Normal hair growth vs BC'D hair growth

[KaramelDiva1978]

My Natural/Transitioning Ladies:
I'm looking for a little insight here. I'm really itching to BC soon, like next month which will give me a 3 month transition period. I'm already in a pixie, so I'm rockin' the short and sassy. My question is the more Fotkis and Youtube videos I see, I'm like I can do this and still wig it until I'm at a length I'm comfortable with. Why BC now? Because I've read that many people experience tons more growth after they BC. Is that true? Do you ultimately get more than 1/2 inch of growth per month, does it become 1 inch of growth once the relaxed hair is gone? DH is against Bc'ing so early, he likes the pics of naturals we've seen at the 6 and 7 month of transitions and bcs. Please help.

 

[Nonie]

BCing doesn't change your growth rate, IMO. Perhaps you seem to see improved growth only because people have perfected their regimens and gotten healthier by the time they BC so their growth is at its optimum. If they hadn't BC'd, they'd have had the same progress at that stage in their journey.

Another thing to consider is when hair isn't reaching your clothes, it doesn't experience a lot of friction so retention may be better so it may also give the illusion of faster growth when it's really better retention.

 

[hair4romheaven]

Interesting..every time I tell someone I'm going natural they tell me to chop my hair will grow faster. I say how if your hair grows from the scalp? They say because you will retain more since you won't have to battle the line of demarcation. My Ng plays nicely with my relaxed ends right now so I'm going to keep transitioning w/o the BC. I too am itching to BC but want the length.

 

[Zaz]

I think it just appears to have grown more because it's so short. When you have a fade and it turns into a twa, it's obvious. But when you have sl hair and it turns into still sl but about an inch further down, it's a lil harder to gauge.
The actual rate of hair growth doesn't change imo.

 

[KaramelDiva1978]

Thank you, all of your thoughts make sense: hair breakage from friction is quite possible when your hair is constantly rubbing on your clothes, line of demarcation breakage is highly common when transitioning, and watching hair grow after a short cut is also very obvious. That's what I wanted to know why would growth be faster after the BC.

I was told by a friend of mine on Thursday who accidently relaxed instead of texturizing and she is having to grow out a relaxer again. She's like "my hair grows so slow, but my girlfriend if you cut it will grow out faster and I cut 3 inches off last week." I was just like okay, wow, and keep wondering why this would be possible.

Well, now I don't feel so bad about transitioning a few more months. I'll give dh until June 1 and see if he's open to me doing my BC then.

 

[OhSoOthentik]

BCing doesn't change your growth rate, IMO. Perhaps you seem to see improved growth only because people have perfected their regimens and gotten healthier by the time they BC so their growth is at its optimum. If they hadn't BC'd, they'd have had the same progress at that stage in their journey.

Another thing to consider is when hair isn't reaching your clothes, it doesn't experience a lot of friction so retention may be better so it may also give the illusion of faster growth when it's really better retention.

ITA with Nonie. I voted that my growth was better. Actually, I just know how to take care of my hair much better and doing the bc allowed me to start off with fresh, healthy hair. Honestly before my bc I didn't really pay attention to my hair or treat it right. So really I probably have the same growth rate, I just take better care of the hair now so I am retaining length. I remember when I was relaxed I would have so much hair in the sink, on the floor, and on my shirt.