by Cipriana of UrbanBushBabes.com
I love afros, I love huge humongous can’t walk thru the door disturbing the dinner table next to you can hardly hold up your own head afros but unfortunately for me rockin an afro on the daily is committing suicide for my strands but years ago you couldn’t tell me NOTHING!!! The afro was my daily and I mean everyday style and wow did my strands act accordingly and not for the better. The featured picture above is of me (about 5 years ago right before my third and last relaxer in which most of my hair broke off immediately after the first application) with good friends (from left to right), singer/rapper TK Wonder (my sister and bestie), Photographer Quazi King, me and Fashion Designer/Make- up artist Candice Veerasammy. The afro you see in the pic was pretty much my staple for a couple of years and because of this my hair began to deteriorate.  Now everyone’s hair is different obviously and I would never choose to knock someone else’s preference in the way they choose to style their hair but because of the extremely curly, kinky 4b-c texture of my strands coupled with density that defies the word thick and fine strands that you would need a microscope to see individually (well maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but you get my drift), let me breakdown and explain why the afro for me to rock on a daily basis is death for my strands.
DA: During the Afro
A complete breakdown of my past daily afro routine and the results that followed.
- High Manipulation: My hands were constantly in my hair trying to mold the perfect fro therefore I would constantly pull and tug on my strands to give my fro shape and since shrinkage is a huge factor when it comes to my strands the tugging action was on a constant basis to achieve more length.
- No Protective Styling:Â Protective styling for me in the years of DA (during the afro) was pretty much non-existent which created havoc on my strands. I noticed my hair became a lot drier and prone to breakage. My hair may be fragile but it is not weak and there was no reason for my strands to be snapping off because of constant split ends and excessive dryness.
- Over use of products:Â The act of placing oils constantly onto my strands was my way of producing less of a desert like feeling amongst my strands which in return only resulted in more dryness because of the smothering of product overload.
- Wet detangling:Â The curlier the hair the more susceptible your hair is to breakage. This by no way translates that your hair is unhealthy but just means more fragile because at every curling point along your strand is a point of potential breakage and coupled with water which makes your strands even weaker because now your hair is absorbing water which has added weight to your strands which causes them to stretch. All this stretching along all your points of potential breakage with added manipulation of pulling during detangling can cause high risk of breakage but like anything in life there are those with kinky textures who prefer wet detangling but lawd knows I am not one of them. Â It really just depends on the individual.
- Excessive Tangled Strands:Â Because of the fine state of my strands wearing my hair out daily is not ideal. I had no protective styles to wrangle my hair in and contain tangles into sections which left me with a huge mass of tangles to deal with versus wearing my in some form of a protective style such as twists or braids that makes detangling especially dry detangling much more manageable.
- Deterioration of Length:Â With the daily manipulation, no protective styling, wet detangling and just rockin of the afro daily the length of my hair in the featured picture (even though I loved the length featured)Â was about the most my hair was able to retain
The state of my hair changed tremendously for the better when I began to exercise the complete opposite of all of the previous mentioned which in turn created less manipulation more length, thickness and health.
I am hoping in sharing my hair journey , the discoveries and mistakes I have made along the way that this will just enable others on the path of an easier and less frustrating journey. Trial and error along our hair journey only creates a destiny of finding a regimen that works for you but hey sometime cliff notes along the way ain’t too bad either.
What have you discovered along your journey that helped you retain more length or increased health of your hair?
by
Cipriana
79 Responses
I personally do not care for the way I look in twists. I’ve had them done several times, by different people and I just don’t like them on me. BUT, I will say that when I was transitioning, cornrow styles with a phony pony puff on the back really kept my hair very soft and moisturized. And I am not opposed to that as a protective style, especially during this time of year. But now that my hair is fully natural, I can’t get any stylist who will agree to braid my hair without the use of heat (i.e blowdrying). I do not believe in using heat on my hair. So I feel like I have no choice but to wear my hair in “out” styles most of the time. Occasionally, I do buns though. Does anyone else have this problem? My hair is very kinky and thick as the author of the article described.
