Getting your Hair to Grow Past Shoulder Length

Hey Curlies,

Whether you are natural or relaxed, getting past the point of shoulder length in your personal growth stage is a challenge. Lots of women struggle and complain about not being able to get their hair to grow past their shoulders.

In my past relaxed days, I got past shoulder length and currently, in my natural days, my hair is past shoulder length when stretched.

Here are some tips on how I got past shoulder length hair:

• Protective styling: Tucking away your ends and keeping them from rubbing against your clothing. What usually happens is your hair gets to the point where it touches your shoulders and then it rubs on your clothing and breaks off. Try braids, twists, buns, and ponytails to keep your hair off of your shoulders. Here are a few ideas.

• Focus more on moisturizing your ends. Use a moisturizer and then an oil or butter to seal. To keep your ends from breaking off, they need to be moisturized. Learn how to properly moisturize your hair here.

• Healthy hair always starts off at the scalp. Be gentle with your hair. Yes, this means during your detangling session also. Always start from your ends and work your way up while detangling. If not, there could be some serious breakage that could be the cause of stunting your hair retention. Take care of your scalp with these products. 

You can also learn more about scalp care here and here.

• Limit your heat use. Heat styling dries out your hair and therefore can cause breakage in the long run. Learn more about heat damage here and how to use heat to straighten your curls here.