Long haired naturals....

G

glamazon386

Well-Known Member
I'm beginning to rethink my growth goals as a natural. Did any of you ladies start to feel overwhelmed as your hair got longer? At what length? Are you experiencing more tangling with long hair? How did you learn to manage it all that hair?

I never really wanted hair longer than APL but the longer my hair gets the more I'm starting to dread combing it. And my hair isn't even long yet. I bought some weave hair similar to my texture to have installed for my bday and I gave it a trial run this weekend. I don't think I'll ever want that much hair on my head. :nono: I couldn't imagine combing and washing and detangling all that hair. It's not so much the length but it's the bulk of the hair. I like the hair and I think it's going to be a pretty style but I can see myself getting tired of it after a month and wanting it out of my head.
 
Ok my hair is only about 4 inches long and im stuggling, it already overwhelms me sometimes, so i wonder how i am going to cope at my 18 inch (from root to tip) goal. So i know how you feel. However i've come to the conclusion that i could just cut it, if it gets too much for me. At least i KNOW my hair can and did grow to that legnth. I am just not a fan of relaxers on me at this moment in time, probably because i've never had one, but it would probably be an option. However the benefit of natural hair is that you can wear it straight/curly/kinky or anything in between. Now that we have LHCF knowledge im sure you could use heat and not incur damage if the right tools and techniques are used.
 
I had a rough detangling session this weekend, and this thought was in the front of my mind - what the HECK am I gonna do with MORE of this? :spinning:

I realized though, that really, no matter how long my hair has been, it's almost ALWAYS the last 2-3 inches that is REALLY tangled up/matted, etc...so, I'm hoping that the longer my hair is, the easier it will actually be to detangle that bit, because I won't have my hands suspended QUITE so high in the air.
 
I wouldn't consider myself "long-haired" - I'm about shoulderlength, but detangling is getting harder and harder. After a detangling session (after a wash, which is the only time I detangle with a wide-tooth comb) my arms actually hurt. I really dread wash-day now and sometimes wish for the days when I had a TWA. It is worse when I use a conditioner that hasn't got so much slip (never used to be a problem before). Now I always have to make sure I use a conditioner that has a lot of slip, and even then my arms will still hurt. I think it's only going to get worse the longer the hair gets. :ohwell:
 
Yea I wonder...I have pretty thick hair and it takes a while to style as it is. I want BSL hair and Im not sure how that will go over. I console myself with naturals like pinkskates and zzirving and say if they can do it I can. However, then naturallady texlaxing her hair just reminded me about how real all that work is.

If I get to that point where I cant handle it, I will probably go the same route and texlax if not fully relax. I guess at the end of the day I want LONG hair more than I want NATURAL hair...so its just a tradeoff.
 
glamazon386 said:
I'm beginning to rethink my growth goals as a natural. Did any of you ladies start to feel overwhelmed as your hair got longer? At what length? Are you experiencing more tangling with long hair? How did you learn to manage it all that hair?

I never really wanted hair longer than APL but the longer my hair gets the more I'm starting to dread combing it. And my hair isn't even long yet. I bought some weave hair similar to my texture to have installed for my bday and I gave it a trial run this weekend. I don't think I'll ever want that much hair on my head. :nono: I couldn't imagine combing and washing and detangling all that hair. It's not so much the length but it's the bulk of the hair. I like the hair and I think it's going to be a pretty style but I can see myself getting tired of it after a month and wanting it out of my head.
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I know what you mean. I don't wash as frequently as I used to:look: because its a lot of work. What helps is that I wash in about 8 sections, so I am not overwhelmed with my whole head at one time. I never comb it dry, only when its wet, with conditioner. I am also forced to wear my hair pressed more often because of little knots that form at the end when I wear it in it's natural/curly state. It's all worth it for me though...I'm currently a lil past bsl and still want to get to midback.:yep:
 
Once I hit the shoulder area three years ago I knew that this was no longer fun. i made a commitment to myself to not do wash n go's as much as before.
Stretching and frequent washings are the only way I can keep this stuff in order.
 
I feel your pain, my hair is currently a little past shoulder length, and detangling is getting to be a very lengthy process, as one member said, I try to wash only once a week or every other week. I am wearing my hair straight right now and have been for over 2 weeks hoping that the straightening loosens up my texture so it will be easier to manage. I don't want to relax or texlax and I have nothing against either, but I may be wearing my hair in straighter styles more frequently, because my whole body aches after trying to detangle my hair.
 
For those who are having major detangling issues - what is your primary style? Twist outs? Wash & Gos?
 
honeycomb said:
I feel your pain, my hair is currently a little past shoulder length, and detangling is getting to be a very lengthy process, as one member said, I try to wash only once a week or every other week. I am wearing my hair straight right now and have been for over 2 weeks hoping that the straightening loosens up my texture so it will be easier to manage. I don't want to relax or texlax and I have nothing against either, but I may be wearing my hair in straighter styles more frequently, because my whole body aches after trying to detangle my hair.
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The more often you wash the easier it is to detangle IMO. I wash every 3 days under the shower head. I do notice the left side of my head gets tangled more than the right though. weird.