Some people might be acting oversensitive here. Cipriana has tailbone or hip-length hair now and many of us would love to have natural hair that is at least mid-back length or the length of Cipriana’s hair. The reality is that some of us do not. While the numbers are growing, long hair is still not the norm in our community. It’s just not. I still see mostly short or medium length hair on the heads of Black women and girls around me in the city, the suburbs, my kids school, etc.
Cipriana wrote of her own hair experiences, experiences that worked for her in an effort to HELP US the natural hair community FOR FREE. I read the article twice and I don’t recall reading anything demeaning or offensive. She came across as informative, humble, and helpful.
Some of y’all are going to make people stop uploading vlogs, blogs, and articles altogether if you keep getting caught up with semantics or picking apart someone else’s words instead of looking at the bigger picture. Then the rest of us won’t get the tips we want/need.
For many naturals with 4a/4b hair (or even 3c hair, it is difficult to retain length if we are handling our hair roughly or if we keep the hair loose without the ends being effectively moisturized. My own personal experience (not someone else’s) is when I wear my hair loose it grows to a certain length (8 or 9 inches) and then breaks off. Yes, it’s fun to wear my hair loose and big, but it’s not fun FOR ME to be natural for years, yearn for longer, well-moisturized hair and be faced with a dry, brittle mess of tangles time and time again.
I understand how twists (used alone, not pinned up like yours are in the picture Cipriana) are elongating but I don’t really think they are protective styles given that your ends are exposed just as much as they would be witha wash and go. I also have short hair still (it’s just reached my earlobe curly on my nape stretched out) so bunning isn’t really an option yet. Do you have any protective style suggestions for people with shorter hair
I agree with the majority of this post. I enjoy learning from others as well as through trial and error. I have really thick 4a hair and wearing a wash ‘n go afro caused my hair to be a hot tangled mess. Twist outs and braid outs have been the best thing that has happened to my hair. I also enjoy wearing protective styles now and my hair has changed for the better. Now, I don’t believe dry detangling is good for my hair AT ALL. I honestly don’t know how a person with 3c or 4a kinks and curls could do this without ripping their hair out. I think it is all about being gentle when you manipulate your hair in a wet state. I also found that finger combing my hair does nothing for me. I get the best results by using a wide-tooth comb and gently running a denman through after my curls have been completely detangled. My hair has to be completely drenched in order to make the process go smoothly.
Why are people soooo attached to others wearing their hair in a fricking AFRO. Not everyone even likes afros. Sheesh.
This is a wonderful article! I wish I had this info prior to going natural but it’s good to know…even now. This entire thing a continuous learning process that happens over time, if you pay attention. I have very dry skin and curly hair. Even though I would oil my scalp my fro stayed drier than dry. It wasn’t until I started to pay attention to how I was actually treating my hair that it began to grow. Treating my hair differently when wet has made a tremendous difference and this new (to me) protective styling thing has already garnered tangable progress. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!
Cipriana – Glad to read that dry detangling means detangling with oils! Have you found the one/some oils work better than others? I’ve been using coconut, but am not sure if something else would give more slip. What do you mean by LOOSE twists?
Thanks – m
Grape seed and olive oil gives in a lot of slip. I use it all the time in conditioners and detangling sessions.
[img]http://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/3.jpg[/img]
i was natural here but i got weak so to speak and relaxed my hair it was horrible im 11 months from my last BC and i just gotta say natural hair is awesome..i hope to rock my side pony soon
Wow Tamika you hair is BEAUTIFUL! I’m sure you will be rockin your side ponytail in all it’s glory in no time 🙂
Your hair is BIG and BEAUTIFUL! The more I see of natural hair, the more I’ve come to love and admire it. It’s regrettable that those of us age 40+ grew up hearing that the nappi-curliness of our hair was a bad thing!
I’m just 4 months into my TOTALLY natural hair journey (OK minus the L’Oreal for the gray).
And quite honestly, I’m so amazed by my curls. How they coil and snap back when I pull them straight with my fingers. I never ‘played’ with my hair before but now I can’t keep my hands off the healthy, satiny spirals.
Ooops! This started out as a compliment to you, Cipriana, on your big ol’ beautiful hair. I’m afraid I went off on a tangent. You’re beautiful, thanks for sharing.
