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noreenw
December 15th, 2014, 10:40 AM
As a new user, I can't start a blog, but I would like to keep track of my hair's progress and list what did/didn't work.
Sooooo.....
August 2013: hair is damaged from sun-in and I cut it to my shoulders.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B77wEoYcT7TAbzAxU214NEozcU5HMzBmbWlrdkFJZUZOX09F/view?usp=sharing

Don't treat it very well (straightening, always wearing it down) plus a trim midway through means that
July 2014: 1 year later and almost no new length!
https://media.licdn.com/media/p/7/005/05a/036/01dd75f.jpg
At this point I decide to make my hair more of a priority and switch to sulfate- and silicone-free shampoo and conditioner (L'Oreal EverSleek), cold water only, CO except twice a week, braiding hair at night, and start taking silica and fish oil. I experiment with coconut oil, but weekly hot coconut oil treatments make my hair unbearably crunchy. I decide my hair needs only moisture, not protein, and switch to jojoba oil occasionally. This marks the start of what has been called my "hair obsession". At one point, I try silicones again and they dry out my hair. Sigh- my hair was so shiny after using silicone-containing deep conditioner.
November 2014: Start taking biotin (1/4 pill per night), but ran out of silica. Had tried biotin before, and my hair started shedding like crazy, but when I stopped and then tried again, not negative results. Also, no spikes in acne, which I was really worried about! The key seems to be introducing it slowly. Not sure if I should ramp up to 1 pill/day, I want to reintroduce silica first. Also, start oiling hair (especially ends) with jojoba almost every day and wearing in updos. Hopefully this will really kickstart my growth!
December 2014:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B77wEoYcT7TAbzAxU214NEozcU5HMzBmbWlrdkFJZUZOX09F/view?usp=sharing
Almost at APL! Still have a few inches of damaged hair at the bottom that I'd love to cut off, but I'll keep them as long as I can keep them healthy with regular oiling and S&D, or until I reach around BSL. I think my eventual goal is waist-length, or at least a few inches past BSL dry, and I want a thick hemline.
I think this image is pretty realistic about what my hair could eventually look like (mine would probably be a bit darker). Motivation!
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curltalk/attachments/growing-out/39069-2013-true-waist-length-challenge-imageuploadedbycurltalk1381531494.333840.jpg

noreenw
December 15th, 2014, 10:41 AM
Oops! Second link should be https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B77wEoYcT7TAU0JkbEJBb0FyUmVaSVJ5Z2tkNVpldXJuUjM0/view?usp=sharing

Anje
December 15th, 2014, 10:45 AM
Hang in there.... It only takes 25 posts before you can start a blog. Comment in a few threads, and you'll be there! :D

Halliday
December 15th, 2014, 10:53 AM
I like your curls very much, glad you're treating it better now :crush:

fiğrildi
December 15th, 2014, 11:04 AM
You're making progress, and your hair has a really nice curl pattern. You're on the right track! :flower:

noreenw
December 17th, 2014, 12:02 AM
Ooh, thanks Anje! I definitely have more questions than insights right now, hehe.
And Halliday and Fidrildi, your lovely comments are so appreciated! Loving my curls can be such a struggle, especially when my hair is much longer wet :( Hopefully they'll add volume when it's longer!
When I just look at how dry and crunchy my ends were in the '1-year' picture.. *shudder*

noreenw
December 22nd, 2014, 12:05 PM
Today I did another S&D and found lots of 'white dot' ends and a few knots :( I'm not sure what could cause these, but I wonder if it's from either days that I don't wash my hair (although I do slap some jojoba oil on the ends), or the weird angles my ends are at when they're in a bun. Sigh, I hope my 'protective styling' isn't actually hurting my ends. Maybe's it's just from the days when I wear a braid instead of a bun- I know it's not as protective, but buns every day get boring! Especially because my hair isn't long enough for anything fancy. Ugh, also, some of my ends are so damaged they're platinum blond. The good news: It's been at least a month since my last S&D, unlike before when I would have to almost every week, and there were only 2 or 3 actual split ends. There's hope!

I also have been shedding again :/ I'm tempted to blame it on the biotin again, but last time the reaction was immediate whereas this time it's been at least a few weeks. Maybe I just shed more in the winter, I'm not sure. I hope my beloved velvet scrunchie isn't pulling my hairs! I got some new, fancier liquid silica (BioSil) that I hope will work even better than the cheap pills I got the first time. I noticed my leg hair growth really slowed down when I ran out of silica (TMI I know, but I can never tell how my head hair is growing).

