Most people with natural hair struggle with the awesomeness of shrinkage. The question of how waist-length hair can shrink to shoulder length can be mind-boggling but that’s one of the beauties of having natural hair. You can fake a bob today and rock straight long hair the next day.
However, some naturals prefer their waist length hair to always be seen as waist length so here are a few tips to help battle shrinkage.
1. Always stretch hair after washing : You can stretch your hair by braiding, twisting, flat twisting, Bantu knots etc. Just make sure your hair is styled in a way that stretches your curl pattern as it dries. This will help to reduce the level of shrinkage you get when your hair is still wet.
2. Set your styles on dry hair : Yes, dry hair. If you are looking to preserve already stretched hair, you need to make sure to style hair without adding any additional water to prevent your natural hair from shrinking.
3. Stretching styles : As well as the styles mentioned in the first point, you could also try banding or african threading to help achieve a voluminous look i.e blow out look.
4. Putting natural hair in a low bun or pineappling it overnight can help stretch hair whilst retaining some defined curls from styling.
5. Use heat : I left this as the last option because you should only use heat at your own discretion. It can be damaging to your curl pattern if used improperly but its the best way to fully achieve and rock your hair length.
Note* You can never really overcome shrinkage, (except you use heat on your hair everyday which is bad), because it is an integral part of having textured hair so its better to embrace the versatility it brings to your styling.
Peace & Blessings,
CJN
1 comment
Good post, my tip is to put sheabutter and made african threading after washing my hair.
Bisous!