My first LHC anniversary! Pics included!

[Nadine <3]

I found LHC early July of last year and started following the advice here. I joined in August.

I was always told that my hair couldn't be long because it was to thin and fine and it would look stringy and bad. So I never grew it past APL. I always chopped it off and got the recommended layers to give it "body and movement" I liked it okay but I had to style it everyday with the blowdryer, otherwise it looks so stringy and sad. I was fine with this for the longest time, though I did want long hair. At some point I wanted to change my shampoo and condish to sulfate free because I heard it was better for your hair. I switched from using tresseme (the coney filled kind...) to burts bees. I didn't know what clarifying was and I still used my leave ins filled with cones. My hair suffered horrible build up...it acted dry so I added MORE leave in trying to moisturize it. I continued this way until my hair was a ratty mess. I got pretty upset and decided to cut it off. I thought the ends where damaged.

This is what my hair looked like before changing up my shampoo (HA, I am so sorry, this is honestly the only picture I can find of me from this time...laugh all you want lol)
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8531/8519380305_40e45c5334_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/dYQ3Xk)Nothin like dressin like my favorite youtuber. (https://flic.kr/p/dYQ3Xk) by Marie
Photography 92 (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

Lots of cones and blowdrying!

After the chop it looked like this.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/13771007125_61fc96c273_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/mYU1Dk)6-12-13 starting length (https://flic.kr/p/mYU1Dk) by Marie Photography 92 (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

It was a very bad, choppy cut. I was also still trying to use sulfate free shampoos with my heavy cone serum...

That's when I found LHC and realized I had chopped off all my hair because I thought it was damaged. All it needed was a good wash... I felt like an idiot to say the least! So I made a promise to myself not to cut it and follow the advice here because I want long hair!

So a year of growing and here I am. I hit APL, and I'm casually strolling towards BSL. I do trim rather frequently because I have some really annoying collar bone length pieces in the front and I want them to catch up. I'm in no hurry and I figure I probably have heat damaged ends in there that I don't really care to have anyways. My ultimate goal is waist, but we'll see!

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3874/14563842401_03611f467b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/obXuX4)063 (https://flic.kr/p/obXuX4) by Marie Photography 92 (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

From the front. Loving my bangs!:)
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3902/14380647079_bf4c2db455.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nULzn2)075 (https://flic.kr/p/nULzn2) by Marie Photography 92 (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

Thank you SO MUCH LHC! If it wheren't for this place I would have probably chopped my hair off again, not knowing what to look for in products of how to use certain thing properly. My hair would be so sad! AND I would have never known I even hair waves...I always figured I had straight hair that got frizzy and flippy if I I didn't blow dry it...:brickwall

Thank you for helping me grow out the princess hair I've always wanted! :)

[GetMeToWaist]

You have such pretty silky hair! I love your bangs :)

ETA: Also you look like you might be upgrading to 1c now? Waves are coming out!

[Nadine <3]

Thank you for the compliments! My hair changes a lot from day to day. Today was a SUPER wavy day for me...it usually doesn't look that wavy. Usually I get a bit of wave after washing and a few hours after it dries it looks pretty straight. If I pass a comb through it while damp it dries almost perfectly straight. I think the waves came out so much here because I started using Mane n Tail and my hair is loving the protein! That, and I had my hair in my turbie twist for longer than usual.

[Tini'sNewHair]

Your hair looks so much better and much fuller now than without all those layers. Beautiful texture and shine. Congrats :)

[Skade]

Happy anniversary Nadine. :blossom: I see a lot of growth there. And the bangs suit you really well.

[Nadine <3]

Thank you! I'm really impressed with the amount of growth I've had, considering I've trimmed out a lot in in attempt to get rid of all the layers. I can't wait to get ride of the choppy stuff on the sides and have all one length hair! :)

[diddiedaisy]

That's some good growth you've had there. It looks nice and healthy too.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Wow, Nadine, your hair looks so glossy and healthy! Your ends look fresh and lovely, and I can't believe you have been here a whole year already!

[two_wheels]

Happy anniversary! Your hair is so pretty :) and you have grown a lot in just 1 year! Hope you continue to enjoy being here :blossom:

[jacqueline101]

Your hair is shiny and the growth is lovely. Happy anniversary.

