Hi friends! I apologize because I have not done a good job
of posting over the summer. In my last relaxer update, I mentioned that my goal
was to wear my hair out over the summer in order to “enjoy” it a bit more and
give myself, and close family and friends a break from my wigs. I had planned
to post my hairstyles, but only shared the details of my curlformers.
Fortunately, I did stick to the plan of wearing my hair out
for the summer, which I’m SOO proud of myself for! After I did the curlformers,
I did bantu knots a few times, followed by twist and curls, followed by braid
and curls. My favorite styles were the curlformers and braid and curl. It’s
funny because the braid and curl was a HUGE hit with everyone! Literally – it
was to the point where complete strangers (ex: middle aged white man) would
approach me to compliment my hair and/ or ask how I achieved the style. It was
also interesting because everyone commented on the length of my hair, stating
that if my hair was shoulder length, or a little beyond with the curls, then it
must really be “long.” I’m sure you all
can relate in that when you’re on a hair journey, you often don’t think your
hair is that long considering the
many women who have MBL, and longer hair. However, I’m now a little past APL,
and am finally starting to feel like my hair is long!
I got my hair texturized on Saturday at 12 weeks, and it was
business as usual (texturizer + trim)! At one point when I was roughly 6 weeks
post, I thought I was experiencing more breakage than normal. I kept an eye on
my hair and stopped using JBCO (Jamaican black castor oil) and eventually gave
up EVCO (extra virgin coconut oil). Fortunately, I didn’t actually have any
unusual breakage (based on my stylist’s assessment), so either eliminating the
oils did the trick, or I was being overly sensitive.
One last note – I exercise daily, with the exception of the
first two weeks post relaxer (I need to get my money’s worth out of my straight
hair, lol), but this summer I ended up taking the entire 12 weeks off from
exercising and I decided to track the
impact on my hair. I noticed that although I’m close to line #3 on
my shirt, my hair should actually be at or slightly past #3 based on
my normal growth rate. So overall, working out makes a difference for my hair
growth! Fortunately party time is over, so I’ll be back to Insanity, and wigs
in two weeks J.
I’m really happy with my hair health and feel like I’m seeing
length progress. If all things remain consistent I believe I’ll hit my next
goal of BSL, between lines #4 and #5, by my 3 year hairversary in March 2014. I’m
hoping to reach my final length goal of MBL, line #7, by next year this time
(September 2014). Until next time…
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| Left: 8.2013 (~line 3) ; Right: 6.2013 (line 2) |
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| Left: 8.2013 (~line 3); Right: 9.2012 (~ 1 year ago) |
