By Geniece of Beautifully Made
When I made the decision to go natural in 2004 I was under the impression that my hair would grow long and thick with little effort. My relaxed hair grew past shoulder length with relative ease, so I naturally assumed that with the elimination of harsh chemicals my hair would be stronger and longer. Now you think I was naïve but in my defense I didn’t have Youtube videos and natural hair blogs at my disposal. Armed with my non-sulfate shampoo, wide tooth comb and 5lb tub of shea butter I was ready for my hair to grow lusciously long. Well, that isn’t exactly what happened. My TWA grew out quickly enough but my hair seemed to reach a plateau once I reached shoulder length. I was stumped but not discouraged. I enjoyed my puffs and mini twists even after 2 ½ years with only about 3-6 inches of retention I wasn’t dismayed. In retrospect there are several mistakes I made over those years to which some of you may be able to relate. In ascending order here are my top four hair mistakes.
4. No regular moisturizing of my hair
The shea butter was fine to use but it didn’t add moisture to my hair. My hair was dry in between washes and remained so until I figured out that my hair needed to be moisturized in between washes and that moisture meant a water based product or just plain old water. Duh!
3. Hair Washing
I washed my hair like I was one of those models on a shampoo commercial. I lathered the shampoo by rubbing it throughout my hair and scalp without sectioning. Can you say tangles? I would then rip through my hair when detangling further ensuring that my hair never passed a certain length.
2. Dry Combing
I would almost daily rake a comb through my hair with no moisturizing product. I think this was one of my most damaging practices. The regular manipulation of my hair ensured that the tangled ends were constantly being ripped out, hence the lack of retention.
And, the top hair mistake of my natural hair journey (drum roll please):
1. Abuse of Heat
I did the occasional blow out without using heat protectant but my hair never seemed to suffer any visible damage. I even went to the salon twice to get a press and curl and my hair seemed to bounce right back. It took a really negative experience with heat for me to truly get the message that my hair care practices were nothing short of a hot mess.
The Great Heat Fiasco of 2007
In July of 2007, the most humid month of the year, I got the bright idea to flat iron my hair. I bought a ceramic iron, some anti-frizz lotion and after about 2 hours, using a heat setting of 450 degrees, I had a head of straight hair. I was rather proud of my results and wanted to maintain the look for the next two weeks. Because it was July I needed to touch up the hair daily, sometimes multiple times a day, with my flat iron set on 450 degrees. When I washed my hair two weeks later I was shocked to find straightened, limp hair rather than the fluffy shrunken fro to which I had grown accustomed. My hair was severely heat damaged. The damage was so severe that when I went to a hair stylist she questioned if I was growing out my relaxer before I could even explain my heat damage. To deal with the two textures I decided to disguise the damage by wearing updos. I slowly trimmed off the ends and by mid 2008 I was damage free and at about the same length I was prior to my heat fiasco. Although the experience was unfortunate it was a wake up call. I learned that my hair was not invincible. I also gained a newfound appreciation for my natural hair texture. I vowed not to do anything to compromise my texture from then on out.
This is a picture of my heat damaged hair. If I’d known the hair wouldn’t revert I probably wouldn’t be cheesing so hard.
After my heat damage experience I began to think more seriously about hair care. In the beginning of 2009 I thought about charting my length retention. I never followed through because I was so fed up with my hair. It wasn’t until November of 2009 when I decided actively change my practices that I started to document my hair journey regularly on my youtube channel and in photos.
Pressed hair in January 2009 (I don’t know if you can tell but those ends are raggedy.)
I look back on these pictures and realize that I’m glad I made these mistakes sooner than later. I didn’t like having to trim away 3-8 inches of heat damage but if I made this mistake now it’s possible I’d have to trim away upwards of 17 inches of damage. Ouch!
If you’ve been discouraged over a hair set back that you’ve experienced during your hair journey then take heart, you’re in good company. You now know what NOT to do and how to better care for your natural tresses. If you haven’t experienced the kind of setbacks that I have described then please, PLEASE, learn from my errors. Wishing you all a happy hair journey!
Ladies, what mistakes have you made that kept your hair stuck, length-wise?
For more of Geniece’s haircare regimen, check out her YouTube channel: Beautifully Made.
It would have been great to see a current picture of her hair :/
@ Rayven – Geniece was just featured as a natural hair icon a few weeks ago. Here it is: http://blackgirllonghair.com/2012/04/genieces-4b4c-styling-regimen/
@ Geniece – Girrrrrrl. I honestly wish I had been taking notes back in 2009. I’m sure I saw you every week at church, and I honestly can’t ever recall your hair being as short as it is in the pics above. You are officially my inspiration to get myself together. Seems like your hair grew like a weed in no time at all with proper treatment and care!
i kno right
my hair is kinda past my sholderr but then i started to put flat irons blow dry and used to play in my hair everday.my hair is still lnog but my ends are getting raggedy. my mom says that getting conrows if ur hair is heaithy enogh and getting twist will make ur hair grow better and that does waork bescause i used the same thing and my hair has been growing ever since!!!!
