While I love my kinks, I must say that shrinkage is my least favorite part of being natural. And it is not just because it makes my hair look shorter than what it actually is, it is because shrinkage can be damaging making detangling an absolute nightmare. Hair that happens to be dry and shrunken, look out this is just trouble! What makes it even more frustrating is that you cannot simply just turn to your blow dryer every time you want to stretch your hair either because too much heat is damaging. Let’s go over what can be done to make the struggle with high shrinkage hair a little easier:
Use a good conditioner for more manageability
It always helps when you use a good conditioner that improves how easy it is to get through your hair. When you use a conditioner that isn’t a good match for you dealing with shrunken dried hair that is hard to comb is a nightmare. A conditioner that works well will soften your hair and make it easier to comb through. So far I have found that Giovanni Tea Tree Conditioner and Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Smoothie have made my hair extremely easy to work with.
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Style air dried hair instead of wet styling hair
For some of us, wet styling just doesn’t work. If your hair is anything like mine even if you use the best of product once your set of twists have finished drying overnight you wake up to a hot matted and shrunken mess. Again, this isn’t just just sheer vanity here. Hair that has shrunken up and become matted is subject to tangles. Tangles will almost always result in some sort of breakage. So if you find that this is happening to you, try styling your hair after it has dried. You can let your hair dry during the course of the day or you can set your hair dry overnight in large twists then style in the morning. You will find your hair will absorb products better, will be more moisturized, and you definitely can get more stretch.
Lisa of NapturallyCurly.com did a post on Wet Styling vs. Dry Styling. See her article here. Notice how much more stretch she got doing twists on dry hair?
Don’t have the time for none of these air drying options? You can always use the cool setting on your blow dryer to quickly dry your hair so you don’t have heat drying your hair out.
Try Pineappling your hair
Pineappling has got to be the easiest heatless method for stretching hair. All that is required is putting your hair in one or two high ponytails, wrapping your hair, and calling it a night. Of course results will vary from person to person but for me this has been more effective than even doing twists and most importantly it is easy. I usually do my high ponytail on damp hair that has had some time to air dry.
Image Source: BluViolette
Trust and believe guys I know the battle! My hair shrinks up drastically after washes. My hair be like…
Well, maybe not as drastic as this, but still pretty close. It’s actually like this…
This is my shrinkage that I posted on @blacknaps Instagram. Isn’t it lovely?
Thank you for this article! Hair shrinkage tastes my patience; I can’t stand it. Another frustrating thing is hair shedding. I know it is inevitable but do you have any tips on how to minimize shedding?
*tests 🙂
Thanks for posting this! Helpful article indeed!
Those are great tips. I have some shrinkage prevention tips on my site too http://www.afrohairsolutions.co.uk.
Hey my hair shrinks a lot too. Moisturising helps a lot but only for as long as the hair is damp. As it dries it shrinks. I had my big chop in december n I’m still in the TWA stage, like really really short TWA. Its grow little by little bt shrinkage won’t let my hair be great. So please any specific tips for my hair length? Thank you.
I know the feeling my hair is the same way. I have never really felt that my hair looks great, ok but not great really feeling distressed about it.
Any natural stuff that can reduce shrinkage?
My hair is almost the worst when it is shrunken. Anything you think will help?