Cheryl, thank you for taking the time to read. I was the same way when I transitioned for the last time. I couldn’t keep my hands out of my hair because I loved my natural texture so much. I’m so glad you can celebrate your hair and have support in doing just that! Thank you so much. Truly appreciated! :DDD
I want to thank Cipriana for a very interesting post. It comforts me to see that someone has had a similar experience to mine. My hair texture is similar to Cipriana’s and I find that the longer it gets, it becomes a nightmare to wear out. It just becomes a frizzy, tangled mess! Now my issue is that I am lazy lol and not totally committed to the work it takes to do protective styles. So, I am considering cutting my hair short. But now that I see how beautiful and long her hair is, I am reconsidering! Anyway, I would like to see more specifics about what exactly she did to reverse the damage she was doing to her hair.
Hey Teeka, I can relate. Unfortunately wearing my hair out produces the same results. I don’t mind frizz but its those damn tangles, lol. As far as what I did to reverse the damage, I did the exact opposite of the first 4 steps :),
I think there needs to be a whole post devoted to detangling!!! Thanks Cipriana 🙂
That would be a great post Noirelle and your welcome 🙂
I must say my hats off to you. Two yrs ago I went all the way down into a fade at the pleadings of my daughter and her ” au natural” self. I kept my hair in waves thru a conditioning gel,and loved the worry free world of all elements.However it grew back so fast that after two yrs of length I gave back into the relaxers.The massive thickness & partial wavy+kinky was no longer what I could manage with arm & shoulder nerve damage.No onene would help me comb or wash my hair.All of that to say,I do miss my natural texture along with the choice to blow dry or letting it wave up.The Afro was a good look,but I also had to do that on special days. Again I love the way you girls are showing Black hair is beautiful,even tho I can’t rock it with you!!!
Oh wow ASilverStorm, I couldn’t even imagine washing and detangling my hair with nerve damage in my arms so for you to at least attempt it, huge kudos to you!!! Thank you and your support means so much!!!
OMG, I’ve run into the same problems when I’ve worn my hair in an afro. It’s like I can only do it for a short period of time (no way is it more than 1-day hair for me without it drying out quickly) and I just could not understand it so I’m going back to my protective styling that I did all of last summer. I just want to keep it simple.
Hey Shak, I now look at afros as hair candy. You can have it once in a while but too often and problems start arising but that again is JUST FOR MY HAIR, lol. I love afros my mom had a fierce one back in the day. Long Live Afros!!! 🙂
I think afros are good when you’re in the TWA stage and it’s not that much of a big deal to where them out all the time. But anything longer than 5 or 6 inches yeah “PS” are very much recommended.
But check out this gorgeous color on this short afro, love her makeup.
Her youtube channel is “kelmanzia” titled why is her hair orange
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkQt-DCmJvY&feature=channel_video_title
ETA: kelzmania
Ooooooh loving her hair color and makeup as well!!!
Ha ha! I got her hair color when I tried a blonde henna! I’m too dark to wear it but it looks FAB on her. Now I have dark, dark blonde.
LHM This woman’s hair is sick!!!!!
I’m lazy… The best I can do w/ regards to protective styling is wear wigs. I don’t trust anybody with my hair and I don’t have the patience to sit for 7-14 hours braiding my hair. At it’s current length in order to have a presentable result the braids/twist have to be small so for now I choose to wear my hair loose (wash and go puffs). As long as I keep it mositurised it doesn’t tangle too much… I mist two/three times a day w/ a mixture of aloe vera juice, KCKT and jojoba or olive oil. I may consider protective styling when my hair is longer as I can then work in bigger sections!
Thank you :))) I hear you about the hours, lol also that was one of the main reasons for doing my own hair because in the end no one can know your own hair better than you. Someone may know more info on textures as a whole but no one can know the hairs on your head like you. It just takes time and a wanting.
My hair texture is not quite like her’s but for the past 3 months I’ve been trying to make up for a botched trim by cutting down on manipulation and its really working. Everyone’s hair is unique and yada yada yada. I appreciate this advice and although I don’t know what I’d do with as much hair as Cipriana has I will definitely meet her halfway with any advice she has to offer!