Although, the longer my hair gets the less I cowash. When it was short I washed my hair every day, then it became every other day. Now it's every 3 or 4 days. If my hair continues to grow I know that detangling will become more of an issue if I dont keep up with washing often.
 
I'm not what you consider long-haired. My hiar is somewhere between APL and BSL. My goal was to get to BSL and just cut it blunt until it all caught up.

I'm rethinking it right now.

Like most, the tangling and work it takes is time consuming. I wear mini-braids for 2-3 months at a time. My hair, no extensions. But take down is a hard tangly mess.

Lately, I've been wearing a press (check my siggy). But even that is work.

It is not that I am lazy, but I don't have 5 hours to spend on my hair everyday.

If it were up to me, I'd go back to the twa and start my grow-out all over, but DH won't have it.
 
Ya'll heffas better not give in to the creamy crack...get a wide tooth comb, deman brush and k cutter and work it posthaste! J/K carry on I'm relaxed and envy the bulk of natural hair. :drunk:
 
I haven't had any fun on wash day either. When my hair was shorter it would tangle up on the ends. So I started washing it while it was still in braids, now my hair tangles up at the ROOT! It puts me in a panic because before I didn't mind just snipping off the tangle up ends of my hair but no way am I going to cut my hair starting at the root. Some how loose hair would wrap itself around other hairs even while it's braided. I use lots of conditioner and patiences to separate one strand of hair at a time until all the hair is free. It's driving me crazy!:wallbash: I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
 
My hair is past waist length when stretched now, with the longest layer just about hip length. Now, I've somehow managed to get things under control, but I'd say just at midback, detangling started being a major, major issue. Part of the problem was that my schedule and my laziness made me not cowash my hair daily as I had been doing up until that point. Since I only detangle during my wash, I started going longer between detangling sessions...which works wonders for some...but is destructive for my hair, no matter what technique is ultimately used to get the tangles out.

I've finally given into the fact that I need to wash/detangle my hair regularly...a few times a week...if I do not want serious knot/tangle problems. If I keep it detangled, I don't have problems detangling it (make sense?) and therefore don't get breakage, damage, aggravation or exhaustion.

My true issue these days is the amount of time I spend in the shower. I've found I can push detangling as far as every third day. So that's what I generally do so as not to be a water hog.
 
Some years ago my hair was badly overprocessed and it was much more difficult to detangle then that it is now as a natural. It also gets easier as you master techniques for handling your hair. Don't give up, glamazon!

As for styling, WnGs cause major tangles for me, so I wear twist outs or roller sets almost exclusively.
 
The longer my hair gets the more I miss when it was short. I actually reduced the amount of time I wash it so I could do less dentangling. For me it's alot easier to just do it all in one big even then chunks of time it takes for daily or three times weekly dentangling. I still want my ultimate goal of mbl, but I couldn't imagine going any further w/out a pay increase so somebody else could do it for me:look:, or texlaxing.

I mostly wear twists or twist outs in puffs or out to reduce tangling. Wash n go's are pretty much a no go, too much work afterwards.
 
glamazon386 said:
Did any of you ladies start to feel overwhelmed as your hair got longer? At what length? Are you experiencing more tangling with long hair? How did you learn to manage it all that hair?
I do have my days when my hair feels "overwhelming"...but for the most part I had those days when I was relaxed too :lachen: (i.e., when it came time to break out the blow dryer to blow dry/flat iron my hair on wash day).

But overall, I was happier with my hair as it got longer because my main goal was to grow my hair long enough to be able to wear it in its natural state in a bun. Fortunately for me, though, I am content with wearing a bun most days, and even though it's plain it protects my hair and it's fast/easy. I only wash/detangle once a week...and so far so good. It does take a little bit of time to detangle, but it isn't any harder detangling my hair now than it was when it was shorter.

I also am not experiencing any more tangling, and I attribute that also to me wearing my hair in a protective style alot...because it's not exposed to the elements I think is why I don't get that many tangles. Like rabs stated, I also detangle only when wet, in the shower, and my hair must be in twists---so I detangle my hair one twist at a time while its wet with conditioner.

Now I must say I do avoid wash-n-gos for fear of the amount of tangles that may come afterwards. (My hair is 4a/b and coils up VERY tightly.) Now, if I was trying to wear a different style with my own hair every week, I might have some issues because I can't really imagine styling my hair that often because I already spend time detangling my hair.

