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View Full Version : How layers grow out with hair texture? (F & 1b/1c)



Lilli
February 4th, 2013, 08:28 AM
First, I am not looking for responses that are just "I hate layers." I have had both blunt and layered hair and prefer layers. I appreciate that we all have different opinions, but am looking for information, not opinion. :)

I got a long-layered haircut in late November. (You can see a photo of it, blown straight, in my signature.) When the cut was fresh, they all turned in the same direction and laid smoothly. My hair has flat loose spirals in the underneath layers that are impossible to show in a photo (even if I had any of my old photos.) Now, two months after the cut, my hair is starting to behave oddly - some of the layers now flip outwards at the ends as though they are starting to spiral around. (You can see a bad, sideways photo in my album.) I was contemplating no trims in 2013 so as to get to waist sooner, but I am not sure if it will look too bad to do that. If I don't trim it, will the layered ends eventually spiral all the way around? Or will it look progressively messier until I trim it?

(My stylist is very nice and conservative so I do trust him to trim the layers without taking off too much length, but I also want to just grow quickly and I did no trims in 2011 and gained a lot of length that way.)

Vrindi
February 4th, 2013, 09:44 AM
I had a long layered cut that I loved. When I was going for length though, having the layers made it difficult. My hair is pretty fine and splits easily, so having a blunt cut now makes it really easy to keep the ends nice, where as when I had layers, there were splits all over that I couldn't reach or see, so the only way to get them was to re-cut. This was even with wearing buns every day. I also had loose spirals underneath. As my hair would grow, the top layers, which weren't as curly but still had some loose, big curl, would continue their curl pattern. So, yeah, yours will probably continue their pattern. If you don't like it, you can either wait it out or go for a cut. Even if you trim the layers without taking much length, they will still grow out in their pattern. I actually love the look when the layers flip in different directions.

lapushka
February 4th, 2013, 09:50 AM
You can't prevent your hair from flipping in odd directions, you're a 1b/1c, it's going to do that unless you blowdry it, then it will be totally straight.

shutterpillar
February 4th, 2013, 10:03 AM
I have fine hair and am 1c/2a, so a little different, but it has been my personal experience that as my layers grew out, some seemed to grow faster than the rest. For example, I am completely convinced that the hair on the base of my head grows faster than the hair at the top of my head. I just recently did a 2inch trim because my bottom layers had grown out so much further than the top ones.

Also keep a few things in mind... when I started growing out my layers, I had a LOT more than you do in the photo above. That could have had an affect on the strange looking growth I experienced. It seems like I went through two really awkward phases where I had to cut 1-2 inches off my hair to make the hemline look decent again.

But, the thing about hair is that everyone's is different. You may have a complete opposite experience.

Good luck! :flower:

torrilin
February 4th, 2013, 12:17 PM
My hair has flat loose spirals in the underneath layers that are impossible to show in a photo

You're not a 1b then, and probably not any kind of 1 as an overall type. It sounds like your underlayer is around a 2c/3a. It's pretty common for curlies to have several distinct hair types on their heads, and it doesn't always wind up that a single type is an accurate way to describe things. And well yeah, curly hair will not in fact look straight :). Not without help anyway!

So all of what you're observing is normal. Curlies will often wear layered cuts to enhance their natural curls. It can look odd tho if the layers were cut without any attention to your actual curl pattern.

If the length is most important to you, I'd just stuff your hair in updos til the year is over, and see what happens. If you're more after healthy hair, you can experiment with a gentler more moisture heavy routine to see if that enhances the curl. And if having hair that looks straight is most important, you can experiment with heat free straightening.

On my 1c/f/ii hair, I tend to go for length and health in a pretty rough balance... split ends make me miserable, but my hair grows really fast and isn't good at much besides being long. Any kind of heat styling, even one round with a blow dryer, is too much for my hair and results in lots of splits and tangles. So I wear a lot of updos because it's easy and fast and comfortable. Mileage varies tho :). Plenty of other posters handle their hair differently from me.

spidermom
February 4th, 2013, 12:28 PM
I find that layers lose their shape really quickly because some hairs grow faster than others. I think layers look their best with regular trims.

But I find that hair in general looks best with regular trims. I can appreciate them on others but am not a fan of fairy tale ends on myself.

rtree721
February 4th, 2013, 05:04 PM
I have 1c/F/i which is pretty similar to yours (my underlayer will get a little curly too). My ends flip in different directions and sometimes spiral around, but just on the bottom. When I had layers, they behaved like yours. So I am wondering if your hair has some curl to it and that is why it is acting like that. It would be interesting to see what your hair would do if you tried to enhace the curl and do the curly girl method. From the sounds of it, your hair will continue to do what is it doing without regular upkeep.

