TWA Natural Encouragment........

[KrimsonKween]

Ladies lets take so time to encourage eachother. I am having a crappy morning. I feel like no matter what my hair is stuck and shrinkage aint helping. I know it is growing but Lawd have mercy. This is just a post to encourage someone else that is going throuhg that difficult stage of growing out that twa which seems to take forever.

 

[QT]

Yeah I have been overwhelmed w/ trying to grow my hair. I understand patience is the key HOWEVER you know the saying “I want what I want when I want it” I have been wearing wigs and cowashing just about everyday. My hair grows sooooo slllloooowww, if I don’t pack my patience and understand that my hair will grow w/ proper care and maintenances. During the week I wear a half wig. On the weekends I will do twists, braid out or just a fro to let my hair breathe. I cowash a lot b/c I have hand in hair syndrome. Since I have been apart of the LHCF family I have gotten so much encouragement such as:

- Enjoy every stage of your hair growth
- Look for styles on the site Fotki
- Find a regimen that suites your life style
- Take photo to see your growth
- Look for inspiration for this site (do a search on your needs at the time)

HTH.

 

[ladylibra]

best word of comfort i can offer: this too shall pass!

my in-between stage happened while i was preggo, so you already know i wasn't feeling all that hot anyway... i just kinda didn't care though. a few times i cared and styled my hair but mostly i just left it in a shrunken fro.

then one day i looked up, and my twa had "grown up."

 

[Nonie]

Yeah, I agree with looking for styles you can wear. The more you're able to dress your head, the more you'll enjoy your hair.

I had a BC I didn't ask for when I was so proud of my shoulder-length hair. When the shock was over, I was livid. Wore a 'fro one day. Then I forced a pulled back puff (I looked more like those babies with no hair but with a cute hair-band with a bow LOL). Then I tried the cornrows in front and puff in the back and at last I'd found something I could work with. I could vary the cornrow styles for a change.

I also love headwraps so I'd baggy my whole head and wear a wrap. It felt nice to think of the moisture my head was being bathed in while I was in the wrap. I chose to believe that meant faster growth.

I used the time when I was learning to love my TWA to experiment w/ products and find which ones my hair responds to best. So this is a fun time to try out products you hear about and to understand your hair. Have you ever paid attention to the curls? What products make the curls stretch and stay stretched? Do those products make it hard? Do you like that? If not, what could you try to fix that product? And how about not stretching it but just finding ways to wear it shrunken but still find it easy to comb? (I did that with SCurl). I know a lot of people do not braid their hair for the night but I did. This made combing it in the AM so easy, especially since I baggied as well.

TWAs are fun coz you can just decide to ignore the length factor and get creative. Then one day you'll find yourself getting frustrated because you can't create your favorite style. And you know why that'll be? Coz your hair grew while you were having fun w/ it. Take pics too so you can get to relive the fun times when you got to know your hair.

 

[Sui Topi]

I'm almost at TA and I cant believe it either...I got my last relaxer in October, Bced to 2.5 inches at the end of march, and now I'm like a quarter inch from 5 inches. It's crazy because from measuring, mathematically I know its growing, but it wasnt until a couple showers ago I was feeling it tickle me a little lower than usual. Also while putting in my leave in, for my style, I try to pull the crown up a little bit so it will stick up higher than the rest, and I noticed I had alot more hair in my hands. Now....I cant wait until I can make a ponytail with more than just the back or just the front.

 

[productjunkie814]

I'm almost at TA and I cant believe it either...I got my last relaxer in October, Bced to 2.5 inches at the end of march, and now I'm like a quarter inch from 5 inches. It's crazy because from measuring, mathematically I know its growing, but it wasnt until a couple showers ago I was feeling it tickle me a little lower than usual. Also while putting in my leave in, for my style, I try to pull the crown up a little bit so it will stick up higher than the rest, and I noticed I had alot more hair in my hands. Now....I cant wait until I can make a ponytail with more than just the back or just the front.

That was so me this morning, lol! I was actually able to feel some hair on the back of my neck and omg, i saw the tip of a curl in the front. Granted, I had to roll my eyes back so far the whites were probably showing in order to see it, but hey, my hair wasn't doing that a week ago

 

[BrockStar]

Check out my fotki and where I started...I promise it'll be NO TIME before you see some growth

 

[DDTexlaxed]

I'm here for you. It will be 2 months next Tuesday since I bcd and I'm going stir crazy because I want to jazz up my twa. It's growing great, but my patience grows thin from one day to the next. I'm happy at the progress I am making.

 

[MonPetite]

I don't know how short your TWA is but if you have at least 2.5 inches you can rock the looks in my style albums.

This too shall pass.

 

[LongHairDreams]

I think this should be bumped!!

 

[danigurl18]

Great thread!! I was going through TWA syndrome too so I decided to get kinky twists so I have less manipulation and I stop worrying about how much my hair is growing...

 

[MekyakaKinkerbelle]

This is a very good thread indeed.

I remember when I was in my latest twa stage (see siggy) and I would go crazy "trying to make it grow" faster than it was...

I took a step back and just thought about everything I could do to nourish my hair. I did a LOT of bomehian days and a lot of naked hair. Because that is what was best for my hair.

Then I hit the in-between stage and was like, my hair is NEVER going to grow down - only out and up. So, I did a little more of the same and started some serious deep conditioning.

As LL said, this too shall pass. It's a frustrating time, but if you stay true to the path, you'll come out on the other end a happy camper.

My advice - follow the KISS regimen, and invest in some very pretty headbands and scarves! And DON'T get caught up in daily length checks. It only makes the time go by slower!

 

[~~HoneyComb~~]

Please enjoy this phase of your journey, I don't know how long you've been natural, but like you, growing out my twa was the longest phase that I went through, eventually I just told myself that my hair would grow and I stopped concentrating on length. After 1 1/2 - 2 years, I had enough hair to do multiple styles. After 3-5 years I had more hair than I knew what to do with, it actually got to a length where I didn't want any more growth, but then it was growing overnight it seemed. So recently I ended up cutting it to a length that is more manageable for me in my life at this tiime. I now enjoy my shorter hair, and the ease in washing, fingercombing (instead of detangling), and I'll grow it out again until I get tired of the length and start all over again.

 

[hillytmj]

One thing that helped me when I felt like this in the early days was to wear wigs. One time I got a weave for an extended amount of time because it kept my mind off it, and I had a lot of length after I took it out.

 

[LilBrownied]

During the short TWA phase I just enjoyed the simplicity of washing my hair, picking it out a lil, and going on my merry way! Walk tall and think of it as a time to focus on other aspects of your life without having to worry about styling your hair.

 

[HeyItsHoney]

I did the wig thing as well. I know it is not for everyone, but it helped me get through the weird stage. Every time I took the lace wig off to wash & condition (weekly) I would see a little growth, and that helped a lot.