Loose or locs . . . all are welcome

I wear my natural hair loose (afro, shake and go, etc.) or in protective styles, but do not have locs.  Whether you wear locs, keep your hair loose, wear protective styles such as braids, or are just transitioning to natural hair, I welcome you to be part of this blog.  I will be doing interviews later so if you are interested in being interviewed, please send me an email.  Many people just want to use a screen name, so I respect that.  You will need to provide me with your photo when you respond to the questions if I have not taken a picture of you myself so that we may see your beautiful tresses.  This blog will be interactive, so please stop by often and comment on the posts so we may get a dialog going and help each other along this hair journey.

Lots of growth. . . MAJOR SHRINKAGE!

I did my BC (big chop, i.e., cutting off all relaxed hair and leaving only natural hair) in October 2008 after transitioning for about 5 months.  My hair stylist cut nine inches of relaxed hair and only three inches of hair were left.  I have experienced good growth and have not had a hair cut since then, although I have dusted (minimally trimmed 1/4 to 1/2 inch) the ends while I had it in small double strand twists.  These photos show the length of my hair when it is stretched out by me pulling it.  I am trying to grow it at this stage to APL (arm pit length) and am getting close :)  I have major shrinkage as you may see.  I sprayed my hair with my homemade leave in spray then finger picked it into an afro.  When my hair gets wet, it shrinks a lot after it dries!   It doesn't bother me, though.  I love my curly/coily hair and its texture gives me lots of options for styling.

What do you feel about shrinkage?  Do you experience a lot of it when your hair dries?  Please leave your comments and also take my poll that will be open until December 31, 2010.