissors mess. I am still working on it but the thing that has worked best so far is to smooth my hair straight back and braid it into one braid to stretch the roots somewhat as they dry. I undo the braid while still damp and get a pretty good stretch that way.

 

[0live0il]

OP, I'm 3c fine-haired & experience the same problem

My hair just gets BIGGER! Maybe I'm really a 3c/4a because I thought the looser your curls, the less shrinkage?

I HATE shrinkage. I enjoy the added thickness but being appearing SL when you're not really SL is frustrating!!

 

[g.lo]

that is my issue as well, i feel like I haven't made any progress until I compare pics.
My daughter is the same she is Wl and her hair shrinks to her neck!

 

[Nonie]

@Glamourous_chic, yes, as was mentioned upthread, welcome to the world of shrinkage--one of the things that makes me love my hair!

This was my hair when it was under 3 inches stretched:

This was my hair when it was SL:

This was my hair btw SL and APL:

And you can see even at APL, shrinkage gave the same TWA:

And yes, I do have fine hair.

 

[Glamorous_chic]

Nonie, yes that is exactly my hair. i dont have as much extreme shrinkage as you, but the hair just appears the exact same length for the last 1 1/2 years since i big chopped. i only know it has grown when i blow dried this weekend. i was soo upset at first. arrggh. its soo frustrating.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie, yes that is exactly my hair. i dont have as much extreme shrinkage as you, but the hair just appears the exact same length for the last 1 1/2 years since i big chopped. i only know it has grown when i blow dried this weekend. i was soo upset at first. arrggh. its soo frustrating.

Glamorous_chic because I love shrinkage, I never understand the frustration people have with it. I suppose it's because I don't need other people's opinion or view of my hair to enjoy it. So it doesn't show length. *kanye shrug* That's not a problem at all to me because *I* know what length it is.

I am not growing long hair so that other people can see it but so I can enjoy it and do things with it. If others see it, lucky them but I wasn't growing it for them. I love that long hair has more styling options and I can enjoy them by stretching my hair even w/o heat into a pony puff, say, or into a beautiful updo. I supposed because flowing hair was never "my thing" (I didn't even play that game of using a towel and pretending it's hair coz I just never identified with hanging, flowing hair--I don't even wear my hair down when I flat iron!) I don't feel a need to have it straight and hanging.

I actually love shrinkage because it keeps my hair up and away from my neck, face and clothes so I don't have product making me feel icky. I also like that I can go from short to long to short all within the same week. Best of all, I love that my true length is kinda a secret that I can spring on people when they least expect it and scare the heck out of them.

 

[naheda72]

My daughter's hair is WL and when I put in braids, her hair shrinks to a little above APL. Last week I put in yarn braids and her braids almost stretch to WL. One came unraveled, so I took it out to redo it and her loose hair was stretched to 1-2 inches above WL. So I am thinking about using yarn braided into my hair to stretch for out styles. Maybe you can try this out.

 

[Fhrizzball]

My daughter's hair is WL and when I put in braids, her hair shrinks to a little above APL. Last week I put in yarn braids and her braids almost stretch to WL. One came unraveled, so I took it out to redo it and her loose hair was stretched to 1-2 inches above WL. So I am thinking about using yarn braided into my hair to stretch for out styles. Maybe you can try this out.

Threading has about the same effect so you can look into that on Youtube on how to do that. Shrinkage just annoys me when I have to detangle it all but other than that I love how springy my hair can be. Also over the days it stretches more and more so there's many different looks you can try during that process. I still carry the small hope that my wash and gos (the one day I can manage one with massive tangles) can hang to my shoulders like it does when wet. I would probably need massive length for that to happen though for at BSL it's still EL-NL.

But yea banding and threading, seem to be the best bets to super stretched hair although you loose definition in the process. One or two bantu knots low on your scalp do this as well.

 

[naheda72]

Threading has about the same effect so you can look into that on Youtube on how to do that. Shrinkage just annoys me when I have to detangle it all but other than that I love how springy my hair can be. Also over the days it stretches more and more so there's many different looks you can try during that process. I still carry the small hope that my wash and gos (the one day I can manage one with massive tangles) can hang to my shoulders like it does when wet. I would probably need massive length for that to happen though for at BSL it's still EL-NL.

But yea banding and threading, seem to be the best bets to super stretched hair although you loose definition in the process. One or two bantu knots low on your scalp do this as well.

Banding doesn't stretch as well as the yarn in mine and my daughter's case, but I would think threading would. The only problem is threading looks so hard, but braiding with yarn seems like an easy compromise.

 

[Nonie]

Banding doesn't stretch as well as the yarn in mine and my daughter's case, but I would think threading would. The only problem is threading looks so hard, but braiding with yarn seems like an easy compromise.

I agree on banding not stretching that well. Threading does stretch it though, especially if you leave no gaps. Your experience with braiding with yarn makes sense. I find braiding with additional hair even after many washes still leaves me with stretched hair.

 

[Missigirl]

I have shrinkage too but I am okay with it.................. that is my curl pattern. I just want my hair to be healthy and hydrated. I can stretch it with my hand to see growth.

 

[greenandchic]

Happens to me too. Hair shrinks up to my neck except a section of 3b the back that looks like a ducktail or a mullet. The 3c in the front is not much better but it does hang longer then the top and part of the 4a back. That's one reason why WnG doesn't work for me.