Lilli
February 5th, 2013, 07:09 AM
My hair type is very confusing. I used to have some photos of it on the old site but those photos are gone now. It is really hard to show the underneath wave pattern in any photo. The top layer has one long S wave for the whole length. The underneath layer has flattened, twisty spirals of wavelength 2" when it is wet. When they dry and I brush it, they look like flat S-waves, still 2" wavelength. I can choose to use a very moisturizing, cone-free S&C and not touch it and get waviness when dry, but nothing will make the top layer do anything besides one long S wave. If I want it to be straight, I have to use cones and blowdry it. It will never look curly, though.


You can't prevent your hair from flipping in odd directions, you're a 1b/1c, it's going to do that unless you blowdry it, then it will be totally straight.


When I first got it cut, it did lay perfectly with a minimum of brushing/arranging. Now it won't lay perfectly even if I blow-dry it with a big round brush!


You're not a 1b then, and probably not any kind of 1 as an overall type. It sounds like your underlayer is around a 2c/3a. It's pretty common for curlies to have several distinct hair types on their heads, and it doesn't always wind up that a single type is an accurate way to describe things. And well yeah, curly hair will not in fact look straight . Not without help anyway!

So all of what you're observing is normal. Curlies will often wear layered cuts to enhance their natural curls. It can look odd tho if the layers were cut without any attention to your actual curl pattern.

If the length is most important to you, I'd just stuff your hair in updos til the year is over, and see what happens. If you're more after healthy hair, you can experiment with a gentler more moisture heavy routine to see if that enhances the curl. And if having hair that looks straight is most important, you can experiment with heat free straightening.

I would call my top layer 1c, then and my bottom layer 2b. I think you are right: I need to decide if I can live with an odd growing out stage with lots of updos, or if I prefer to have it look neater down and get trimmed. My guy did cut it wet - perhaps I can show him my hair air-dried and see if that makes a difference in the trim. He is a personal friend and listens very well so I do trust him if I decide to go that route.

torrilin
February 5th, 2013, 09:25 AM
The underneath layer has flattened, twisty spirals of wavelength 2" when it is wet. When they dry and I brush it, they look like flat S-waves, still 2" wavelength.

That sounds more like 2c to me than 2b, and since there is spiraling when wet, it's still possible we're talking 3a. Tough to tell without seeing how it responds to a curl friendly routine.

For your upper layer, I'd tend to say it's too short to really tell, but my bet is in the 1c/2a ballpark. My waves are around 6" long, so it's very tough to see that I have a wavelength before BSL. They're also unnaturally uniform... if it was a more typical multiple wave patterns deal, it would be more visible that I have some wave. For me, the line between 1c and 2a is "is it stupid to count the wavelengths?" On 1c hair, you might have 3-5 wavelengths at BSL, and you'll perhaps bust 7 wavelengths at past waist. You'd need a real showpiece head of hair to bust ten. 2a gets kind of stupid to count sometimes as early as BSL. This doesn't mean your upper layer is for sure 1c tho... since you've been using stuff in your routine that favors straight hair rather than the curlier underlayer, it may well be that a year or two of focusing on healthy curls would result in the upper layer being somewhat wavier.

A lot is going to depend on the look you want. Since I don't have curly hair and I love looking at the pretty springs, my vote would be for more springs ;). But it's your head and your life. I *will* note that if you hate splits and have a lot normally, a curl friendly routine (even if it doesn't result in more actual curl) will tend to result in fewer splits. I also have really dry skin in general, and I find with a curl friendly routine, I have a scalp that matches the rest of my skin in being stupidly dry. So if you feel like your hair gets oily really fast while the rest of your skin is dry, going more curl friendly may have side benefits. But all of those changes would take at least 2-3 months to really start seeing an effect. So it really does depend on your priorities.

Lilli
February 6th, 2013, 07:34 AM
That sounds more like 2c to me than 2b, and since there is spiraling when wet, it's still possible we're talking 3a. Tough to tell without seeing how it responds to a curl friendly routine.

For your upper layer, I'd tend to say it's too short to really tell, but my bet is in the 1c/2a ballpark. My waves are around 6" long, so it's very tough to see that I have a wavelength before BSL. They're also unnaturally uniform... if it was a more typical multiple wave patterns deal, it would be more visible that I have some wave. For me, the line between 1c and 2a is "is it stupid to count the wavelengths?" On 1c hair, you might have 3-5 wavelengths at BSL, and you'll perhaps bust 7 wavelengths at past waist. You'd need a real showpiece head of hair to bust ten. 2a gets kind of stupid to count sometimes as early as BSL. This doesn't mean your upper layer is for sure 1c tho... since you've been using stuff in your routine that favors straight hair rather than the curlier underlayer, it may well be that a year or two of focusing on healthy curls would result in the upper layer being somewhat wavier.

