As I get further along in my hair journey, there seems to be a growing amount of do’s and don’ts in caring for my hair, as I get closer and closer to being natural. This week has been no different and I have to say that I’m feeling some sort of satisfaction when making these discoveries. After all – it shows I’m growing in brain power as well as kinks and curls right?
So, this month I made a pact with myself that I would back away from the tape-measure and stop consistently checking the length of my new growth. On a post a few weeks ago, one of you lovely ladies left me with some food for thought. The advice I was given was about setting a date for bringing my transition to an end and doing the big chop, and how this can cause one to feel discouraged if you haven’t reached the desired length at the intended time.
With both of these in mind, I began looking at this journey differently. Gradually, when I stopped worrying about length checking, I seemed to have less ‘bad hair days’ which I often convince myself I am having simply as a result of frustration. My hair no longer feels like I have to be conscious of it 24/7 and here are some reasons why I think this may be:
Made me less conscious of the two textures: One thing that is always at the top of a transitioner’s list is the difference in the two textures. When I was length-checking excessively, I was constantly highlighting the fact that I needed to blend the two textures.
Concentrating on length can overshadow health of hair: If your only focus is achieving length, then you are more than likely to ignore the overall health of your hair, such as neglecting to trim split ends in order to retain length. This will of course become a threat to your hair in the long run.
Slower growth rates can be discouraging: There are times that our hair will grow faster from one month to the next. If you are constantly checking your length and find that it has slowed down, you may question the products and techniques you have been using on your hair. This may cause you to change a perfectly good regime, trying to fix something that was not broken.
Ultimately, I guess by constantly checking the length of my hair, I am unnecessarily putting pressure on myself. Allowing myself to just go with the flow (on list of do’s this week) and re-motivate myself to keep moving forward!
at first i used to check it every day lol then i stopped flat iorning my hair and started wearing my hair natural even thought it looked like i just got out a mental hospital with a mix of really curly kinda curly and straight hair my hair right now is growing i can tell its growing faster because 2 months ago my relaxed hair use to be so straight at my roots in the front of my head but now my roots are extremley curly and my ends are straight im 6 months into transitioning
Actually, when i wasnt straightening my hair the entire summer, i constantly was checking my length too, and when i finally got to straighten it, the sides of my hair were longer than the back… and im thinking it was becuz i kept stretching my side hairs… sooo never doing that again. ill only check length when my hair is straightened, which wont be a lot
I haven't done one in a long while. I think I'll do one soon, though. I'm a week short of 18 months in my long transition. So, I guess, I can do one.
I wash, deep condition my hair week and wear it in a twist out or curly style. Once or twice a year I flat iron my hair for a length and end check up. My hair is past my BSL (All Natural since 09/2009) and my goal is hips. I hate when I wear my hair straight/flat iron most people think I am wearing a weave or pieces. Why is it so hard to believe that black women can have long healthy hair on their head?
I usually length check when I take my braids out. I don't use an actual ruler, I just look to see how much closer I've gotten to collar bone length. That was the length of my hair when I chopped. I finally reached it!
Quick story: Just the other night, my sister told me that one of her friends is jealous of my hair. I've spent my whole life being jealous of other people's hair and now someone is jealous of mine. It sounds shallow, but I did a happy dance. I have 4C-D hair!!
I don't really length check. My hair grows relatively slow, so my focus is just on taking care of my ends and making sure I get a good trim every 3 months.
I length check every 2 to 3 months. I've been wearing my hair in crochet braids for the past 2 years or so. This summer i will be ready to wear my hair out!
I'm 9 months into my transition and I have only done a length check once, about a month ago. At that time, I had about 4 inches of new growth.