Length Obsessed?

I never really thought about this issue before I started blogging. But since joining the natural hair bloggosphere, I realize there is a lot out there about growing and obtaining length. There are all kinds of challenges going on from using castor oil on the scalp to months-long protective styling efforts.

On the one hand, I get it. Most of us probably heard at least once in our lives that Black hair doesn't grow or the only way we can have length is to loc. On the other hand, the longer I am natural the more I realize that my hair likes to grow up, right, and left. But down...not so much. The only way I ever see my length is if I blow my hair out or flat iron. Both are terribly damaging and time consuming. When my hair is in its curliest state, the back can shrink from my bra strap to the middle of my neck! Ahhh shrinkage...

Anyway, because length is so connected to female beauty in this society, I wonder if sometimes we need to reach those length goals in order to feel feminine, beautiful, or sexy. Being natural in a world where very few others share similar hair textures can feel isolating sometimes. As much as we want to always be nappy and proud, I will be the first to admit that it is not always easy when people constantly stare, frown, giggle, or ask insipid questions like, "So...you're gonna go out like that?" when clearly I am ready to walk out the door. Redefining beauty standards takes a long time, especially considering that the long straight hair thing has been around for centuries and the natural hair scene is less widespread (although growing steadily...whoo hoo!).

Sometimes I want to grow my hair really long so that even shrunken up it will appear long. Something like this:

I know we have different textures but like if I did a braid-out or something.

Then other times I am completely overwhelmed by what hair I already have. It can be hard to detangle, my arms start hurting, and it can take up to an hour to style depending on the look I'm going for. Sometimes I wanna cut it short again like it was about a year and a half ago:

However, I realize that I probably won't be cutting my hair like that any time soon so I might as well learn to work with the length I've got now and if it grows really long, then great!

So in terms of my routine, some things will have to change. As it stands now, I wash or co-wash, detangle, rinse, then style. This is no longer working. So while I was carousing Fotki, I came across a great album showcasing a nice set of twists. The beautiful owner of those twists mentioned she does them on mostly dried hair. I did not know what she meant by that (blown out, air-dried?) so I asked her. She was gracious enough to share her routine with me. And I have to admit, it sounds good and simple and I am going to try it next time I wash. So with her inspiration mixed with my current routine, this is what I hope to try:

1. Wash, condition and detangle hair in the shower with a wide tooth comb (still with condish in)
2. Outside of the shower divide hair into 6 sections and use denman brush to comb more conditioner through hair to remove shed hairs (carefully cause that thing can be deadly if misused)
3. Braid each conditioned section of hair (this is a new step but will be better than twists at my length in terms of keeping hair stretched, hopefully reducing some fairy knots)
4. Rinse hair with luke warm water, seal ends with butter/castor oil, and let hair air dry to about 80-90% dry
5. Style and seal ends each night

She explained what this means:
To the touch it feels dry until I unravel a braid, my hair then feels moist and conditioned and ready for twists

I hope this routine will do the following:
*Reduce breakage *Shorten styling time *Reduce fairy knots

We'll see. I won't call this an official length challenge but it will be interesting to see if I can retain more of the ends and suffer less breakage.

So....what do you all think about natural hair and length? Is is important to you or do you consider it to be irrelavent? Do you think it reflects a desire to adhere to a Eurocentric standard of beauty? Do you currently follow any routine or challenge dedicated specifically to retaining length? I know...so many questions. But I find this so interesting considering that for 9.5 years of being natural I never really gave it a thought.