My hair has been stuck between BSL & MBL for way way too long and I don’t do any of these things. Sigh…maybe having long hair is just a dream
Wait, BSL is bra-strap length, right. MBL is mid-back length. That’s pretty long in my opinion. There is a set point where your hair just stops growing. It’s different for everyone, but it’s genetic. BSL is pretty darn long if you ask me. I would say you’ve been doing a lot right if you’re that long.
Maybe you are right and this is my terminal length but I also have random breakage that is annoying and is making it hard to retain length
is your hair dyed or do you flat iron a lot? that’s what contributed to me having to chop my BSL hair off to SL-APL recently. :(
I went natural in 2009. I put my hair in dredlocks and wore those for a year. Not realizing how fine my hair was, the roots started thinning under the weight of the locs, and I also was not twisting in the same direction. I big chopped at the end of 2010. I had no idea what I was doing and similar to the author of this post, I hadn’t discovered youtube tutorials! I was just using Pink! moisturizer on my hair and my hair as almost always dry. The only way I could get it to look the way I wanted was by doing a WnG every day. But I was shampooing my hair EVERY DAY with sulfate shampoo! My hair only looked good as long as it was wet. As soon as it dried, it was bone dry. I was dry combing my hair as well and just pulling out clumps at a time. I just thought that was a part of doing my hair. My mother always used to pull out a crapload of my hair when she was combing it.
So glad I found Youtube, learned protective styling, started finger detangling, got a huetiful steamer, got my DC on, made moisturizing a regular part of my routine. The one thing I have discovered on my own is using baby oil to seal. I’m sure everyone will talk crap at me for this, but mineral oil is one of the best sealer. I can actually go 2-3 days after moisturizing if I seal my hair with baby oil. Just a tip. Try it or not. It works for me!
Loved your article!
For me its good old Dax hair grease, mixed with castor, olive & coconut oil.
thats exactly wat i was doin because my hair was dry everday so i washed everday realizing that im not a white girl and that i cant wast my hair everday. but try using pink mousrruizer that makes ur hair shinig and it helps it grow my hair is im the middle of my back but its has split ends that get on my nervers but if u use the ceraminc flat iron that wont break out ur hair its actually better than the chemicals u put in ur hair. and dont try goin natraul that only braks out ur hair from not having any moustrizer or stuff jus take car of ur hair.
Hey @Rayven…She has a youtube channel :) Her hair looks so lush and much longer than in the old pics! I’m so grateful that my hair is growing and I’ll be even more grateful when it reaches her length, too!
Thanks, I will check it out!
I believe my mistake last year was trimming to aggressively. I was going in without thinking twice until one day I noticed one side was clearly longer than the other. :-/ ….That did it for me.
Yeah that was me a couple months ago during my transition lol right now am trying to stop being so scissor happy….its been 2 months since i last trimmed my ends –before i was doing it every 2 weeks lol dnt ask me why i thought that was a good idea cuz i dnt know either. Am glad am making these mistakes now cuz i would hate to jeopardize 2 years of growth and end up havin to cut that off
I started my natural hair journey transitioning with braids never moisturising. On removing the braids, I’d get crystalline salts where the new hair growth and th braid met, then I’d dry comb removing clumps of hair, thinner braids would get knotty I’d cut or roughly pull th knots out
This was really helpful! I never thought about the shampooing. I’m pretty sporadic with my heat use but I certainly do get flat iron happy when I want my straight hair look. The suggestions you have will certainly be used.
Wow. I made all the exact same mistakes as Geniece did and had the exact same result… I went natural after I graduated high school in the fall of 2005, BEFORE there was any support for natural haired lovelies. I didn’t do it because I wanted long hair, I just hated getting relaxers. Since my hair has never been long, it would grow to shoulder length and break off, I would cut it super short into a pixie style and start over again, I just assumed my hair’s terminal length was shoulder length and I never had a problem with it until I got hip to youtube in the summer of 2011 and saw all these gorgeous naturals who had been natural for half the time I had but with 3 or 4 times MORE LENGTH!!! Do you know how upset I was?! So I started moisturizing, protective styling, finger detangling, better diet, no sulfates or parabens and only straightening two weeks out of the year and I must say, it hasn’t been a whole year yet but I notice a DRASTIC difference in the thickness and length of my hair. It’s now at the bottom of my shoulder blades when stretched and I can’t wait to see my year end results in December when I flat-iron!!! Really, all it is is love and patience. Hair is not imperative to our existence as humans but when we care for it like fine silk it REALLY shows!!! :-)
I haven’t experienced a major setback YET in my 15 month journey. However, lately i’ve been so fed up with my haircare that I have decided to get micro braids this weekend to give us(my hair and myself)a break. I desperately need a trim but have to wait until i go home this weekend to get my hair shears which i left there. I’ve been kind of ripping through my damaged ends while finger detangling because they are extra tangly, so i hope all isn’t lost by the time a get a chance to trim. I’ve been doing styles that hold for a few days at a time so i won’t have to manipulate my hair so much in anticipation for my trim.
