Is protective styling mandatory for 4b hair?

[charmtreese]

I'm finding it very hard to find any natural 4b hair enthusiast that do not protective style on the regular. Are there any 4b's out there that do not wear weaves, braids, or twist on the regular basis as a means to protective style and still retain length? If, so how long is your hair, and what's your regimen? Have you noticed any pit falls or adverse effects from not constantly PS?

I've been doing a low-manipulation regimen with my 4b hair, which pretty much means I wash/DC weekly, twist to air dry, within 24-48 hours I undo twist and style. Nightly I m/s pineapple and Baggie the ends, daily I wear primarily puffs and buns. I do not retwist my hair until wash day and I only use my fingers to style. So far everything is ok, but I'm feeling like I'm in uncharted territories because I can't find anyone else w my hair type and similar reggie.

 

[Prettymetty]

Its not a must for me, but keeping my hair stretched is a must. I do protective style (wigs), but my hair also thrives when I get it rollerset and blown out every few weeks. When my hair was shorter wash n gos were a nono, but now I have way more options. Im 4b apl btw

 

[AmiJay]

JC of the Natural Maven talks about this. She has been doing a series on 4b/c's. I'm actually relaxed after being natural and I think that PSing is the only way for me to get and keep length. I'm a fine 4b.

 

[preciouslove0x]

Full BSL 4bc hair here. I've done it all in the past 4 years. I will not retain hair if my hair is left unstretched. Puffs for me is an absolute negative. Even buns is pushing it. On the other hand my hair has no problem with heat so I can blow dry my hair once every two weeks if I want to and style from there. But what I usually do? Wear two strand twists

Good luck OP

 

[Lilmama1011]

I don't think protective styling is a necessity for any hair I think keeping it moisturized and doing non manipulative styles so their wont be mechanical damage will help any hair prosper. Also coming natural hair when it's wet and not dry

 

[preciouslove0x]

I don't think protective styling is a necessity for any hait. I think keeping it moisturized and doing non manipulative styles so their wont be mechanical damage will help any hair prosper

That's not true for my hair....

 

[Blairx0]

Protective styling is not a must for. I Rollerset weekly and have had great retention

 

[silverbuttons]

Keeping my hair stretched is a must. Finding out how to do that in a city with high humidity is a constant struggle though.

 

[MzSwift]

I've been PSing less these last 1.5-2 years and it seems my hair did not retain as much as it had when I PS'd regularly. I can retain without PSing but it isn't as much when I'm consistently PSing. HHJ!

 

[JudithO]

An absolute must for me!

 

[cassie712]

That's not true for my hair....

I have all 4b hair I had to get a relaxer can't do anything else so hard to manage. Even with relaxed hair my wash days or hard. curl pattern come back and tangles up!! But my hair love heat? Once are twice a month

Sent from my Nexus 7 using LHCF

 

[kandake]

Protective styling is not a must for. I Rollerset weekly and have had great retention

Are you natural or relaxed? Forgive me if you have pics in your avi or siggy. I can't see either.

 

[charmtreese]

Wow, not good for me!! I do keep my hair pretty much stretched, but these responses are making me nervous.

 

[LadyPBC]

AmiJay - I would love to hear about your decision to return to a relaxer. I'm a low density (prob fine strands) 4a, with some 4b and some 3a (I think). So as not to "jack" this thread you can send me a message!

JC of the Natural Maven talks about this. She has been doing a series on 4b/c's. I'm actually relaxed after being natural and I think that PSing is the only way for me to get and keep length. I'm a fine 4b.

 

[AmiJay]

LadyPBC I'm going to answer you question in here because I actually think it's relevant. When I was natural, I two strand twisted my hair all the time. Sometimes I wore a half wig but I very rarely wore my hair loose because it was just too much work at night to comb and detangle.

I got sick of doing that one day so I relaxed. But, for healthy relaxed hair, I've learned that I need to ps all the time anyway in order to stretch my relaxer. So I might as well go back to being natural if I'm going to be in protective styles all the time.

