by
The Natural Haven
Many naturals with beautiful heads of hair promote stretching hair as a way to manage shrinkage, cut down on tangles and knot formation and all importantly promote length retention. Stretching by and large is regarded as helpful, but could it be harmful?
The Short Answer
Yes, stretching hair excessively could be harmful but low levels of stretching are perfectly fine and can be useful in hair maintenance.
The Long Answer
1. Hair recovers very well from low level stretching with the help of water
Scientists have demonstrated that hair can recover very well from a 20-30% extension of the strand (Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, pp 13-26, 1996). The stretched strand will recover its full strength once the stretching force is released and the hair is dipped in water. Why the dip in water? Water has a key role in making hair flexible and strong as it slightly changes the protein (keratin) in hair. Do note that for styling, you do not have to do the dip as it may reverse the stretching process. However, when you are done with the style, a little water will help you have stronger hair to handle the next styling or maintenance process.
2. How can you tell if you are in the safe limit of stretching?
It is pretty easy to read a 20-30% stretch in a lab but not really possible in a real life situation. As a general guide, if you retain some texture in your hair while stretching, you are probably in the safe region. Aiming to completely smooth out a curl or kink with stretching has the potential to over-stretch the hair. As a general rule, if your hair shrinks to 4 inches and is actually 10 inches in length, attempting to stretch it to 6-8 inches is probably better than trying to get to the full length.
3. What happens if you stretch hair over the safe limit?
By now, most of us will know hair has a cortex and a cuticle. The cortex is the strength bearing part of hair and it will generally not suffer too much. However, the cuticle of hair can undergo a dramatic fail with whole scales lifting and separating from the cortex. This can progress to sections of the hair having no cuticle and therefore the cortex in these parts gets exposed to the full brunt of damage that the cuticle would normally protect it from.
4. Should you stretch hair when it is wet or dry?
You should avoid stretching hair when wet, it can easily break (Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, pp 449-467,1978). However, when it is completely dry, it lacks flexibility. Stretching hair which is around 70-80% dry is likely to be a good mix of flexibility and strength.
Ladies, have you ever witnessed damage from hair stretching? How do you stretch safely?
79 Responses
I ended up over stretching my curls. I discover puffs and I didnt realise how damaging it was. The very front ofmy hair is justa big fluffy mess, it doesnt even clump together. And the same goes for the hair directly over my ears. 🙁 iuts gonna be a while before I can get it where it needs to be
My hair is a virgin hair. I stretched my hair on 1st of february and it makes me feel good cos I av a very stubborn hair. Hope it won’t have any side effect?
Since I accidentally stretched my hair back in April 2012, I have been doing so ever since. It has been my Godsend! Not only does it allow me to display length with my twists, but it has proven to eliminate the knotting of my highly textured strands…I don’t really do the hair-typing thing, but for a visual reference, I would definitely say its in range of 4 lol – anywho, I realized that I lose a whole lot of hair when I style it while wet…so I no longer do that under any circumstances. It is time consuming, but well worth it. My process is this – after I wash it and it is soaking wet (I don’t towel dry) I apply oil throughout it to seal in the moisture. Next I section it into large two-strand twists and apply more oil to each section along with my favorite creme hair dress. After this is done, I sit under my hooded-dryer until it is about 80-90% dry. and viola! its stretched and ready for styling. My typical staple style is double strand twists. Since I started working out again (need to lose 20-30 lbs) I must do them medium size so they can last and withstand the sweat (via insanity, thanks Sean T.! lol) for at least 2-3 weeks. If I do them too small, I risk too much tangling, if do them too large, it will frizz up in a heartbeat and I will end up doing them over before my wash day for the sake of not looking unkempt lol – but with the medium size I can get away with the frizz because I can simply pin them up in an updo – which I do to eliminate the friction on my shoulders and back in order to protect the ends:-) Hope this helps someone:-)
I twist my hair after i’ve washed it to help it dry, its my loop hole to blow drying my hair as i hate heat. But how long does hair remain stretched? Coz some of my hair strands a really loose and some have tight coils.
