by
Black Girl With Long Hair
A few days ago Cipriana shared her tips for retaining length, which included protective styling. In response some of you requested a regimen that didn’t involve protective styling. One of my favorite natural hair bloggers, Elle of Quest for the Perfect Curl has such a regimen. Check it out:
Here’s my current regimen, I try to keep it fairly simple.
– Wash hair with shampoo 1x a week in 6 sections (pinned up with clips)
– Condition or use a cleansing conditioner + condition when I am redoing my wash n go (6 sections again), depending on how my hair feels and if I feel the product has left some build up (usually every 2-3 days, could be daily if I don’t like my second day hair or am playing with products)
– DC 1x (Steam, overnight DC, dry DC – varies)
– Daily Style – Wash n Go, bun, or ponytail (Currently, I’ve been doing about 8 sections in order to ensure the product is applied thoroughly and gets on my roots to minimize tangles)
– Sleeping! – Currently I’ve been sticking to my Sue Maesta hood, but I’m thinking of getting a DreadSock when my hair gets longer. When my hair is in a bun or ponytail, I smooth my hair down with my satin scarf. And I ALWAYS sleep with my satin pillowcase!
– Moisturize/fluff out daily using a water based moisturizer (Faves: Oyin Hair Dew, Donna Marie Super Buttercreme) or oil (Carol’s Daughter Hair Balm or Elixir, HerbnLife Butterfly Gold) when refreshing a wash n go.
– Sealing – I only seal when I am using a product that contains glycerin in less than optimal dews (Faves: Oyin Burnt Sugar Pomade, Oyin Hair Dew, HerbnLife Coconut Hemp)
– Trimming – I do not trim my ends, frankly, because I haven’t felt as if I’ve needed to. I keep my SSKs to a minimum by moisturizing like crazy. However, I do search and destroys for the rare split and SSKs when I see them. I did a small trim last time I straightened my hair (half an inch or an inch?), and may do another next time (but that most likely will not be for another six months or so).
– Heat – Diffuse as needed when my hair is soaking wet and I have things to do! Otherwise, I air dry.
Sounds really simple! What are your thoughts ladies? Do any of you retain length without protective styling? Share your tips below!
You can find Elle at Quest for the Perfect Curl. Be sure to check her out!
83 Responses
She doesn’t vlog as much it seems. I really enjoyed her videos and she has some gorgeous hair!!!
I’ve been growing my hair from a complete shave down in 2012, and I learned that my hair needs to be wet often (everyday to every 2-3 days). In this last year I’ve learned I don’t need gel for a wash n go, but it’s letting my hair clump on its own that keeps most of it on my head. Trying to define it any other way – finger coils/raking/shingling etc is a waste.
If I brave an afro/blow out, I am rewarded with tangles and dryness that will take days to recover from. And when I go to sleep, I try to make sure my ends are damp and tucked in. I do not use a bonnet or scarf, but I do sleep on a satin pillow case.
The times that I’ve tried protective styles have left my hair chewed up with more knots than I’d see if I’d just done wash n gos for weeks without detangling in between. The paddle brush, 2 sections and a lot of Herbal Essences’ Hello Hydration in the shower gets my hair detangled in 10 minutes. For me, these protective styles do more harm than good. I love how they look, but not how they make my hair feel.
I know this is a old post . . . but I use to wear two-strand-twist after growing out my first BC and my hair grew nicely. But my hair is fine even though it doesn’t look like it when worn out. The twist use to take me 2 1/2 hours and by the end of the week the hair crawled out and was bushy and I didn’t care for the look. After my second grow-out from my 2nd BC I have fount that twist-outs after a few days become dry;tried different refreshing spritzes/oils; creams (Shea-Moisture-Milk) itched me like crazy!!. Also by curls became too stretched and tangly during wash day?? Now I’m trying a wash and go with well moisturized hair (DC and good leave-in)and scrunchy’s about 6-8 on gathered sections and a silk pillow case. So far I like it . . . I get to keep more of my natural coils and the ends stay coiled and I’m stretching the just enough to keep from matting hair hasn’t gotten to dry. I did have one day where I didn’t do the scrunchy; just to sleepy. This lasted for a week and hair looked good, but I’m entering into the second week because didn’t have time to wash. It will be more tangled than normal when washing this week ;-(.
