Attention: Share your retention please!

[DivaD04]

So right now I'm at a point where I would like to start retaining as much hair as possible everyday.
What are you doing to retain lengths....what are you doing different from when you struggled with retention?
What are some alternatives for oils. I'd love to seal with oil but it makes my scalp itch but I know that's affecting my retention/growth each month. SOOOO, SPILL THE BEANS

ETA: Come all! Naturals, Relaxed, Tex Ladies, and anyone in between! I'm sure we all can benefit from Retention Support!

 

[Meritamen]

What is helping me retain more if not all my length is leaving my hair alone. I only comb my hair 1 -2x a week now. I keep my hair in cornrows and rarely have my hair out. (When my hair gets longer I will keep them in braids or twists.) Don't think I have been struggling with retaining length but I'm early in my hair growth journey. What I am doing differently is making sure my hair is moisturized esp. the ends. And the last thing is that I take my time when detangling my hair. I don't take my hair out unless I am willing to properly wash, detangle, and braid my hair which can take some time even with the little bit (almost SL) that I have.
If using oils is causing your scalp to itch try to just focus the oils onto your ends and not the rest of your hair. I have found that butters work well to seal my ends after a light water spritz too. Hope this helps you!

 

[bigbrowneyez]

I'm relaxed, but I retina length by protective styling. I do flat iron for events or a couple weeks after a relaxer, but other than that, I bun or bantu knot when wet, cornrow, or (on rare occasion) braidout. If i cornrow or do a braidout (especially if i'm after 8 weeks post relaxer) then I put conditioner on my hair for about 30min before I shampoo. If i dont, then i'll get small knots in my hair for not having combed my hair that week. Hope that helps! I think retention is mostly leaving ur hair alone (even tho thats soooo hard sometimes! lol)

 

[DivaD04]

I never daily comb, only when prepping to poo every 1-2 weeks. But I have been wearing wigs....I had laid my lace wigs down and started using my reg. wigs when I started noticing the breakage. I guess I was getting bored with my lace wigs and found that my reg wigs were a lazy way of getting ready for work in the mornings. Though I was sewing my lace wig on every week, braiding my hairline only after I would poo. I wasn't having breakage just normal shed hair. But I need to stop being lazy and get on the grind!

 

[DivaD04]

Bumping for more responses.

 

[SVT]

I know you wanted alternatives to oil but I MUST give it up to oil rinses! I shed much less when I do this step.

 

[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

diva what's your hair type?

are u retaining less all over... or some parts of your hair thriving more than others?

 

[Qtee]

I'm a low maintenance chic...that has helped with my retention...I moisturize and oil my hair daily...

Sent from my LS670 using Long Hair Care Forum App

 

[AHeadOfCoils]

I can definitely agree with you on the sealing with oil. One thing I have done to have moisturized hair minus the greasy and itchy scalp, is mixing my moisturizer and oils together before applying them to my hair. That has helped me a ton!

 

[IMFOCSD]

I wear a wig every day and my hair is in four twists held in place by long hair pins. I take my wig off as soon as I get home and I try and spray my hair daily w/my s-curl which i cant live with out lol...sometimes I jus leave my stockin cap on for days at a time without doing anything to my hair. When I have tons of new growth im lazy and only wash like once or twice a month. Starting this tues when I relax my hair im gonna wear my wig mon-fri and wear my hair on the weekends until the newgrowth starts kickin in.

 

[SmilingElephant]

Right now im just keeping my hair in twists and washing/deep conditioning and redoing them on the weekends. Just trying to keep my ends protected and leaving my hair alone.....i moisturize with a butter and seal with an oil on the weekends too....and im spraying my twists with a moisturizing spray throughout the week....i HTH me!

 

[DivaD04]

diva what's your hair type?

are u retaining less all over... or some parts of your hair thriving more than others?

I'm 4b natural....again. My back and all around my hairline seems to do well. A great portion of the rest of my hair seems to have trouble retaining, especially the crown.

 

[aa9746]

Cornrolls under wig, i roll my top layer braids on a satin roller and my bottom layer braids on a satin roller to avoid friction on my ends, i keep braids in for at least a month before rebraiding.

 

[Evolving78]

i'm natural. i don't comb/brush daily, cowash daily, wash/dc weekly, and i wear low mani styles. i don't use heat or straighten my hair either. i was able to retain all of my growth from last year, so we will see how this year plays out.

 

[GoodMernin]

Hi!
I am a new subscriber after being a looong time lurker...so hey ladies.

You all have such well maintained hair!

Anyways, I am a natural 4b who does an EVOO pre-poo, washes, DC's, and flat irons every 2 weeks (trying to see if I can make it to 3 weeks w/o itchy scalp).

What I do is every other night I section my hair into 8 parts, thinly coat each section's ends with a tiny bit of raw unrefined shea butter and work my way to the roots with it then seal with a couple drops of Carol's Daughter's Lisa's Hair Elixir (the peppermint oil in it feels refreshing to my scalp plus I have zero breakage...just natural shedding.

I pin it up during the day and wear it out on some Fridays.

I am trying to keep my hands out of it because I am a new flat ironer. Next flatiron will be my 3rd go at it. It's working so far.

 

[topnotch1010]

So right now I'm at a point where I would like to start retaining as much hair as possible everyday.
What are you doing to retain lengths....what are you doing different from when you struggled with retention?
What are some alternatives for oils. I'd love to seal with oil but it makes my scalp itch but I know that's affecting my retention/growth each month. SOOOO, SPILL THE BEANS

ETA: Come all! Naturals, Relaxed, Tex Ladies, and anyone in between! I'm sure we all can benefit from Retention Support!

Don't put it on your scalp just the shaft of your hair and a little extra on the ends. If you're braiding you hair put it in your hand first then rub it on the braids.

Oil makes my scalp itch too, that's why I try to make sure it never reaches my scalp.

 

[ycj1]

I wear a wig every day and my hair is in four twists held in place by long hair pins. I take my wig off as soon as I get home and I try and spray my hair daily w/my s-curl which i cant live with out lol...sometimes I jus leave my stockin cap on for days at a time without doing anything to my hair. When I have tons of new growth im lazy and only wash like once or twice a month. Starting this tues when I relax my hair im gonna wear my wig mon-fri and wear my hair on the weekends until the newgrowth starts kickin in.

Amen to the s-curl I can't live without it either! It is my life saver of my holy grails....love me some s-curl!!!!!

 

[davisbr88]

I am not a huge fan of sealing with oils (not because my scalp itches, but it just annoys me for some reason) so I agree with a PP that said to seal with butters. I personally love avocado butter and it just seems less messy than applying oil. I mostly leave my hair alone because I got my best retention when I had extension braids for about 4 weeks. So I am two-strand twisting every 2 weeks and other than that, trying not to manipulate my hair other than to DC weekly. I only detangle/comb right before twisting.

 

[FRESHstart101]

From March. - June i had a sew-in & from Sept. - Feb. I have been in a combination of braids/twist/sew-in. So ive been in PS's for a total of 11 and retained 5 1/2 - 6 inches. Meh it's the average ... but ill accept this for my first yr natural.



edit: the thickness is BANANAS by the way, ill attribute that to Biotin (2mgs).
I had my first blow-out last week and the fro' is POPPIN. lol