By the way, does anyone have an opinion on what I guess I’d call “horizontal detangling”? I usually dry detangle before I dampen my hair to avoid getting it water-logged but not with a comb, just with my hands by spreading the hair out horizontally instead of raking through it from end to root. Does that make sense? Anyway I can’t yet tell if that’s helping or hurting, just wondering if I’m the only one who does that or if anyone can think of a reason why this might not be a good idea. I have noticed that I lose more hair when I manipulate it soaking wet.
Hey Thembi, I just wanted to say I know exactly what you mean by “horizontal detangling” (I think, lol). Since I finger detangle my twist, after I unravel one I will separate horizontally first at the root to the end. I have found much success with detangling this way 🙂
I do exactly the same thing lol – I wondered if there was a name for it.
Very interesting article and a lovely contrast to youtubers like cynthiarf who mainly did wash and gos (with the occasional twist/braid out) and attained crazy length, it shows that there is more than one way to the much coveted long hair so if one method doesn’t work for you, there are still other options.
The consistent message I am getting from all these seemingly conflicting stories is ‘be gentle with your hair’. It is a simple message that cannot be stated enough.
I followed (a variation of) cynthiarf’s method and also retained a surprising amount of length…and I was initially VERY skeptical because like many here I believed that after a certain length my (mostly 4b, fine-stranded, very tightly coiled) hair couldn’t be worn in a WNG.
Reading this article, part of me wanted to yell AFRO HAIR DON’T CARE (lol)…but unfortunately I know where Cipriana’s coming from and I have to agree. I was wearing a picked-out ‘fro for part of this summer but it really is murder on my ends so I stopped.
Historically protective styles have worked really well for me but these days I don’t have many options: I’ve always hated showing too much scalp and mine’s showing even more of itself as I get older. Plus I don’t do store-bought hair, so weaves, wigs, and even added pieces are out. So I’m wearing the next best thing to a ‘fro: a twistout. Getting length quickly isn’t really a priority for me; enjoying my hair is.
Enjoying your hair is the number one priority, LBell you hit the nail on the head! Without enjoyment or love, whatever your hair goals may be they will be unreachable without it! 🙂
Before I got a major haircut in Feb, I retained length doing braidouts exclusively in the winter time so I understand.
Thank you and yes, very true that was the point of my article just to show people what has worked for me. Never would I ever say everyone should do this or this would be a disaster for the entire natural community, lol.
LOL, disaster indeed! I’m very lazy with my hair and I commend anyone that can put in more than 20 twists at a time (at this point I start whinging and carrying on) and create such fascinatiing buns (^_^)
Thank you 🙂 I will take “fascinating” hair buns anytime, lol. Thank you again 🙂
LOL. I figured that was better than ‘soft and fluffy like a cloud!’ but your hair is beautiful regardless 😀
I just LOVE Cipriana’s hair. OMGosh, it is so freakin’ GORGEOUS! I remember her icon feature from a few months ago. Her twists are amazing and look like “out” hair to me too! So, it’s like, she gets the best of both worlds. Ughh … just hair lust!! LOL!!
Lol! I love her too! So glad that she’s allowing us to re-post her content here on BGLH 🙂
Yaaaaaaay, I am beyond excited!!! I have always loved bglh and is one of my favorite sites!!! Thank you for wanting to repost :)))
Haha thank you so much Shelli. Yes I have found a very happy medium my “best of both worlds” with my loose twist. To be honest if I didn’t find this protective style I would still have a case of some serious afro envy, lol.
And you’re sweet to boot?!?! C’mon, don’t be perfect too;-)!
OMG, thank you so much:DDD but Shelli don’t catch me when I’m hungry, lol.
I have had successful length retention through no- to low-manipulation and wearing my hair in twists about 6-9 months out of the year. I only wear it loose in summer. I also deep condition, wash and condition once a week.
OMG love it. She looks like the model in the new kmart commercial
She is in a Kmart ad. She blogged about it . That’s her.
Yes that was meeeeeeeeee, lol. Thank you ;DDD
Last year I learned that I retained more length doing protective styles. Where I lived last winter, it got very cold. It was the first time that I experimented with wigs and did the full-on, DIY protective style challenge. I wore my hair in twists (which always end up in mini-twists and are the devil for my hair), buns and every other imaginable style to keep my ends protected. When spring hit, I noticed I retained more length than previous years.