Hi Gayle, everyone’s hair is differen’t but what is true regardless or texture/pattern/ethnicity is that WATER is the best moisturizer. Butters, creams, oils only lock in the water you have given your hair. There are some creams that you will notice have water/aqua as their first ingredient so that’s a good start, but loading up on butters and oils is not going to add moisture to your hair, and soft and shine does not always mean moisture. If anything you will end up with loads of build up and suffocate your scalp by giving it tons of butter and oil without water, which can lead to an ichy scalp and in some cases an extremely itchy scalp. I wear twist outs daily. I retwist every other night by spritzing with water and adding just a little bit of either homemade shea butter cream (where the base is coconut oil) or Shea Moisture’s Smoothie (where the first ingredient is water). After the 3-4th day of wearing that twist out I then twist my hair, apply conditioner to dry hair for about 20-30 mins, then let my hair drown in water. Detangle each section that was already twisted, t-shirt dry, apply my leave in conditioner then seal with a mixture of oils from root to tip. Then I retwist with my styling butter of choise, either Kera Care twist and define cream or Shea Moisture smoothie. Butters, creams and oils are great but without the addition of water you are going to run into issues. Just think if a plant got great sunlight everyday for a month and only got water 1 day in that month, is it going to fourish or is it going to dry up and possibly die? The same concept to a degree can be applied to our hair. Our hair needs water more than anything, the kinds we put on top of our hair after the water hold it in verses the water drying up or evaporating away. Hope that hepls!
This has been my regimen since i done my big chop Jan 6th 2012! I however was going to stick to strictly protective styles the rest of this summer. I have been on and off with it as i love how my hair is coming along 🙂 So i now earn that D C on a regular, seal your ends and wash weekly is key to growing hair maybe?? I don’t know, but i do know low manipulation is key and thus far, my hair has not been breaking since leaving it out on a regular-5 months into my journey, so of course i believe you are onto something here 🙂
This article can mislead naturals that don’t know their hair type. This regimen is great for Elle, but for the majority of naturals it does not work. There is no such thing as retaining length without protective styling unless you are a 3c and under(with thick strands).Some 4a’s can do it according to their strand thickness, but not all. I’m a 4a and the above regimen is the reason why I had to cut off inches of split hair/fairy knots & edit my entire regimen.My strands are not fragile or weak, but they are on the finer side. Although I have very thick dense hair, wearing it out daily killed it. It would just “eat itself” (each strand would wrap around & choke others causing knots). I now know that I can rarely wear my hair “out” or even in a puff….and I mean ra—-rr–ee-lee–yyy. I stick to large two strand twists so I can still wash my scalp, minimize de-tangling, moisturize & condition regularly and avoid too much manipulation.I just started this about a month ago so I’ll be watching my length retention bi-monthly now.
Good day! Just wanted to pop in real quick and let you all know that my regimen has changed a little since my hair has grown – it’s now past my shoulders when curly, so I started sealing more. If you’d like, you can check out the updates at http://questfortheperfectcurl.com/current-regimen/. I also wrote an article a couple of weeks ago on retaining length without protective styling, which can be found at http://questfortheperfectcurl.com/2012/05/13/question-of-the-day-tips-for-retaining-length-without-protective-styling/.
Hair texture does not matter when deciding whether to do PS or not, hair density and porosity is the main factors….I’m not sure why people always refer to texture and curl pattern when expressing hair woes, you can have the same curl pattern as the next person but their hair can be coarse and high porosity and yours fine with low porosity so that means the way you care for your hair and retain length will be totally different. I don’t protective style at all and most definitely retain length…..some people feel the need to put their hair away…..I like to be free with my hair that’s the whole point of MY natural journey to grow long healthy hair….
I agree with you that density and porosity play a large role, but I do think that texture is important too, because finer hair is often more fragile and easier to break than coarse hair. I have some fine hairs by my edges and I have to be more gentle with them when I detangle. Curl pattern also is a factor because it is more difficult for sebum to travel down the hair strand the kinkier the hair is, so the hair tends to be drier/less pliable (however, this is easily alleviated using conditioners so I don’t think it’s a huge issue). I have also talked to many women who say that their hair tangles too much when it’s in “out” styles because they get more shrinkage.
