well it sounds like you are well on your way. this is a very nice place to give and recieve advice when needed. your hair sound like its beautiful. cant wait to see a picture. i noticed you said you like to color your hair. well im not an expert but if youre looking to still have color but want it as chemical free as possible. there is henna. ive heard that henna has more of a red tone to it so i would probably try looking into indigo that is more of a darker rich color. like i said im not expert but at least now youll have something to look into and think about. anyway good luck on your growing and have a happy holiday. take care.

Hey waiting4longlocks! After reading your post I realized we have a lot in common! I also have naturally black hair (although mine is not as thick or wavy as yours) that I just love to dye.  I also have a caramel complexion, so I love how dark and light hair looks on me, but I plan on going back to black for a while, then I will dye it (subtly!) with henna.  I"m also entering my last semester of college!  Well good luck with your hair, I"m sure you'll have it long, healthy and beautiful in no time!

Welcome to LL!  Enjoy the boards and ask away any questions you have.  Thoughts and suggestions are most welcome,too!

Picture Removed.

haha I'm back! This really helps to pass the time

I found a cool hair quote by Paulina Rubio:
'My hair talks a lot about my charater, the way I am. It's wild and imperfect. Sometimes I wear it curly, sometimes I prefer it straight. I like it curly best because that's the way my natural hair is.'

—Paulina Rubio


I don't really know much about her career,  but I know she is a latin pop star. And I know I love her hair!
Here is another pic. This is sort of my goal... My curls are different than hers, but I like her length and cut.



I've been taking my hair/skin/nail vitamins!!! But basically still just sitting around waiting for results. I know it won't come overnight.. but I want some growth so bad!! 

xx

I have a LONG way to go before I can even start wearing my hair CURLY comfortably.. I think its still too short. Looking at other people with great hair really helps me pass the time!    Right now I either wear my hair up, or I just run a large barrel curling iron through the layers after it has air-dried.  Here's a pic:





Anyways I just got out of the shower, so I'm just waiting around for my hair to dry a little bit. I decided to use the mane&tail conditioner today with aveda color conserve shampoo. I kind of like the results..I left the conditioner in for about 5 min, and my hair feels very nice!

Also, I think its too difficult to do a cold rinse during the winter. But since the cold air outside makes my hair so shiny, I figure it's not necessary.. Does anyone have any insight on this?

Ok well that's it for now!
xx

hahaha I'm 21, is that young?
really the problem is that I'm a closet teeny-bopper 
I also just search blogs all day to look at other peoples (mostly celebs) hair! pathetic, I know LOL 

P.S. Thanks for the feedback on the cool rinse! I was literally rinsing my hair with ice cold water before 

Yesterday I said I was going to start washing my hair on only every THIRD day, but I don't think I can do it. Anyways, today after using Redken rescue fortifying treatment, my hair feels so SOFT and strong. Also I am just starting to notice the positive effects of the hair/skin/nails vitamins.. My hair is starting to feel fuller! It really hasn't been that long since I started taking them every day, but I can always feel the effects of vitamins on my hair when I first start taking them. Hopefully there will be more HEALTHY hair to come! 

I've decided to wear my hear up as much as i can until i get my hair trimmed...
well because my color is fading actually 
and I need to let my hair (and bank account) rest
... no touch-ups just yet!
>sigh<

Is your hair that dark or is that from the camera and the location of the picture taken?


My wife loves almonds so that might be one reason her hair is so healthy

Jerry

Your hair is so pretty! I wish mine was that thick

just saw this on the straight arrow website (the people that make mane & tail) under FAQ.


"Q.      Does Mane‘n Tail Shampoo and/or Conditioner make hair grow or grow faster?

This is our number one asked question! We have had many people contact us with reports of hair growth and faster growing hair.

Our answer is that when hair is naturally strong it does not break or create split ends, which hinders most people from achieving their goal of longer, stronger, healthier more fuller looking hair.

Mane‘n Tail products were originally developed for horses. Horses' hair is three times thicker than people hair. People started using the products to achieve the beautiful results they saw with their own horses' manes and tails. This is where the legend of Mane‘n Tail products comes from, by nourishing, conditioning and fortifying the hair and scalp to aid healthier hair growth. Mane‘n Tail shampoo and conditioner maintains and helps to achieve longer, stronger, healthier more fuller looking hair. The results can be seen and felt after the first application."

ugh another day of waiting for long hair

Thanks Jerry! I'm SO impatient   but your post was very !  