 

[ronie]

I have a similar regimen charmtreese. I wash my hair once a week (sunday or monday night), airdry in some twists. I wear those for a day or 2 (depending if i am working or not), then wear a twist out, puff or textured bun for my 3 days of work. On the week end, i will braid during the day for a braid out at night. Then wash again on sunday night, and repeat. I do retain, but i KNOW i should be retaining more. The plan for this year was to get my constant PS game on. Still working on that. I do believe that PSing is my only way out of SL world.

 

[Jace032000]

Protective styling is not a must for. I Rollerset weekly and have had great retention

I'm toying around with the idea of rollersetting to my goal--what products are you using to roller set? Do you moisturize and seal? If so what products do you use and how often?

 

[Blairx0]

I'm toying around with the idea of rollersetting to my goal--what products are you using to roller set? Do you moisturize and seal? If so what products do you use and how often?

You should come join us in the Setting to Success challenge. There are other naturals discussing that very question.

I have been setting weekly for a year and half-ish.

I keep my products minimal: DC with yogurt/cassia/oil mix, darcy's leave in , flax seed gel.

I moisture and seal after about 4 days. I apply a spritz of water darcy's leave in and a butter blend. My hair will be moisturized until I set again. Once I add water to my hair i will either bun, or set it on 4 flexi rods for a bump. I posted pics in the Setting to Success thread. I also have blog post about it. The most recent of which is here:http://herampersandhim.com/2014/03/19/perserving-the-curl-making-natural-hair-rollersets-last/ if you want to check it out

Get your roll on!

 

[Blairx0]

Are you natural or relaxed? Forgive me if you have pics in your avi or siggy. I can't see either.

I'm natural. I know you can't see the siggy and all that on phones, so it is cool. I have some pics of my hair texture and all here:http://herampersandhim.com/2014/02/25/only-and-hour-with-hourglass-rollers-a-rollersetting-review/

 

[DoDo]

What I have noted is that 4b hair needs to be stretched to retain length without a problem. When you wear twists, or braids and leave them in, the hair can't shrink much more than it does within the first two days of wearing the style and you don't have to untangle regularly to maintain the style. When wearing loose styles 4b hair is in a race against time it seems to shrink back up to your ears. If you used braids or twists to air-dry and then you take these down to wear your hair loose all week, tangling becomes eminent.

So the secret to wearing 4b hair in it's loose state on a regular basis appears to be efficiently stretching the hair. The safest and most efficient methods for doing this are various forms of roller-setting and African hair threading. However, if you don't have the time, skill, or tools and you have thick strands as well as high quality heat tools and thermal protection products you may be able to use heat to get a kinky straight look that you can then set in a loose style.

Of course all of us are different and no two heads of hair are alike. You may not be experiencing the same level of shrinkage or tangling as is typical of 4b hair. So if you are retaining length, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[greight]

I need to stretch my hair in order to retain length. Stretch via heat or twists, it cannot snap back to my scalp; I'm just asking for it otherwise.

 

[charmtreese]

I'm natural. I know you can't see the siggy and all that on phones, so it is cool. I have some pics of my hair texture and all here:http://herampersandhim.com/2014/02/25/only-and-hour-with-hourglass-rollers-a-rollersetting-review/

I think I'm going to try rolling setting some next month, it worked well for my relaxed hair.

What I have noted is that 4b hair needs to be stretched to retain length without a problem. When you wear twists, or braids and leave them in, the hair can't shrink much more than it does within the first two days of wearing the style and you don't have to untangle regularly to maintain the style. When wearing loose styles 4b hair is in a race against time it seems to shrink back up to your ears. If you used braids or twists to air-dry and then you take these down to wear your hair loose all week, tangling becomes eminent. So the secret to wearing 4b hair in it's loose state on a regular basis appears to be efficiently stretching the hair. The safest and most efficient methods for doing this are various forms of roller-setting and African hair threading. However, if you don't have the time, skill, or tools and you have thick strands as well as high quality heat tools and thermal protection products you may be able to use heat to get a kinky straight look that you can then set in a loose style. Of course all of us are different and no two heads of hair are alike. You may not be experiencing the same level of shrinkage or tangling as is typical of 4b hair. So if you are retaining length, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

This makes since!

My hair stays about 50% stretched until wash day. Do you think that's enough. I do have some tangles when I do my weekly wash but nothing alarming.

