Hair retention

I know that protective styling is the key to retaining length, however sometimes situations may not allow you to wear these styles as often as you would like. My question is, has anyone used any other method other than protective styling to retain your length?

ChrsLvsBks wrote:I think the key is to assess how your ends feel. I wear out styles during the summer, and don't lose any length. I moisturize at least once a day. I follow up with sealing, usu. an oil or mix of oils and butters. Using oils that are known to penetrate the hair shaft is key--coconut and EVOO are two such oils.

Now that you mentioned paying attention to your ends, mine are harder than the rest of my hair. I put color in my hair in april and i must say I have not been moisturizing like I should. I can tell where the crunch hair begins should i cut that part off? Please say no, LOL. There has got to be some other solution right?

I will say that for me, after I stopped doing wash-n-go's, I began retaining more length because I had less knots and tangles.

Developing and sticking to a regimen also helped. I find that my hair sort of became "trained" after being consistent with my regimen. I wash and deep condition my hair every week no matter what. I moisturize and seal my ends every night and I never sleep on loose hair and always use a satin cap or pillowcase.

I also made a conscious effort to stop playing in my hair as much and that has helped as well- it stopped the knots, tangles, and snags. I haven't used direct heat to my hair in over two years and I think that has contributed too.

HTH

CrissyQ wrote:

ChrsLvsBks wrote:I think the key is to assess how your ends feel. I wear out styles during the summer, and don't lose any length. I moisturize at least once a day. I follow up with sealing, usu. an oil or mix of oils and butters. Using oils that are known to penetrate the hair shaft is key--coconut and EVOO are two such oils.

Now that you mentioned paying attention to your ends, mine are harder than the rest of my hair. I put color in my hair in april and i must say I have not been moisturizing like I should. I can tell where the crunch hair begins should i cut that part off? Please say no, LOL. There has got to be some other solution right?

Try baggying.

I agree with the other replies. Moisturizing and sealing your ends is key to length retention. Babying your ends is hard work (I basically neglected until about a year ago) but it pays off b/c you will get less split/damaged ends.

Shrinkage wrote:I will say that for me, after I stopped doing wash-n-go's, I began retaining more length because I had less knots and tangles.

Developing and sticking to a regimen also helped. I find that my hair sort of became "trained" after being consistent with my regimen. I wash and deep condition my hair every week no matter what. I moisturize and seal my ends every night and I never sleep on loose hair and always use a satin cap or pillowcase.

I also made a conscious effort to stop playing in my hair as much and that has helped as well- it stopped the knots, tangles, and snags. I haven't used direct heat to my hair in over two years and I think that has contributed too.

HTH

shrinkage do you wear your hair out most of the time? My regimen is not consistant, but hopfully that will change in the next 6 months of my journey. HIH, has gotten better, and i need to deep condition more. I need to work on sealing ends huh, but how do you do that on loose hair? Just rub oil on them?

CrissyQ wrote:

Shrinkage wrote:I will say that for me, after I stopped doing wash-n-go's, I began retaining more length because I had less knots and tangles.

Developing and sticking to a regimen also helped. I find that my hair sort of became "trained" after being consistent with my regimen. I wash and deep condition my hair every week no matter what. I moisturize and seal my ends every night and I never sleep on loose hair and always use a satin cap or pillowcase.

I also made a conscious effort to stop playing in my hair as much and that has helped as well- it stopped the knots, tangles, and snags. I haven't used direct heat to my hair in over two years and I think that has contributed too.

HTH

shrinkage do you wear your hair out most of the time? My regimen is not consistant, but hopfully that will change in the next 6 months of my journey. HIH, has gotten better, and i need to deep condition more. I need to work on sealing ends huh, but how do you do that on loose hair? Just rub oil on them?

I wear my hair in twist outs or buns most of the time, but every night i put my hair in about four big twists and use a a dab of moisturizing cream on the last 2 inches or so of my hair(I use MYHoneyChild Type 4 cream or Qhemet's BRBC) and then seal with JBCO, that is all..

Lynnieluve wrote:

CrissyQ wrote:

ChrsLvsBks wrote:I think the key is to assess how your ends feel. I wear out styles during the summer, and don't lose any length. I moisturize at least once a day. I follow up with sealing, usu. an oil or mix of oils and butters. Using oils that are known to penetrate the hair shaft is key--coconut and EVOO are two such oils.

Now that you mentioned paying attention to your ends, mine are harder than the rest of my hair. I put color in my hair in april and i must say I have not been moisturizing like I should. I can tell where the crunch hair begins should i cut that part off? Please say no, LOL. There has got to be some other solution right?

Try baggying.

Ok lynnie give the rules for baggying?

Apply a conditioner or oil of your choice to your hair, put on a plastic cap, your scarf (to cut down on the crunchy sound) and go to bed. LOL!!

Adding oil rinses to my regimen helped my ends tremendously when I was at your length.

I know you co wash alot, so what you would do is, wet your hair, apply your oil of choice (I used EVOO) then apply your conditioner on top of the oil and proceed to cowash your hair. You will notice a big difference in your ends.

Lynnieluve wrote:Apply a conditioner or oil of your choice to your hair, put on a plastic cap, your scarf (to cut down on the crunchy sound) and go to bed. LOL!!

Adding oil rinses to my regimen helped my ends tremendously when I was at your length.

I know you co wash alot, so what you would do is, wet your hair, apply your oil of choice (I used EVOO) then apply your conditioner on top of the oil and proceed to cowash your hair. You will notice a big difference in your ends.

This is great information Lynnie. I'm going to add this to my routine too. How often would you recommend baggying? And if I baggy, say 1-2x per week, would I also need to keep up my 2x/week DC's?

I'm so worried about dry hair now that I've colored and want to do all that I can to prevent damage.

DvaAuNaturel wrote:

Lynnieluve wrote:Apply a conditioner or oil of your choice to your hair, put on a plastic cap, your scarf (to cut down on the crunchy sound) and go to bed. LOL!!

Adding oil rinses to my regimen helped my ends tremendously when I was at your length.

I know you co wash alot, so what you would do is, wet your hair, apply your oil of choice (I used EVOO) then apply your conditioner on top of the oil and proceed to cowash your hair. You will notice a big difference in your ends.

This is great information Lynnie. I'm going to add this to my routine too. How often would you recommend baggying? And if I baggy, say 1-2x per week, would I also need to keep up my 2x/week DC's?

I'm so worried about dry hair now that I've colored and want to do all that I can to prevent damage.

I didnt know about baggying when I had a TWA but it's just like deep conditioning over night so I no you wouldnt need to DC too....unless your hair says it needs more.

I will give both a try baggying and oil rinses. I am going to try to treat kassdy right going forward. Thanks for all the help.