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2025/2026 - Journey to SL/APL/BSL Challenge

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once I take out these braids, I'm getting a silk press and trim.

thinking about two strand twists for the remainder of 2025. I want to work on moisturizing daily.

I use Karen's body beautiful sweet ambrosia leave-in. Not sure if its doing any good though. My hair just sucks it up
 
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I didn't feel like resetting today so I did something quick.

I rinsed, conditioned, detangled and then put in deep conditioner. I put a big flat twist in the front and a banana clip bun in the back. The back bun i spit into two twist and tucked the ends under.

I may reset tomorrow and put in more flat twist. With the bun I would need to take out the clip nightly. I prefer to put my hair up and leave it.
 
25InchesStarting'25 said:
KBs this weekend, more details on Braid and Hydrate page
Did not lay down fly aways or anything else before taking this pic
View attachment 505982
Click to expand...
Your braids look really good. Thank you for sharing with us.

Do you use a mirror to help you part the back?

Would these be considered medium braids?

I think I could get with something like this. Maybe I will try over the xmas holidays when I have time to devote to it.
 
@25InchesStarting'25 , Thank you for keeping this thread going. As always happens, people get busy and threads can get quite for a while.

I just finished doing all the paperwork for my performance review so now I can get back to some normalcy. I've been documenting since July 4th, so I'm glad to be done with it.
 
I'm just staying the course here and keeping it simple. Still doing my weekly reset.

I'm behind on doing my K18 treatment. I usually doing it monthly and definitely before I color but I did not do an August treatment. I may color in September.

I definitely plan to blow dry and trim my ends in September. I purchased a bottle of Aphogee 2 minute. For the holiday weekend, I will do the K18, Aphogee and whatever other loving things I can think to do.

I am considering a new blow dryer with a comb to see if I can get some help with a smoother look. I need to write out my steps for that wash day because I tend to forget steps when I wing it.

Overall everything is progressing fine. I can slowly see my lowest layer inching past my collarbone. Hopefully, with 4 more months I will gain 2 inches. I will trim some off but that should still leave me close to my goal.

Just hoping this is the year I break through to SL so 2026 is fully dedicated to reaching APL. The closer I get to APL, the more styles I have available to me. That is what I'm really looking forward to ... ease of styling.

But honestly, my styling really is easy right now. Just looking to make it even easier :lol: I spend 30 minutes styling my hair on Sunday and then don't touch it until the following Sunday.
 
faithVA said:
Your braids look really good. Thank you for sharing with us.

Do you use a mirror to help you part the back?

Would these be considered medium braids?

I think I could get with something like this. Maybe I will try over the xmas holidays when I have time to devote to it.
Click to expand...
Thank you :)

I use a three way mirror in front of me and a door mirror behind me, with both it makes parting much easier

I think these would be considered large KBs, the ones I had before these were Jumbo KBs, they weren't that neat in the back since I was in a rush. I like jumbo since they don't take much time, I will try to do them again neater

Yes! I think you'll love them :)
Makes growing out hair so much easier!

I'll share a vid later when I get time that will help with your KB journey :)
 
faithVA said:
@25InchesStarting'25 , Thank you for keeping this thread going. As always happens, people get busy and threads can get quite for a while.

I just finished doing all the paperwork for my performance review so now I can get back to some normalcy. I've been documenting since July 4th, so I'm glad to be done with it.
Click to expand...
My pleasure! We have to get over the SL hump with as much support as possible :)
 
faithVA said:
I'm just staying the course here and keeping it simple. Still doing my weekly reset.

I'm behind on doing my K18 treatment. I usually doing it monthly and definitely before I color but I did not do an August treatment. I may color in September.

I definitely plan to blow dry and trim my ends in September. I purchased a bottle of Aphogee 2 minute. For the holiday weekend, I will do the K18, Aphogee and whatever other loving things I can think to do.

I am considering a new blow dryer with a comb to see if I can get some help with a smoother look. I need to write out my steps for that wash day because I tend to forget steps when I wing it.

Overall everything is progressing fine. I can slowly see my lowest layer inching past my collarbone. Hopefully, with 4 more months I will gain 2 inches. I will trim some off but that should still leave me close to my goal.

Just hoping this is the year I break through to SL so 2026 is fully dedicated to reaching APL. The closer I get to APL, the more styles I have available to me. That is what I'm really looking forward to ... ease of styling.

But honestly, my styling really is easy right now. Just looking to make it even easier :lol: I spend 30 minutes styling my hair on Sunday and then don't touch it until the following Sunday.
Click to expand...
Since you have RevAir, would you consider doing light flat iron (300 degrees on your roots) just worried you might get a set back with comb attachment with your ends. Do what is best for you, friendly caution :)

Once we get to APL and beyond, things get a lot easier, since there isbmore weight to our hair to hang down

I'm going to be patient and only have KBs as a style to goal length or BSL/ little past BSL
 
25InchesStarting'25 said:
Since you have RevAir, would you consider doing light flat iron (300 degrees on your roots) just worried you might get a set back with comb attachment with your ends. Do what is best for you, friendly caution :)

Once we get to APL and beyond, things get a lot easier, since there isbmore weight to our hair to hang down

I'm going to be patient and only have KBs as a style to goal length or BSL/ little past BSL
Click to expand...
Thanks for the concern. My hair is really fluffy so not sure doing the roots would do any good.

Why do you think a comb attachment would cause issues with the ends?

I do have a RevAir but I'm also looking at these new and improve ionic blow dryers that they use at a salon. I will do some more research this weekend so I'm prepared if I decide to purchase.

I will take your concerns into consideration and give it more thought. Overall I'm not as concerned about my ends as I am about the drying effect of blow dryers in general. Even with the RevAir its questionable for my hair. When my hair gets long enough I will probably just stretch & air dry and then flat iron.
 