I'm trying out a new hair routine right now, this is what I did:

Step 1: Applied Got 2 b Leave-in Instant Mender through hair
Step 2: Applied Beyond The Zone Noodle Head Curl Cream (especially to ends)
Step 3: Divided hair into 4 sections and worked Pantene Mousse through-out
Step 4: Air dry (The step I am currently at )

Guess we will see what happens.. Oh, and I washed with Mane & Tail   

Earlier I had thought about wearing my hair up for a few weeks to not put any styling stress & let it go.. but I really didn't stick to it.

Today I am making a commitment not to wear my hair down until  Valentines Day.

this wearing hair up all the time is kind of a drag.. but it's entertaining my mind a bit (or at least taking my focus away from growing) and I'm trying to get creative.
Today for my first class at 9:30 I wore my hair up with an elastic hair band. I got ready in about 5 minutes... and I looked sort of like Britney when she had that headband/weave contraption going on circa early 2007...... not very pretty!


Goal: Try not to make my hair look as messy as Miss Britney's when wearing it up for the next few weeks! 

Yesterday I had HUGE beautiful hair and curls!! My routine was pretty much the same as always, Leave-in conditioner, curl cream, mousse, air dry. But after it was dry I used a new product: Shagg Spray by Sally Hershberger. It is supposed to add piece-y texture to layered hair and really made all the difference! It is a light-weight spray (not waxy or anything) and really held my layers in place for the whole day!
Successfully wearing my hair curly yesterday made me very excited, I'm sort of starting to see results

Results were great! 
Only problem with my hair right now while wearing it curly is that the front parts (what used to be my bangs) have grown to about chin length but are not long enough to get curly... so instead they just curl under or OUT... and it gives me a headache

To be completely honest, overall I think my hair is in

okay

condition.
Its not really good, but its not really bad either.

The condition/cut could be better. I plan to keep my layers once I reach my goal length (So I can continue to style and wear my hair curly.. my hair is very thick!) but i am certain all the layers are not growing at the same rate... also a headache!
At this point I'm only using mane & tail, for my washes and days where I only condition. Results are still good, but I've been warned that using this product for a long period of time can lead to massive build-up! At that point I have decided that I will probably switch over to Aveda's Shampure products.

2 short term goals I have added in the past day:
1. Sit-ups every day. I have been doing this for 3 or 4 days now,. I start on my back with my legs straight up and then do 50 crunches holding my legs up, 50 crunches twisting to each side (still with legs up) , 50 "bicycle" crunches, 50 regular crunches, and then I lay on each side and do 50 crunches for my waistline. (the goal is to build this routine up and hopefully repeat! But for now, afterwards.. I cant move 


2. DRINK LOTS & LOTS OF WATER all day, everyday. I've noticed my hair/body is dehydrated.. I drink coffee all day to stay awake during class, and in general I just don't drink enough water. Hopefully this will take my hair up a notch from just "okay".

Thanks Sakina, thats a GREAT idea! I've tried heat & scrunching  on my former bangs but the curl doesn't hold.. your tip has given me so many styling ideas.. I can't wait to get started!! 

My Mane & Tail conditioner is running out 

so that means I'm going to have to start thinking about what I'm going to use next....

I will probably freshen up my color with a permanent black dye (but an Aveda dye so it will be all natural) and then begin using Aveda's Shampure Shampoo & Conditioner. I'm kind of scared about the BLACK though, I've tried to go back to my natural color before and had a blue-black result that was very difficult to fade! I'm hoping for more of a brown black or a soft black. Nervous though, more thoughts on that later... will DEFINITELY post-pone this until after I go see my mom this weekend. 

Anyways, here is the info on Shampure from the Aveda site:


Our pure, gentle daily shampoo—with MorikueTM protein—cleanses and fortifies any type of hair. Infusing it with one of Aveda's original aromas: a calming mix of 25 pure flower and plant essences.

•      Soothing aroma
•      For all hair types

ShampureTM Conditioner provides daily protection from environmental stress and damage. Our formula—with MorikueTM protein—leaves hair healthy-looking, infusing it with a calming mix of 25 pure flower and plant essences.

•      Soothing aroma
•      leaves hair soft and shiny
•      for all hair types


I wash about every 3rd of 4th day but I condition daily so I think this will work nicely.
ITS AMAZING!!!! 

I had to take a break from my hair up commitment today

I didn't style it or anything, but since I shampooed today and it felt so soft when it air-dried, I decided to just throw a baseball cap on.

It's so odd how when u don't see your length for ONLY a week or so, the moment you wear it down it feels MUCH longer!!

I have 2 more weeks of wearing my hair up, and then at that point I will freshen up my color, and change shampoo/conditioner (as mentioned before)

I have LOVED the results of Mane&Tail. I am very, very pleased. I recommend this for multi-cultural hair, curly hair, EXTREMELY damaged hair, and thick hair.
And I think that the results work best if you use Mane&Tail as a treatment... that is, only use it for a certain period of time to regain strength to the hair.

