Product Junkie Rehab

I have a problem y'all. I don't think I've ever denied the fact that I'm a product junkie. In fact, I think I've kinda embraced it, which might be why it's become such a problem. Haha! So, in the process of trying to organize my stash (which lives in 3 different places around my house), I realized how out of control it had gotten. I found more products after I took this picture, too. What to do? What to do?!

I've been on a product buying ban for 3-4 months, and I'm not sure that it helped. I've only managed to start running out of my favorites, which I have to repurchase. What I should have done was force myself to start going through some of the old favorites while not buying anything else. At this point, I'm not sure how much "don't buy any hair products... don't even go down that aisle... you don't need that" I have left in me, honestly. I have to be realistic with myself. I enjoy buying hair stuff period and I really like trying new things. So, I've come up with some new rules:

• I can repurchase staples when they run out.
• I have to evaulate at least 2 products at a time and
• decide if my hair loves or hates it
• use it up or give/throw it away
• Only when I've done that am I allowed I buy one product I've never tried before

I know, looking at the picture, it's probably like 2-for-1 that's it?! Yes! I recognize it should probably be more like 5-for-1 to really cut that stash down quickly, but I'd rather start with baby steps first and see how well I do. I don't want to use too many new things at once and then not be able to tell which one caused my results. Plus I'm not going to be washing my hair weekly while I'm protective styling so I won't be able to use up things as fast as I normally would. That's also why it's not at least two products a month or any other time period on it. At this point I've had my twists in for around two weeks and have yet to wash them. So, I can't really depend on regular wash days to cut my stash down. 

What do you ladies think? Is anyone else trying to cut down on their product stash or struggling to get their product buying addiction under control? Help me out! :)

8 comments hair journey, product junkie

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Length & Nape Check - 2 Year Hair Update

I am like SO overdue on posting this, but my camera took a lovely nose dive to its death around the time I flat ironed my hair which ruined things for awhile. I mean what's a length check posts without pictures?! I still have yet to replace it, but I did manage to recover my pics. I hit my 2 year of mark of being on a hair journey while I had in my last set of crochet braids so I was anxious to see the progress I'd made once I relaxed. So, I have 3 areas I'd like to focus on for this update: my nape, the thickness of my hair, and my length, of course. 

My Nape
Without a doubt, I am most excited about the progress I have made with these 2 layers of my nape. If you follow me on Instagram then you probably saw my progress pics earlier this week. Aaahhh!! I seriously do not remember the last time my nape was this healthy and thick/full. And I don't know if it's ever been this long. I talked about the issues I've had with my nape, discussed the progress I started to see with my nape once I was challenged to consistently take care of it, and now, I am pleased to say it is in a completely different state than it was just seven or so months ago!! Did I say how excited I am about it!?!

It was initially Jen's 6 Month Nape Challenge that truly inspired me to assess my own nape and intentionally do something to change it. I don't think I ever expected it to change as much as it did so quickly. It is close to being the same length as the rest of my hair now. In my opinion, my nape improving this way was a major improvement in the overall health of my hair. Like I actually feel I have a head full of healthy hair at this point. 

Thickness
Next we have my lion's mane! Lol! This stuff speaks for itself. My hair has gotten so thick that sometimes I don't even know what to do with it. I love it though. Even when I'm deep in a stretch, haven't sectioned my hair enough when washing it and realize some of my hair is still completely dry because the thickness is protecting it from the water - yea I still love it during those times. I am learning to whole-heartedly embrace its bigness, too. When I style my hair big, it's great. But when I style my hair one way and then it chooses to get big... yea that's #thestruggle I have right now. I feel like it's disrespecting me, but really it's just doing what it does best. I need to learn to use it to my advantage more. I remember having very thick hair when I was a kid, but I wasn't the one taking care of it back then. So, I'm learning what it is to tame this beast. 


