Black hair is extremely versatile and can withstand switching between different hairstyles sometimes weekly if the person chooses, but that versatility could be the reason your hair remains the same length when you want to grow it out. High-tension styles that pull on the hair strands can cause shedding and breakage and thin out your hair, keeping it from reaching your length goal.
Particularly with high-tension styles, if there’s enough stress on the strands, they’ll snap off. This includes styles previously thought to be protective like box braids and cornrows. Anything that puts tension on your scalp is high-tension and could be causing you to shed more hair than what you naturally would otherwise. This is confusing because those with natural hair were told that box braids are a protective style because the hair is covered, but the roots are still exposed and the more you style and move the braids around, the more you pull on your scalp.
If length-retention is more important to you than frequently changing up your style, there are still some styles that are truly protective like wigs and sew-ins with full closures. These protect your hair because your natural hair is braided underneath and any heat or manipulation you apply to the added hair isn’t touching the hair coming from your scalp. With these styles, you can still curl and manipulate the hair without damaging your real hair.
You can also do twists and even still do braids as long as you’re aware of when the manipulation is pulling on your scalp and loosening your grip as soon as you notice. With these styles, it’s a little trickier to ensure there’s no stress on your natural hair as the hair is still exposed at the roots, but again, as long as you relieve any stress on your strands as soon as you notice it, your hair should survive.
