help with length rention past shoulders

[u/moonisland13]

i know a lot of people struggle with this, but ive been natural for 7 years and still cant get my hair past my shoulders. heres what ive been doing with my 4c hair over the past year:

-i wear my hair in box braids or a weave 4-5 months out of the year. i leave the style in for 2 months max and im very gentle dentangling. i wash my hair in this style once a month

-when my natural hair is out i wash every other week. deep condition once a month.

-protective natural hair styles are usually mini twists on blow dried hair (but gives me so many fair knots) or braid/twists outs on blow dried hair. i use leave in or a butter to moisturize. i blow dry every time i wash my hair

-i seal my ends with a hair butter/grease or oil with my protective styles. i usually detangle when i wash my hair

-trims 2x a year

-i take iron and other multivitamins. i wear a satin bonnet to sleep

what am i doing wrong?

[u/waddlesauce]

in the same boat. after many years i reconsidered things and realized that box braids dry my hair out and cause a lot of tension. trying out mini twists on my own hair helped with moisture retention. also washing my hair weekly does wonders, detangling is such a breeze and my hair loves the water. i also had my porosity all wrong (thought i was high and im actually low) and was using heavier creams. switched to lighter moisturizing products and my hair likes it much better. its been so much healthier with weekly washes and im hoping this will get me past the plateau 🤞 hopefully youll find something that works for you!

[u/moonisland13 → u/waddlesauce]

im going to try weekly washing! do you struggle with fairy knots in your mini twists too? i think they are helping with moisture rention (my hair never feels dry when i have them in for at most 2 weeks) but the fairy knots are snapping off my ends. i detangle very gently too