I have fine, low density, tangle prone and protein sensitive hair. What helped me the most during my journey, which began in December 2009, was leaving my hair alone. The most manipulation my hair received was on my weekly wash day. I didn't use wigs, extensions or growth aids and I didn't do much to it besides clean it and DC every 7 to 10 days before placing it into a loose ponytail to air dry. Midweek, it got a spritz of water and a creamy moisturizer/refresher until the next wash day. I gave it a shot of protein as needed and every so often I straightened it in order to give it a good trim. I'm a slow grower, so it took me the better part of four years to go from SL to WL.
The most difficult parts of my journey were finding out what products and ingredients my hair liked and disliked, in addition to detangling. Since my hair tangles at the drop of a hat and is pretty fragile, uncovering an effective detangler and detangling method was crucial. Things were going well until the manufacturer decided to reformulate my staple detangler two years into my journey. I was hot and left scrambling for a new detangler. It took me four years to find an effective detangler, which necessitated changing my detangling method (I went from easy breezy detangling in the shower while rinsing my shampoo to either detangling on dry hair or with a cleansing conditioner). I'm still not sure how much I like either of those detangling methods, but they'll do until something better comes along.
I did cut my hair to SL in March of last year and I think I'm currently somewhere above BSL. I haven't really been paying attention to the length of it since I'm focusing my energies on recovering from a recent setback. These are pics of the last time I straightened my hair, which was mid 2014 (wow, it's been that long?) and the last pic is at the beginning of my journey in 2009.
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ETA: I've fiddled with things for a bit; hopefully, the pics to show up.