Why are you STUCK?

[Polyesterdiva]

Hey ladies!

I've seen a lot of threads about those of us who are "stuck"..at SL, BSL, or APL.
I was wondering why everyone is stuck (or what we think the culprit is).

I was stuck at SL for over a year because of scissor happy stylists and setbacks!

 

[miss stress]

I'm stuck a few centimeters away from apl because I cant control my breakage. no matter wht I do I Still have a ton just thinking abt it makes me wanna pull out my DRC 28
It also sucks that Im a slow grower but I can live with that so I voted for breakage

 

[CherryCherryBoomBoom]

I've been hovering around shoulder length for about 2 years now, and I think my problem as been breakage. I'm not 100% sure yet though, still working on it.

 

[kimmy89]

Omg Cherry, your telling the story of my life. I've been the same length since last year this time. I was natural, it was healthy, and just above necklength.


1st mistake-I coloured the front so that I could track my growth

2nd mistake- Stylist trimmed my unstretched hair, I was telling her to blow it out at least, but no. So in its shrunken state, I lost 2-3 inches. For a short haired person, thats a lot.

3rd mistake- leaving my hair in braids and weaves all the time thinking it would grow because I kept it hidden, when all they did was thin my hair out and gave me splits.

4th mistake-Colouring all my hair black to cover the front colour, that was it for my hair. So I just went ahead and texlaxed terrible mistake. Im still trimming away damage.

5th mistake- Not concentrating on the health of my strands, but on growth.

Im now texlaxed and I'm trying to crawl out off this rut. It's free from braids and weaves so that I can monitor it and give it what it needs when it needs it. Its only been 6-8 weeks since I've been cowashing and bunning and my hair is turning around and I have a decent amount of new growth. So Im back here scraping SL and my goal this year is Full SL so hopefully I wont be stuck anymore.

 

[augiemoment]

Ive been stuck at almost BSL for a more than a year now since last year may due to breakage and constatnt trimming.
This august though i think I will finally be at BSL as i am already touching BSL when stretched.

 

[AwesomelyNappy]

i bc'd in 2008, had a few cuts since then with my last one taking me from around apl to shoulder stretched. at first, i wasn't seeing any growth progress because i was cutting to *make sure* allll of my relaxed ends were gone... then i kept sniping because i was paranoid of split ends and ssk. Then i went to super cuts to get it trimmed all over so it could grow evenly.

then i got over cutting my hair and finally put the scissors down. i got some really nice progress but eventually began neglecting my hair/taking it for granted/slacked on my routines once my work schedule increased. that lead to dryness, breakage and loss of retention i guess.

to make it worse, i heat damaged the ends of my hair in the nape area, and in the bangs area with my flat iron in January. I'm very careful when i flatiron my hair, but that day i was tired, rushing and not paying attention to the heat or my hair. when i went to wash my hair, i noticed the two areas that had straight strands that would not revert. By May i grew tired of trying to revert my heat straighten hair and tired of trying to blend the random straight hair with my natural hair so i snipped snipped again into a shoulder length bob.

length wise i'm not where i should be 2 years out from my bc. I get a little down on myself seeing some ladies 2 year hair length progress all the while knowing my hair is only half as long as it should be (in theory). I feel like i wasted time and my hair has suffered for it...

however, the good news is i've learned a lot about my hair, it's still healthy (once all the damaged parts were cut off) and is in a better position to grow out evenly and healthy since i've worked out my problems and balanced out how i take care of my hair. despite it all, i still love it and am always learning more...

 

[ms.blue]

My only why I'm stuck is b/c I stay cutting my hair. I cut my hair when I'm bored or upset. Last time I flatironed my hair, I decided to give myself a trim but I didn't do a good job. I needed corrected and after I got it professionally corrected, I still went ahead and did more trimming (i had a lot of split ends from the blowout). Now I put my hair in braids so I won't be tempted to cut.

 

[FroFab]

Shedding and breakage has me stuck. I need to try the black tea rinses to see if it has an effect on my shedding but garlic (internal and external) did nothing. I think the breakage is a direct result of the shedding because its mostly ssks which are caused by the shed hair wrapping and knotting around other hairs, which drive me crazy during detangling so I wind up being more rough than I should or trimming alot erplexed

 

[Chaosbutterfly]

I was stuck at SL for a long time...from like December 08 to August 09. There was like no retention at all, and I know it's because I was wearing my hair down and messing in it all the time. Once I started bunning and leaving it alone, my hair finally started getting longer.

