At first, I thought the day would never come when I would wear protective styles. An ardent lover of the afro since the beginning of my natural days, I had since resigned that “hidden hair” was simply not for me. When I finally did bite the bullet and agree to start wearing protective styles, I did so begrudgingly as I thought the day would never come where I actually liked it.
Thank God I’m a terrible psychic, because that day has come: I am totally in love with my protective styling! Why the sudden change of heart? Allow me to present the evidence…
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| From November 2009 Hair |
Here I was back in November 2009 with my very unhappy hair. As I mentioned when I first posted this picture, my love for wearing my hair “out” had caused me to slip into a state of unapologetic negligence. I forgot to moisturize my hair for days. I slept on cotton pillowcases without covering my hair up for bed. I used the blow dryer constantly to stretch out my roots. My hair was dry with frail ends and virtually no length retention. As you can see by my face I was a very unhappy camper.
Fast forward to February, I had finally gotten the hang of my hair regimen and started to wear protective styles as a way keep my hair from drying out in the harsh winter air.
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| From February 2010 Protective Styles |
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| From February 2010 Protective Styles |
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| From February 2010 Protective Styles |
By this time, I had my routine down pat. Usually on Sunday or Monday, I would wash my hair, put it in twist and pin it, then wear it like that all the way until Friday, where I would take the twist out and rock it curly for the weekend. Come Sunday, I’d do it all over again.
Just this past Easter, however, I noticed something peculiar. Upon taking my hair down so that I could wear it “out” for church, I was really shocked at how my hair looked.
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| From April Hair (in Philadelphia!) |
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| From April Hair (in Philadelphia!) |
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| From April Hair (in Philadelphia! |
Before
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| From April 2010 Length Check |
After
Before
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| From April 2010 Length Check |
After
In six months I went from just below shoulder length to armpit length with protective styling. And I never thought I’d see the day…
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Beautiful Growth! Good for you!
Indeed protective styles are our friends lol. Your hair is growing beautifully =)
Wow! Your growth is great! (weird statement to make… but you know what I mean!)
I just BC'd (this past Saturday) so I have a LONG ways to go to get my length back. I've already began thinking I would two-strand twist during for the week and rock a fro on the weekends, and you've post reinforced my decision to do this!
Wow your growth looks at least 3 inches. thats awesome! I am on my 7th month natural. At first my hair was too short for protective styling so I did wash and gos but I just started PS from M-F 2 weeks ago and fros on weekends and I love it. Also, its fun to miss your hair and see it on weekends! great job!
Wow COURT! <3's it! Your hair is so gorgeous! I need to get on that! Tell us your secrets on hair care!
Great inspiration! Both styles look good on you. I've been transitioning since July 09 and I'm deathly afraid of the BC so I recently cut 3 inches of relaxed ends off. I keep hearing protective styles are the way to go but I cant get with it…especially for work. But I want my hair to grow back! I need some tips from you!
Thanks, this post was right on time. I did the BC in December and I'm ready for the day with length that I can protect. You gave me something to look forward to.
You have given me hope! I was so anti-protective hair until I started to notice that may hair wasn't growing as much as it was when I stopped relaxing it… even my non-black friends who were like "Dang J… your hair stopped growing" and it was breaking off…
but it was super cute.
After reading your blog post about protective styles I decided to give it a try. It took a minute for me to find a way to wear the twists without looking/feeling like a slave child (LOL) but now I am having fun with it!!
Thanks so much!
Great progress! I love your blog. I think you go to my school, because you def. look familiar.
I'm super motivated by this post and have started protective styling!
That's craziness! You've only been natural for that time and your hair grew that much?!
what an awesome blog. i love your hair!
Absolutely great! Love the before and after pics, shows the power of protective styling! I love protective styling, it’s indeed the best by far!
I cannot believe how fast your hair grew! This is beautiful! My current goal is to reach APL from SL. I have been doing this since February
This article had given me the push I need to protective style more regularly. Thanks!
OMGAH I’m definitely gonna try the whole twists-all-week, and twist-out on weekends thing!
Look at that length! Just beautiful.
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