by
The Natural Haven
By Jc of The Natural Haven
Inquiring minds ask, do you really need to protective style to grow long hair? The scientific answer lies in what protective styling can do for you. It is intended to help retain length by reducing or eliminating manipulation of hair and therefore stopping breakage and damage to hair that has grown.
The primary reason why natural hair of African origin breaks is due to manipulation (i.e combing during the detangling process). However there is a great variation in the curl, kink, thickness and behaviour of hair.
Here are two lists to help you decide whether protective styling may be of benefit to you.
Your hair is at least 6 inches in length
Your hair tangles up when left free for a short time (1-2 days) and/or your hair takes a long time to detangle
Your hair easily forms single strand or complex knots (you spot 10 or more during a detangling session)
The main form of breakage that you see is in short segments (less than a quarter inch) that indicate that the ends of your hair are breaking off
You have shrinkage and very little hang (where 6 inches will shrink to 2 inches fully wet or where armpit length hair appears to be neck length fully wet); the more hair shrinks, the more hair gets intertwinned and the higher the chances of tangling and knotting which lead to breakage
Your hair is less than six inches in length (shorter hair requires less protection)
Your strands are thick and do not break easily when combed
Your hair does not easily form tangles and/or detangling is relatively easy
Your hair does not easily form single strand knots and does not have complex knots (where 3 or more strands intertwine into a knot)
Hair does not tend to break and hair loss is predominantly just shed hair with a visible bulb
Hair that has low shrinkage or hair that has a tendency to naturally form individual regular corkscrew spirals of clumped strands from root to tip (when conditioner and/or gel is applied).
Ladies, what category does your hair fall in? Do you need protective styling to retain length or no?
Click for part 1 of this series: Protective Styling Do’s and Dont’s
28 Responses
I always love reading blog articles but I really like reading the comments more. The comments put the article in a more realistic perspective. No I can say something that will make me more agreeable or I can can speak MY truth. Hopefully, what I have to say will help one person out there. Well I have BC’d twice because of hair color. Now the first time I BC’d (back in 2008) I was seriously lost. I thought that I knew what I was doing but eventually I realized that I did not (particularly when I BC’d this time). The first time I BC’d, I flat ironed, blow dried,scarfed, gelled, over manipulated, and excessively trimmed my hair. Long story short it took me 5yrs to get my hair an inch above my arm pit. At the time I was confused on my my hair was taking soooo long to grow back lol. I have never had problems with my hair growing that slow before. However, I just BC’d my hair for the second time the last week on February nape length all around. In April I started a 4 month protective hair challenge after wearing my hair in a wash and go continuously for the month of March. It was just under my nape stretched in the back, a tad bit over my ear on my sides and right between my eyes in the front. Now 4 months later I gained close to 3 inches of growth yes I said it 3. All I have been wearing are twist, and I wore one set of braids with add-on hair for a two week period.
Often I hear people say they have one texture in the front and a different texture in the back or something like that. But my hair texture is weird.Because my individual hairs are composed of two different textures. Each strand has a pattern where it is set of coils and a set of waves and set of coils this pattern continue another all the way to the ends. Where all my ends end up in coils.My top front is more consistently loose wavy. I would love to see an article on this type of hair occurrence and what will best benefit this hair type. I call my hair type the ” Bendy- Coil” lol.
Long story short I found what works for me and I have done both wng protective styles..and protective styles are winning by a land slide!
This post has a lot of misinformation. My hair is straight and does not tangle easily but that does not mean that I do not need to protective style. There are lots of protective styles for short hair too.
Is Protective Styling Always Necessary for Longer Hair?yes for as long as possible and as much as possible
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idk if they would work for me or not. i usually don’t wear my hair down anyway, because my hair looks weird when out so by default i usually protective style (just recently found out that there was even a name for it!) so i’m guessing it does? i’ve never seriously experimented with wearing my hair one way or the other. but that said, i do retain length fairly well when i’m not doing stupid stuff to my hair. like, oh…going for days with my hair left tangled. that kinda foolishness seriously sets me back by a few months.
