L4L Protective Styling Final Update

Monday, May 06, 2013

In the past few weeks since this challenge ended, I have been in a state of packing/moving/going without internet & cable which has left my blog quiet and me behind on the newest episodes of Scandal (ah!). So, I will be in serious update mode over the next few days starting with recapping the protective styling challenge! I think I've said in previous posts that this challenge went very well for me.

Here is what the rules were again:

A protective style for purposes of this challenge is defined as any style in which your ends are not exposed or touching your clothing. Buns, updos, french braids, french rolls, etc all count.
You may only wear your hair down for 7 days throughout the entire three months total! Whether you choose to do one week, a couple of weekends or not at all – you only have a 7 day allowance.
Only one direct heat pass but try not to use it at all!
Protective styles means your ends must be hidden, so half up/half down ‘dos don’t count!
Must deep condition your hair at least two times per month.
You are not excluding from using fake hair – wigs, weaves, extensions, crochet braids, etc.

I didn't use any down days or heat passes pretty much the entire challenge. The first time I used direct heat and wore my hair down was April 14th. The last time I flat ironed my hair before that was in December. I deep conditioned my hair weekly and my ends were always tucked away. I stuck to the rules and met my goals for this challenge.

Here is my starting length picture:

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Here is my final length picture:

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I am very happy with my results! I don't think my hair grew several inches, but my ends thickened up some. Those few think spots seemed to have filled in and I think I retained a nice amount of length as well. The very thin ends have got to go tho.

Overall, I really enjoyed this challenge. It changed my mindset about protective styling. I am more used to wearing my hair up than down now. I'm also considering doing a long-term protective style for the summer. Now that I can see how close I am to my length goal, I feel like if I protective style some more I could make it by the end of the year. It also helped keep me accountable and forced me to try things I wouldn't have ordinarily.

Thanks to everyone who has followed along with me during this challenge. I hope I receive your vote!! That Pepco dryer would be a great addition to my beauty supply arsenal :)

Here's the link to Ebony's post so you can go vote!