Protective Styles for Mixed Length/NL Hair (Transitioning)

I am interested in knowing what folks out there are doing to successfully transition NL hair. What styles and regimen worked for you? What products?

I am 7 months post and seeing breakage. Even when relaxed my hair rarely made it to shoulder length.

I've been washing and flat ironing each week (every other week at salon) so I want to reduce the heat reliance. I do this because it is easy; I've never been good at styling... I've tried wet-set braidout and it just doesn't look good.

Is my only option to avoid heat a wet-set ?

Any thoughts, suggestions & comments are welcome!

Hm I'm sure everyone's going to jump in here and say that's way too much heat. When I was relaxed, I relaxed every 4-6 weeks and straightened in between once or twice a week Needless to say I wasn't APL very long and transitioned at SL that broke off to NL. I wasn't using enough moisture. Now I'm trying to transition out a little heat damage and I've become like a moisture freak. I DC once or twice a week and air dry my hair in braids and wear the braidout for a few days, remoisturizing and rebraiding at night. I use Giovanni's direct leave in and olive oil for my braids or elasta qp mango butter and my spray bottle. I think you could do the same on dry/damp hair and it doesn't always have to be wet because I know hair's kind of weak when wet.

Sorry I'm rambling I'm no hair expert and still trying to get this straight myself but I know my breakage has dropped a lot since I've upped my moisture and lessened my manipulation. Have you considered a sew-in or wig? HTH and HHG!

Thanks! Your info helps!! Maybe I'll try a braidout on hair that's like 75% dry as opposed to 100% wet.

(BTW, what's HTH and HHG?)

I am considering a sew-in weave for August/September. Never really been a fan of weaves but my coworkers love them lol.

I did crochet braids for the first time last night. You can do this yourself pretty cheaply. I used less than 2 packs of hair($5.99 a piece) and it should last me 4 weeks I workout almost everyday (5-6 days out of the week) so one can only pray

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=527413&page=72

I would avoid the heat.



I'm on a mission to see if I can hold onto my relaxed ends until I reach my length goal by doing the following:

• I wear protective styles 99% (primarily two strand twists in an updo)
• Wash in twist or loose braids
• Lite protein followed by deep condition weekly
• No heat

At 8 months post, so far no breakage
I’m not sure if this is the case for me because my hair was not bone straight to begin with.

I did have a problem with knots & tangles on wash days a while back but I’ve since learned from those mistakes.

If you don't like twist or braids maybe try loose buns or phony ponies.

@05girl,
The PS I used the most when my hair was that length was a loosely secured ponytail that I sealed and either plaited or twisted and finally tucked the ends. Then I secured it with some sort of hair accessory making sure my ends were protected and not allowed to touch my clothing. IOW, my ends were not visible at all. I religiously rotated the placement of my ponytail. I sometimes used a little Eco-Styler gel to lay the edges down and tied on my silk scarf during transit. I also wore loose, wet/ damp, sealed, buns and the occasional braid out with a head band b/c at this point you must protect your ends at all costs. The headband gave me a pseudo flat hair appearance since my ponytail/ bun was loose and kept my edges from looking crazy. Frequent CWing worked for me too (no less than 3x s a week at that point). Anything that will allow you to manipulate the hair less and keeps it up and friction free is key for the 2 big in between stages. In between NL & SL and next in between SL & APL. I just posted 2 yr update pic that discuss some of the products I currently use-http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=556885
Get creative with the hair accessories cause the styles may not be what you are used to wearing or what others around you will be rocking. BUT, know this, discipline and a little awkwardness (due to change) now can lead to the hair of your dreams in the future:reddancer:. For most of us it takes 2 to 3 YEARS to reach out hair goals. Develop a long term mindset and you will win.
How is your protein/ moisture balance? YT is your new BFF when it comes to styling ideas. Get intimately acquainted with the search feature here too. There's a lot of info here for $6.50 and it's all great! Once you get that under control (breakage, shedding, reggie) it basically becomes a waiting game.
HHG!
P1

winona said:

I did crochet braids for the first time last night. You can do this yourself pretty cheaply. I used less than 2 packs of hair($5.99 a piece) and it should last me 4 weeks I workout almost everyday (5-6 days out of the week) so one can only pray

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=527413&page=72

Click to expand...

Thanks, I forgot about crochet braids using loose bulk hair.
My transitioning 14yr old prefers loose styles.

05girl said:

Thanks! Your info helps!! Maybe I'll try a braidout on hair that's like 75% dry as opposed to 100% wet.

(BTW, what's HTH and HHG?)

I am considering a sew-in weave for August/September. Never really been a fan of weaves but my coworkers love them lol.

Click to expand...

HTH- hope that helps
HHG- heathly hair growing

I started my transition at NL. I didn't do many low manipulation styles like braid outs and Bantu knot outs until I made SL. In the beginning it was buns and and updo's galore. There are some of the styles in a playlist on my YouTube channel.

05girl said:

Thanks! Your info helps!! Maybe I'll try a braidout on hair that's like 75% dry as opposed to 100% wet.

(BTW, what's HTH and HHG?)

I am considering a sew-in weave for August/September. Never really been a fan of weaves but my coworkers love them lol.

Click to expand...

Hope that helps and happy hair growing . I'm not a big weave fan either but I'm thinking about getting one to lower my manipulation.

Sent from my ADR6350 using ADR6350

This was very tough for me. Last year this time I was EL/NL and I had just joined LHCF. I searched high and low for protective styles and didn't really find much info. other than braids or weave which I wasn't very interested in due to them not staying in very well. So, I bought a fake bun and a few tracks and bunned it up for 6 mos. My DH (then fiancé) hated it but when I took my hair down for the first time for him to see, he was pleasantly surprised that I has SL hair. HTH

Thanks everyone!

This has got my wheels spinning....will definitely spend lots of time searching and on youtube this weekend.

I have enough hair for a short low ponies, but not really enough for buns - and with high buns the short hair in the back falls down.
I need to also explore methods for moisturizing...I'd like to explore some natural methods, but I don't do too well with butters since they make me break out :/ and I don't feel a lot of effectiveness from oils.

prudent - How is your protein/ moisture balance?
Umm not exactly sure. IMO my moisture right now is ok. I don't know how to test my protein - my stylist did give me a protein treatment a few weeks back.