I also agree with Cipriana on her opinion of the afro. I have 4c kinky texture and it was easy for me to rock a fro earlier in my natural journey but I’m one of those that had to have the perfect shape and therefore I always had my hair in my hair. Now as far as the wet detangling, everyone’s hair is different. I prefer to detangle my hair wet with a conditioner with slip. The only way I can see dry detangling being an option is when you’re detangling with your fingers and when I do that, I’m still using a pre-poo mix that has oils and aloe vera juice so I guess that’s really not dry.
I want to go back to the wearing afro and how it may eventually cause breakage. I straightened my hair on August 7. I continued to stretch it out by banding, braiding and twisting at night and of course wearing my satin bonnet. 2 weeks later I visited Dallas for a week and if y’all have been watching the news, you know it’s been like 100+ degrees there. I used my moisturizing spritz every other day and my hair began to shrink up into a puff. The following week (last week) we moved to Dallas and if y’all know anything about a quick cross country move then you can imagine my hair was the last thing on my mind. I finally had a chance to wash my hair yesterday and this is the carnage left from just the detangling of my pre-poo. I never have this much breakage when I continue to wear my hair in stretched or protective styles. Ok, I’m done. This wasn’t meant to be this long.
Oops….can’t get the pic to upload.
Khyla, how long did you keep your protective styles in for? And which protective styles worked best for you? Also, how did you moisturize your hair when it was in the protective style?
Twists, for about a month each time I did them. Buns & wigs about 2 weeks at a time with a wash in between. I moisturized as needed, usually about every day or every other day. When I first do my twists, I use a shea butter mix or Shea Moisture smoothie. To re-moisturize I would spritz with water and seal with shea butter or the Shea Moisture.
I forgot to mention earlier, I wore hats too. I would put my hair in big twists that I knew I wouldn’t wear out and throw on a hat.
Hey Khy first congrats on a successful move. I just moved myself but it was an apt above my old one so nothing in comparison to yours, lol. Yes I have to use oils as well. I guess everyone has their own definition of what dry detangling means but I could never dry detangle without oils. I always interpreted dry detangling sans water. Khy also tiny twists are murder on my hair as well just because my hair tangles so fast. If you want to wear an afro you go on head girl but for me the only reason I don’t have afro fever anymore is because I created a style of loose twists that pleases me just as much which came through length 🙂
Finger-detangling damp hair before shampooing and washing in twists has made caring for my hair easier and lessened breakage markedly. Re-braiding every other day (or pineappling) helps me wear my hair out 90% of the time with no ill effects.
Hey Mangomadness I am so glad you have found a routine that works for you. I wish I could wear my hair out while still retaining length on a daily basis but I found a very happy solution with loose twists 🙂
I did that for a while and it really did help reduce the knots and my hair is pretty fine and fragile.
OH! My hair crush lol!!!
I am on a protective style challenge till December, lets see how it goes.
Hey JJ thank you so much and let me know how it goes. The other half of Urbanbushbabes (my site), Nikisha might be taking on that challenge herself! 🙂
It makes me sad to see posts like this that basically condemn afros as a terrible state for people to wear their natural hair in. While it may be true that there are risks to wearing your hair out, that doesn’t mean there’s no way to wear your hair in an afro healthily. After I’d read enough posts like this, I put my hair into twists just to see what all the fuss was about, and after only a few days had some of the worst tangles of my life as some of the twists started to lock. (I guess if I ever wanted dreds, it wouldn’t be a difficult transition.) I couldn’t find a way to keep my hair as moisturized as my daily co-washing leaves it, it was all-in-all a terrible experiment that I don’t plan on repeating anytime soon. Worst of all, I just didn’t feel like myself. I am my fro. And my hair is longer than it has ever been in my life, even when I wore my hair natural and straightened for over 7 years.
Also, dry detangling? Really? That would just leave me practically bald-headed with ZERO curl pattern left.
I understand your frustration, but the author is sharing her personal experience. And she never prescribes it for all naturals:
“Now everyone’s hair is different obviously and I would never choose to knock someone else’s preference in the way they choose to style their hair but because of the extremely curly, kinky 4b-c texture of my strands coupled with density that defies the word thick and fine strands that you would need a microscope to see individually (well maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but you get my drift), let me breakdown and explain why the afro for me to rock on a daily basis is death for my strands.”
