This weekend I went to Natural Resources Salon for my quarterly blow out, trim and Every day Beauty hairstyle (See photo gallery below). Usually, I bring my iPhone to document the process as well as to do a length check for the world to see. This time I felt less inclined to do so. For a few different reasons I stopped doing length checks, that I’ll explain below…
They Make Me Impatient
You know, what I’m talking about. You’ve been looking at so and so’s hair. Falling into the natural hair comparison trip. You’re ready for your hair to get to that length. You start obsessing about their hair length and regimen. You compare your hair to their hair.
Every few months you’re checking how long your hair is. You start counting how long you’ve been natural. Then asking questions like…Oh Lawd, what’s wrong with my hair? Why isn’t it growing? Ok maybe impatient was the wrong word. It makes me CRAZY!!!
SEE ALSO: 7 Reasons Your NOT Seeing Hair Growth
I’m Practicing Patience
I’ve had my hair mishaps. But I’m on the right track now. I’m finally content with my hair.
My regimen is working. I know that I’m retaining length and I’m seeing growth. I want to be surprised by the length of my hair. I figure I’ll wait 6 months for my next length check. Maybe even longer than that. My hair is already bra strap length. I don’t really want tailbone length hair or even waist length hair. I mean, I’m not going prevent my hair from getting that long but I’m ok with around mid back length and retaining that length.
Long Hair Doesn’t Make You More of An Expert
How often do you do a length check?
I am a little over a year and a half post relaxer. I am just thankful that I have my thickness and the health of my hair back. I had relaxers for the better part of my teen and adult life and they were killing my hair slowly (sometimes quickly). I said all that to say I don’t do length checks…maybe thickness checks now and then. 🙂
I did a length check once…. at around 9 months post-relaxer. I even pulled out a ruler. I was like 1/2 inch short of what I thought I should be. Before I pulled out the ruler I was totally fine with my length. I stopped with the length checks that day. I personally plan on maintaining somewhere around my current length. My hair is very thick and dense and I just couldn’t imagine having my hair much longer than it is now.
Similar experience: I pulled out a ruler years ago, and only that once, because my dreadlocks were getting stuck in the car door and wondered how long they were. But then I cut them all off in 2010 and now am fighting that obsessive “I won’t be Me until I have long hair again!” thing.
If you think you have total control over your hair length, you’re wrong. Accept differing types, colors, lengths. My grandmother grew her hair past her knees, over and over in her youth, to then cut off and sell, and do it again. I felt that I had a legacy to uphold. But my genetics just don’t include that kind of crazy length. Holding my breath, spending hours a day doing hair care and measuring to see if I’m close to a “goal” is pointless — and means you haven’t accepted yourself completely.
A better goal is to keep your hair as healthy as you can. THAT is a goal that is within your power. The resultant hair LENGTH is NOT in your control.
It’s strange to me to compare your natural hair to the length it would be if it were straightened. Why not just straighten it? I don’t get that. What you see is the length it is. It’s almost like saying there is something wrong with shrinkage. I don’t know: it makes no difference to me. I’m more interested in the health of my hair.