You pull a strand, and it touches your shoulder. You let go, and it springs back to ear level. You wonder what you could have possibly missed. Nothing: what you see has a name, and that's actually a good sign.
You still need to know what it means, when it's worth mitigating, and how to do it without damaging the fiber in the process. A supple, well-hydrated fiber stretches better and breaks less: our step-by-step tutorial details the six steps of the Rituel Texture® in order.
What happens when hair comes into contact with water
Coily hair does not grow straight. It emerges from the scalp in a very tight spiral, and the follicle itself is curved, giving the hair shaft a flattened rather than round cross-section. The fiber's actual length is therefore coiled up: it exists, but it takes up no vertical space.
When water arrives, the fiber absorbs it and swells. It softens, elongates under its own weight, and the hair suddenly appears very long in the shower. Then the water evaporates. Losing its water without tension to hold it in, the fiber shrinks back and takes on exactly the shape its structure imposes on it. The coils tighten, they cling to one another, and the visible length shrinks by half or more.
The reference classification of human hair shapes, based on strands collected from five continents, describes eight continuous degrees of curl, from perfectly straight hair to the tightest coil (de la Mettrie et al., Human Biology, 2007). The closer you get to this last degree, the greater the difference between stretched length and apparent length. It is therefore neither a flaw nor an accident: it is the mechanical consequence of geometry.
Why that's actually a good sign
Shrinking hair is hair that has retained its elasticity and pattern. This is why we view this phenomenon with rather satisfaction in the salon, and why its absence alerts us more than its presence.
A fiber that has undergone repeated flat ironing, relaxing, or chemical straightening shrinks less, or sometimes not at all. It has lost part of its shape, and that loss does not come back: only regrowth brings back the original pattern. If your hair shrinks significantly less than it did two years ago, the question to ask is not how to regain volume, but what you have been putting it through that ended up relaxing it without you deciding to do so.
Hair that no longer shrinks is not hair that has grown. It is most often hair that has lost its shape.
When it's worth mitigating
Shrinkage becomes problematic for three reasons, and only three. The first is aesthetic and perfectly legitimate: you want to see your length, wear a hairstyle that falls, and feel your hair move on your shoulders. The second is technical: a flat twist, a sleek braid, or a bun is difficult to achieve on completely retracted hair, because the strand refuses to be guided. The third is the most concrete: on very tight, free coils, the strands wind around each other and form knots that break during detangling.
This last reason alone is enough. Coily hair worn loose and unstretched for several days accumulates knots at a rate that nothing can compensate for, and each one is a potential breaking point. Stretching is therefore not an aesthetic whim: it is a way to limit breakage.
What the Rituel Texture® does
In the Rituel Texture®, stretching is not a separate treatment added afterward. It is integrated into two steps. The first is step 05, the protective dry: La Crème Coiffante applied to the entire length, followed by drying with a hairdryer in small sections, from roots to ends, in bouncing motions and always in motion. The fiber dries under tension, and it dries in the shape it is given. This is where the bulk of the stretching takes place.
The second is step 06, sealing in moisture: a final layer of Crème Coiffante, a pass with the Peigne de Man Dol', then a protective flat twist or Bantu knot, which is then undone for styling. The result is not straight hair, and the goal is not to make the pattern disappear. We stretch the coil, we do not break it. The four ways to do this are detailed in our article on stretching coily hair.
A word on the diffuser, often cited as the quick solution when time is short: it was designed for a curl that holds its shape on its own and does not hold the coily fiber while it dries. It only works in rare cases, and our position on the subject is detailed elsewhere.
What to do between routines
Between two full routines, stretching is maintained through styling rather than heat. Bantu knots and braids placed on hair that is still supple, then undone once dry, create an elongated wave. Bantu knots produce a rounder curl. Banding, which consists of placing soft elastics along each section without ever tightening them, stretches without shaping and works very well at night.
The common rule for these three methods is the same: they are applied to a fiber coated with product, never to a dry, bare fiber, and you do not pull to gain two centimeters. The tension that stretches is a holding tension, not a traction. A strand that is forced eventually gives way at the root, and the ends are the first to pay the price.
What we do not recommend
- Repeated flat ironing or blow-drying for the sole purpose of seeing your length.
- Thin or tight elastics, which mark the fiber instead of holding it.
- Pulling on sections to gain a few centimeters.
- Stretching dry hair without product, which breaks on the first pass.
Tracking your true length
Apparent length is a poor measure: it varies with the humidity in the room, the product used, and the previous day's styling. To find out where you stand, choose a reference strand, always the same one, stretch it gently without forcing it, and record the measurement once a month. Take a photo in the same place, in the same light.
What this measurement reveals, almost always, is that the hair is growing. What is missing is not growth, but retention: the ends break at the same rate as the roots advance, and the length stagnates. This is exactly where the work lies, and our eight length retention tips detail what to correct first.
A boy in my class once told me that what I had on my head was not my hair, and that mine was supposed to go up. That statement hit me hard. He knew nothing about beauty, and yet he was right about one thing: I had never seen my hair in its true form. Shrinkage is precisely this form returning.
Ghana Elin, founderDo you feel like your hair isn't growing?
Our experts will assess your true length, the condition of your ends, and what is causing breakage in your routine with you online.
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Go Further
Sources
- de la Mettrie R., Saint-Léger D., Loussouarn G., Garcel A.-L., Porter C., Langaney A., « Shape Variability and Classification of Human Hair: A Worldwide Approach », Human Biology, vol. 79, no. 3, 2007.
- Robbins C. R., Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, Springer, 5th edition, 2012, chapter on the swelling of the fiber by water.