OMG, our regimen is almost identical! I’ve been doing it for almost three years and started with snaggly hair around my ears. The pic is where I’m at now. The first photo is me now and the second one is me three years ago this July.
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/oldsmallme.jpg[/img]
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/oldsmallme.jpg[/img]
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/summer2012hair0041.jpg[/img]
Your hair looks nice and thick!
why are ppl so pressed to disagree w/ the girl’s regimen? no one is forcing you to follow it. no one said you should never do protective styles. if you feel protecting styling is what helps you retain length, keep doing that, if you want to try a regimen that doesn’t involve protective styling, try it. what’s the pint of hopping up in the comments to rant about how everyone’s hair is different and her regimen wouldn’t work for you?
Well since you asked, ”what are your thoughts ladies?” I will go ahead and share mine.
Firstly, I thought this would be tips on how to retain length without protective styling NOT about one person’s specific routine.
Secondly, I seriously hate protective styles, other than braid/twist extensions. Protective styles do NOTHING for my hair. I wore them all through high school (when my hair was permed and then natural) and no matter what kind of scrunchie i used, just helped with the breakeage process and moisturizing didnt help, protective styles are the devil for my hair lol I hate them, and my lovely curly kinky bob, which grows pretty fast, is much better when i only finger comb, dampen and seal with shea butter or olive oil.
Protective styles suck in my opinion and im glad im not the only one who can grow hair without them. I wished this article wasnt based on this one woman’s routine.
I wrote an article with tips – I hope this is helpful. http://questfortheperfectcurl.com/2012/05/13/question-of-the-day-tips-for-retaining-length-without-protective-styling/
Since I became a a frequent henna head, I dont have any breakage or shedding. My hair grow and inch and half without me doing any protective styling. In fact protective styling, like braids and wigs irritate my edges. My hair craves water and as long as I deep condition and give her water shes good
I need to try sectioning my hair before washing. But, I co-wash, still I do not have alot of breakage, but I also seem to have sooooooo growth. Thanks for the tips.
Oh….. I recognize her from naturally curly. She’s very rude and condescending to people in the 4a forums. oink!!!!!
I couldn’t agree more.
You can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig. I don’t like her she is very very very rude.
O.O wow. saying someone is rude then getting down on their level as well to state that point.
I have collarbone length super coily hair and I retain length well regardless of style. All I do is keep my scalp clean and my hair moisturized as well as stretched. I usually wear braid outs but I do buns/updos on ocassion.
If you’re gentle with your hair (washing, detangling, moisturizing and styling), the length will come with time and paitence.
I’ve been natural for about 5 years or so and from that time until about March 2011 (when I cut my hair), I was able to grow and maintain thick mid-back length hair. I did it without any kind of protective styling. And if I did protective style, it was unintentional (i.e., a bun on a bad hair). I have 3b/3c hair and on average, I wore wash n’ go’s about 2 weeks out of every month, and flat ironed hair the other two weeks.
I say all that to say, it is possible to retain length without protective styles. You just have to have very good styling practices/regimens. I co-washed once a week, rarely used any heat — other than the flat iron once a week (on my 2 straight hair weeks), kept my hair moisturized and got regular trims.
Sept. 15 will make month 6 of my cut, and I have still been able to retain all length (new and old), without any protective styling. So it’s definitely possible. In my opinion, if you properly care for your hair and keep it trimmed, length will be retained. Best of luck y’all!
wat products do u use tho? i also have mostly 3b/c and love me some washngo action but am experiencing so much tangling and knotting after a few days.
wat do u do for your ends?
tia
Hey Ladies!
Any ideas on how she achieved the hair style in her first pic b/c I LOVE it!
Thanks!
Hey Ladies!
Any ideas on how she achieved the hair style in her first pic b/c I LOVE it!
Thanks!
@kg do you mean the big pic up top? If so, that’s a wash and go – I have my tutorial on my blog/YouTube. If you mean the first pic in the series, that’s a dry bantu knot out. hth!
Yeah, Elle, I’m talking about the top pic. I’ll def check out your youtube blog. I think I’m already subscribed. Are you naturalchickdotcom?