On 6 August, I cut 2” of damaged hair off, which set me back to NL (shortest layer). I can only hope that this layer reaches SL by December as this layer grows very slow to me.

Though I was able to find the culprit of my damage, my ends weren’t recovering well, so they needed to go. I’m happy with the results. My hair feels so much better. I’m due for another trim on 9 September.

I plan to braid my hair after my trim, but I may keep going with my WNG. I was supposed to install mini-braids, but never got around to it. I was dreading the process, so I stayed rocking my WNG. I am monitoring my ends.

I’m remaining positive.
 
keranikki said:
On 6 August, I cut 2” of damaged hair off, which set me back to NL (shortest layer). I can only hope that this layer reaches SL by December as this layer grows very slow to me.

Though I was able to find the culprit of my damage, my ends weren’t recovering well, so they needed to go. I’m happy with the results. My hair feels so much better. I’m due for another trim on 9 September.

I plan to braid my hair after my trim, but I may keep going with my WNG. I was supposed to install mini-braids, but never got around to it. I was dreading the process, so I stayed rocking my WNG. I am monitoring my ends.

I’m remaining positive.
Click to expand...
Yes remain positive. You stopped the damage and you are moving in the right direction now.
 
faithVA said:
Thanks for the concern. My hair is really fluffy so not sure doing the roots would do any good.

Why do you think a comb attachment would cause issues with the ends?

I do have a RevAir but I'm also looking at these new and improve ionic blow dryers that they use at a salon. I will do some more research this weekend so I'm prepared if I decide to purchase.

I will take your concerns into consideration and give it more thought. Overall I'm not as concerned about my ends as I am about the drying effect of blow dryers in general. Even with the RevAir its questionable for my hair. When my hair gets long enough I will probably just stretch & air dry and then flat iron.
Click to expand...
I haven't done research on the blow dryer you mentioned. I notice when people start using them before goal length it tends to stay at that length. It may be different with what you been researching

With RevAir, to decrease the volume you can use a Foam/Mouse (ideally one that is focused on moisture, SheaMoisture has a couple) before using RevAir section by section, then flat iron on 300 degrees with one pass in medium to large sections. HTH! :)
 
keranikki said:
On 6 August, I cut 2” of damaged hair off, which set me back to NL (shortest layer). I can only hope that this layer reaches SL by December as this layer grows very slow to me.

Though I was able to find the culprit of my damage, my ends weren’t recovering well, so they needed to go. I’m happy with the results. My hair feels so much better. I’m due for another trim on 9 September.

I plan to braid my hair after my trim, but I may keep going with my WNG. I was supposed to install mini-braids, but never got around to it. I was dreading the process, so I stayed rocking my WNG. I am monitoring my ends.

I’m remaining positive.
Click to expand...
Congrats on healthy ends! :)

I know what you mean about the process of doing Mini Braids:laugh: I love the look but you really need it to align with your schedule

I have fallen in love with large and jumbo KBs. Take sooo much less time to braid and take down! Have you thought of doing these? They make growing out hair easy while protecting your hair. Must not use products on the roots and moisture on the ends, this is where a lot people have issue with braids

Glad you know what will keep thriving with growth. I'm doing a lot of things to try and accelerate growth. A few things that help are Ayurveda treatments, herbal growth sprays with peppermint, MSM oral and/or topical, biotin and/or prenatal, tea/coffee rinses, herbal growth oil/pomade infused for +5 weeks, JBCO, Consistent daily scalp massages, HTH! :)

I'm not doing all of these, my focus has been growth oils/pomades, Ayurvedic Tx, Scalp massages, Flax Gel infused with growth aids, Oral MSM (Don't take it on fasting days, which i have been doing a lot of lately) and eating a Nutrient dense diet where I'm not deficient in essential minerals and vitamins. Most people are deficient in Magnesium, Vitamin B1, Iodine, Selenium, and Omega 3
 
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25InchesStarting'25 said:
Congrats on healthy ends! :)

I know what you mean about the process of doing Mini Braids:laugh: I love the look but you really need it to align with your schedule

I have fallen in love with large and jumbo KBs. Take sooo much less time to braid and take down! Have you thought of doing these? They make growing out hair easy while protecting your hair. Must not use products on the roots and moisture on the ends, this is where a lot people have issue with braids

Glad you know what will keep thriving with growth. I'm doing a lot of things to try and accelerate growth. A few things that help are Ayurveda treatments, herbal growth sprays with peppermint, MSM oral and/or topical, biotin and/or prenatal, tea/coffee rinses, herbal growth oil/pomade infused for +5 weeks, JBCO, Consistent daily scalp massages, HTH! :)

I'm not doing all of these, my focus has been growth oils/pomades, Ayurvedic Tx, Scalp massages, Flax Gel infused with growth aids, Oral MSM (Don't take it on fasting days, which i have been doing a lot of lately) and eating a Nutrient dense diet where I'm not deficient in essential minerals and vitamins. Most people are deficient in Magnesium, Vitamin B1, Iodine, Selenium, and Omega 3
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I do not know how to install KBs. I have watched videos, but can’t seem to get the hang of it. I may be overthinking the process.

I have very fine hair, so big braids are too heavy for me. Mini-braids were the best, but they’re time-consuming. Le sigh.

I’m slowly introducing Ayurveda into my regimen, due to the drying effects it has on my hair. Clove, hibiscus, and rosemary dry my hair out horribly. I purchased premade products, from a now closed vendor, that I had previous success with. So far, so good.
 
It will be four weeks in my latest protective style this Saturday. I’ll keep this style in until next Saturday which will be five weeks by then.

I plan on steaming in henna which I haven’t did in two months on Saturday and on to the next style on Sunday.
 
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