[hairpleasegrow]

Wow your hair looks great. It is growing so fast for you…..I have similar hair to yours and in addition to heat and cones I have done a lot of highlighting... so I'm growing that out . It is taking so long !

when I see posts like this it makes me want to chop and start over! I'm hovering at SL and I most likely will be for some time as I cut out the damage and layers. Congrats on your progress :)!!

[ooglipoo]

Happy anniversary! Great work growing; keep it up! :redgrin:

[lapushka]

Well done, Nadine, and congrats on getting to APL!!! :D

[MINAKO]

Happy aniversary, your hair looks great! I'm seconding the suggestion for 1c by the way. http://smiley.nowdararpour.ir/other5/95.gif

[Nadine <3]

Thank you so much everyone! I cannot believe I've been here for an entire year either! It seems like just yesterday I was sitting on the couch frantically googling "how to help damaged hair" "how to speed up hair growth" and then I found LHC so I started just lurking the forums and trying small things for a month before joining. I love it here. Even if I ever decided to chop my hair all off or shave it bald (Never happening lol) I would stay just for the community we have here. Everyone is so nice!

Looks like I've yet again changed my hair type...the longer I'm here, the wavier it gets! LOL

[Nimia]

Has your hair gotten darker, too? It's such a rich, lovely color now. Amazing transformation, in such a short time!

[Nadine <3]

Thank you Nimia! I think it has gotten darker. It can still look pretty light in better, outside light but it is darker than it was! It's funny, I was born with black hair and it fell out and grew in like this:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7396/13070811613_cd51734212_n.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/kV2jUV)36231_1358080788252_1210146_n (https://flic.kr/p/kV2jUV) by Marie Photography 92 (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

It's just progressively gotten darker as I get older. I'm sure if I spent a lot of time in the sun without protecting it, I could get lovely sun bleached highlights if I wanted. Last year when I got it chopped it had pretty highlights from the sun because I didn't realize the sun damaged it.

[calmyogi]

Beautiful! I haven't been here for a year yet myself, but I have been "lurking" the boards for months now lol. And, I have found a lot of helpful and encouraging info as well!

[Aurum]

Congrats! It's always amazing seeing anniversaries and then realizing just how much of an impact LHC can have. Your hair is beautiful, and I wish you much luck in future growing! :)

[neko_kawaii]

Tehehehe! Love the first pic! You've had great growth.

[Ingrid]

Congratulations! Your hair looks lovely :) Wishing you all the best to keep growing!

[RapunzelKat]

Congrats Nadine <3! Your hair looks great, those waves are really coming out! :applause

(And the llama cat cracked me up :lol:)

[woodswanderer]

Lovely....and long hair totally suits you. Those people didn't know what they were talking about.

[Johannah]

Congrats! And yes, blunt bangs are awesome. :rolling:

[Nadine <3]

Thank you everyone! The llama cat was an awkward time in my life LOL I still have and love that hat...but I like my pirate panda bear one better hahaha

Long hair doesn't just suit my face better, I think it fits my personality better as well. I'm always going somewhere and running late so being able to skip the washing of the hair and blow drying every morning is the best! I can ram it in my shower cap, take a 5 minute shower, throw it into a bun or braid and be done with it. So easy and I get more sleep...who said long hair was to much work and short hair was easier?!

[Medievalmaniac]

Congratulations on your LHC anniversary. Isn't it wonderful when you start to see the results you always wanted? :)

[Nadine <3]

It is <3 I love it! I can't wait for it to be pretty pretty princess hair :)

[Agnes Hannah]

congrats on your growth its looking really good!

[mariakatija]

Awesome growth! Your hair is really pretty!

[lapushka]

Hey, Nadine, I just realized! Another year (and no trimming, or minimal) and you'll probably be BSL!

[Nadine <3]

Thank you so much! That means so much, nobody ever told me my hair was pretty...Maybe once when I was younger and my mom spend an hour torturing it with a curling iron...

Lapushka, Yup! I have no trims planned until December. I want the layers out because I hate them, buuuut...I also want long hair so I'm trying to find a balance between gaining length and chopping out the layers :) I have no damage though, so I don't need to rush it.

[embee]

It looks good! :) I also was told I couldn't have long hair because of thin straight stringy hair. Heh. I can sit on the ends now, and people comment how nice the updo is. Just today a lady said something. :) Hang in there - princess hair is possible.