My Length 
Last, but certainly not least, we have my length. My strands hit bra strap length (again!) and then I trimmed cut them (again!). Whyyyy?? Well even though I don't really struggle with split ends or anything like that, I just hate thin ends y'all! Like HATE. I am a reformed I-need-a-trim-every-8-weeks-girl so be patient with me please. I try to tell myself they're not that bad and convince myself to just hold off, but I can't get over them. It's like they're constantly taunting me until I'm forced to remove them with my scissors. If they're see through, they've gotsta go. My last length check & trim had a lot more thin/see thru ends than this one, which I think really speaks to the improving health of my hair. My goal was to grow my hair to my desired length and then trim away the bone straight ends, but apparently I couldn't deal long enough to let that happen. 

I cut about two inches off, pretty much removing the tip of this cute little v-shape tail that I haven't  seen my hair grow into before. Since I want all my bone straight ends gone anyway, I'm never really upset with myself for these cuts. I didn't flat iron my hair bone straight and the humidity was already working on my roots, but hopefully you get the idea of its length. So I'm still hovering right above my bra-strap. My goal is not to cut or trim my ends until the end of the year. Next time I relax, I'll flat iron my hair bone straight for a better pic, too. Even though I'm still around the same length, the fullness of my length has changed so much. I'm quite happy about that since my goal is to have full, thick hair from root to tip. 

Once you decide to go on these health hair journeys, or lifestyle changes as I like to say, you make a list and have all these goals & ideas in you mind about how it's going to go. Two years later, I can confidently say that that is probably not going to be the case and that's totally okay. I thought for sure my hair would be my goal length by now, but it's not and I'm genuinely happy with it anyway. We all say "health before length, health before length" and I'm certain we all really do want healthier hair. But let's be real y'all, we WANT the length, too!! I started this solely with length goals, and I could chose to be disappointed because I've basically been chillin at the same length for a year. But I'm not. I feel like that would completely negate all of the rest of the awesome progress I've made. I have definitely achieved health before length and I feel accomplished about it. I am so in LOVE with my hair! Especially its health! And I'm actually quite proud of it, too. Someone please hide my scissors though!! :) 

*cheers to another year!*

8 comments hair anniversary, hair journey, hair trim, length check, nape issues, progress pics, update

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Wash Day Recap: What's Been Working For Me

Over the past few weeks, I've had great back-to-back wash days. There are some new things I've been trying out that have been working quite well. Yet, much of my routine has remained normal: keeping my hair in 3-4 sections, pre-poo treatment (when I'm using shampoo), deep conditioning, and apple cider vinegar rinses. Here are a few new techniques I've been enjoying - 

Co-washing

after blow drying

I'm so glad I tried co-washing out again, even if it is in my own way. It has definitely been helping my hair retain more moisture. Every other time I wash my hair, it's a co-wash. It's almost like I've cut my shampoo usage in half, but not exactly. I might co-wash mid-week after an intense workout then a few days later, I use shampoo. Other times, it could be two weeks before I use shampoo again. It really depends on how my hair is feeling to how frequently I "wash" it, but the adding of a conditioner only day every other time has really made a difference. 

Blow Drying on Cool
Initially, I started doing this using tension toward the end of my six month stretch. It was pretty helpful so I wanted to keep practicing it. I'm loving it. I've gotten quicker at it. I've done it with tension, without it, and with a brush attachment. All methods have worked well, without the use of heat or causing breakage. AND it cuts down on drying time in a major way. Since I only do my roots, I still end up with sizable hair similar to my beloved air-dried hair. I think this practice is a keeper now. 

Tresemme Naturals Conditioner
My little sister, a natural head, came to visit for awhile with this conditioner in tow. I've heard a lot about it and she loves it so, of course, I had to try it. I used it twice and my first impressions of it are great. It worked quickly, my hair ate it up and it smells really good. Plus it's cheap so I will be picking up a bottle of my own to try out more thoroughly.  

Low-Manipulation/Protective Styling (the day of)
In an effort to reduce some manipulation and protect my nape, I started styling my hair in ways I could wear for at least a week. This has been awesome. I've been losing less hair due to breakage and keeping my hands out of my nape. My hair stays moisturized longer and is easy to refresh. Winning! This has also been great for my workouts 3x a week. I don't have to worry about what to do with it during or after, which is an added bonus. Hopefully it's helping me retain some more length at my nape too. 