A lot is going to depend on the look you want. Since I don't have curly hair and I love looking at the pretty springs, my vote would be for more springs ;). But it's your head and your life. I *will* note that if you hate splits and have a lot normally, a curl friendly routine (even if it doesn't result in more actual curl) will tend to result in fewer splits. I also have really dry skin in general, and I find with a curl friendly routine, I have a scalp that matches the rest of my skin in being stupidly dry. So if you feel like your hair gets oily really fast while the rest of your skin is dry, going more curl friendly may have side benefits. But all of those changes would take at least 2-3 months to really start seeing an effect. So it really does depend on your priorities.

I have not tried to do curly girl because my hair is very dependent on the humidity. When it is humid, my hair is much wavier, but when it is dry (like all winter), there is no point in trying to get it wavier. The best I can do for my top layer is to wash upside down and concentrate all the shampoo on the scalp and moisture on the ends. This does make my hair look nicer and softer, but does not appreciably make the top layer wavier. In optimal conditions, my top layer will have at most 3 waves between ears and ends. I think what I am going to do for now is not cut it and just wash upside down with non-coney but moisturizing products, and oil the hell out of the ends to get them to be smoother, and wait out the year.

Lilli
May 10th, 2013, 07:22 AM
I am here to maybe answer my own question:

The layered ends will flip around, and short of blowdrying straight every day, I think the overall effect is that the ends just look damaged. I think I am going to have my stylist cut an inch off at a time and work myself back to blunt. Even in this high humidity, my top layer will not be wavy, and the messy/wavy/layered look is not as attractive on me as showing off the sleekness and health.

So I guess I am getting it cut in 2013. However, I also kind of realized that BSL might be long enough for me as I only wear it down and at BSL, it gets caught behind my back, etc., and drives me nuts.

panffle
May 10th, 2013, 11:09 AM
I don't know if this is going to help you, but my hair is slightly layered and I find that the ends on the layers tend to bend/wave in all directions when my hair is dry (as in, dry from damage). I did a protein treatment about a month ago and it lays much more neatly now. This is how I know when my hair needs a stronger treatment. :)
So if your ends are damaged, yes a trim and some babying would be good.

silverthread
May 10th, 2013, 01:39 PM
That sounds more like 2c to me than 2b, and since there is spiraling when wet, it's still possible we're talking 3a. Tough to tell without seeing how it responds to a curl friendly routine.

For your upper layer, I'd tend to say it's too short to really tell, but my bet is in the 1c/2a ballpark. My waves are around 6" long, so it's very tough to see that I have a wavelength before BSL. They're also unnaturally uniform... if it was a more typical multiple wave patterns deal, it would be more visible that I have some wave. For me, the line between 1c and 2a is "is it stupid to count the wavelengths?" On 1c hair, you might have 3-5 wavelengths at BSL, and you'll perhaps bust 7 wavelengths at past waist. You'd need a real showpiece head of hair to bust ten. 2a gets kind of stupid to count sometimes as early as BSL. This doesn't mean your upper layer is for sure 1c tho... since you've been using stuff in your routine that favors straight hair rather than the curlier underlayer, it may well be that a year or two of focusing on healthy curls would result in the upper layer being somewhat wavier.

A lot is going to depend on the look you want. Since I don't have curly hair and I love looking at the pretty springs, my vote would be for more springs ;). But it's your head and your life. I *will* note that if you hate splits and have a lot normally, a curl friendly routine (even if it doesn't result in more actual curl) will tend to result in fewer splits. I also have really dry skin in general, and I find with a curl friendly routine, I have a scalp that matches the rest of my skin in being stupidly dry. So if you feel like your hair gets oily really fast while the rest of your skin is dry, going more curl friendly may have side benefits. But all of those changes would take at least 2-3 months to really start seeing an effect. So it really does depend on your priorities.

That! If I didn't know better, I'd say torrellin was describing my hair. Modified Curly Girl method works for me. I have been CO washing the last 6(?) weeks with Suave Daily Clarifying Conditioner and a dab of Beautiful Curls as a leave-in. (Recently, I had to remove the build-up from the Beautiful Curls with a VERY diluted shampoo for one wash.) My waves are becoming more consistent, with the canopy being a solid 2a, though it'll probably never catch up to my 2c underneath. I also gave up my blonde BBB, to allow the wave pattern. That was difficult because I love my blonde BBB.

Lilli
May 10th, 2013, 01:43 PM
I have extremely crappy well water and blonde hair. If I use just conditioner, or even a non-sulfate shampoo, my hair very quickly turns dull, dark and sticky.