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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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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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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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:

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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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L4L Protective Styling Final Update

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!

3 comments length check, longing4length protective styling challenge, progress pics, protective styles

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Christmas Wash Day!

It's Christmas (well the day after) and I love Christmas! Yet, I decided washing my hair on Christmas (lol) was a good idea. I forced myself into it late last night because it needed to be done and I have to work the rest of the week. So I put a mix of HE Hello Hydration conditioner, Vatika Frosting coconut oil, and grapeseed oil in my hair and covered it with a plastic cap and scarf before bed. 

After having a morning filled with family and Christmas traditions, I rinsed my hair and shampooed with S.M. African Black Soap Shampoo and C.O.N. Argan Oil shampoo. I tried another new deep conditioner today! Silk Dreams Soothing Conditioner. It has peppermint oil in it. Since the winter left me with dry scalp and strands, I thought it was the perfect time to give this a try. And I loved it! As soon as I put my plastic cap and scarf on, I could feel the tingling on my scalp. I tied another scarf on top to match my outfit for the day and went out to visit more family. All in all I probably deep conditioned for about five hours. 

Once I was back home, I rinsed and detangled my hair in the shower and did a final ACV rinse. Once again, I have to give the Silk Dreams conditioner a round of applause. I applied my usual leave ins, Aphogee Green Tea & Keratin Restructurizer and Elasta QP H-2, and let my hair air dry overnight. I flat ironed my hair because I haven't in awhile and I wanted to do a length check really see what my hair was looking like. So here it is:

 
I felt like my ends were in a much better state before I saw these pics! Ha! And I might kinda still be in denial about it like umm... did I not comb my hair correctly before I took these shots??? lol! I'm unsure. Well they're not as thick as I would like them to be. Overall, I'm pleased. I think my hair is doing a good job of collectively moving down my back :) I don't have that terrible deep v-shape where only the middle of my hair growing or anything so I'm thankful for that.  

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Leave a Comment 2 weeks post, length check, scarf styles, wash day

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