Nothing too fancy there, just a few things that have been working well for me. 

How have your wash days been lately?

1 of my weekly styles

10 comments hair journey, protective styles, tension blow-drying, wash day

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Hair Assessment & Plans to Relax

While my hair was straight, I made sure to assess whether my protective styling was successful or not. So, I took the time to just explore it checking for any signs of breakage, split ends, or anything that could have happened while I had my box braids. I may have failed at capturing a post-worthy pic of its length, but not of my nape progress. I am so excited about how the box braids helped my nape grow out! I think I retained more length at my nape in this period of time than I have in a long time. It has actually made me consider protective styling more often even though I'm not the biggest fan of it. I like playing in my hair too much. But hey, if that's what it takes to get my nape healthy, I'm game for the sacrifice! 

It has only been a couple months since I initially posted about my nape troubles back in November. I'm happy to already see some progress with the changes that I've made. My biggest hurdle has been keeping my hands out of it!! But I finally got to the point where I am conscious of staying out of it. That coupled with being diligent about moisturizing and sealing and protecting it has helped get it on the road to recovery. It still may not compare to the rest of my hair, but I believe it's on it's way there and that is what I'm happy about. 

As for the length of my hair, it seems to be doing quite well, too! I feel like my ends are getting thicker, I don't have the empty spaces I had after my last trim, my hemline is nice and I retained some length as well. Although my bone straight ends are still much thinner in comparison, they're still yet holding on. I'll probably trim more of them away in a few more months. I'm not worried about them right now. 

Basically, I'm very happy with the current state (read: health) of my hair. Yet, at a solid 6 months post relaxer, I've started getting antsy with all this new growth. It is more work balancing the three textures on my head and I started questioning whyyy I was continuing in such a long stretch. I've definitely been having good wash days since taking my braids out, but they are still more work than usual. I'm happy that I've been able to figure out what to do with all the textures on my head to keep them happy because I never thought I would be able to handle a stretch like this without any plans to transition. It makes me feel good about the time and effort I have put into both learning about and taking care of my hair. It continues to pay off. 

Sooo... if you're so happy with your hair, why are you talking about relaxing it, Melanie?? Glad you asked. The first reason is because I am not going natural right now so I can't find a good reason to continue stretching. One of the main goals of stretching is to make sure you have enough new growth to relax without risking over-processing by relaxing hair twice - check. I usually relax when my hair gets to the point that it's being extra aka making me work more than I'd like to and/or testing my patience a tad bit too much - check. I don't really consider relaxing to be rocking the boat or anything because, to me, the goal of any stretch is for it to go well start to finish. Just because it's going well does not mean it shouldn't end, it means you've gotten good at stretching! Yaaay! 

Of course, I don't think there's anything wrong with women who are serial stretchers, stretching for six months or more without the consideration of relaxing. I follow a number of ladies, on YouTube especially, that stretch this way and it works really well for them. Kudos to you ladies! As for me, I want to quit while I'm ahead. I don't want to wait til I run into trouble or breakage before I relax. I don't want to have to start being even more careful with my line(s) of demarcation. And I don't want to start facing any of the woes transitioners face when I'm not even ready to transition. I want my much easier to manage, but still textured hair back. I think I will probably not plan for the length of my stretches anymore because there's no telling how long it'll be before I get to this point again. But hey, whether it's 12 weeks, 16 weeks, or 25 weeks, it'll be okay because I'm a relaxed-haired girl and this is what I do. I think one thing that's cool about these healthy hair lifestyles is making them your own. Do what works for you!

