Callie says;
I was recently discouraged about the length of my hair until I did a blowout and realized that my hair shrinks up about 60%!! I was shocked by this, and the pre and post shrinkage pictures were absolutely stunning! I thought it would be cool if your readers could share their shrinkage pictures. It would be interesting to see how shrinkage affects different heads of hair.
We think it’s a great idea! And to make things interesting, we’ll select one participant to receive 100g of henna, compliments of BGLH Marketplace. Alright ladies, show us your shrinkage!
I don’t know the percentage, but I do have a lot of shrinkage……
Curly hair
Shrinkage is a mofo lol……..
Wow your hair looks amazing it’s like night and day gorgeous.
This is just for folks’ information: People, you do NOT need to do a blow-out in order to tell how long it really is.
WORK with it. Braid it, put it in twists, play in it.
As requested, here’s a goofy shot of me and my hair from a little while ago. The shrinkage I pointed out is pretty standard all over my head.
[img]http://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/P2260017 (2).JPG[/img]
These two pictures show my shrinkage the best. The first one is right before I walked out the door with my girls. The second one is when we were getting margaritas a few hours later. And my hair wasn’t even completely dry by then, so it shrank even more from there.
I have crazy shrinkage on the right side of my head lol
Love your site! Posting my pics as well tonight! #TeamNatural
This is a very timely post for me. I just blew out my hair for the first time since my BC in FEB. There’s way more hair than I even knew up there.
Awww man,it didn’t post my BEFORE (shrunken photo). Here it is:
Wow that is some shrinkage, because I would never have figured it was that much until seeing the result looks good.
Thanks E. Isn’t that something?! Look at my poof (these were taken the same day.) I would so far as to call shrinkage Magical.
Well…I’m glad I have some pretty recent pics of my hair since I’ve got kinky twists in…but I’d say I have about 60-75% shrinkage
how did you stretch it? is that blowdry?
Yes! I have been waiting for this post. 1 inch shrunken (how I normally wear it) just over 6 inches stretched. Top THAT! :-)
LOL! Game… over you win!
WHOA!
daaaang!!! shrinkage is no fun but i figure it’s my hair’s way of protecting itself so that makes it a bit better :)
Wow!
That is INSANE!
I love this type of shrinkage. Your hair is sooo cute shrunken.
Mine kinda just sags instead of shrinking up to my head like that. Plus it locs up, which is cool but not what I’m going for.
Game, Set, Match.
You win !
Your shrinkage is craaaaaazy !
Hilarious. I’m not quite 2 years natural, fast fwd 2yrs and I’ll rock a twa one day and a puff ponytail or bun the next! I have learned and embraced that my hair will default to twa bliss at possibly any length and I let it do what it do 95% of the time.
I do get a pinch salty when I see ladies with 3 inches after 2 years but then I get finger cramps after a twisting session and get right on over it. I LOVE the fact that no two hair textures or skintones are the same. Gotta love us.
lol This pic brings me much joy! Thats serious shrinkage! I agree you win :)
I haven’t blown my hair out in almost a year, but this is the difference between my wash-and-go and my braid out. :-)
I don’t get why we call our hair in its NATURAL state shrunken or that we have shrinkage. If you wash your hair let it dry NATURALLY then to me that is its natural length when you pull it or stretch it then that is not the natural length its stretched. Let’s eliminate this word shrinkage as if its a bad thing.
i disagree, the reason is simple because my shrinkage varies depending on if the final rise is warm or ice cold water, if i allow it to dry from dripping wet or just damp after towel drying, these simple variations effect my shrinkage greatly!! cold water and drying from damp results in my shrinkage being reduced by 50-60%, therefore i consider it to be a characteristic of my hair, a reaction to what i do to it, not necessarily its natural state, its a reaction i would compare to the different reactions various product provoke. the same way someone with loose wavy coarse hair can think they have no wavy pattern and loads of frizz as their “natural” state, but a little conditioner and a cold rinse and drip drying reveals defined frizz less waves..
Shrinkage is a neutral, descriptive term. Sometimes you want a shrunken look, sometimes you don’t. Personally, I “stretch” my hair by letting it dry in braids, as opposed to letting it dry loose, which creates a giant tangled mat in my hair. And, in the days after a wash, my hair just naturally gets stretched more and more. All I do is braid, twist, or bun it. There’s no pulling or heat training or banding (all of which I think are totally natural styling methods anyway). So how could you say that’s not my natural length? That doesn’t even make any sense.
Even if I did let my hair dry loose, it would stretch on its own without my doing a thing to it. Of course then, it would be so knotted it would loc — not an exaggeration! I mean, are you then saying that locing is the ONLY natural hair style, because that’s what our hair would do with zero manipulation whatsoever?
And anyway, I think we should talk about shrinkage more. Frankly, I’m sick to death of “Did you cut your hair?!” right after I wash it, but I can’t even blame people because our natural hair isn’t represented in the popcultural landscape. I think the biggest evidence of that is when Solange — who’s probably the most prominent natural celebrity who regularly wears her hair natural at the moment — stretches her hair, everybody climbs all over themselves shouting, “WIG, HAIRPIECE, WEAVE!” I mean, Solange does do those things too, but I find it sad that it’s not widely known that our natural hair is insanely versatile with minimal manipulation — more so than other types of hair.
No I’m just saying people seem to use the term negatively that’s all I’m trying to say. Nothing about weaves or wigs or fake hair and length.
this summer i have avoiding blowing my hair out because of the pool, but when I did I was impressed. My shrinkage is crazy but I love it both ways. The pictures are 1 1/2 months apart.
[img]http://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Photo 257.jpg[/img]
Yep that’s alot of shrinkage, and I love the blowout with the flower added gorgeous.
I have tons of shrinkage too. I love this post because I know I am not alone.
you are stinkin’ cute.
I know. She’s like adorable!!!
Made me smile.lol
Thanks guys. I just blushed
I always get comments/questions at work about the length of my hair…one day it’s short, the next day it has some length…lol..it keeps them guessing!
I love to do the same at work too! I may do a few days in a wash and go hairstyle, then a couple of days in a french plait or a twist out. People are never sure what’s going on with all the different lengths!!
One of my co-workers tried to play me the first time I blew my hair out. She thought my puff was a piece, “Looks like you took some super-gro vitamins over the weekend.” She was non-plussed when I told her it was my own hair– just blow dried. It was embarassing for both of us- mostly her though.
LOL, you doing this at work….I’m telling! LOLOL XD
FYI News:
New! Shea Moisture Curl Defining Gel Souffle
available August 28th in Target stores. It’s
made with Agave Nectar and Flax seed oil, sugar cane extract and pectin.
Shut up! I am soooo there. I love everything Shea Moisture. I have been waiting for their gel to come out. Move over Eco Styler… I hope Shea Moisture doesn’t let me down (nervous).
I couldnt find a good pic of my shrinkage. You can probably see it in my make-up pic.
[img]http://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Photo on 2011-05-28 at 20.07-1.jpg[/img]
Ugggghhh!!! The pic of my afro won’t come up!!! :(
I love your curly hair cut!
Thanks a bunch, I did it myself… :D
[img]http://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/my shrinkage-3.jpg[/img]
And this is the more loosely curled section. The shrinkage in the back is insane.
Just when I’ve stretched out my hair lol. Lemme dig around for shrunken hair pics.