Hi :)
I'm a 19-year-old college student living in Wyoming. At the beginning of high school I chopped off my BS length hair and kept it super-short until graduation, when I decided to grow it out again. It's been ten months now, and my hair is an inch or so below my shoulders. Currently it is a lovely auburn :) This summer I have to dye it my natural medium brown so I won't get yelled at in basic training, but that is absolutely the last time I'm using chemical dyes. After training I'm going to start experimenting with henna (it's the Army Reserves; they don't care). My favourite hairstyle right now is a bun, even though it's a bit difficult for my fine, slightly thick hair. I love hair slides because they cover up the occasional flippy.
I don't use styling products. My favourite shampoo and conditioner is Mane 'N Tail (it embarasses the heck out of my husband that I shop in the pet department for hair supples :D). I do vinegar rinses every once in awhile, and sometime this week I'm going to try one of the recipes for deep conditioning that are in the Hair Care Recipe Book (avocado and mayonnaise).
My short-term goal for my hair is to get it back to BS length. I could never get it to grow longer when I was younger, so I'm afraid that may be the terminal length, but I'm really hoping that someday, with proper care, it will get at least a couple of inches past my waist.
And that's all about me and my hair :)

Mandy

Hi Mandy!
College AND basic training - Whew that's a lot to take on.  What are you studying in college?  If I can ask, are you doing Army Reserves to help pay for college?

Your hair sounds lovely.  I'm sure you can get it longer than BS - it just takes a bit of patience and care.

Good Luck!

The college help is a bit of it. I have a scholarship, but since my husband is going active Army, we'll be moving, and the scholarship is limited to this state.
I have some kind of odd reasons for joining also. Since my husband is going to be in training for months, I figured I would be useless taking classes, as I know how distracted I get when he's gone; it's something I've considered off-and-on for a few years, but which I thought was beyond my physical capability; and finally, because it's a challenge that very few people I know expect me to meet :)
I don't know what degree I'm going to go for yet, so I'm kind of glad that I'm taking the year off for training. Buys me a bit of time :) I'm currently considering philosophy as a major, with maybe a minor in Chinese.
Thanks for the encouragement about my hair...it's looking MUCH better now that I'm taking some of the advice that I've found here  :D