6 comments 24 weeks post, hair journey, nape hair, nape issues, progress pics, random hair talk, relaxer stretching

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Improving the State of My Nape

Oh, the nape, the hair right above the back of our necks - what a problem area this is for many black women. Some women have no problem whatsoever with their napes, however, for many of us, it may seem like an area that just is not meant to grow very long. This has been the case with my nape for as long as I can remember. It's always the first area to break off if I am experiencing breakage and its length retention has been virtually non-existent. It is, sadly, also the target of my hand-in-hair syndrome. Sigh. When my hands subconsciously venture into my hair, here is where they rest, rub and probably wreak havoc. If I am extremely stressed, this is where my hair thins first. You get it, right? You name it, here is the place it has happened.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of the state of my nape when I began all of this because I'm positive it was a lot worse off than it is now. That said, pictured to the left is the current state of my nape. I think it is about shoulder length, a kind of thin shoulder length. I think that both relaxing my hair less often and leaving this area for last (to process the least amount of time), have contributed to allowing my nape to progress more than it has in the past. Still, it is not as healthy as I know it could be or even as healthy as the hair directly above it (see pic below). I want to be more intentional about changing that. 

There are numerous factors that are known to play a role in nape breakage and/or thinness. The hair at the nape can often be finer, less dense, softer, or a completely different texture from other areas of your hair which causes it to be more prone to breakage. For example, the hair at my nape (and in the back of my head overall) is much more kinky and coarse than the rest of my hair. This makes it more tangle prone and harder to keep moisturized in comparison. Combined with this are a list of things that can keep this area damaged such as: too much manipulation (with your fingers, combs and/or brushes), too much tension (from too tight buns, braids and other styles), overprocessing with harsh chemicals, friction (from headbands, clothing, scarves and/or coats), and heat damage.

To me, the hair at the back of my head is seemingly less thick than the rest of my hair. I haven't completely figured out why that is yet. Even with that, the hair at my nape is noticeably shorter and thinner than the hair directly over it. So, I need to step up my game of taking care of my nape. I already relax it last and it is now the most textured part of my hair due to that. That's about where my extra care stops.

Left: from middle of my ears down, Right: from top of my ears & down

Right now, I just want to make a few changes to see if they make a difference. My first goal is to try to make a conscious effort to keep my hands out of it. Extra moisturizing and sealing is next on the list. I want to start paying special attention here like I do the ends of my hair. I need to cut down on styles that cause me to put too much tension on my nape. Or perhaps just embracing messy hair a little more would help, too. Lastly, I will be more mindful, during this winter season, of my turtlenecks, scarves and coats contact with my hair. I also have a go-to headband that ties in the back which could be contributing to the problem. The thought of giving that up is just sad. Hopefully, this will be a good start to improving the current state of my nape.

Anyone else have any trouble with their hair at the nape?

4 comments hair journey, hair tips, length check, nape hair, nape issues, progress pics

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Wash Day...Lessons

pre-poo, hot oil treatment

I usually wash my hair at the beginning of the week, but I posted my wash day a few days late last week. Initially, I thought yesterday's wash day was pretty uneventful. That is, until today, when I felt like I should have just started again and co-washed to be in better condition. Here's how yesterday went down:

{1} Pre-poo: I lightly sprayed my hair with water and added Aubrey Organics GPB conditioner to the length of my hair. Then did a hot oil treatment with a mix grapeseed, olive and coconut oils and a few drops of both peppermint and tea tree essential oils. Covered with a plastic cap and scarf for a few hours.

{2} Shampooed with Shea Moisture African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo and CON Argan Oil Moisture & Shine Shampoo (in sections of course)

{3} Since I did such a long pre-poo treatment, I opted to do a short conditioning session at the same time experimenting with protein layering I've read about a few times lately. So, I put a strengthening conditioner on my ends for a little while, then applied Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose to all of my hair. I left this on for about 15 minutes.

{4} After rinsing with cool water, I sprayed with my apple cider vinegar rinse. I let this sit for few minutes then rinsed with the coldest water I could stand. 

{5} I wrapped my hair with a towel to soak up the excess water then t-shirt dried for about 30 minutes. 