 

[Sade']

I will contribute my lack of retention to heat. I would cut my hair then flat iron it and blow dry it to death. I don't know what I was thinking. I see more volume and length now that I have stopped using direct heat. Since May 2010 my hair has turned around and I am so afraid of using heat. I have been bunning since then and plan on getting a sew in next week hopefully.

 

[Imani]

I've been NL for years, reached almost SL a few times, only to break back off to NL.

I really don't know why I've been stuck. At first, I thought it was heat, so I tried no heat/lo heat regimens, and it still broke off. Then, I started stretching relaxers, which helped some and I started creeping to SL, but it would still break off after a while, particularly in this one spot. I also probably trim a little too often.

Now, I'm transitioning and my hair seems to be slowly doing better, especially the one spot that would break off really bad. And will try to trim no more than 2, maybe 3 times a year. I'm hoping to be APL by the end of next year which will be the longest my hair has ever been in my life.

 

[SingBrina]

Great thread! I know before my hair was breaking off because I kept dying it black then bleached it, all the while having a relaxer. My hair was sooooo damaged. The strange thing is I didn't lose the length of my hair just it thinned out.

But I stopped dying for two years now, and I am growing my relaxer out. I had put weaves in for like a year and a half and now I stopped the weaves. Anyhow, my hair is getting a lot healthier! Its growing, and growing, and I don't know how much it grows a month, but I retain it all. I think because I do Aphogee treatments.... and condition weekly and stuff.... I used heat every week and my hair never broke... but everyones hair is diff....

Anyhow, I say for my hair, no dye with relaxers because soon the breakage catches up! Aphogee saved my hair and so did weaves...

I stopped weaves because all though my hair grew I saw it started thinning too, and even if it grew I had to cut half the new growth because it made my hair uneven at the ends!! Now I am just wet bunning, now I am sure I can keep all that growth

 

[dafnie]

At first I was stuck at NL because I LOVED the thickness and freedom away from my scraggly SL. The bad thing was that I was using household scissors.

YIKES!!

So I dealt with split ends for months... finally learned through websites like this one here that I was killing my hair. Now it's all better now and I've reached SL (yey!).... I feel stuck like I've been stuck at SL for a little while now but it's probably me and my impatience...

 

[dafnie]

I was stuck at SL for a long time...from like December 08 to August 09. There was like no retention at all, and I know it's because I was wearing my hair down and messing in it all the time. Once I started bunning and leaving it alone, my hair finally started getting longer.

I've been SL pretty much all my life (except for most of last year after my hair cut). Now I'm back to a healthier SL and now I KNOW why I've been stuck there. I wear my hair down like... everyday. Literally. Maybe once in a blue moon I'll have it up in a ponytail or bun but 98% of the time my ends were rubbing up against my shirts. No wonder...

From now on I'm going to do what you did to retain length... bun it up and leave it alone... and then I'll be happy with my growing hair!

 

[MsSonya]

I have been on my journey for 6months. Don't know if that qualifies for a long time. But I am still SL. I am a slow grower and I know that stress, stress, and more stress, (did I say stress) is playing a big part. But the cowashing, moisturizing, and protective styling seems to be helping.

 

[SelfStyled]

I have been stuck at SL for years.......sigh

My reasons are:
Slow growth, slow growth, slow growth- did I say slow growth?

Couple slow growth with frequent trims(done by none other than ME)

Setbacks

Hypothyroidism and Crohn's disease which caused me to have Vitamin D deficiency

what am I doing about it??

I have started exercising and being consistent with a vitamin regimen. My normal growth is 1/4" a month, but has definitely increased.

I have stopped trimming so much! I was trimming because my ends would always feel rough...I read in an old thread somewhere that the ends of the hair because they are the oldest can be porous. I tried some porosity control on only my ends and immediately noticed a big difference in how they felt much smoother. I have not trimmed in 6 months. That is huge for me.

I take a multivitamin that has 2G of Biotin, Vitamin D, MSM and zinc- trying to cover off on what a body needs to grow hair.

I feel postitive that I can/will make my goal of APL.

 

[me-T]

i'm planning on going back to apl later this month.
i already had to trim an inch or so off from really bad knots after trying a curly style, plus i'm been having some breakage past the apl line for a while now.
it's so thin at the bottom so i really don't care to try and hold on anymore.