I haven't really been keeping up on my vitamins as much. I've only been taking 1 vitamin a day as opposed to the suggested 3 a day  Since I'm on a mission to grow long hair though, I better start working on that!

Well thats all for right now.

Could there be another convert here?   I just did my henna and indigo yesterday with amla and love,love,love the results!  Have been using henna/indigo probably since 06.  Would never go back to chemical coloring after this!  Do tell your results and pics if possible!

I've been feeling my hair lately and it is getting SO STRONG!!

It must've been the combination of vitamins and mane&tail! My ends feel thick, and look as if they were cut yesterday.. it's hard to imagine that my hair was fried, broken, and over-worked not that long ago! 

What is killing me though is these BANGS (or what used to be bangs). They are still at chin length, and really just make my cut look like a mullet, LOL.


Today I did a mane&tail CO and then slathered my hair with leave-in and threw on a hat to air-dry. That's pretty much it for now.

waiting, waiting, waiting 

yay! curls are starting to come back as you can see in the pic

Now if I only had more length... 


I haven't been doing much to my hair lately. I had a goal of wearing my hair up until the 14th which I have accomplished, but now I don't feel like doing my hair and wearing it down anymore!  oops


As you can also see in the pic... my color has faded A LOT! mostly at the ends 
Too lazy really to do anything about it, and since I don't mind it that much, I will probably hold out a little bit longer.

Your hair is sooo pretty!  I really like the color, makes me think of dark chocolate brownies.  Yum!  I think I'm hungry!!

Keep up the good work!!! 

Your hair is looking fantastic!  Love the color and the curls.  Keep up the good work.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the feedback!! 

My hair is feeling kind of blah 

It is currently up in a big curly bun thing and I don't feel like touching it.
The curls are def. coming out though! I'm just having issues with frizz and the bottom layer. I'm not using any gel at all (too heavy for my hair) instead I just use curl cream & sometimes mousse. I've been frantically searching the pages of naturallycurly.com, but still haven't found any hair routines or "curly cocktails" I like... I guess it just has  to be trial & error

I love Nexxus products!   Hope your experience with them is as pleasant as mine!  The Therappe smells great,btw!

just did an oil treatment... this is what I did:

1. Oiled dry hair
2. Let steam from hot shower do its magic
3. Applied conditioner on top of oil, waited a couple min
4. Thoroughly rinsed
5. Conditioned
6. rinsed


my hair feels lovely!!   

I'm trying out rag curls tonight!

I started with my hair about 3/4 dry. I roughly divided my hair into 6 sections and wrapped sections around rolled up, 3''x4'' pieces of towel. the ends of the towel weren't long enough to tie to I had to use hair ties to secure the ends. 

This is my first "test" with rag curls, so we'll see what happens!

I'm working on a pic, give me a sec  ..........

eeee results not so good... sort of looked like shirly temple! 
It would've looked great if my hair was just a little longer 
Somehow I always find myself saying that!! 

This is a pic i found on the internet... this is the same hairstyle that I've been wearing that I described in my last post I was having trouble articulating! 

bikerbraid wrote on Mar 1^st, 2008 at 5:38pm:



I agree! I love everything about the hair in that pic! 

I'm SHOCKED that my hair is 22" 
That means I had 3/4 inch growth this month! 

Quote:



tell me about it! I'm going to have to get to the gym sooner than planned 

Haven't updated lately.. no reason why.. I've just been bored with it 

Had to get back in the hair game by going to the drug-store and picking up some new products..
-Naked Naturals Citrus & Keratin Fortifying Shampoo.. Its kind of thick, but I liked it
-Suave Coconut Conditioner
-Scalp & Hair Heat Masque

I've been doing lots of different things in the shower lately. Firstly, I have been using the Suave Conditioner before (in addition to) my regular conditioner. I need the extra moisture! 

I've been trying to do more hot oil treatments & even did an olive oil treatment yesterday (woop! woop! Proud of myself for that one  )

I think I'm in the middle of a resting stage 
but still shedding like crazy!


And it has REAAALLLLY slowed down my motivation. 
So I'm trying to get creative to maintain my focus!
Wish me luck! 

Did another Olive Oil Treatment .. this time I let it sit for 30 minutes, then in the shower i slathered my ends with Suave Tropical Coconut Conditioner. I rinsed then used my Naked Naturals Fortifying shampoo, and followed with Suave Tropical Coconut Conditioner. Then I applied my scalp + hair masque for 2 minutes & I followed again with Suave.
I finger-combed my hair and then let it dry. I applied curl cream when my hair finally reached damp & now I am air drying.