Also, we’d love to have a guest post about retaining length with ‘out’ styles. If one comes across my inbox I’ll definitely put it up!
I think Elle from the Quest for the Perfect Curl blog is one natural that has retained amazing length from having it out for most of her journey. Also, Cass from the naturalselectionblog.com. There are some others, but I cannot remember their names.
I LOVE Elle’s hair!! I wonder if she’d be down with doing a feature.
Because the articles title was “SIX REASON’S AN AFRO MAY NOT BE A GOOD IDEA”…It should have been titled “SIX REASONS AN AFRO WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA FOR ME”. The title and content of your article is very misleading. Of the few Natural internet sites available I’ve noticed that this site leans toward coveting Longer Hair (as the title “Black GIRL with Long Hair” implies. So for the rest of us Sisters who choose to “ROCK THE FRO” and have our own hair to prove that your hair does not break off, dry up, and/or fall out…..Let Us Move On!
Hey Darcus, as I have mentioned before no one is debating the beauty and glory of the afro. The description for the article states “6 reasons why the afro may not be a good idea” May Not. I can see why you may have been upset but this was just regarding my hair goals and what I wanted to achieve which was length and I was not able to retain length wearing an afro day. That is why I stated that I know this does not pertain to everyone and as far a the title of this site “Black Girl Long Hair”. I interpret the title not as coveting long hair but showing the masses that black women can grow long hair since longer lengths on women of color was a misconception for so long. All hair types and lengths are beautiful and yes long live the fro. Rock on 🙂
omg!! are you cipriana from Urbanbushbabe? You guys are amazing and are inspiring me to go natural. Love your hairstyles too..
Sorry but your comment is really unfair on Cipriana since the title says “MAY NOT” – nothing misleading there, seriously. If your argument was valid then all posts should end with “…FOR ME” because even as Cipriana mentioned it was from her experience as a black girl with fragile hair who wanted to grow long hair, I don’t know how much more clearly she could have put it. If the site is called black girl with long hair and a lot of people have long hair as a goal, is that not their prerogative? Furthermore I like Cipriana, Kimmytube and some others cannot retain much length in an afro and I appreciate that they are giving us information that will help us reach our goals, perhaps you felt that your goals were not being met, then the post isn’t for you. I will admit, your comment really riled me up. Rant over.
“It makes me sad to see posts like this that basically condemn afros as a terrible state for people to wear their natural hair in.”
The author of this article is far from condemning afro’s, she is clearly stating what works for her hair. Cipriana loves afro’s but realized that wearing afro’s will not allow her hair to reach the desired length and health due to her fragile texture, that’s all. In no way is she claiming that what she is doing is the only way to care for afro textured hair. Everyone knows that each head is unique so what works for one may not work for the other. Some are born with very strong, resilient strands while others have fragile and or weak strands. One person can wear their hair in non-protective styles in various ways including afro’s every day of the week and still maintain the health and length of their hair while the only way for the other person to retain length and or health are through protective styling. If you follow the author’s blog her hair is 21+ inches because she figured out what worked for her. The length of one’s hair is not what’s important I only metioned that as a way to show that what she does to her hair is obviously working because she achieved her goal. It is not only long but healthy. And yes I am fully aware that it is not everyone’s desire to grow super long hair, some of us just want healthy hair no matter the length but in this case this is what Cipriana wanted and she is doing an awesome job at it.
You stated, “Also, dry detangling? Really? That would just leave me practically bald-headed with ZERO curl pattern left.”
It may not work for you but it sure is working for her. And that’s the whole point, we have to go through our own trials and errors to figure out what works best for our hair and lifestyle. We cant worry about how a certain method that caused only havoc on your head worked wonders for another. Understand that everyone does things differently because it works for them and move on.
I couldn’t have said it any better herlucidsKy :DDD Yes my exact sentiments, my intentions are to help others not limit in any way and I would never condemn others for their hair choices.
Cipriana, you don’t even have to explain yourself, the post was 100% clear. And heck yes to dry detangling for those of us whose hair can’t handle wet detangling.
