4 Safe, Heat-Free Stretching Techniques for Type 4 Natural Hair By Vanessa Osbourne

One of the features of hair that is thoroughly moisturized is shrinkage. Yes, shrinkage.

Photo courtesy of 22nd Century Natural Woman on YouTube

While it is always paramount for naturals with type 4 hair to deep condition in order to optimize moisture levels, colder weather means you cannot let up on deep conditioning for a second. One of the features of hair that is thoroughly moisturized is shrinkage. Yes, shrinkage.

Remember this: shrinkage is great.

It’s an indicator that your hair is healthy and elastic and therefore, more resistant to breakage. But shrinkage can also be a pain, as it can make managing and styling your natural hair more difficult. Shrinkage also encourages knots and tangles, which can result in breakage and loss of length. Because of these characteristics, it is generally a good idea to keep your hair in a stretched state to counter its shrinkage and make it easier to style your hair. Since there is no benefit in moisturizing your hair only to dry it out, turning to heat to stretch your natural hair should be avoided as much as possible. In its place, here are 4 styles/techniques you can use to achieve and maintain stretch on your natural hair. Best part: they are heat-free.

African threading

African threading is a popular, traditional styling technique that has been around for a very long time. It has become popular in natural hair community due to its ability to stretch natural hair and because it can also be worn as a protective style if one so desires.

Typically, black thread is wrapped around a section of hair from root to ends. African threading is much less damaging that blow drying the hair and is also more effective at providing stretch than some other methods such as braiding and twisting.

Banding

Banding is quite similar to African threading since it uses ponytail holders (Goody bands), but instead of threading, you will wrap the hair in sections to keep your coils elongated.

Cinnabuns/bunning

Bunning is another great way of stretching natural hair. You can have as many buns as you like depending on the length of your hair.

Braids and twists

These are popular styles used to stretch the hair. While hair will not have a blowout-like appearance due to the fact that these styles create texture and definition, shrinkage is minimized by these styles. Putting your braids and twists into a ponytail or banding a few together can stretch the hair even further.

Source: naturally curly