I appreciate this post and the science research. I am sure some of the length obsessed over stretchers and tape measurers and all those in between appreciate this post as well.
Hurt people, hurt people!
It’s just an informational natural hair article. To the author, thank you for taking the time to research and post. Smile 🙂
Streaching hair is damaging but shrinkage is also damaging ….
What should we do then? Live without hair ? SMH
damn what’s all the fuss about??? I liked the article, and I’m glad to know that I’ve been stretching my hair safely and correctly. I’m an afro puff girl so i blow occasionally and i found this very helpful. 🙂
I thought this article was about stretching your hair. I stretch my hair whenever I wash because my hair cooperates better in a stretched state. I have not learned how to embrace my shrinkage and I probably never will, so stretching is something I will continue to do. I appreciate getting advice from women that have actually experienced what they are talking about, so this article is right on time.
Charlotte had a point and a good one at that. So sorry to see her go as no one is an expert on anybody else’s hair or experience with her hair. Why, I thought she made some good points was because I identified with her statement. I classify myself in the 3-4 range of hair type. I had to back off of twist because it was wearing down my ends. I won’t even entertain braids, but, like most things in the natural community, what works for some does not work for everyone else. Why would anyone have a problem with what she stated because what is comes down to is not everything works for everybody. Honestly, I hate to say this but I think some of the ladies here don’t like it when 3c women comment on this page or pitured here under style icons. I hope I’m wrong.
I don’t think that’s true. If people wanted only type 4’s to comment then surely they would only go to a type 4 website. Not everything comes down to jealousy or something like that, which is what you seem to be implying
I made a couple of comments and people took it way to seriously. This is a hair site. I never meant to cause this much fuss. People need to relax way more, its just hair.
I agree mlank64, some folks on this site overreact to me and it’s straight up dumb, giving all of these thumbs down and such when often times people are just expressing their opinion. It’s very silly and childish to me to see grown folks acting like kids. IT’S ONLY HAIR PEOPLE, CALM DOWN!!! Honestly, do you see other races get all bent out of shape over some damn hair, NO! Ultimately, at the end of the day, hair is hair, obviously, you can manipulate it differently depending on texture, length, type, etc., but guess what, white folks hair can get damaged, and does get damaged just like ours, if they abuse chemicals, heat, etc.
Yeah, some of y’all were acting like a pack of bullies in regards to Charlotte’s commentary. So not cool.
I really don’t see how anyone was bullying.
Nooni u were pretty harsh. Maybe you should watch her YouTube channel and you would see what she was saying (the video she mentioned in her first comment). It seemed to me that you became unnecessarily defensive. There was nothing wrong with what she said. I too noticed that my hair doesn’t handle braiding too well…..and I’m Black. Unfortunately, it took me a few months to realize that (not that i am Black, but the braiding part :)It just never occurred to me that the loose braids I did at night was ruining my ends!! If I had read Charlotte ‘s comments back then I could have saved myself some hair. So maybe someone who has type 3 or 4 hair like me may also be sensitive to braids and never realized that it was the braids that was the problem. I remedied it by not braiding the last 3 inches of my hair. So you see, her comments may shed light for some people. That’s all I wanted to say. I hope you don’t take offense because that was not my intent.
You’re fortunate that it took you two months to realize that, but it took me almost 3 years, in fact it took Charlotte’s comment to make me realize why i was constantly losing my ends, I’m anemic, have thyroid problems and a host of other problems and I attributed my hair loss to everything except what Charlotte said. I tried treating it with everything but nothing worked. by the way, i’m taking care of the problems i mentioned earlier, but after reading her comment and then handling my hair differently I noticed that my loss was next to nothing. In fact the only reason that I have hair on my head now is because my hair grows above average. I had to keep clipping the ends because i was losing so much hair, and believe me my hair should’ve been waist length by now (no joke) that’s how much hair i lost. Thanks Charlotte By the way does anyone know the name of her channel that i can check it out.
