Headed Back to the Dark Side

I'm sure you're wondering what I mean by "the dark side" although you may have some guesses. Basically, I just don't have time to spend 5-8 hours doing my hair, so I'm going back to my bi-weekly salon visits starting this Friday. BUT don't fret! I'm still fully committed to my hair journey and my goal of MBL (although I feel like giving up sometimes)!

As I spoke about in my hair story, earlier this year I had actually started getting my hair corn rowed during my salon visits so that I could wear a wig, so I'm planning to go back to that routine. Following are the pro's and con's that I've weighed in making this decision:

                             

Pro’s	Con’s
1. I get 5-8 hours of time back on a bi-weekly basis, or 10-16 on a monthly basis	1. I will no longer have exclusive control of my hair and how gentle it’s treated
2. My stylist has a wonderful steamer, so I get to return to my oil treatments under the steamer on a bi-weekly basis = double benefit	2. My stylist is EXPENSIVE, so I’ll lose the savings of caring for my hair myself
3. I still will not be using direct heat on a regular basis because the process for my salon visits is:   a. steam + oil treatment   b. shampoo & conditioner   c. hair is cornrowed while still damp, so no direct heat	3. The last time I followed this routine of keeping my hair cornrowed, I got SOOO BORED WITH MY WIG! I may need to remedy this by investing in a few different selections vs. just one all of the time
4. I’ll still M&S on a daily or every other day basis with my hair cornrowed; I’ll also still oil my scalp with JBCO regularly with easy access to my scalp
5. This will help me keep my hands out of my hair, and more importantly my ends protected, which will help with length retention!

I think this is a good idea at this point because I need to protect my hair since fall is here and winter is right around the corner. My goal is to follow my wig regimen (I just decided to call it that) until at least February 2012, which is when I'm scheduled for my next relaxer after the one in November. If I'm able to make it to February, at that point I'll re-evaluate what the next best steps are. One thing I decided though is that I'm not going to torture myself and follow the wig regimen if I'm not really feeling it. I may consider a weave, but I'll cross that bridge if I get to it. 

The next thing I want to tighten up is what I should do with my hair between salon visits in addition to M&S'ing? Should I follow the Crown & Glory method?

I welcome any ideas/ suggestions!