HOW I GOT PAST SHOULDER LENGTH (PART 2)

Happy New Year Darlings!! I hope you all have a great year. Always remember that even if you are slacking on your hair journey or any other goals you have in March, you can start again. In essence, there really isn’t a perfect time to start anything; you don’t have to wait for a new year or a new month. Start right now! Did you read my last post on ‘How I got past shoulder length’? If you missed Part 1, see it here. After you have read that you can move straight on to the second part.

Keep Your Hair off Your Shoulders

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This probably is one of the major mistakes we make in terms of hair care. Black hair needs all the moisture it can get and letting it down frequently can affect growth. Most of the clothes we wear are made of cotton or polyester. In the last post I talked about how cotton pillow cases dry out your hair, this works the same way for clothes. When we let our hair down, the ends of the hair keep rubbing on our clothes and after a while they become dry and most of them break off.

When your hair gets past the shoulders a little you can let them a little more, but throughout the time that your hair rests on directly on top of your shoulders, please keep them off. There are beautiful hairstyles you can do with your hair like updos and buns but keep in mind that bantus are not protective styles if your ends still rest on your shoulders.

Once you have comfortably passed shoulder length only let your hair down 20% of the time. In my case, after I get a relaxer I leave my hair out for two weeks (14 days), this means I let my hair down twice in 14 days. 

Stretch Your Relaxers

This means extending the time between relaxers. Stretching relaxers prevents over processing of already relaxed hair because you have more new growth to work with. Only relax new growth, do not relax the entire hair. I stretch my hair for 12 weeks a time. To make it easier to stretch you should protective style or wear wigs. Just ensure that you properly cleanse your hair in protective styles.

A few tips on selected protective styles (just a guide, you don’t have to of course):

Braids

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• Cleanse: With apple cider vinegar using a cotton wool every two weeks
• Moisturise: With leaving in conditioner using a spritz bottle and seal with any light oil
• Max Duration to Keep Style: No more than eight weeks because your hair might start to lock

Weaves

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• ·  Cleanse: With apple cider vinegar using a cotton wool
•   Moisturise: With leaving in conditioner using a spritz bottle and seal with any light oil (between tracks)                                                                                                                                With leaving in conditioner and seal with any light oil (on hair left out, if any)
•  Max Duration to Keep Style: No more than six weeks to prevent matting and tangling that is unmanageable

Don’t be Afraid to Trim

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Your hair will grow! Trimming your hair doesn’t stop it from growing. All you’re doing is getting rid of the older part of the hair that’s weak. (Confused? Don’t worry, I got you)

Imagine one strand of hair growing out of your scalp, just one. Eventually with proper care this hair reaches shoulder length. The part that rests on your shoulders is the end and is the older part of that strand because it has travelled all the way down. The part of the hair that is at the root is the newer part of the hair. (Too much? I had to make sure you got it. I hope you get it)

I can’t stress how important a trim is because this is majorly what made me start my hair journey. I was losing way too much hair from lack of trimming. Oh, Dolapo I’m sure it’s not that bad, you say. Oh? Did you know that no matter how much you care for your hair a spilt end won’t go away. When your strand is split and you don’t trim it off it travels all the way to the top and you eventually have to chop it off! Enough said.

You can trim your hair every 3-4 months to stay safe, It is unncessary to trim off more than half an inch unless your hair is really damaged from split ends.

So that’s it lovelies! Now you know the things that limit you from getting past that shoulder length hurdle. No excuses. I wanna hear hairstimonies (hair testimonies…lol)

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