My hair fits almost all of the characteristics described above as benefitting from protective styles; however, I have been in denial of that fact for the past 2 years…lol. This year, I made a commitment that I would wear protective styles more often than not. I’ve been able to grow my hair a couple inches shy of bra strap length, but I’ve been at a standstill for over a year now. So if I want something different, I know I’m going to have to do something different. And that something is going to be protective styles. I put in some mini twists a week ago & I am finally getting used to them. It’s hard for me because I LOVE wearing my hair out, but i know it’s for the best. Wish me luck ladies!
I guess I definitely fall into the protective styling category. I get fairy knots like they’re on a serious mission. I really need to find a way to prevent them, cause just yesterday I cut out like 12 of them. I love cute pulled up styles, but I enjoy wearing my hair out a lot as well. I don’t want to feel like the only way to retain my length is to not “show” it. If I have to limit how much I wear it out, then what’s the point in having it? When my hair was shoulder length, I could rock pretty much all the same up styles that I do today. Now that it’s much longer, I want to be able to enjoy the length that I’ve nurtured.
I wish protective styles worked nicely with me, I was protective styling for about 10 months and the day I decided to take a break from them I found splits ends on that wash day right after I got out the shower. And I found a lot and I rarely used any tools; at first I was wearing twists for 2 weeks then washed. Then I noticed dryness (I moisturized everyday) and decided to leave the twists in for one week only. Then I decided to twist for a few days only, that did not work. So now I do wng’s and my hair is thriving much better, I’ll try protective styling again when my hair reaches shoulder length unstretched.
i am not a huge fan of protective hairstyle, mainly bc i havent found many that i reallly like. I love my curls and want to showcase them BUT I get crazy knots after 2 days and it does break off pretty easy and it takes me abt 30-40 min just to detangle with condish on wash day. Its frustrating and on occassion i do roll and tuck, put on some cute earrings, accent my eyes and call it a day but after a few days im tired of tucking my hair away and it doest seem to be any less tangled whn i take it down anyway! But i do feel the tangles conflict with my ability to retain lenghth. I KNOW its growing, it just wont stay on my darn head!
I agree with all you said. Six in one hand, half a dozen in the others. I’d just like to see more articles on retaining length on loose hair.
I think it can be a little bit of a downer to have to wear protective styles most of the time. For some of us, the protective styles (buns, chignons, tied-up twists) reflect an image of us that may not be us.
But a lot of us are don’t know how else to retain length without protective styles.
If protective styles are your thing – great! But for some of us, protective styles can feel like a prison and we are counting down until we can take them loose.
I would love it if Black Girl with Long Hair would do an article on some of the pitfalls of protective styling, if they haven’t already. Thinning edges from pulling the hair back, breakage at the crown from tight buns, dreadlocking from wearing the hair in protective styles too long are some of the down sides. I know, I have had issues with all of the above. There are drawbacks of very fine hair being left in protective styles as well. Ideas or photos of LOOSE protective styles would be great, too.
There are some sistas who have managed to retain length without wearing buns and extensions. Cathy Howse of Ultra Black Hair Growth fame and Nikkimae2003 of Youtube come to mind. I think keeping the hair saturated in moisturize and being very gentle with detangling is key.
I’m in the “protective styling is beneficial category”. My shrinkage is crazy (BSL when wet and stretched, almost shoulder length when dry). I mainly wear twists and flat twists, and the day before my wash day, I may wear a twist-out. Twists are convenient to me because I don’t have to manipulate my hair everyday to get a desired style. I just moisturize my hair everyday and go.
I’m definitely in category 1 but I think everyone can benefit in someway from protective styling. Just because a person’s hair doesn’t break or tangle easily, they can experienced increased moisture retention from protective styling. And who wouldn’t want a little more moisture 🙂
I love wearing my hair out, but I put it in twist because it gets so dried out in the cold. It’s also easier for me to take care of during the week, I hope it pays off, but I think about taking them out all the time.
Though I see the benefit of protective styling, I wouldn’t say that I need it even though according to the article, I fit into the “Protective Styling will benefit you” category. I am very satisfied with the length that I have gained in the almost three years that I have been natural and I did not wear many protective styles in that time. Since, it’s becoming longer and longer, I will try to incorporate more protective styles, but I just LOVE to wear my hair out.
i have a twa but i manipulate it so much with my hands that i’m thinking of putting in a protective style. I’d rather wear my hair out but my hair always needs more moisture and I have to constantly put something in it and touch it to keep it moisturized.
