velorutionista
December 12th, 2014, 10:09 AM
Hi Everybody! It's my 2-year LHC-anniversary, so I thought I'd do a little post to celebrate! I was really bad about taking progress pictures the first year I was here, so most pics are more on the recent side of things (and looking at the round-up, I realize I still haven't mastered the art of taking in-focus, well-lit progress pictures...sigh...hopefully you'll bear with me!).
A little backstory, I decided to start growing my hair long in 2009...I remember the moment exactly, I was on a weekend trip with some friends in the Phillippines (I was there for work for a few months that year), who all had gorgeous long hair, of course, and we were talking about my then-shaggy-grown-out-pixie (I was a little above chin length at the time) and lamenting my seeming inability of growing hair past my shoulders. They gave me something called "buko oil" to slather on before a wash (and basically told me to stop cutting it, the true secret to growing longer hair, haha!)...well, turns out buko is coconut, so coconut oil and I became fast friends early on! I remember being super elated to be able to pull my hair back into two tiny pigtails when DH & I went to Hong Kong in 2010, and I couldn't wait to have hair long enough to pull back more easily!
For the next couple years, I went in for regular trims every 2-3 months, whacking 1-2 inches off at every trim, and thus very slowly gaining length. I also started henna-ing in 2010 (using Lush Rouge henna bars--what a tortuous henna process--if only I'd known there was an easier way!). By 2012 I had reached SL and was fed up with Lush henna, so I started googling advice for non-Lush henna and lo and behold, stumbled on the fabulous folks of the LHC!
The rest is kind of history. I started reading all the excellent advice on everything hair-related, started tweaking my routine, asking tons of newbie questions (thanks for being so patient with me!), discovered BAQ henna, and finally took the advice to stop cutting my hair! My last professional haircut was July 2013, and I didn't trim again until October 2014 (I did S&D during that span, as needed). I'm now shooting for bi-monthly self trims for a bit to thicken up my ends, then continuing on to at least hip length. Though, I've noticed the longer I stick around here, my goals tend to become next milestone +1! In fall 2013 I finally hit APL, then BSL in spring 2014, and now I'm hovering around WL (trimming has kept me here longer than I'd otherwise be).
And now some pictures!!
Here's my chin-length messy bob/grownout pixie (and natural hair color!) in January 2010:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/short2009_zps51b39e75.jpg
Here's APL in 2013 (during my CWC phase--hair loved it, scalp hated it...I miss the wavies!):
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/a07e08a2-40b6-496b-8266-c2bdf10d131c_zps7c647dd8.jpg
Here's the mid-back abyss in February 2014:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/be984bca-0c90-449e-bf56-b73405b88c00_zps7403308b.jpg
Here's (blurry) BSL-ish in May this year (I think this was after a no-heat curling attempt that, obviously, didn't quite work out!):
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/image_zps923caa60.jpg
Here's October 2014 after my first self-trim:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/5d12c772-29fa-4533-8814-a39e36bdf729_zpsbbfded12.jpg
And here's my most recent length shot, after December's trim:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/1a70a6a0-cbac-4639-9faa-4f3635d9b435_zps62d82558.jpg
I'm amazed at how much my hair has grown over the last few years, and I feel like it's in pretty decent shape these days, too (if I do say so myself!). And I'm really happy to have found such a super supportive and knowledgeable group along the way!
A little backstory, I decided to start growing my hair long in 2009...I remember the moment exactly, I was on a weekend trip with some friends in the Phillippines (I was there for work for a few months that year), who all had gorgeous long hair, of course, and we were talking about my then-shaggy-grown-out-pixie (I was a little above chin length at the time) and lamenting my seeming inability of growing hair past my shoulders. They gave me something called "buko oil" to slather on before a wash (and basically told me to stop cutting it, the true secret to growing longer hair, haha!)...well, turns out buko is coconut, so coconut oil and I became fast friends early on! I remember being super elated to be able to pull my hair back into two tiny pigtails when DH & I went to Hong Kong in 2010, and I couldn't wait to have hair long enough to pull back more easily!
For the next couple years, I went in for regular trims every 2-3 months, whacking 1-2 inches off at every trim, and thus very slowly gaining length. I also started henna-ing in 2010 (using Lush Rouge henna bars--what a tortuous henna process--if only I'd known there was an easier way!). By 2012 I had reached SL and was fed up with Lush henna, so I started googling advice for non-Lush henna and lo and behold, stumbled on the fabulous folks of the LHC!
The rest is kind of history. I started reading all the excellent advice on everything hair-related, started tweaking my routine, asking tons of newbie questions (thanks for being so patient with me!), discovered BAQ henna, and finally took the advice to stop cutting my hair! My last professional haircut was July 2013, and I didn't trim again until October 2014 (I did S&D during that span, as needed). I'm now shooting for bi-monthly self trims for a bit to thicken up my ends, then continuing on to at least hip length. Though, I've noticed the longer I stick around here, my goals tend to become next milestone +1! In fall 2013 I finally hit APL, then BSL in spring 2014, and now I'm hovering around WL (trimming has kept me here longer than I'd otherwise be).
And now some pictures!!
Here's my chin-length messy bob/grownout pixie (and natural hair color!) in January 2010:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/short2009_zps51b39e75.jpg
Here's APL in 2013 (during my CWC phase--hair loved it, scalp hated it...I miss the wavies!):
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/a07e08a2-40b6-496b-8266-c2bdf10d131c_zps7c647dd8.jpg
Here's the mid-back abyss in February 2014:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/be984bca-0c90-449e-bf56-b73405b88c00_zps7403308b.jpg
Here's (blurry) BSL-ish in May this year (I think this was after a no-heat curling attempt that, obviously, didn't quite work out!):
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/image_zps923caa60.jpg
Here's October 2014 after my first self-trim:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/5d12c772-29fa-4533-8814-a39e36bdf729_zpsbbfded12.jpg
And here's my most recent length shot, after December's trim:
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/velorutionista/Hair%20for%20LHC%20posts/Progress%20Pics%20for%20LHC/1a70a6a0-cbac-4639-9faa-4f3635d9b435_zps62d82558.jpg
I'm amazed at how much my hair has grown over the last few years, and I feel like it's in pretty decent shape these days, too (if I do say so myself!). And I'm really happy to have found such a super supportive and knowledgeable group along the way!