I still love my wash n gos 🙂
I agree – each head is different but for me the key has really been moisture and protein balance. However, now that my hair is longer, I do find myself throwing it up in a loose puff or sloppy bun sometimes just to keep it out of the way. Best part is that when I take it down, I just need a few spritzes from my aloe/glycerine/rosewater mix and my curls pop back up. It’s great for the gym especially.
I was never able to retain length past my lower shoulder without protective styling. My hair could easily stay the same length forever. I started wearing buns 5-6 days a week in early spring, now my hair is almost bra strap length.
I would LOVE to not be able to do protective styles, but my hair just doesn’t go anywhere wearing it out all the time.
Not all things for all people I suppose.
Thank you for this, it is very helpful. I am not into wearing protective styles, I like “simple” hair . Your hair is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing your routine with us, Elle! I began wearing my natural hair out when I first did my big chop in 2008 and it was an afro. I noticed that it wouldn’t grow for several reasons–the biggest reason was dryness and nutrition. I changed my diet, began exercising, and taking a women’s vitamin supplement. Also, I started using better products (Shea Moisture) and protective styling (mostly twists and head wraps). Now I am able to wear my hair in buns and pinned under ponys throughout the week. I wear my hair out on Sunday for church.
[img]http://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Image0.jpg[/img]
Interesting. I wore wash and go’s for 5-5 1/2 years and after a certain point(about APL), length retention stopped. I began protective styling, and began retaining length again. I’m now at 6 1/2 years, and at about an inch past the bottom of my bra strap. I have mostly 4b hair with a few sections of 4a. My strands are fine. I would that I maintained about 2-3 1/2 years length of hair during those first 5 1/2 years. It’s shown consistent retention since I began protective styling about a year ago.
Thanks for the tip on the Dreadsoc. I’ve outgrown my Sue Maesta headband. I will truly miss her!
I was doing protective styling for several years and my hair was growing. My BF starting begging me to wear it out because he likes it big. Well, it has broken off so badly. I am trying to recoup now.
Isn’t a bun or a ponytail a protective style????
Yes (well bun not ponytail imo), but I rarely do those. I wear my hair out probably 95% of the time. Just wanted to clarify. 🙂
I do low manipulation
1- I don’t like going long bats without touching my own hair that is natural and that was when I was relaxed
2- I am tender headed
3- I am a grown woman and a zillion tiny braids makes me feel like a little girl
4- I thought the entire idea was to keep little to know manipulation to the ends of your hair. That means: tucking, pinning, bunning
From 1.5″ 26 months later, this is good enough for me. The hair grows regardless its about maintenance and upkeep.. I think some go over board with PS sometimes. Like someone has said here previously … long lengths comes with patience.
[img]http://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/hair.jpg[/img]
I’ve hit a rough patch in my journey (2 1/2 years post big chop, no transition). UGH! 🙁 I used to wear my hair out all the time and my hair was thriving. As it got longer I got excited because I could do updos, then I started blow drying a couple times a month, then I tried henna, then I started doing braid outs… and it’s all bad. I’ve had to trim about 1/4 inch AGAIN because I hate thin ends; I have tons of split ends and knots and breakage galore. I finally figured out than maintaining moisture doesn’t help at all of I manipulate and tug too much. At this length (shoulder) my 4ish coils hair is just by nature too fine and too fragile. It’s really dissappointing to see my length retention just go up in smoke.
But I’m on a plan to redemption though! (1) Limit short term protective styling, i,e, twist outs and braid outs (my fave!!). I plan to braid it up for the next 3 months. The manipulation of untwisted, restwisting so often is too much for my strands. (2) Finger detangle 90% of the time, along with the smoothing method (3) SEAL. For me: water/spritz > cream or butter > oil, works great. I never used to do this. It really helps. 🙂
maybe it’s the blow drying…you can never protect your hair from heat completely.
Yea I gave it up. And in addition to the the heat (I used low setting) it was using the comb attachment. My hair doesn’t like to be pulled at all I’ve learned lol.
Her hair looks really healthy, I get ssk’s so easily, so I definitely want to try moisturizing my hair more. I haven’t done a deep conditioning treatment in awhile, and I think my hair’s suffering because of it. I also need to get myself a satin pillowcase, asap!
But can anyone recommend a good moisturizing deep conditioner? It doesn’t have to be natural or silicone free, I just want something that really softens my hair and makes it feel hydrated.
