Hello, long hair community!

[lerryn]

Hi! I am an absolute, utter newbie to this site so I'm sorry in advance if any of this is janky and weird, but I figured I should introduce myself to you lovely people!
I'm Lerryn, 20 years old, and from South Africa - as far as my hair history (hairstory?) goes, I've had a love-hate relationship with my hair for as long as I can remember because I'm the only curly haired person in my family and had absolutely no clue how to look after it until I was about 17. So, most of my life has been spent with a big, frizzy bird nest where my hair should have been I bleached and dyed it religiously from 16 to 18; the last time I bleached my hair was in March of 2018, and the last time I dyed it was June of last year! After getting more of a grasp on how to properly take care of my hair (bless you, r/curlyhair), I decided to give up the bleach and grow my hair out completely since I've not seen my natural hair colour since, well, 2016! I've been growing it out officially now for over a year, and I was honestly so shocked at how long my hair could get when it wasn't being constantly fried by all of my bleaching shenanigans, who would've guessed? My hair was officially at mid-boob level as of earlier on this year, which is a length that I never thought that I would ever be able to reach, solely because it would always snap off at around collarbone length because of what terrible care I took of it hahaha, sorry to my hair!
Anyways, in July of this year I decided to take the plunge and get a fringe/bangs cut and some layers, because I was so bored of my usual look, and this, my friends, is where everything went downhill. I won't go too into detail because this intro is already waaaaay too long, but basically what happened was that the layers put into my hair were cut waaaaay too short, left me with weird, stringy, ratty looking ends, and I had to take matters (and scissors) into my own hands to try to save what was left of my hair. I went from thick looking, long, princess Merida-esque curls to what I had before - that being, collarbone length hair that feels and looks so much thinner than it used to be. I like my fringe though, so at least it's not all bad! And so, that's why I'm here. To hopefully learn tips and tricks to help my hair grow back stronger and better than ever, and to hopefully reach my dream length of mid-back curls! I'm also very keen on the thought of henna-ing my hair once I've grown all of my bleached bits out, so expect to see me lurking in the henna forums as well hahaha
This was entirely too long and wordy, but that's me - saying a thousand words when fifty would've sufficed lol. Thank you for sticking around and reading this far if you have, I can't wait to have a chat with all of you and take on board any advice that you have to give! I hope you're all staying safe and well during these weird times, lots of love

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Welcome here! We'll be with you in your journey to grow your hair to where you want it to be

[elfgirl]

Welcome!! Wishing you all the best on your growing journey! ^_^

[lapushka]

Welcome! Happy growing!

[milosmomma]

Welcome! You and your hair sound lovely.

[TatsuOni]

Welcome!

[SleepyTangles]

Welcome !

[lerryn]

Thank you all for the welcomes!! So stoked to be a part of this community :

[elise.autumn]

Welcome! It's really great to see a curly solidly in 3s! Mid back curls sounds like an excellent goal.

[lerryn]

Thank you! I definitely do have some 2c waves chucked in there as well, but I'm predominantly type 3 now! Your hair is absolutely breathtaking btw, I adore the colour :