 

[BonBon]

It is for my hair. I'm 4a/b, but fine and small coils -_-

I believe thicker stranded 4bs would find it OK without protective styling maybe.

 

[DoDo]

I think I'm going to try rolling setting some next month, it worked well for my relaxed hair.



This makes since!

My hair stays about 50% stretched until wash day. Do you think that's enough. I do have some tangles when I do my weekly wash but nothing alarming.

It depends on how long it takes to detangle your hair and whether it makes you impatient. If it does not take too long for you to detangle and most importantly if you are not seeing breakage while detangling you are golden and can just keep doing what you are doing.

For my part I have 50 percent shrinkage on average until my wash day also. However when you have 20 inches of hair coiling up to 10 inches of hair problems ensue. So I have to keep my hair stretched to keep my detangling time from reaching up to 1-2 days.

 

[Risingsun]

I'm finding it very hard to find any natural 4b hair enthusiast that do not protective style on the regular. Are there any 4b's out there that do not wear weaves, braids, or twist on the regular basis as a means to protective style and still retain length? If, so how long is your hair, and what's your regimen? Have you noticed any pit falls or adverse effects from not constantly PS?

I've been doing a low-manipulation regimen with my 4b hair, which pretty much means I wash/DC weekly, twist to air dry, within 24-48 hours I undo twist and style. Nightly I m/s pineapple and Baggie the ends, daily I wear primarily puffs and buns. I do not retwist my hair until wash day and I only use my fingers to style. So far everything is ok, but I'm feeling like I'm in uncharted territories because I can't find anyone else w my hair type and similar reggie.

I don't grade my hair because I have different textures of hair on my head. However, you may want to look into what you are washing your hair with. This process can make or break your hairstyles.

https://www.youtube.com/Moorevolve

 

[icsonia22]

Buuuuump. I need some more ladies to weigh in

 

[discodumpling]

Yes please and thank you. My DD has 4B hair that I'm just realizing needs to be kept in its stretched state to retain length. For a little while I tried to treat her hair as if it were my own and it LAUGHS at my products, process and techniques.
DD's hair has MESH like qualities where the strands stay combining and wrapping around each other. It is amazing and frankly I've never seen anything like it!
Its wash day for her...pray for me.

 

[sunflora]

Perhaps my hair is actually 4b and not 4a. I have a hard time with hair typing. But I absolutely must keep it stretched. I don't know what else I would do with it - wash-and-goes just do not work though (maybe because of the length, I'm not sure, but it's just so thick it would never have a shape). So yes, at least stretched if not PSing - or stretched with a PS.

 

[sunflora]

I've been doing a low-manipulation regimen with my 4b hair, which pretty much means I wash/DC weekly, twist to air dry, within 24-48 hours I undo twist and style. Nightly I m/s pineapple and Baggie the ends, daily I wear primarily puffs and buns. I do not retwist my hair until wash day and I only use my fingers to style. So far everything is ok, but I'm feeling like I'm in uncharted territories because I can't find anyone else w my hair type and similar reggie.

This sounds close to my reggie, I suppose because I braid to airdry, wait 12-24 hours, undo braids and style. But I style in two dutch braids, though I restyle, my bun the resulting braid waves, sleep with a satin cap (no baggie, usually back in the dutch braids at night if not a high bun), and only use fingers throughout the entire week. This is actually the best reggie that has worked for me. My last one was daily cowashing and bunning, which lead to a lot of knots. I don't like long-term PSing due to my sensitive scalp and OCD.

So again, idk if I'm 4b or not but I really like this reggie more than others I've tried.

The key is that hair is still kept stretched.

 

[charmtreese]

I kept up with this regimen until my puff became to floppy to wear. I adopted the low-manipulation two strand twist with weekly washing and re-twisting until that became to time consuming. Once it was taking 4.5-5 hrs to twist I started washing and twisting my hair bi-weekly. now it takes me about 6 hours to twist. Once I get to 6.5 -7 hours I will probably change my regimen again.

So to answer my own question. I think growing 4b, fine hair without protective styling is okay until about APL and then low manipulation hair styles might become necessary. I still haven't found the need to go full on protective styling, but then again...I haven't finished growing my hair, so we'll see.