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Any advice on grow out curly/wavy hair? How do I get past that awkward medium length stage?
im in that stage now with my curly hair. and man, is it hell. I use lots of gel, and muss it up. Its American Idol like curlyish (interpret that however you lije.), although i only get compliments from ladies over 40. But hey, a compliments a compliment. I find my length is "short" but thats only because it kinks and looks WAY shorter then it is. Listen to me when i tell you, us curly hairs have it way tougher then most. It takes us longer to make it appear we have long hair. Even an extra 2 inches remains unnoticed, i have to comb it straight to see my growth progress. But as it gets longer, it will get weightier, and all that growth will become noticeable, and you'll get lots of compliments. :)
I found that when I was first growing out my hair in the early 1970s (!) that it was a great advantage to have wavy/curly hair. It didn't start to look really long until it was long enough to tie back, but just looked thicker than before.
So, my advice is: just let it grow, and in about 6 to 9 months it will look great. Beyond that,it will look even better.
I just used to wet it, gel it behind my ears/backwards and try forget about it till the end of the day. Of course comments kept me from totally forgetting about it but then after about 5 months i gave up the gel and after a further 2 gave up the water... Now its taken shape nicely and its looking more like long hair (people dont call me afro now)
I'm in that evil halfway longish shortish curly afro stage myself. I went and got an undercut, and it looks a lot less bushy then it did before. The undercut part isn't shaved, just short.
It's not quite long enough for it all to go up into a ponytail: 5, 6 inches maybe. More of a topknot. But the pieces that fall out near the front, so I'm told, look rather cute. And it will eventually all be long enough. One day I'll grow out the sides as well, probably. (Great, another evil halfway stage.)
I find that if I don't want to wear it in a pony tail, getting my hair wet, it curls a little more, and letting it air dry, it is still soft and comfortable, and rather cute. (I don't know how curly your hair is though. My hair looks kind of like Josh Groban's.)
I get lots of (good) comments from girls now. But I DID have to pay the price and go through the medium stage. I just wore bandanas all the time. Then started tying it back. It happens slowly, but it happens! Good luck!