I appreciate you pointing out that there’s a difference between moisturizing your hair, and applying a hair dressing/shea butter/oil. I’ve been natural for about ten years and actually never thought about that. My hair is very healthy and elastic (after much trial and error, I’ve been devoted to a simple regimen of water and castor oil for a few years now), but knowledge is power, and I appreciate the reminder. Sorry about the Hair Fiasco; we have ALLL experienced a hair heartbreaker like that!
Ok… so I pretty much noticed that I was making the same mistakes. Well, I actually just let my hair grow, shampooed maybe twice a month, sported a wild curly fro all the time and deep conditioned maybe once a week. I was also detangling my 4b hair, after a week of being dry, with conditioner and a wide tooth comb.
My hair came out so much! All it took was for me to run my fingers through my hair and I would have a considerable amount in my hand. And this was for almost 3 years. My hair was a little past BSL and looked really thick so I didn’t think much of it. I’ve been no chemical natural since 2004 and no heat natural since 2008.
So now I am protective styling, deep conditioning, shampooing, and co-washing my scalp regularly. After 5 weeks, I already notice my hair getting much better. Much better! And the hair loss has dramatically improved.
My problem now, however, is that I am noticing that I lost A LOT of hair in the back of my head where my hair is like a 3c/4a. I even have recently noticed a bald spot. :(
Will the hair in the back of my head grow back as I continue to protective style and stick to the regime or is this bald spot pretty much here to stay?
Hi, I’m far from expert, but with experience in medical field I would say look at all factors. Age, stress, diet, exercise, vitamin supplements, product usage maybe you need to change. It’s the total package.
I too have had MAJOR shedding after a hair do done by beautician. I applied one product to my thin edges (all natural)and made it worst bald spot. Started faithfully on vitamins,fruits, veggy and a new all natural product (everyone hair is different so find what works for you). After two short weeks after months of use with all above now growing back.
Just starting exercise routine, protein drank, cleanse for colon and liver to detox and so vitamins and nutrients are better absorbed and I know this helps overall health. I think it will grow back with inner and out care.
My hair gets drier faster as the days inch closer to summer, so I’ve been showering without a cap a lot more these days. Sealing after, of course.
If anyone was wondering who the girl is in the first picture, Her name is Kai and she has a web series. It’s who is chick.com (minus the spaces of course). She has really good articles. I encourage everyone to check it out.
*She rocks cute afro puffs lol
“This is a picture of my heat damaged hair. If I’d known the hair wouldn’t revert I probably wouldn’t be cheesing so hard.”
I don’t know why, but that line really made me laugh. LOL.
Anyway, the main mistake I did was not taking care of it at all due to ignorance. I seriously didn’t know what to do with my hair. I was barely washing it correctly. I’ve made a plethora of mistakes after I finally started to take care of it, but at least I was seeing improvement with my hair.
Lol. I thought that was funny too.
I am now realizing that small 2-strand twists are a big no-no for me. They cause a lot of breakage when I take them out. So now I won’t make more than 20-25 twists total.
Whew! Thanks to bloggers and Youtube, I haven’t been making those errors…although as I’m typing this my hair is “ahem” clearing it’s throat for some H2O! LOL
I’m so tired if seeing stock photos of this same model.
@faren: I’m sure BGLH wouldn’t mind you submitting your own photos…royalty-free of course… ;)
To the subject: I’m embarrassed to admit that I called myself growing my hair out for 5 years but never got past 9 inches due largely to overmanipulation. My hair was screaming to be put in a protective style…and only when I spent a summer in twists did I finally see the light. Sort of. When I took the twists out I had so much hair I freaked out and locked it.
I’m not fond of how protective styles (twists specifically) look on me but I’ve accepted that if I ever want to see double-digit lengths on loose hair I’m probably going to have to protective-style at some point.
i know. after having to aggressively trim on a recent note i’ve come to the conclusion that my hair simply grows best when in cornrows or braids or plaits, not touched for at least 5 wks at a time. after only 4 days of wear, already my cornrows look fuzzy and old, but i’m dedicated to having the length i want even if it means i can’t enjoy my hair as i would like. :(
The biggest mistake I ever made was going to bed repeatedly without twisting my hair up. Not keeping my hair sectioned made it more difficult to detangle and resulted in a lot of knots, which I’d rip out. Not cool. It’s been about a year and four months since my last big chop and my hair is to my collarbone. It could probably be a lot longer if I didn’t make those mistakes.