I've decided on a few hair goals. My first is to figure out my growth rate so I can make sure my goals are realistic, so I'm looking forward to taking a new picture mid-February (2 months after the most recent photo on here). I've basically decided to completely baby my hair for 2 years (until December 2016) and then, no matter what length my hair is at, just start enjoying it, wearing it down more often, etc. Assuming I can get 4 inches of dry growth a year (optimistic, I know, but a girl can dream) I could be between BSL and waist by then, which right now is my dream length. That means I should be between APL and BSL by the end of this year, meaning hopefully I'll reach APL dry by around August! That seems so doable :o

Looking waayyyyy into the future: I want to reach waist length with completely natural hair. But then, I've always wanted red hair (my mom's a gorgeous natural redhead), so if I'm ready for a change then I may try henna! The thought of it already makes me excited :cheese:

noreenw
February 16th, 2015, 03:21 PM
Official 2-month progress picture is here! It's not really a fair comparison, as I'm in a drier climate and in the first picture my hair is totally over-oiled. There's not that much growth though :( this was even the picture in which my hair looked longest! Sigh.. I'll have to try to not get discouraged.
I've become more relaxed about my hair care routine-- I no longer use cold water on it, and I stopped taking biotin because I had a feeling it wasn't working (as I don't know my growth rate, it's hard to go on anything beyond that!) I still braid it at night (really need to get a sleep cap) and will probably start on the silica again. I've also been wearing it up almost every day since December-- I'm getting a little tired of buns! My worst setback was when I decided to use one of my 'free passes' for putting hair down on a half-up style I wore to a dance club with friends-- big mistake. I was worried about it getting broken and tangled all night, and sure enough, I found tons of split ends and breakage the next day :( Still I'd reaally hoped for a bit more growth over these 2 months. I guess I have to just accept that my hair does indeed grow slowly, despite the care and love I treat it with. On the bright side, I'm still hopeful abiout reaching APL before August! Maybe even a the next picture (ok, in the spirit of realistic goals, June).
https://docs.google.com/a/berkeley.edu/file/d/0B77wEoYcT7TAVlhJRk5zc0tTZXYzUlFzQ253VG44aW1TZ2dv/edit?usp=drive_web

noreenw
February 16th, 2015, 03:21 PM
https://docs.google.com/a/berkeley.edu/file/d/0B77wEoYcT7TAVlhJRk5zc0tTZXYzUlFzQ253VG44aW1TZ2dv/edit?usp=drive_web

noreenw
February 16th, 2015, 03:22 PM
Hm, my pictures aren't showing. https://docs.google.com/a/berkeley.edu/file/d/0B77wEoYcT7TAVlhJRk5zc0tTZXYzUlFzQ253VG44aW1TZ2dv/edit?usp=drive_web

noreenw
April 18th, 2015, 02:21 PM
So... I had a huge milestone yesterday! My first real (not s&d) trim since committing to grow out my hair. I didn't want to at first because my hair was solidly APL and I wanted it to show in my 4-month progress picture, but as I was sitting down to s&d I saw so many tangled, dry ends. I'd noticed a lot of tangles recently that usually led to breakage, and I was scared the damage would spread up the strand until my ends were as fried as they were 2 years ago, so I decided to just go for it and cut off whatever looked dry and tangly-- about 1/2 an inch on average. It was mainly scraggly ends, so I didn't see much change in the bulk appearance of my hair when I was done, but while washing I could really tell the difference, and I was regretting it a bit even though I knew it was necessary.

BUT-- I just took my progress photo and I'm still brushing APL!! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B77wEoYcT7TARk9aVmg4MHZuT3M4Y19jLU5fVlgybm9nS3lZ/view?usp=sharing

I think I'm in a really good place, hair growth-wise. I'm not taking any supplements, just making sure I eat enough fish and trying to eat more protein, and I'm just putting a bit of olive oils on my ends every time it's drying. I had some buildup a few weeks ago so I had to shampoo my hair every night for a while to get rid of it, but I've fallen back into a comfortable every-3-to-4-nights routine, and conditioning most other nights. I'm also letting myself wear my hair down a good amount, maybe 2/3 times a week and at home, because I love the way it feels. This is the first time I feel like I've actually achieved an inch in 2 months, so I'm hoping my hair be noticeably longer when I go back to school in 4 months, and mayyybe BSL by October? Maybe December.

Off to BSL we grow! :magic:

lapushka
April 18th, 2015, 02:58 PM
Oooh pretty curls!