Heat less straightening/stretching curls?

[Apolli]

Hello all :)
My hair is 3b with some 3a and waves in my canopy thrown in, with shrinkage that eats up about 1/3 of my length. I have been heat free for 10 or so months (if not a year) and while it has been great for my hair, I have not been able to see my true length for all that time. I get some glimpses of it when I try to detangle in the shower but my hair is curly enough that it still curls and shrinks by a couple of inches in the shower. Is there any way I can straighten it out a bit or at least loosen some of the curls temporarily via a heatless method if I want to see more of its length or just enjoy a different look?

Thank you for your time and have a great day!

[Tosca]

While not a curly myself, I have heard of the techniques of wrapping your hair around your own head or in really big curlers to stetch the curls out.

[Anya15]

I'm not a curly but I suppose damp braiding will give you loose waves. Perhaps you can try that out!

[Apolli]

While not a curly myself, I have heard of the techniques of wrapping your hair around your own head or in really big curlers to stetch the curls out.

I'll try that thank you! I'll be using braids first as anou said and then using fabrics as big curlers if the braids don't work.



I'm not a curly but I suppose damp braiding will give you loose waves. Perhaps you can try that out!

Thank you! I'll try braiding the next time I have a wash around a weekend so that I can experiment :)

[lithostoic]

Definitely damp braiding! My friend growing up had 3a/b hair and damp braiding worked really well for her.

[Kajzh]

Even better than damp braiding are methods called "banding" and "wrapping." Since you already have some curls, but not deep curls, the braiding will probably have minimal benefit. Banding or wrapping several sections of damp hair will probably get you the farthest.

[meteor]

For shorter hair, hair wraps work pretty well (you are basically using your head as a giant roller in that case): e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeT8_FJW4Vo

For longer hair, I'd look into African threading (esp. for tighter textures) (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqqu8pfnYss) and, for less tight texture, a method sometimes called "le cardoune/kardoune" (sorry, I don't know the English name for it), where you tightly wrap a flat cord/ribbon/tights around your ponytail: e.g. http://www.tanargan.com/blog/cardoune-cheveux/

[Apolli]

I can't seem to be able to use the quote feature all of a sudden (I literally used it like... 5minutes ago but internet decided to throw a tantrum) so please excuse the lack of sectioning in this post :)

@ Lithostoic, Thank you for the input! It's encouraging to see that it worked for others (while I do realise that every one's hair is different, it doesn't hurt to try), though now that Kajzh mentioned it, I do realize that it may not work for me because of my curl pattern. While I'm also replying to you i might as well tell you that I remember seeing your hair in other threads (BCL to APL thread or APL to BSL, not sure) and that it's wonderful :) Lovely color, texture and amazing growth rate!

@Kajzh Hello! Is this the same thing as Meteor suggested in this thread's previous posts? I've never seen them in action (other than 'sock' curling for straight hair) but I'll look them up! My curl pattern is a bit stubborn (stays for days after a wash even if I don't refresh it) and now that you mentioned it, yes the braids may not work so it's nice to have a plan B, thank you! :) I'll be digging up information here and on naturally curly but is banding the same thing as using socks or big curlers to stretch out the smaller ones?(I'm assuming wrapping is what Meteor suggested: "wrapping your hair around your own head "). You have lovely locs by the way!
Edit- also, may I ask what you mean by deep curls/waves?

[Apolli]

@ Meteor, hello again! :) I saw your post after I posted but I'll check it out in a couple of hours- my brother wants me to play video games with him and already was impatient when I was typing my previous post (I'm sneaking on my phone now lol). Thank you so much for the links! I think head wraps might need a longer length than mine but I won't know for sure until after I load and check it out.

[Lanalavallama]

I don't know how long your hair is, but there is a YouTuber called sistawithrealhair and she has recently uploaded an awesome heatless stretching method. She has a similar texture to yours.

Please let us know what you used and how it worked out.

[XiaoBaiTu]

I've been wondering this too. My curls are tighter than what you described, my shrinkage conceals at least 2/3 of my length, but I have not found damp braiding effective. I tried it just the other night and it only stretched it slightly while it was still soaking wet and I went to bed. When I got up in the morning my braid was literally half the length it had been when I went to sleep. I unbraided it and it was as curly as ever.

I'm looking forward to finding ways to straighten my hair, as I've never done it. My hair is solidly TBL from what I can tell, but shrinks to APL.

[Deborah]

A friend who did not like her curly hair used to set it on large, empty cans; using them like rollers. It left her hair pretty straight. The can hair set looked pretty wild, but her hair always looked nice when she took it down and brushed it.

[Anje]

Large rollers seem to be pretty doable, if you can't get wrapping to work. I've got a friend who's about 3b who normally lets her hair dry bunned to stretch the curls. That's great if your hair likes that sort of thing and you can wait for a few days for it to dry. :P