I swear by Karen’s Body Beautiful Luscious Locks Hair Mask. It’s the best I’ve used so far. 🙂
Silicone Mix is my staple
Try mixing half honey and half olive oil. It’s still my fave DC. Buttah hair!
neutrogena triple moisture deep recovery mask is great plz try it LOL i am begging u to try it and tell me what u think
We should have a discussion about what protective styling really is. Is it different from low manipulation styling? Or are they the same?
Protective styling is when you don’t wear your hair loose so your ends aren’t flying everywhere. Braids, twists, bantu knots etc. are examples. Even Cipriana from a few posts ago wears her hair in protective styles even though her updos look like her hair is loose because I think she pins her ends down.
It’s been discussed in many ways. This blog could use a search function. There was a discussion as to whether twists were protective since they hang down and your ends are somewhat exposed. As with any discussion everyone has a different view on protective styles. My honest view is this:
Any style that hides your ends is protective. It’s no accident that many report great retention from daily bunning. Others will say twists, braids etc are protective but something like kinky extension twists where the real hair is ‘hidden’ seems less protective than a twist out in the sense that out styles do seem to give the wearer a greater understanding of their hair and a quicker understanding of what it may need at any given moment. Harder to ignore so harder to neglect. With extensions it’s easy to forget your hair in the mistaken belief that it’s totally protected. Hmm.
There is a search function – look carefully along the upper right hand side of your screen. It could certainly be more prominent though.
The first person I ever heard mention protective styling was Wanakee Pugh (Google her). This was years ago. By her definition, a protective style was any style that protected the ends from exposure to the elements. The bun is probably the best example of such a style.
Over time, the definition evolved to mean any style that allows the ends (mainly) to stay untouched and unmanipulated for a period. Twist and braid styles that can be left in for days/weeks qualify in this respect.
Low-manipulation styling simply means that you’re spending as little time in your hair as possible. That can apply to just about any style IMO. I’m making my twistout last by putting it into 10-12 banded puffs at night (I don’t think these count as “pineapples” just yet). In the morning, I let the shower steam hit it, then I put oil on the ends, take down the puffs, and fluff. (My twistout turns to ‘fro within a couple of days but I’m fine with that.)
I love this site, and all of its advice!
I’m more of a looser curl pattern, than 4b; I’ll say 3c/4a. And wash-n-go’s work perfectly fine for me! It’s just that, my hair is not at the length as Elle’s while shrunken. I have about 4-5″ to catch up to her. This is why I follow Cipriana’s method, of keeping my hair in protective styling; to help with SSK’s (which have been eliminated tremendously since I keep my hair in box braids).
Once I reach a goal where I can put my hair in a pineapple or ponytail, I’d love to try these methods! 🙂
Elle is one of my favorite vloggers. I love her hair!
I do not wear protective styles and my hair is doing fine. I have cut my hair a few times since cutting off my locks in 2009. If I can stay away from the shears, I’d be fine. 🙂
I usually rock twist-outs and wash-n-gos. I don’t have a problem with my hair tangling or being dry. I try to moisturize at least once a day. I may wear a wash-n-go for the first day or 2 of washing, but at night, I put my hair in 8-10 twists and wear it out the next day. And I do this until, I redo my hair. I usually do my hair every 2-3 days. I will shampoo/co-wash. It really depends on what products I’ve used as to if I shampoo or not.
I agree with the other commentators it depends on the curl/hair type, texture and density. A person may be 3c, but have a coarse/fine/medium texture.
Even though my curls are looser, my texture is not coarse more on the medium-fine side and my hair density is not as thick. Sometimes this leads to a little more breakage for me. But I am learning to handle my hair very delicately. So I can retain more length.
So, this is the question: are twist outs protective or not? Some people say that as long as the hair is stretched, then you are helping to prevent a lot of tangling. Others think the hair needs to be totally tucked. There has to be a middle ground…
I wear a lot of protectivve styles on my hair (which is about 8″ all around) and I almost always hate how I look, but I think it helps to basically give my hair (and hands!) a break. I dunno..I think unless you have a problem, your hair is growing and long growth has more to do with patience.
Camille,
You are a genius, girl. Thank you. One sentence just helped me. I always get tangles, but I am gonna try stretching my hair first and see how that works for me! You da bomb, girl! LOL!