Thanks in advance.
Hi fluffy-in-flight. Not sure of her channel, but I linked to it through her first comment (she gave the address). It’s the comment with her pic in it and the address is in the first sentence or so. Good luck!!
@ Antrilese — got to see the video, much thanks to you.
Agreed
Charlottes comments were thumbed down over 50 times, tht was a bit extreme and over the top to me. Like I said she agreed with the article and was writing about her own hair experience. And the word hate can be used in many forms. Whatever form was used over 50 times if you were one of the 50 then pick one lol.
Unfortunately, “common sense” is not common. People come to this site to learn. People come to learn what they didn’t know before, or learn different ways of doing something. Sometimes people come here to get a different perspective because “common sense” isn’t working the way “everyone” says it’s supposed to. It’s not fair to make fun of anyone trying to learn in good faith.
Lol, why are ya’ll getting so angry, it’s not like they said never stretch your hair again. That’s some common sense that naturals especially should know that over stretching could damage the hair. Just like how we’re supposed to be careful w/ heat and pulling on it too tightly is bad or any other of these rules that are up to YOU whether or not you wanna follow. Too much of anything is bad for you, ya’ll didn’t think when it came to stretching you couldn’t overdo it? Come on now, get it together, don’t tell me you didn’t know this…
Wow, where did the drama come from? I don’t think this article is saying anything controversial. If you stretch your hair to the point that it is 100% stretched, that CAN be damaging. Ok, nothing earth shattering there. When I put my hair in twists, when I pull my hair, there is still give, so I’m not doing any harm, according to this article. Please calm down, people. It ain’t that deep.
I didn’t see anything wrong with Charlotte’s comments, she wasn’t trying to hurt anyone with what she said. She also agreed with the article and said tht she also cannot stretch her hair or it will break off. It looks to me like ppl really got upset about something else, and even thumbed down every single one of her comments which is why she left. Smh, diversity shouldn’t been welcome, but I have learned as a 30 year old black woman tht most of our own ppl are the racist and hateful ones.
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/cc.JPG[/img]
I see that word hateful is often exaggerated.
Typo: diversity shouldve been welcome
How was diversity not welcome?
What are you talking about, I made a simple point. It’s hardly racist or hateful. Maybe as a 30 year old black woman you should try to relax. If Charlotte took the comments way to personally, that’s her own problem.
Wow
See thts what I mean right there, you obviously felt guilty because I never said any names. Lmaoo!!! So maybe you need to relax Nooni. There was no need to come at me disrespectful because of your own guilt.
Wow, you look 18,19, 20
Lol, thank you and I wish. I would be able to do a lot of things over again. I will be 31 in September 🙂
So you couldn’t cape for the overly sensitive one WITHOUT bashing “your people” smfh Seems you haven’t learned a thing in all of those 30 years.
Ummm, you said I couldn’t cape, what is the meaning of that please? =) Oh and I haven’t bashed anyone, I simply made an observation, wrong is wrong and right is right. Like it or not, I stand up for the underdog regardless of race. Thank you very much. Oh and heres another picture for you. It was a protective style!!! WASNT IT CUTE GURLLL!!!!! ^__^
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/3-1.JPG[/img]
Oh and you don’t know what I have experienced in this life, you don’t know anything about my near death experiences. Or what I have learned in this life for tht matter, so you cannot judge me by one statement tht I made in defense of another person and think you all of a sudden know me or my life. Mrs or Mr Question mark since you dont have a name I will address you as tht.
Wow. All of that was really unnecessary. So now only people with certain hair types can join in a discussion? All she was doing was giving her opinion. Way to alienate her! How disappointing, ladies.
Btw I am done with this site. Adios. Probably this site is for type 4’s too, eh? The definition of stretching seems a bit narrow here.
bye
Lol
Wow! Home girl took a simple article away to far. Smh
Childish, that behavior was awful… All she did was basically say everything wasn’t for everybody all the thumbs down and negative comments weren’t necessary but this is the Internet so I don’t even expect people to act maturely. Now she’s leaving the site with the impression that it’s some kind of type 4 only cult when it’s clearly named Black Girl Long Hair not Type 4 Long Hair. Welcome diversity ladies, we don’t all have the same hair nor we do have the same practices.