Whew, what a pampering my hair got today! & it is looking amazing!! 

oops I've been getting lazy with my hair journal 

But that hasn't stopped me from continuing to pamper & spoil my hair! 

My hair has been rewarding me for the increase in oilings, the decrease in washes, and the ELIMINATION of the blow-dryer!! 
Today I also tried a Mayonnaise treatment, and so far, I like it!
I've been keeping up with my biotin supplements too, and for the first time I am really proud of my hair! & Not just because it's looking good, but because we're finally reaching a compromise...
the more time I spend pampering my hair = the less amount of time I need for styling!
It's exciting to finally be one of those people that can air-dry, throw my hair in a pony-tail & then let it down hour later to reveal nicely-styled waves 
To be honest, I never thought I could get to that point!!

Quote:

WOW! its been a long time 

Since i last wrote in my hair journal, I've had a cut (about 1/2 an inch) that has probably  just grown back!
I've started trying some new things:

-Giovanni Clarifying Shampoo & Giovanni Conditioner
-No CONES!
-ACV rinses occasionally
-Jojoba Oil treatments as often as possible!
-WV rinses occasionally
-Most days = no poo
-Aloe Vera Gel for curly days


Overall more curl is starting to come out in my hair.. so I'm not quite sure how to classify my curls just yet.. I'm guessing... 2b/2c/3a? I guess I will have to wait and see! I'm about BSL now I believe.. and am hoping for mid-back by December. I think it helps to document day by day, so I can keep track of what I'm doing to my hair... so thats why I've returned to my much neglected hair journal! 

Thanks Angel SpuN!

Looks like I haven't been keeping my promise of updating my journal more often 

I've still been taking good care though..
Here's the latest on what I'm trying

1) Lavendar Oil Scalp Treatments: I've read these can speed up hair growth a bit since lavendar oil removes buildup on the scalp. I usually apply for about 15 minutes before the shower and then clarify with Giovanni 50-50 Clarifying shampoo, followed by an ACV rinse.
2) Switching up my biotin with regular B-Complex vitamins.
3) Broadening my use of oils to include: Vitamin E Oil, Sunflower Oil.

I also stole a tip from a fellow LL poster... which is to divide hair in 2 before applying conditioner.. I found that this really helps! I can't remember who I stole the idea from though! 

Hmm.. well that's all I can think of for now.
I'm aiming for the longest layer of my hair to be mid-back by December, and hopefully for my shortest layer to be shoulder length by about that same time.

Yesterday was a good day.. a really, really good day! Hair is looking good, and my first goal is finally at arm's length! (apx. 2.5 months!!!) I have been thinking about my next goal and I think after I reach mid-back I am just going to focus on keeping my hair healthy, and paying less attention to the length. Since this first goal will actually be the longest my hair has ever been.. I'm so excited & completely anxious!
For today my hair routine will look like this:
lavender oil on roots
jojoba oil on length
Giovanni Clarifying shampoo
Biofusion Moisture shampoo

Well that's it for now!

I've reached a blah point. 

I'm just trying to keep up by biotin supplements & oilings to get thru this funk but its harrrd.


That said, I currently have jojoba oil in my hair, which is up in a bun & still wet from my shower this afternoon. & my color is faded. ugh gross! 

Today I just CO'd and my hair went right up into a bun. 
Ugh, not much else to say for now. But I am proud of myself for consistently taking my Biotin supplements 3 times a day.. EVERY DAY for the past month!  I'm starting to see results!
Also I touched up my dark chocolate color as it was beginning to fade.. looks good! & I think my next dye will be to a natural black!

So, I scheduled an unexpected trim for tommorrow. 
In one of the other topics someone asked about wearing their hair up for an extended period of time.. well here is my advice... just don't put it in a bun.  My hair just got to the length where i can wrap it all in a quick, slick bun, with no hairs sticking out. After a few days of doing this right out of the shower... well.. to say the least, my ends suffered  Nothing tragic, but I just feel the need to clean up my ends.

I've been continuing to do WV rinses & condition with Suave Tropical Coconut.

Oh and for the record.. shedding has officially died down! woo hoo!! 

Well.... I'm still just waiting and growing.  But I finally set my next goal length

New Goal: Mid-Back + 3

This is about elbow length on me. I know many people are NOT going to agree with me on my next statement but... I recently read in a book on elegance that a really elegant woman doesn't grow her hair past her elbows.
Now, I'm not saying that I agree with this statement but it sure got me thinking about "elbow length".
And while I think ALL long hair is elegant.... I agree that elbow length truly is an elegant look

Today I did a CWC with my Pantene classic care. My hair is feeling a little.. dry, I suppose. I'm going to do an ACV rinse tom. & probably use a light conditioner without cones. I love the smell of the Pantene but my hair doesn't take well to it after a few weeks.