I definitely need protective styling to retain length. I am not sure if my hair fits the benefits of protective styling to a tee, but I know that my hair would not be as healthy now if I did not protect my hair.
My main goal with protective styling is not to just grow it out, but to maintain the health of my hair. I have been looking through my hair pictures from last year and this year. I am amazed by the way my hair looks and feels now. I still have a long way to go, but I love the way I am taking care of my hair now.
Unfortunately I have to make use of protective styling or my hair will not retain length. My hair really shrinks when I wash it and if I let it dry in its shrunken state I have to rewet it before I can manipulate it in any way.
I used to wear twists for years and my hair never went past my nose now that I style in flat twists, cornrows or two strand twist updos I am finally retaining length.
I got my hair past my lip at the front but went and had a big trim to get rid of all the crappy hair in October and it was above my top lip already my hair is near my bottom lip so for me protective styling is a must.
I do protective styles out of convenience rather than need. I keep my hair in twists during the week so I don’t have to worry about styling it for work. If my hair is long, I want everyone to know, lol. So when I wear it out on the weekend it is in a braidout or twistout most of the time.
I have very tightly coiled, 10-12 inch long hair that loves to coil up around itself and is very protective my scalp.
I wear my hair in braid-outs (and other stretched styles), buns or updos. I wear my hair “out” most of the time and do not have a problem with excessive tangling because I always braid my hair before bed. I don’t “need” protective styles (buns and updos) to retain length–I just wear them because they suit my aesthetics and lifestyle.
+1
I protective style but I really don’t like to (more a necessity), I slightly detest it. I like out styles, but my hair is very limited (on time) in out styling. I think it because I find most up-do or bun protective styles on me either boring, aging or uptight. The protective styles I do like (that don’t require extensions, wigs or weaves) need a longer length than I currently have. I am trying to avoid to weaves band extension because my hair is so thin and it hard to find an individuals to do the styles too tight. But I might of found someone so think I going to do braids.
2nd Last sentence correction:
I am trying to avoid to weaves and extensiond because my hair is thin and it’s hard to find an individuals who doesn’t style the hair too tight.
I totally agree. I don’t like protective styles, but since I want longer hair I know I have to do do what it takes. I managed to grow my hair to armpit length utilizing protective styles and starting getting comfortable with wearing it loose after that. Despite all the leave-in conditioners and oils, my hair did not retain anymore length after that! It has not grown any longer than armpit length in seven months and that was a real downer for me, so I’ve been back to wearing buns and not-too-tight conrows. Already I have retained a full inch of length past armpit length. So protective styles do indeed make a difference.
My hair fits all of the descriptions for ‘protective styling would benefit me’ LOL! I think the biggest factor that proves it for me is the shrinkage factor. When I wear my fro now that I have 9 inches of hair, the tangling that out styles cause is CRAZY!
I fall into protective styling being a benefit. The last time I wore my hair out for a week, within the first day or two my hair coiled up (which was nice), and became REALLY tangled (which wasn’t nice).
Protective styling cuts down (if not eliminates) the time spent detangling my hair. And I completely agree with the shrinkage factor. As much as I love rocking a shrunken fro’ every day, I don’t feel that’s ideal for me because of all the potential tangles. The only possible way for me rock my hair out all day, depends on whether or not I chunky twist my hair at night.
But it’s all worth it. The more I protect my hair, the better it will look & feel when I choose to rock it out! 😀
Now that I’m tryin to grow my hair longer than it’s ever been, I have to do things I’ve never done before like utilizing Protective styling.
I don’t do protective styling as much sinc my second big chop, but I never really kept my protective styles for long after my first year of being natural. My hair grows pretty fast and didn’t tangle too much, but it does make corkscrews naturally on its own and I didn’t know that was a factor in not needing as much protective styling. Thanks for the info.
Me neither, after reading this I see that my hair falls into not benefiting from protective styles, I kind of gathered that when I got split ends from protective styling too much.