 

[me-T]

Not concentrating on the health of my strands, but on growth.

i feel you on this. extra real talk.
HEALTH OVER LENGTH, T, HEALTH OVER LENGTH!

 

[xcuzememiss]

I picked other.. B/C I don't wear a scarf at night.. Yesssss Ladies I sleep on a regular pillow case.. I know Im wrong.. i just find that when I tie a scarf it makes my head or neck hurt. I tried putting it on looser, but it slips off and I have to sleep funny in order to keep it in place. Bonnets are rough on the edges.. and I can not find Real Satin or silk pillow cases. I would have been at APL already.. I have tons of New growth!!!!

 

[TeeDee66]

I have breakage and then shedding. I don't understand why because I rollerset my hair about 5 days a week for 2 hours only. I lightly blowdry and I use leave in conditioner. It has gotten longer (about inch) since I've been on this forum. However, I believe it's also gottten thinner - may it's the aging process.

 

[Maracujá]

I'm stuck at APL because my ends keep breaking, they are see through now

 

[nikolite]

I've been at APL for a while and it started to thin out at the ends in the past year. I'm not sure, but I think my problem has been breakage--and not from harsh styling, manipulation, etc. but because I just have fine, weak strands (I think) that can't take much.

I'm not a slow grower, because after my BC five years ago, my hair grew very quickly to SL by the 2nd year and then APL round 3rd year. Then it seemed to top off at that point. At shorter lengths my hair thrived more because I wore it out more often, it knotted less and I was constantly water washing it. But then I started wearing twists nearly non-stop without taking care of it (daily moisturizing, no night scarf, etc.). I DC'ed maybe once a month or when I thought to do it out of boredom sometimes. I didn't start even thinking about my hair length until joining LHCF 3 months ago (before I only ever noticed it when someone else pointed it out).

So I assume its breakage and pure carelessness, but I think maybe my hair is too fine to take the carelessness that others' hair can take. I'ma give my theory about 6 months to a year and then decide. If pure diligence and care doesn't give me some more growth then I'll know that I have weak, crappy-arse hair and move on with my life... Wow, that sounds very depressing but I assume I will continue retaining soon.

ETA: Oh yeah, I did snip off knots and ends a lot while in twists (they almost always knotted but the style was too cute for me to give up) and maybe I lost more than I think from doing that. Before I reached SL, I never cut my hair. That contributed too!

 

[ParagonTresses]

It wasn't until April 2009 that I started focusing on hair growth so I would say I was stuck due to lack of knowledge on healthy hair practices.

 

[Poohbear]

My hair length has been stuck around APL for the longest due to breakage and trims. Seems like every routine I try, the breakage is inevitable.

I hate to say this, but my natural hair actually breaks and splits more than when I had a relaxer....

I'm now coming to the conclusion that with extremely tight tight coiled hair, breakage and split ends are inevitable no matter if you leave your hair alone, don't comb it, moisturize everyday, or use heat occassionally.

 

[wish4length]

I kept being lazy and stressed so that was the reason for me...

 

[Nonie]

Oh I know why I'm stuck wherever it is I'm stuck. It's because:

• I won't seal my ends
• I won't protective style
• while I do trim , it's not on a regular schedule so when I go too long w/o doing it, my hair suffers.

So my retention leaves a lot to be desired.

And why don't I do better when I know better? Coz I'm lazy and I'm somewhat happy with my past-SL length since it's not a length I ever thought I could have.

 

[winnettag]

Super slow gowth here.
I'll have to see if regular exercise and more water will help out with this at all.

 

[ScorpioBeauty09]

My hair's been hovering between SL and APL for the past couple years although I did have a nice growth last summer and the Christmas before last. I've spent this entire summer away from home so I've had to do my hair differently but 3 summers ago I was in the same situation and my hair grew a lot. Now that I'm thinking about it I think it has to do with breakage from the weather conditions where I live. It can get pretty windy and I wouldn't put a hat on or pull my hair back or anything. Lately because of the heat I've been wearing my hair up in a bun or just keeping it in my silk wrap if I'm not going anywhere so my hair does not come in contact with my shoulders. I'll know if it made a difference in a month when I'm back at home and I go see my stylist!!

 

[kittikat24]

I voted Setbacks--Which for me is hand-in-hair disease!

 

[Judwill07]

I would say it's a combination of things; too much manipulation and never happy with leaving it in one protective style. I'm just like a kid sometimes, just want to wake up and be rapunzel the very next day...darn right impatient.