how to maintain stretched styles?

Hi all:

I'm going from long transitioning hair to short natural hair. did another cut today. now i have two and a half inches in the very front row, at the edges (left and right). In the middle of the front, there's like three inches. In the rest of the hair, there is three or four inches. (I'm not done cutting yet, still an inch to go. but I expect it will all be three or four inches when I'm done, with most of it being four inches.). There will be just a little tiny bit of relaxed hair at the end of some strands, like less than a centimeter. I figure I need to let it grow some, figure out what's scab hair and what's not, then cut again , on dry hair this time. i will wait maybe two months for getting all the straight ends.

so after the cut today, i put it in corn rows. Then I un-did one since it was way too tight. and i looked at my hair and i really liked how it looked stretched out. it didn't look so short anymore. if i corn row it once a week over night, how can i maintain the stretchiness, during the week?

details: the corn row didn't have the definition of the braid. (during my transition, i was so used to my hair taking on the definition i put in it!) now the hair simply had it's own cork screw spirally definition, except it looked longer. i love this!!

do i have to braid every night to keep this stretch? my hair won't grow with all that manipulation will it? i don't have time for all that...i thought that doing the big chop would mean i spent less time managing my hair in the evening.

how else, besides braiding, can i stretch my new hair after i wash it? i think i could set it loosely on big rollers and stretch it without losing its own curl pattern. i also think i could comb it down and tie it tightly with a scarf. sounds easy. would it work? i don't know. the scarf might help maintain the braid out, opinions? and also , do tight scarfs at night do damage? what about loose ones?

more details: i don't have any butters, creams, gel or mousse. i am open to shopping for new products, but i think i mainly need to learn about techniques. this week and last i've fallen in love with a mix of grape seed oil and water as a sealer, moisturizer and setting lotion. it's light enough that i don't melt in this summer sun. i wash once a week with a trader joe's shampoo and conditioner. sometimes i just co wash with tj's condit instead of wash with the shampoo. sometimes i pre poo with some sort of oil. i even pre poo to co wash sometimes.

thanks for all your help and encouragement. i thought i knew lots about natural hair but this new hair of mine is surprising me. if not for the sudden shrinkage, i might have kept cutting it today!! i will be ready for it next time! (I hope)

sorry for not posting pictures to help you visualize this, please try to help anyway!

do i have to re-knot the next night to maintain the knot out? i re-braided last night to keep the braid out; i was sad to have to re braid!

Also: THanks!

u don't have to. it just all depends on whatever u are using to define the curls, how long you keep your hair in the protective style and if your hair is dry when unraveling the protective style

my hair is usually dry when i unravel. i only leave it in over night. i do it in the evening, go to bed, wake up, and un do. i'm not using much to define, since i haven't yet found a setting lotion without cones or glycerin. I just use oil mixed with a little water to define. (grape seed oil or olive oil ).

since having short hair, i haven't yet tried just sleeping on a braid out to see if it still does its thing. i re braided my hair a few days ago, in fewer braids than the first time, and it still looked frizzy. i guess it wanted teh same number of braids as the first time.

is there anything you do to avoid re twisting? how long should the protective style be left in?

also how to stretch yet maintain my own curl pattern? after a night, the hair took on the shape of the braid out and i lost my pretty spiral curls.

yeah, use aloe gel, flaxseed while twisting your hair. these help with defining the curls. also, i highly suggest keeping in your protective styles longer because it helps to protect your hair (and lead to growth) and you have a more defined twist out.

for me, i swear up and down on protective styles. i wear them 97% of the time. i keep them in for at least a week and sometimes up to a month. i never have to retwist my hair after i untwist. i even have curl definition a week after i untwist. i maintain my hair at night by twisting my hair in big sections (6 total twists) and then bantu knot them close to my scalp and put on my scarf. i unravel with a mix of shea butter and coconut oil (because the coconut oil is a anti-humectant)

wow! i didn't know coconut oil is anti humectant. flax seed oil or flax seed gel? i think i have seen flax seed oil.

you twist the twists up into big sections at night? or you twist the un raveled sections at night?

yeah, I think you're right i need to leave the protective style in longer. it's hard though, because i don't yet know how to do them and make them look decent enough to wear out the house!

flaxseed gel. i know chrslvsbks did twists with the gel sometime ago. check out her thread. if anything, i know darcy's botanicals has a twisting product that is made with the gel. try em out

oh, sorry for the confusion. when my hair is in a twist out, i make 6 twists (3 on each side) at night.

u will learn. it takes practice. i can tell you that my twists are def not perfect. i don't part with a comb cuz that takes too much time. i just take a section and start twisting.