mkstar826 said:
I see so many people treat shrinkage likes it's the devil and it baffles me. Natural hair is not relaxed hair. Natural hair is not texturized hair... I'm not saying you have to love shrinkage and do a kumbaya dance about it but if you want natural hair you have to learn to accept it...
ITA Mkstar...
My hair is below shoulder length, and that's a fine barometer for straight hair. I'm sure that showed length as a barometer for healthy, well cared for hair was created straight haired, untextured people, since showing length is what straight, untextured hair does very well.
Showing length is not a good barometer for showcasing healthy, well cared for highly textured hair. Other barometers like sheen, thickness, fullness, texture (not talking about curls vs. naps either, but the uniqueness and variation of textures within the same head), styling, and stretched length are factors that are more appropriate, IMO.
As a part of my mental transition, I have had let go of showed length, shine, and "swang" as indicators of my hair's beauty, since my hair will soon be shrunken and sheeny with no swang (although my hair will still have movement).
The hardest part of the mental transition for me has been in realizing that I will lose the security blanket of below shoulder length hair (which I've had for years),and the realization that I'll have to learn to style 5" or less of hair. It has always been a lazy, easy thing for me to throw my hair into a pontail if I didn't want to style it . I don't doubt that I will look great with shorter hair, since I wear my hair off my face all the time and also because I've rarely seen anyone who doesn't look good with a shorter style (regardless of what they might think), but still, the change is daunting--that's why I comb the albums looking at styles of natural women with 5" or less of hair.