Are you concerned that it might be hard to style the amount of natural hair that you are aiming to achieve?
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zzirvingj said:
glamazon386 said:
Are you concerned that it might be hard to style the amount of natural hair that you are aiming to achieve?
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I think that is my biggest concern. I've been natural about a year and a half now and I haven't really had any issues with my hair. I'm just noticing that it's beginning to become time consuming to deal with. I don't want to do twists and twist outs because they take too long. All I do is pull it back in a bun or pony tail or wear a wig. I don't like to wash and go while it's cold out. And if that weave was any indicator of how my hair is going to be long I'm not gonna be able to do it. :nono:
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I am smackdab inbetween SL and APL....when I run into detangling issues I know that it's time for my sour cream/conditioner/yogurt mix. It really does loosens the curl pattern :yep: which makes detangling a breeze ;) (for me) and I'm a wash n' go girl even in this cold weather. :look: The only thing that gets on my nerves are these single strand knots which I suspect will get worse the longer my hair grows. :wallbash: I like my wash n' go so much that I will probably only flatiron on rare occassions which means knots will be something that I have to deal/live with. :ohwell:
 
nappywomyn said:
For those who are having major detangling issues - what is your primary style? Twist outs? Wash & Gos?
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' I twist then i twist out. But what works as an excellent detangler is Kinky Curly Knot Today- as my hair got longer and became more overwhelming i learned that i would have to do my hair in sections (6-8)and have been doing that ever since with good results. I put Knot Today on dripping wet hair put a plastic cap on for 10 minutes and I can detangle with the mother of all detanglers the Denman 3. As our hair gets longer- we do have to find products that assist us with maintaining length and density.

Sectioning the hair is important- keeping it moist while you twist is also very important and finding a detangler without cones and and an excellent leave in make wash day a whole lot less cumbersome. Now what gets me is that it takes me HOURS to twist my hair!
 
I would say that somethings are easier now that my hair is longer and some are harder. My hair is about BSL when straightened.

Easier/the same
-Ponytails, buns, and puffs can be done quickly
-Fat twists or twist outs are easier and look nice IMO
-Detangling is a non-issue for me, it takes me about the same amt. of time but I have to detangle in the shower now under the running water w/condish
-I feel like I have more versatility
-Overall I spend the same amt. of time styling that I did when my hair was shorter

Harder
-Tiny twists( one of my favorite styles),they take tooooo long now so I don't wear them much any more.
-Very hard to get a good rollerset because I don't get the tension needed
-Knots, have been a beast since I got past APL
 
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I know for me, I RARELY wear wng's b/c it's just too long. It's too much tangling, that I don't wanna deal with. In the summer I will deal with it, but not now during the winter. For me, I have to stay in twists so that I DON'T have that detangling nightmare. I think that what helps me is my leave-in (giovanni direct with a mix of castor oil & suave coconut or strawberry condish) and I daily use a spray with castor oil,condish, distilled water, afro detangler. This really helps. Unfortunately, I am lazy and I don't like to have to detangle due to wearing my hair out,but then again it's winter. I have a summer routine that differs. It's built round detangling.
 
wash and gos are still my main hairstyle... i have layers, the shortest layer is creeping towards APL and the longest is almost BSL.

i think the only time i was worried about my length being "too much" for me was between year 1 and year 2. my hair still shrunk up a lot and coiled tightly around itself, so detangling was not fun and i'd only do it every 2 weeks. :perplexed closer to year 2, my hair started to "hang" more, and i noticed the coily tangles were only near the bottom few inches of my hair. that's what has made my life easier with longer hair. even now when i manipulate my hair to look coily from roots to end (instead of S-wavy thoughout the hair and only coily at the ends), once i wash and start detangling the majority of the tangles are at the ends. also i detangle every week now to keep on top of it. trying to go 2 weeks is asking for sore arms, LOL! :lachen:

i look forward to my hair being longer, and eventually all even (getting rid of the layers). :yep:
 
glamazon386 said:
I'm beginning to rethink my growth goals as a natural. Did any of you ladies start to feel overwhelmed as your hair got longer? At what length? Are you experiencing more tangling with long hair? How did you learn to manage it all that hair?

I never really wanted hair longer than APL but the longer my hair gets the more I'm starting to dread combing it. And my hair isn't even long yet. I bought some weave hair similar to my texture to have installed for my bday and I gave it a trial run this weekend. I don't think I'll ever want that much hair on my head. :nono: I couldn't imagine combing and washing and detangling all that hair. It's not so much the length but it's the bulk of the hair. I like the hair and I think it's going to be a pretty style but I can see myself getting tired of it after a month and wanting it out of my head.
Click to expand...
The bolded was my issue. Once my hair got to APL, it was on. It was huge and thick. I couldnt really do anything with it anymore except twists and braids. Detangling it wasnt really all that bad b/c of my Denman brush, but it did take about 30 min to do even with the brush.

Lots of long haired naturals will either cut their hair so that it can look better in a puff/afro or they texturize or relax it. Once you hair gets even longer, see how it is dealing with it and you'll know what is right for you.
 
I think its just a matter of adapting to it all. The only times I have hair issues is when I want to style because I stay in twists constantly, so its a pain to have to twist all that hair. I gave up on regular WnGs like a lot of others because I knew it was asking for trouble.

So now I do everything in four sections of hair...wash, deep condition, style. It saves me the major headache of trying to deal with tangles
 
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