Hi Evelyn, I have been doing the same thing. Transitioning from a wash-n-go to a twist out after a day or two. I think that my hair is not as moisturized when I do this and my first twist out at day three is a little more frizzy and shrunken than I’d like, but I do like this styling combo as a way to extend the time between washing and dc’ing. I was co-washing once a week in the beginning, but now I think I may have figured out how to style my hair so that I don’t have to wash in between styles. I also like transitioning from a twist out to a protective style. Lots of great tutorials out there for this.
Thanks for the Dreadsock recommendation. I use the Sue Maesta hood as well and have noticed my hair is peeking out of the top!
When my hair was shorter, I rocked the h-e-double hockey stick out of some wash-n-go’s. But when my hair started to tangle like no one’s business, I had to reassess. One thing I noticed was that my strands are very fine and break easily. Dryness was also an issue. Two things that helped me included doing oil rinses twice a week. Also, using cream based moisturizers more often (I used to just seal with a water based moisturizer and oil) helped. When I started using the Chicoro method of three step moisture (water/aloe based, oil based, and cream based), my hair felt much more moisturized. Also, I have abandoned glycerin products as much as have moved to aloe vera as my humectant of choice.
Will definitely looks up, and try the Chicoro method! 😀 I usually wear wash-n-go’s, but am currently only doing PS (I hope that’s the abbreviation for “protective styling”), which include box braids 80% of the time. But I love wash-n-go’s, so I will look into this method. Especially because I use glycerin based products, and have noticed my hair looked and seemed a little dry after it dried without heat.
I get really bad tangles as well. Currently, I only moisturize then seal with oil/ oil + shea butter. Could you explain more about your oil rinses , also which cream based moisturizers do you prefer?
While I haven’t had a relaxer in my hair in about 5 plus years, I’ve only started to wear my hair out and in it’s natural curly state for the past 2 months I need all the help I can get. Unfortunately because wearing a ponytail and bun for so long I’ve had some breakage in the middle, but the back of my hair is quite long. I get it trimmed so there shouldn’t be many split ends, but I feel that maybei should cut it so it’s even. Also how do I stop it from breaking again?
Hi Shakira, I five months in to wearing my hair out in its natural state without heat styling. I have about 6 inches of hair. From the tips I have learned from all of the natural hair ladies on this site and Youtube, etc., the universal theme is to be gentle with your hair. My hair has grown about an 1 1/2 inches in 5 months. It is amazing but I can tell the difference between the new growth and the hair that had been heat trained. I have had my hair trimmed twice during this time period because I believe that my heat trained hair at the ends was brittle and prone to more breakage. Each trim was at least a 1/4 inch; even still I feel as if the trims have maximized my retention. I think you decison to cut your hair more will depend on what styling options suit your lifestyle best, but I don’t think it is necessary to cut it just so it is even. So there is my two cents. Good luck!
Thank you Kesha for taking time out to respond to me. I love this site my only gripe is I’m such a newbee in the works of natural hair that I have no idea what all the abbreviations mean. Lol
I LOVE HER HAIR!! It’s Beautiful!!
Whether you can pull off this kind of regimen depends on your hair type. It also depends on your length goals. Yes certain hair types can attain long lengths without the PS styles but as Cipriana showed some of us rely on them for retention. I intend to do more elegant updos and creative PS when I reach a length where this is possible because I like the way they look. 24/7 loose hair in wng seems to be a look that those with curls looser than 4a rock while 4as are able to wear their hair in out styles a lot more than us 4bs. I think it’s because we are the driest hair type due to coil size.
I definitely agree that it depends on hair type/curl size. Hopefully some of the more loosely curled readers can test this regimen and see if it works for them.
This was my first thought reading this. I love her hair, but I know her reggie would kill my strands.
Been there, done that and constant wash-n-gos killed my hair. Its a nice idea and great time saving style, but its not a regular thing for me.