* do we.
Seriously. And these same black women will later complain that they are excluded in other areas of life. Yet they so readily exclude others who are a true asset to the knowledge that is cultivated in this blog. Oh well. Black women…. smh!
Rude and ghetto. Smh
I agree, they are acting like straight n***gas and think their ignorance is funny when it’s disgusting and childish how so many “women” cosigned in on this ignorance. Is this BGLH or Bossip? People can be so ignorant and cruel.
It’s for people who appreciate the information. 😉
NO this site is not just for type 4 hair. Unless an administrator asked you to leave you shouldn’t.
Most natural hair advice boils down to a variety of guidelines that have helped a lot of people. Just because it doesn’t help you, doesn’t mean its bad advice or that anyone is forcing it down your throat.
Yeah you are right except you forgot one thing, no one said anything about having something forced down the throat. The person who gave me this advice did say that it was damaging to anyone’s hair to do wash and go’s and did clearly tell me that I should wear my hair up and in braids, and she has seen countless pictures of my hair. I never blamed her for the issue, but I am letting you know that people do in fact have black and white opinions on what makes or breaks healthy hair, and being that I was a mother who was trying to recover my hair health, I was a bit vulnerable to advice from ppl who had healthy hair, so forgive me. And as you will see from my comment above, I was talking about low manipulation protective styling. You are wrong my friend, there are lots of Dominican chicks, mixed chicks and the like who do braid outs and wear buns to grow their hair long. My hair was not able to handle that “low” tension for a number of reasons which I think I stated.
It sounds like you are just mad because this article confirms what I now insistently believe, that braiding wet hair is risky. Don’t want to make the black and white statement that it will damage everyone’s hair but personally I would not chance it out when in fact I have heard of a number of black women with type four hair who had the same experience with low manipulation Protectuve styling. Cipriana states this as well, why do you think she waits until her hair is damp and why do you think her braids and twists are so extremely loose? Why is it that another article stated on here that even one or two braids, which was the type of ps I was doing, regardless of race or hair texture, can cause some ppl’s ends to over stretch, dry out and the ends split open. Yeah. Two simple braids, if I tuck the ends, braid to the end or tie them with anything, the ends will break. That is my hair lady because my diet and bloodwork is stellar and there are plenty of fully black women with the same experience. Let’s get our facts straight.
When did I say anything about Dominican or mixed people? They can have type 4 hair too…….
I understand your point Charlotte. You have the right to your opinion and you did make a point to say “me” and “I”. I hope you continue to visit the sight because it is full of information and you never know when you may read something that really speaks to you. By the way, your hair looks healthy so keep up the good work!!
I have to agree with you that braiding wet hair is risky. At least for me personally it is.Because although I’ve never had a problem with growing my hair, yet i have to admit that every time i deal with my hair which is daily, i lose hair and i clip hair- I really would like to grow my hair out but at the same time I can’t stand to have it out because i perspire very heavy from my head, so i am forced to put it in twists, and because i manipulate it when it’s wet, i do lose hair. I was thinking about leaving it open when the summer passes. ( i really hate the summers) for that reason alone. Each person’s hair is different, some people do not need protective styles to grow their hair out, and others do. I reached that conclusion a while ago.
Yes ! I just did a video about this on youtube called “Protective Styles Are Not For Everyone.” http://www.youtube.com/chamarieq. My hair is fine as you will see and my hair went as far as breaking and severe crinkling even from dry stretching and buns. Now even a loose braid aggravates it so I just wear it down. It is still being gradually trimmed but it is fairly healthy now, no more split ends and less breakage. I had to go back to a modified wash and go but because my hair likes brushing (after finger detangling), I do not get knots.