Yeah, she is definitely not condemning afros. I am also one of those people who chooses not to wear afros that often because they are simply not practical for my hair. Although I really liked wearing my hair in an afro (and have a friend that keeps begging me to wear my hair in an afro), I realized it was not beneficial for my hair. I have also been relying on protective styling to just keep my hair healthy.
I think it is imperative when reading other peoples regimens to understand that that persons regimen may not work for you that is okay. I’m finding it a little confusing and funny that some people are getting offended when someone describes their routine. People need to find out what works for them and stick to it. If you realize that you cannot wear protective styles that is cool. Again, do what works for YOU.
I know there were certain things I could not do anymore because they were harmful for my hair. For example, I no longer co-wash my hair everyday because it was causing my hair to become dry.
I realized after about 2mos after big chopping that an afro was not my friend either. I love the look too, but my hair is basically like Cipriana’s I have lots of hair but it’s mostly fine and curls up tightly. So even with very short hair I had a ton of tangles whenever I tried to do a wash & go or wear an fro. Plus my hair just doesn’t retain moisture that way.
I immediately began to do protective styles and my hair flourished. & whenever I wear my hair out I usually do a twist-out. I pretty much do what she recommends, but I’ve never tried the dry detangling, but I’d be willing to experiment to see what it does for my hair.
Hey 1Nikki so glad to hear you have found a routine that is working 🙂 Just wanted to slide in a little tip, whenever I dry detangle I use oils as well. Dry detangling on super dry hair without oils or you can even use your favorite conditioner is a Big Ahh Hell NO for me; I just interpret dry detangling sans water.
@cipriana:
I think it would be helpful for you to update the post to add that you rely on oils for dry detangling. That may be where a lot of the confusion is coming from and most people don’t read all the comments to see you mention it there.
Hey ScrewyHair 😀 The only reason why I didn’t include oils when dry detangling is because I didn’t really go into detail of all the changes in my regimen. I actually have many post on my site about what I use to finger detangle and all the details of how my regimen has changed. The point of this article was my “hair journey discoveries” to explain the mistakes I made and when I realized that they were actual mistakes for my hair. I use to not use oils on my hair when dry detangling and this process took forever but I was successful because I was more than extremely patient and it took WAY TOO MUCH TIME, lol. Oils provide me with more slip and just allows me to go faster. Thank you for taking the time to comment with your suggestion 🙂
Hello BeautyIam 😀 Yes, I find it sad that people are so quick to judge a regimen that has had success for another but not themselves. Do I wish I could wear a huge afro everyday ummm YES but since I want to retain length this is not any option so what did I do? I found a style that makes me just as happy while eating my damn cake too!
Hello Maya, there was no ill intent by my words. As I stated and have many times before, the afro is one of my all time favorite styles. I mentioned as well it was one of my staple hairstyles for years but did not work for ME since I wanted to retain length for my hair! In writing this I just wanted to share with other fellow naturals who may have a hard time retaining length that protective styling may be an aid in retaining more length. Same as my sentiments for wet detangling. I would never knock someone for their personal hair methods only because I know what it feels like to be judged especially because of the texture of my hair. I am glad you have found a routine that works for you. Rock on with your fro 🙂
I know seriously! Not everything works for everybody!
You can tell from her picture that she has a very unique grade of hair, I’ve never really seen that hair type before. It lays flat (instead of standing up), it is heavy (has weight) and it is resistant to dry detangling.
I could never follow these rule, my hair is light cottony and very fragile. i’d be bald if i took her advice.
this article is a little misleading.
Um, how is it misleading if she’s talking about HER OWN experience! That’s like asking someone how they do their hair, and then saying that it’s ‘misleading’.
I really don’t like this mentality in the natural hair community where there’s no tolerance to hear an experience different from one’s own. How does it diminish your regimen in any way to hear of how someone else is (successfully) managing their hair?
And if you are so concerned, why not send in your regimen to be featured on BGLH?
What are you even going on about her hair laying flat instead of standing up or it being heavy? NO to both. Her hair is appearing to be “heavy” and to lay flat because it is VERY VERY long. You can google pics of her when her hair was shorter and you can see it standing up in an afro. But don’t mind me. Claim her hair is unique so you can dismiss some of the very sound tips she has shared. Smh.