I’m 4a and wear wash & gos 90% of the time with no issues. I don’t have a hard time detangling, I don’t have trouble with knots, and my retention is good. I think it all depends on finding products and methods that work for you. Since there is no one size fits all when it comes to natural hair, there won’t be just one thing that works for everyone. Protective styling doesn’t always work for everyone either. I would hate for anyone to feel discouraged about trying wash & gos because they have a tighter curl pattern. Your hair will definitely tell you what it likes and what it doesn’t. 🙂
My hair is 4a/3c but its medium to fine strands, very porous and dense. It does break easily if I’m not careful. I go through conditioner like water and one careless detangling session would end up with a trash can full of hair. My retention is horrible, LOL!
actually, i would argue that strand size plays a MUCH bigger role that people wish to believe. naturals that i see having a hellacious time with wash and goes tend have finer hair, and those of us that thrive on it have medium-coarse strands. my hair is mostly 4a and i immediately clicked with Elle because our strand thickness and porosity were similar and we both swore by wash and goes.
be that as it may, another popular blogger, Cassidy of Natural Selection blog, has very fine, extremely thick 4a hair and she also swears by wash and goes, and really isn’t plagued by tangles/SSKs. remember, every head of hair is different.
more than anything, i believe anything worth doing is worth doing right. while most naturals give a lot of time to perfecting their PS game, i threw all of my time into perfecting my wash and go. i knew wearing twists weren’t for me and that there had to be another way to have healthy hair without hiding it all the time, and i think that is also just as important.
Thank you! I’m so tired of naturals always saying “you can’t do this or that if you’re a category 4.” It’s so annoying.
I agree with this, my hair is fine textured and I do constant wash n goes and I get so many ssks from it. I see other women with thicker hair that have no problem at all. So I do believe strand thicknes has alot to do with it.
I have type 4 kinky hair and I do well with a regular wash and go regime because of my medium-coarse strand size (the protein in almost everything is trying to kill me, but that is a story for another day!). I believe Elle considers herself a type 4 as well.
I do not use Andre Walker’s hair system because I think it’s utter BS and people assume that a certain “type” must do certain things or have certain attributes, which isn’t true because ultimately, everyone’s hair is different. I have a combo of fractal and corkscrew curls (Curly Girl Handbook).
I am sorry, I didn’t mean to speak for you. I have watched all your videos and earlier on you had mentioned you were a type 4. I don’t put much in his system as well because I haven’t found it useful in helping me better manage my hair. Knowing my texture and porosity was more helpful.
I apologize again. I now see how my comment must read. I am a huge fan (I hope you are not uncomfortable with that word) and I have watched all your videos.
Oh June it’s okay! I hope I didn’t sound snippy. When I was newly natural I tried to type my hair b/c I thought it was important, but I soon realized that it wasn’t helpful to me at all. Also, people would always have differing opinions regarding my type – it just became too confusing so I threw it all out the window, lol!
I don’t like Andre Walker’s system because it gives the mos kinkiest hair the lowest number and letter. Why not rank it 1a then as it gets straighter give that a 4 b.
Word.
Obviously every ones hair is different. As a new natural, I found the system very helpful and always kept in mind there are exceptions to the rule and what works for hundreds of 4as may not work for me and vice versa.
Say it again: EVERY HEAD OF HAIR IS DIFFERENT.
I feel like I’m the president of the cynthiarf fan club on this site, lol. Using a variation* on her method, I was able to wear WNGs for much longer than I’d ever been able to before AND retained a lot of length…and I have mostly 4b** hair with fine strands. If I could do it, I’m pretty sure type 4s with thicker strands could do it.
Yes, I did get SSKs but you know what? Having longer super-coily hair all but guarantees SSKs if it’s not kept stretched or straightened. Ironically I didn’t get nearly as many as I thought I would, and so long as I didn’t bother them (because I rarely used a comb), they didn’t bother me.
*I didn’t co-wash every day…more like every 2-3 days. I rinsed the other days. Also I sought out conditioners and leave-ins that encouraged coiling. Certain cones (amodimethicone, dimethiconal) actually worked for me.
**If 4c now equals no curl pattern wet or dry, then I guess I’m a 4b because I have small coils that are very prominent when they’re wet but disappear when dry…or, rather, they USED to, before I tried cynthiarf’s method.
I also draw inspiration from Cynthiarf! She keeps it simple!
OMG I found my hair twin. Thank you so much for mentioning her Sarah even though I’m really late lol
such amazing hair, i’ve always loved it! good tips, seems so simple.
Vonnie of Socialitedreams.com