I actually got the advice to wear braids, braidout and buns from a lady on youtube who seemed to think that everyone should wear them regardless of how fine your hair is and how well it can hold onto moisture without braids. I learned that my hair can hold onto moisture it just was not being moisturized correctly which led me into protective styling.
Now I literally detangle my hair every day, as that is what my blended texture hair needs, and my hair is happy and shiny. Never seen such healthy ends in my life. I did a video on how I went product free and now I just wear grapeseed oil because I realized that my hair gets all the other things it needs from the water in the shower, the water I drink, and the healthy foods I eat. Conditioners dry my hair out either because my smart hair rejects them or because my hair gets all the protein it needs from my Paleo Diet, because my bloodwork is excellent, so the protein may have been making my hair brittle.
My hair does not need protective styles or braids and it is healthy without. My hair has always grown long even when not at perfect health so while I have just to tailbone length right now I am hoping to get back to hip length or betind with free, healthy hair.
I do realize that everyone is different and I think that is the biggest mistake that some self proclaimed hair experts make, is assuming that just because xyz works for so many people, that everyone should do that thing, and if she doesn’t, she is damaging her hair.
My hair has always loved daily detangling and I have to take on full confidence that judging by the sight of my hair, I am doing what is right for it. My hair was naturally straight until I turned eleven and still has certain areas that are half straight half curly, but to the naked eye ppl see the curls and think I should be following hair care advice that is more suitable to tightly curly hair, which has unfortunately failed me time and time again.
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/image-41.jpg[/img]
Protective styling for length has only really been for type 4 hair. You aren’t that. I personally have never seen anyone say every hair type you do the same thing. Maybe you were watching a type 4 video. It is a bit annoying when people who take advice not directed towards them go on about how bad the advice is.
Protecting styling consistently is only really for most type 4. maybe some 3’s. It’s no one else fault if you followed bad advice from a video from a person you never met.
Hmm, I do not think that I said it was anyone’s fault. But let me just clarify something really quickly because in fact, the person who gave me this advice did specifically give it to me, and when I say “protective” styling I am not referring to the extensive micro braiding and twisting that type 4 ladies tend to wear, I am talking about a basic simple bun, and a few braids. She did in fact tell me that I could prevent trimming by wearing my hair up all the time and doing braid out’s. Bear in mind, for me a braid out was all of eight braids at the most, usually only four.
However, I never said it was her fault, I just said that people need to understand that nothing is for everyone. Not everyone should braid and rebraid their hair constantly and it was not possible to bun my hair up and keep changing the position of my bun because my hair does not like low buns period. It causes so much scalp itching and they do not stay.
There are in fact a lot of mixed women who advise people to wear buns to grow their hair long so I am not sure what you are talking about, unless your idea of protective styling is strictly tight braids which I never have worn in my life because my scalp can barely handle a few braids. And just so you are aware there are a lot of women who put their mixed race daughter fine hair in mini braids, which I have never done and was not referring to, so I am not the only person who has taken to the advice.
You seem to confuse hair and race. Being black doesn’t equal type 4 and being mixed doesn’t equal type 3.
Preach!
Lol +1
People are getting angry why? If she didn’t have her picture attached would people be so mad?
Because, she sounds slightly patronizing .
I don’t get why people are taking issue with what she said. I also didn’t know that protective styling for hair growth was exclusive to type 4 hair. White women protective style their hair for length. There are forums online that aren’t specifically for black women, where women share their protective styles for optimal growth.
Anyway, it’s not that big of a deal to me that she shared her story. Either you can relate or you can’t. *shrug*
I was thinking the exact same thing Stace – I had to reread to try and understand why people got so upset…still not seeing it?? Oh well – I appreciate the post Charlotte – nice to see a different perspective. 🙂
I did not much wrong with the first thing Charlotte said. Or how people got a patronizing tone from it.
A woman gave the advice that all people should wear their hair a certain way, it lead to Charlotte finding out what worked best for her. Her hair doesn’t need protective styles and she even said she realizes everyone’s hair is different in the first comment. I was just thinking that’s how you learn about your hair through trail and error.