{6} I applied my usual leave ins, Elasta QP H2 and Aphogee Green Tea & Keratin Restructurizer, while detangling section by section. I definitely lost more hair this week than I did last wash day. I'm not sure if that protein layering experiment went awry or what. Then again, I did lose an unusually small amount of hair last week so I probably shouldn't put too much stock in that.

towel dried hair

I put a scarf on my edges and decided to let my hair air dry. By the time I went to bed, my hair still wasn't dry, but I didn't want to put it in a bun because with the thickness of my hair, I knew it still would be damp in the morning. Here's where I messed up. My hair was dry by morning, but it was also a little bit tangled because my scarf didn't stay in place. I decided to deal with that later and just put it in a bun for the day. However, once I got home and started into it, I was upset! 

My 10-week-post roots had shrunk up and coiled on themselves! UGH! I was not even thinking about the possibility of this happening. At this point, my roots have to be stretched when air drying or this will be the result. Not fun detangling all over again. And I lost more hair. Probably because I was frustrated. Bummer. Lesson learned. I moisturized, sealed and braided my hair up in preparation for a quick weave I am planning on installing soon. 

How was your wash day this week? I hope better than mine!

2 comments 10 weeks post, hair journey, wash day

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October Goals & Review

source

October is here and I feel like September only lasted a week or two! I decided to start posting monthly goals just a couple weeks ago. It's already time to review those and set new ones. Although with the little progress I made, I'm not planning on making many new ones at all.

September's Goal Recap:

• Moisturize and seal {at least} 4 times a week. Success! My hair was staight for the past couple weeks and I find that I am more mindful of its need to be moisturized when its in this state. Not sure why, maybe because my hands stay in it way too much. Either way, I got the job done!
• Henna my hair. Success! It took almost a whole day to complete this process, but I did it and I have to say I think it was so worth it! The changes I've noticed in my hair since using henna are awesome. It's great when you use something for a specific reason and it does exactly what it supposed to do. If you haven't already, check out my background on henna here and my experience with it here. 
• Trim my own ends. Success! I cut 1-2 inches of thin ends off. I love the look of my hair and did a length check as well. 
• Use my growth aid every other day. Fail! I don't think I've even picked it up once in the past two weeks... -__-
• Drink {at least} 54oz of water daily. Fail! Kinda. I have an easier time drinking water during the work week for some reason then I do during the weekends. Even if I'm not doing anything lol! And I also misplaced my bottle for a few days. So, even though my water intake increased consistently, it wasn't daily.
• Exercise 2-3x a week. Fail! Didn't come even close to hitting this one. No excuses. I will get back in shape!
• Post to my blog {at least} 3x a week. Fail! This will be the first week that will happen. I think I need some more planning and organizing to help get this to happen consistently. Whatever it may be, I am determined to make this happen this month.

I'm glad I achieved some of my goals! Even if it was only 3 out of 7. That's better than nothing. Progress is a process, so I will not discount any of the progress I made over the past couple weeks. Instead, I will just be motivated to continue toward the rest of my goals. I'm going to spend this month working on the same 4 goals that didn't make the cut plus add one. I've read that it takes 21-30 days to form a new habit. I've tried it out and believe it so I still want to work on moisturizing and sealing consistently to make sure that one sticks.

October Goals:

1. Moisturize and seal {at least} 4x a week.
2. Drink {at least} 54oz of water daily.
3. Exercise 2-3x a week.
4. Post to my blog {at least} 3x a week.
5. Use my growth aid oil every other day.
6. Find a long-term protective style! 

After my last length check, I decided I wanted to step up my protective styling game for the remainder of the year. I want to do something longer-term this time around, but I have no idea what. Gotta figure that out soon. 

Anyone else setting any goals this month?

