Let’s Talk About Shrinkage
Shrinkage can be seen as one of the most frustrating natural hair issues on the planet. One might call it the natural hair devil because it conceals our true length making things a little tricky with styling. At about this point we could get into a lecture session wagging our fingers at you telling you that shrinkage is just a part of life as a natural haired woman and so you have to learn to embrace it.
We could also say that even though every day your hair might seem to be at a different length due to shrinkage, it is a part of who you are naturally and you should love your hair in its absolute natural state.
But we won’t do that, instead, we will acknowledge the issue and give you hope because there are ways to combat shrinkage so that you can enjoy more styling options. If you are at war with your shrinkage, you might find yourself searching for new ways or products to assist with combating it. Well, girls search no more, today is your lucky day because we just happen to have a few tips right here.
Why Try To Avoid Shrinkage?
Before we get into the tips though, there are some valid reasons a person might choose to avoid full shrinkage even though it adds to that gorgeous density we know and love. The first reason is extreme tangling which eventually leads to breakage.
Even though shrinkage is what we might refer to as our hair strands natural tendency, its very structure and nature alone can be detrimental if not manipulated in some way.
Naturally curly hair tends to curl on itself often creating tangles faster than you can read this sentence, tangles can get so severe that you might just find yourself ripping through them. We never encourage any kind of ripping around these parts but we realize it can happen sometimes accidentally. This breaks the hair leading to setbacks.
Another reason is simple aesthetics. Sometimes a girl just wants her length to show. We get to see our length when we wash and detangle our hair but then it dries and poof! Just like that, it’s gone. Length and hair growth are big rewards for our hard work in caring for our hair so it can be frustrating when we are seeing the same length for months on end due to shrinkage.
Ok, now that we have the justifications out of the way lets move on to the tips.
Kelly Hall says
Why combat it? Embrace it, it’s a beautiful thing!
Shelly Ann Cameron says
As your hair gets longer shrinkage can cause breakage as the strands wrap around each other. Personally I like to do braid outs so my hair is stretched a little. Its still in a shrunken state but not as bad as my natural shrinkage. However we should love our hair at every stage but sometimes its nice to switch it up.
Gwendolyn Stargell says
I have shrinkage really bad.
Yoasp says
Bantu Knots gives my 4c hair style and helps keep my hair stretched.
Mel says
I have 4A hair and twists/braids stretch mine pretty nicely. I have curlformers too but they make my hair straight like I flat ironed it! >:(
Lesley O. says
Twist outs are my best friend for stretching my hair and keeping a pretty style. On my most recent I added a little ‘jam’ styling gel to each twist along with my water, oil and leave in conditioner. Gave me much better and longer lasting definition. Curlformers are a nice change when I want a straighter looking style.
Raeya Jordan says
Pretty