A lot of natural hair *newbies especially* come to this website and they may say somethings that someone may thing is ignorant because they are trying to find out about their hair. This is a hair advice website and there may be advice on here that don’t work for everyone. She took advice that didn’t work for her, nothings wrong with that.
Thank you sharing your perspective Charlotte. No one head of hair is the same. Always do what works for you and stay healthy doing so. Ignore the haters. God bless!
I’m on team #dowhatworksforyourhair.
This article is ridiculous lol.
It’s hardly ridiculous! It’s offers good scientific advice. Its up to you about whether to listen to it.
I actually appreciate this article…giving scientific data to help naturals with our hair, that’s pretty awesome to me. That’s the beauty of this site – you can browse and see what info pertains to you and simply ignore the info that does not. Just a very friendly suggestion for us all to be a bit more supportive (as I see comments like this kind of often). It’s a blessing that someone even takes the time to bring us all this awesome information into one convenient place. I know for me, this site has literally saved my hair! 🙂
Man at this point even looking at your hair is “harmful” to natural hair. Do what works for you.
I agree
Why can’t we continue the conversation on natural hair without all this sarcasm and ridicule?
Some people want to know. And now I know thanks.
I stretch regularly (weekly) with a blow dryer. I also flat iron a few times a year. In my experience, stretching my hair when it’s bone dry or near bone dry allows me to retain the most moisture. My hair is also less likely to shrink,thereafter. I’ve heat stretched my hair for the past 2+ years. I’ve had no issues with heat damage or length retention. The only time length retention becomes an issue is during the summer, when I sport the wash and go. My MBL, dense, and fine hair shrinks to above my ears. Detangling is a nightmare and single strands try to take over.
OH PLEASE DO WHAT YOU WANT AS LONG AS THE HAIR IS HEALTHY
I know, right! All these rules and regulations for a fiber that will deteriorate no matter what you do. If you’ve managed to maintain length, the ends of your hair will look and feel differently from the hair just out of your scalp, no matter what you do or don’t do to your hair. It’s a FIBER. It’s not going to be perfectly preserved forever!! That would be impossible.
Basically, do what the heck you want to with your hair and do what’s best for your hair.
lol, clearly some people cannot read a sentence to completion. If you were to amalgamate the sentiment of practically all the comments here, they would be identical to the article i.e stretch your hair but do it carefully. The ridiculous part to me is that there are arguments about that.
Charlotte, if you read this, please know that your views are valid. Hair is indeed diverse, for some people stretching and protective styling are not good. This is not a type 4 vs type 3 thing, there are some type 4s who will not thrive with a protective styling regime.
Lol… JC is so rude a defensive.
Lol… JC is so rude and defensive.
LOL! I know right, all these “rules” do get frustrating… I agree, do whatever works for you. BUT I appreciate the theory in the article, it makes perfect sense – too much stretching can damage the cuticle = weak points on the strand/breakage. BUT stretching can mean a lot of things! Some pictures of methods that can cause the most damage over time would have been nice. I braid my hair 4-ish coils a lot, is that BAD? I have noticed that my ends get really brittle and crinkly when I braid sometimes. Am I stretching too much, or do I just need to moisturize?? UGH! LOL. I just hate when ya’ll post an article that leaves more questions than answers :
LOL! I agree, do whatever works for you. BUT I appreciate the theory in the article, it makes perfect sense – too much stretching can damage the cuticle = weak points on the strand/breakage. BUT stretching can mean a lot of things! Some pictures of methods that can cause the most damage over time would have been nice. I braid my hair 4-ish coils a lot, is that BAD? I have noticed that my ends get really brittle and crinkly when I braid sometimes. Am I stretching too much, or do I just need to moisturize?? UGH! LOL. I just hate when ya’ll post an article that leaves more questions than answers :
So am I good with my once weekly banded wash n go? I usually band over night but i might just switch to twisting…