Just letting my hair be itself

So when I decided to go natural (almost 2yrs ago) I did it cause I thought it would be easy. I said I'd wash my hair, condition it, and put some moisturizer on it and go. But now, I see that having natural hair is more work than I thought. I don't mind doing deep conditions, but I am starting to hate protective styling cause it seems to take me so much time. I wish that I could just wash and go like I originally wanted to. I'm just scared that if I do that my ends will be horrible and break and the results will be that my hair never grows. Has anyone with sholder length 4b-4c hair ever just kept it simple w/wash and goes the entire time and seen length?

Here's what I want my regimen to be:
wash and condition in sections
add leav in while stile in shower
braid up
air dry over night
take down braids and go
I want to do this every week but I keep reading that this will ensure ssk and split ends. I don't want to damage my hair. Any help?

Oh and what is ssk?
Not sure that that will cause split ends. Just make sure you keep your ends extra moisturized and sealed with an oil or butter.

ssk = single strand knots

No matter what you do to your hair, you are gonna get ssk (that just comes with being natural). There is no way to get rid of them completely. If you keep your ends moisturized and sealed, it should cut down on ssk and split ends.

Oh ok, thanks Lynnie. I get those too and I hate em but yeah, gotta pretty much live with em.

I wore wash and go puffs and ponytails in the summer. The benefit was it hid the damage but the damage was pretty ridiculous. My ends were horrendous.

I now wear braid outs or twist outs like yourself. This is less harmful to my hair. I also will only wear my hair down one or two days a week (if that). The other days I do various pin ups on the same braid/ twist out.

Not a huge fan of protective styles myself but I actually got a lot of compliments over the Thanksgiving weekend on some pulled back twists. I think they were all mesmerized by the shine! :-) So, I'll be rocking those a couple days a week as well.

I don't do small twists. I feel like medium sized twists look childish on me and tiny ones take too long. I recently discovered that actually like the look of pinned up large twists. I think they look pretty darn elegant if your hair is parted in an attractive manner (like you meant for it to be a style - lol). I only put about 10 to 12 twists in and that takes hardly any time to do!

SummerSkye wrote:I wore wash and go puffs and ponytails in the summer. The benefit was it hid the damage but the damage was pretty ridiculous. My ends were horrendous.

I now wear braid outs or twist outs like yourself. This is less harmful to my hair. I also will only wear my hair down one or two days a week (if that). The other days I do various pin ups on the same braid/ twist out.

Not a huge fan of protective styles myself but I actually got a lot of compliments over the Thanksgiving weekend on some pulled back twists. I think they were all mesmerized by the shine! :-) So, I'll be rocking those a couple days a week as well.

I don't do small twists. I feel like medium sized twists look childish on me and tiny ones take too long. I recently discovered that actually like the look of pinned up large twists. I think they look pretty darn elegant if your hair is parted in an attractive manner (like you meant for it to be a style - lol). I only put about 10 to 12 twists in and that takes hardly any time to do!

Summer, do you have pics of the pinned-up large twist style?

Thanks for replying everyone! I guess its true that I'm wearing braid outs instead of a wng. I wore one this wknd and pineappled my hair in sections at night to help the shrinkage. It worked out great. I just hope I'm not going to wreak havoc on my hair not wearing it pinned up. I'll just keep an eye on it. Thanks again 4 all the help!!!