2 comments hair journey, monthly goals

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Length Check, Trim & Hair Assessment

I flat ironed my hair just because my thin bone straight ends have been driving me crazy and I was ready to let them go. I watched a lot of YouTube videos on different self trimming methods, but I ended up just going for some serious search&destroy/dusting. I did it the way I used to years ago: going section by section and cutting whatever looks like it needs to go. This is also the method that eventually turned my self-trims into hair cuts and made me decide to put the scissors down probably about 3 years ago. I had a trusted stylist at the time, so she was who I allowed to trim my ends.

hair before trim

I have to say my hair was sooo smooth!! Like I truly believe my recent henna treatment smoothed my strands and added shine like it claims to do! I couldn't stop touching it because it felt so noticeably different. Anyways, I am definitely retaining length, which is awesome! The problem, at this point, is now that my texlaxed hair is in the majority, my bone straight relaxed ends are thinning. Eww. I guess my hair technically reached bra-strap length, but I wouldn't claim it with those ends. Originally, I thought I wouldn't have to start trimming thin ends until I reached my length goal, but the sight of those made me change my mind. Especially since they now change the look of my twist/braid outs. I think I have about 2-3 inches {at least} of thin ends that need to go before I have full, thick and healthy hair from root to tip at any length.

after trim

Another thing I'm happy about is that my hair seems to be growing evenly. I don't have a v-shape or anything that I see many ladies work hard to get rid of only for it to come right back. I will count that as a blessing. I decided to cut about 1" and up to 2" in some areas. Usually, even when I would search and destroy, I would make sure I had an even cut as well. I didn't this time only because I felt myself getting scissor happy! I have felt the urge to cut my hair into a style over the past few months, but I know I would just end up mad at myself if I did. So, I put the scissors down. 

 I think my hair looks so much better after the trim! Despite the fact that its a little uneven, its looking pretty healthy, in my opinion. I wasn't trying to trim off all of the thin ends at this point, but I am planning on removing the rest either at my next touch up or the end of the year. Since I don't really wear my hair straight like this very often at all, I'm not even worried about the unevenness of the cut. I think it puts me somewhere in between my  previous length checks this year, but my ends look thicker than they did back then. So I'm pleased overall. Looking at the amount of hair I cut off, it really wasn't that much but it made quite a difference. Shows how thin those ends were.I am planning on getting serious about protective styling again for the remainder of the year to see how much length I can retain between now and then. With the progress I've made so far, I think I should definitely be at my goal of mid-back length by the time I hit 2 years in April 2014. We will see!

goodbye thin ends!!

12 comments dusting, hair journey, hair trim, length check, search and destroy

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Monthly Goals

Instagram pic of the day :)

 A number of bloggers I follow set goals each month and then assess how well they did with reaching them. To me, this is such a good idea and I have wanted to do it for awhile now. I usually set mental goals, but don't go as far as writing it down or creating a whole post about it. I think that when you write down your goals and visualize them, it makes it more likely you will reach them. I also believe that setting smaller goals makes large goals more attainable. It's not enough to just have a big goal, you have to have a step-by-step plan of action to make reaching that goal a success. So, after thinking of small goals and not accomplishing them over the past few months, I have decided to step my game up by setting monthly goals and evaluating my progress. 

Even though we're about half-way through September, I figured I should just go ahead and list some goals I have already had in mind this month. This way I'll have something to compare and assess come October when I set new goals. I want to start small with some hair goals and a couple others that will probably also help with my hair (lol). Baby steps. There are some things I do that are great, but they have not become regular habits yet. I would like to be more consistent with these kinds of things. So without further adieu, here are my goals for this month:

1. Moisturize and seal my hair [at least] 4 times a week. Right now, I moisturize and seal when I think about it. Awful, I know. Or when my hair feels dry, which I don't think is good because I think its better not to let your hair get dry. I would like to be proactive not reactive. 
2. Henna my hair. I actually bought some henna powder back in April. Yet I haven't taken the time to find a good recipe I like and finally do it! I have been wanting to try this for a long time. I'm sure I already have all the ingredients I need, too.
3. Trim my own ends. My bone straight relaxed ends are starting to look pretty scarce to me. I hate thin ends! I used to trim my ends myself regularly because I love fresh ends and didn't like my layers to grow out too much. However, once I started wanting to grow my hair out and realized my "trims" could sometimes be more like cuts, I put a ban on my use of hair scissors. I think it's time to lift the ban. 
4. Use my growth aid every other day. I have a sulfur based growth oil by Liquid Gold. I got it last year after reading about it all over Hairlista. I probably used it for about a month consistently. Even though I felt it had good results, I haven't been consistent since.
5. Drink [at least] 54oz of water daily. I have a water bottle I carry with me almost everywhere. It's 27oz. There are some days I drink the whole thing 3x and others I barely get through it once. I would like to start drinking it at least 2x daily consistently. Then I can graduate to higher levels. 
6. Exercise 2-3x a week. I used to exercise regularly. Then I moved and...well... I don't anymore. 
7. Post to my blog [at least] 3x a week. Enough said. 

