The primary reason why black women tend not to have long hair is because it can be difficult to retain. The hair grows just as quickly as it does for women with straight hair, it's just that kinky hair can be dry and more prone to breakage. If the hair is breaking off a 1/2" every month, and grows 1/2" each month, there will be no addition to the hair's length.
Protective styling is important because doing so keeps the end of the hair moist, protected and less available to things that cause breakage (friction against your collar or dry air). Protective styles also allow for less manipulation of the hair. When you twirl your hair or comb and brush it all the time your hair is more likely to fray and snap off. If your hair is in a protective style, you can go for days and weeks without having to stress your hair by manipulating it.
The most popular ideas for protective styles are braids and twists, with or without extensions. They can last for an extended period of time, giving your hair a rest. Just remember to continue to moisturize your hair while the hair is braided or twisted or your protective style may work against you. Also, if hair is added, make sure that the fake hair is not braided in too tightly, to avoid breakage from the pulling.
Comb coils may be an option for shorter hair.
If your hair is long enough you can take your twists and put them into a bun for extra protection or you could even do a bun on loose hair to protect it from the elements.
As I explained before, I really love the L.O.C method. Since I've discovered the technique, my hair has not had a dry day. There is another method called E.A.S.E which is more of an application technique to ensure that every bit of hair contains product.
E.A.S.E. stands for Edges, All Over, Sections, and Ends. As you can imagine, every single strand will be covered with product when you do this.
I think the Sections portion is a little unnecessary. It just seems like a lot of extra product on hair that already has product. But still, I guess it would not hurt to do it.
Included is a video of the LOC and Ease method combined. And you don't have to do it every single day. I think the woman in the clip here did this at the beginning of a 5 day week.
I came across this hair video today by a young lady who created it to prove that natural hair can grow long with proper attention and care. I think more black people should know that their natural hair grows just as quickly as anyone else's--the reason why many black people don't have long hair is because they don't know how to take care of it and keep it moisturized enough to retain the growth and keep it from breaking off.
Anyway, so I was feeling the video. I liked seeing her comparison shots and hearing what she had to say about what worked for her hair.
Until she made a comment that turned me off. I don't even know the exact minute mark, but she was talking about how you should stay away from stylists that complain about your hair texture and try to convince you to get a relaxer. Right, right. That's very true because stylists who are upset about having to deal with your hair texture as-is probably won't have the best intent when it comes to caring for your hair.
She then went on to say that she once had a hair dresser tell her that her hair was nappy and that she was offended because she knows that her hair is no where near nappy. Then she made a little joke about how her hair does not "Snap, crackle and pop" and she snapped her fingers as if in a poetry club.
She was referring to hair that is very thick, kinky, or nappy that tends to pop and snap (along with snapping sound effects) when you run a comb through it.
In other words, she's natural, but at least her hair isn't nappy. At least her hair isn't like that.
And she's correct. I would describe her hair as kinky but curly, more loosely textured. It isn't nappy in the same way that I think of "nappy."
But I was offended by that because most black people DO have the kind of nappy hair she's talking about to some degree. My hair is the type she's looking down on. And that same attitude within the black community is why so many black women are so ashamed of their hair. They've been told all their lives that their hair is ugly and "needs" to be fixed, "needs" to be texturized, "needs" to be relaxed because it isn't curly or loosely-textured.
She's doing the same thing that the stylist did to her--passing an insult to women with hair that's more tightly coiled than hers. Honestly it is kind of disheartening to hear people with natural hair sneer their noses at kinkier hair. I've had natural people say similar things to me. Things like "I like your hair. At least it's not "straight out of Africa" hair." or "I'm glad my natural is like this and not THAT nappy."
I realize the brain-washing that has caused black people to feel this way, but I think it's unfortunate that there's still a hair hierarchy, present sometimes even in the natural hair community.
(pic source: tcdh.wordpress.com)
I think that she should be proud of her hair (which she is), but black women with kinkier hair textures should be able to feel that they can accept their hair, too, as nappy as it may be. Every natural or those considering going natural must find their own confidence in their hair but how are people with nappy hair (most black people) supposed to feel after hearing her say that she's happy that her hair isn't like ours?
Other than that, I thought the video was informative and well put-together. I liked her personality. Granted, her methods probably wouldn't work for my hair, or other black women on the kinkier end of the spectrum but they could be helpful for people similar to her in hair texture.
If you have been natural for a while, I am sure you have heard that glycerin is a seasonal product. Natural hair vloggers make a point to talk about how they use glycerin in the summer but avoid it in the winter. The reason being that glycerin is a humectant that draws moisture from the air to itself (to the hair) in the humid months, but does the opposite and pulls moisture out from the hair and out to the air when the weather is colder and dry, thus making the hair dry.
Many are saying that the theory that glycerin dries hair in the winter is a falsehood. Instead, glycerin holds in the moisture it originally has and can't release any of it.
Personally, I don't like glycerin that much. I've noticed that products heavy on the glycerin make my hair sticky, dry and mushy.
Nonetheless here's a video that explains it further.
If you are looking to make your own shea butter, here's your video. My hair likes shea butter and doesn't do too well with "light" creams and oils.
I'm not a mixtress, myself, but for those who have the time check out how she mixes her own shea butter creams using unrefined shea butter, castor oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, vitamin E and a blender.
She shows you two versions--one is a pomade consistency and the other more creamy and silky for daily use. I love how good it looks going in the jars.
Of course black hair grows. Hair, regardless of race, grows about 1/4" to 1/2" per month. Black people tend to have shorter hair because it can be hard to RETAIN this growth. If hair did not grow, there would be no need to retouch a perm or hair coloring. By the way, hair grows from the roots.
Some may wonder why black hair doesn't seem to grow long.
African American hair can be dry and if it breaks at the same rate that it grows, the growth will not be evident. The hair must be taken care of very carefully to maintain its health and black people, in general, are just figuring out what's necessary.
Also, 6 inches of natural kinky curly African American hair will look much shorter than 6 inches of straight hair.
I admit, I can be considered a Nappy Nazi by some. I really do believe MOST relaxed and weaved women really do hate their natural hair. Not all, but most do. (And Im not even totally against weaves for an occasional change, but I think that if you have to hide your natural hair ALL the time, that's a problem). I completely understand why.
But can one still be considered natural if they color the hair? My answer is yes!
You all know good n' well when someone talks about a black woman's hair being nappy or ugly, they are NOT talking about the hair color!
Some people go natural because they want to leave a cleaner, healthier lifestyle. That's not necessarily the case with me. I'm glad that I'm not possibly poisoning myself with chemicals every month, but that wasn't a concern when I decided to grow my hair natural. I don't necessarily eat clean or go out of my way to use raw or natural products on my body. I went natural out of acceptance for my hair texture. I just wondered why I just went along with believing that my hair wasn't good enough.
I dyed my hair a red color once. I didn't really like the results--it was a bright red---but I DID love the color that it faded into, a coppery color.
Here is a natural chick who knows the ins and outs of hair color. I love her style and think she's absolutely fabulous. Here are a couple of her videos.