There you have it. Seven [small-ish] goals. Most of which I have already been working to achieve. Hopefully this will help me become more consistent and make my goals more attainable.

2 comments hair journey, monthly goals

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1 Year Later... (Hair-anniversary!)

As I was reflecting on the end of the protective styling challenge coming and anticipating the length of my hair, I realized it's officially been one year since I started this whole "hair journey" thing (I really don't like to call it that lol!). A full year of researching and being intentional about my hair care with the purpose of growing my hair down my back. Yaaay! It's always great when you commit yourself to doing something and can look back and see the progress that has been made because you stayed committed.

I like to think I had a nice amount of hair knowledge and a solid head of hair beforehand. Fortunately for me, I didn't start this with a head full of damage to overcome. I just felt like I was stuck at just past shoulder length hair, despite the fact that I always had a significant amount of new growth every 8-10 weeks. It was a conundrum to me. So I brought it up to my stylist (whom I love!) and was catapulted into this whole world of hair science, tip, tricks and healthy hair enthusiasts. 

Here is what my hair looked like last year, April 2012:

click to enlarge

And what it looks like now, at my most recent length check, April 2013:

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I would have to say that this past year has been a great success! I haven't had any setbacks and I have made, what I consider to be, a significant amount of progress. My hair is so thick now, and slowly, but surely, it is inching down my back. I don't think my hair has ever been this long (or healthy!). Nor do I think I actually knew too much about what my hair needed before I started this. My hair is now thriving, from learning information that, initially, I thought was just doing entirely too much and applying it to my hair care. When I first started reading about all these BLACK women talking about washing and deep conditioning their hair weekly (sometimes more often!), and moisturizing and sealing daily and blah blah blah. I was like... "-_- you're kidding me right? That's doing entirely too much! I don't eva gots the time for that!..." Not to mention the loads of hair myths that entered my mind at the thought of doing some of these things.

Ha! Boy was I wrong! Even though I thought these ideas were ridiculous, I was still willing to at least try them out. Why you ask? Because the women who were going on and on about these tips had beautiful heads of hair! Like heads of hair that made me no longer consider my hair to be allll that. I wanted that. So I went for it and I'm so glad I did because they worked. My scalp now gets a serious attitude with me if I try to go two weeks without washing it. My hair cries when I don't moisturize and seal. And I feel like something is wrong if I haven't deep conditioned in over a week. I don't even remember the last time I used my curling iron. It's no longer my go to when my hair's not working the way I want it. Check out my full regimen here (got a new tab up there, too!).

I have learned so much and I know I still have so much to learn. The nerdy girl in me loves all the [good] science research behind many of the hair rules I now follow. While I haven't had any setbacks, it certainly wasn't easy getting myself used to this whole new way and mindset of taking care of my hair. Old habits die hard and progress is a process. So to any of you ladies who have just started out, only been going for a matter of months, or even have been in this longer than I have and are just not seeing the progress you would like - I say: STICK WITH IT!! I was blessed to kinda know my hair and have a stylist, who definitely knew my hair and was big on healthy hair practices, to give me the push I needed. It really boils down to learning your hair; what it loves, hates, and needs. What works for me may not work for you, that's a serious annoying truth of hair care. However, learning will always be worth the time it took in the end.

*cheers to another year!!*

12 comments hair anniversary, hair journey, hair tips, length check, progress pics

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