APL 2012 Challenge

[livinthevida]

I put coconut oil in my hair and rolled it last night early. I took them out at noon today and finger styled. Well its 95 degrees and hair lasted all of two hours.,the roots looked like cotton balls and the rest was stringy.

Ugh!!!!

Sorry @diadall! do you think you put on just enough? or too much CO?

When I first started to use OCO I applied it to my hair like conditioner - BIG MISTAKE! I learned because it is an oil I must apply very little as it will spread through my hair pretty quickly. When I first tried OCO I put too much and my hair came out gummy like. Here's how I use it today (this took a few trial and error to know how it finally works with my hair):

1. good workout
2. cool rinse
3. natural air dry
4. place a little OCO on fingertips apply ears to ends
5. rollerset!

 

[NaturalfienD]

livinthevida
.
.
Girl, I'm happy that the metallic conditioning cap is working for you! That thing definitely works well and it gets super steamy inside. Congrats on your growth~ that coconut oil is the business. I'm still using the "love potion #9" (coconut oil is an ingredient) and I'm having good results- hopefully I will have growth as good as yours girlfriend. :}

 

[diadall]

Sorry @diadall! do you think you put on just enough? or too much CO?

When I first started to use OCO I applied it to my hair like conditioner - BIG MISTAKE! I learned because it is an oil I must apply very little as it will spread through my hair pretty quickly. When I first tried OCO I put too much and my hair came out gummy like. Here's how I use it today (this took a few trial and error to know how it finally works with my hair):

1. good workout
2. cool rinse
3. natural air dry
4. place a little OCO on fingertips apply ears to ends
5. rollerset!

I just dont know how to treat the roots. They dont even curl like the ends. Its like my roots are cotton and I have curly ends. I dont even know how its possible. But this time I may have used too much coconut oil.

 

[sajjy]

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[sajjy]

My April 2012 hairstyles thus far

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[NikkiQ]

Looks GREAT sajjy!!! The curly hair is super cute and the straight looks SO natural on you.

SN- I love the feeling of freshly cleaned, detangled and braided hair. Of course my red is COMPLETELY gone now and I'm back to caramel brown hair again. I think I'm gonna have to go a bit more drastic with the color and just bite the bullet with a more legit permanent color and add a punch of color every now and then with the Manic Panic.

 

[faithVA]

Nice results livinthevida. Glad you had great success.

 

[Phaer]

My plan to not check my hair lenght until the end of the year went out the window when I suffered a set back. Because I couldn't resist, here is my lenght check from this morning. I am not sure why it automatically turned sideways when I upload.

 

[NikkiQ]

Look very close Phaer! How much further until you hit APL? About another 1/2"?

 

[Trixie58]

Posting update pics. Have been focused on the luscious ends challenge so I haven't updated in awhile. I've got a trim coming up and I want to get my ends a bit thicker before I call APL, so I'm prolly still a few months away from celebration time.
The sweatshirt is nov 2011, the blue bra is feb 24, 2012, and the white tank is today April 29 2012.

 

[NikkiQ]

These are my Celies...and this is the only time they will see the light of day

View attachment 2012-04-29 10.01.41.jpg

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

 

[BlkOnyx488]

I have had my cornrows in for a little over a week, and I want to redue them. So much of my hair has come out, I don't think anyone knows I still have cornrows, lol.

Seamonster I keep a head wrap tied around my cornrows they are a fuzzy hot mess but nobody knows it but me! I am trying to cure my hand in hair disease I attach a cute phony pony and keep it moving

 

[Phaer]

Look very close Phaer! How much further until you hit APL? About another 1/2"?

I think so. I will wait until the end near apl is a little fuller to claim it. I may cut the thin ends at the end of the year.

 

[Phaer]

These are my Celies...and this is the only time they will see the light of day

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

You did a good job. Mine would be all kinds of lopsided.

 

[Fyne]

NikkiQ Your celies look way longer now, than when I 1st joined

Texture shot:

Fresh out of the steamer and about to cool rinse out ORS replenishing con. Looks and feels like just under an inch in 8 weeks, which I am pleased with. I'm experiencing shrinkage

How do I handle the NG?? Leave it alone!

I feel in control and calm in this stretch, but I need some ideas for bday hair; having a bbq on the 6th and a dinner date with the so on 7th. IDEA'S needed ladies!! (Avoiding heat until June length check)

 

[faithVA]

I am moving my APL date to September to give myself some breathing room. My growth for the beginning of the year has been typically but my retention has been horrible. I will still get ready for the June length check.

I may be doing my first EVER flatiron But I still haven't bought a flat iron so we will have to see about that.

 

[faithVA]

I did my hair at the hospital yesterday while visiting my mom. Figured it was a good use of time. It takes me 2 to 2.5 hrs to do my hair so I got in a good visit. Years ago I would have never done my hair in public, but now I really don't care As I've gone through so many things in life, I realize that trying to fit some image is really not that important. Anywayz.

So I'm sitting in the room with hair sticking up, clips everywhere, some hair half braided and I am just enjoying the people going by trying to figure out what I am doing. I get curiousity from both black and white. The black women know what I'm doing. They all have locs or extensions or weaves of some sort. The white women are off course curious. They feel free to ask questions which I'm cool with. So I get, How long does that take you? oh, that smells good what is it?, What did you do to your hair?, and some just looked. It was just fun. Lots of amusement and conversations.

And when I left the hospital, I left with a completed head of box braids. And I was free to go home and do absolutely nothing

 

[NikkiQ]

I'm so proud of all you ladies for makings such great progress and it's only April!! Good job!


With the subject fast approaching, does anyone plan on tweaking their reggies any? More cowashing? Stretching your relaxers longer? Less heat?

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

 

[lamaria211]

These are my Celies...and this is the only time they will see the light of day

View attachment 147455

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

your better than me i only do like 8-10 plaits at the most and they look very neat!

 

[Phaer]

With shrinkage my hair doesn't really look longer than this time last year (at least to me), but it sure has SWING, I keep swinging my hair, my mom tells me I will break my neck. Lol

 

[NikkiQ]

your better than me i only do like 8-10 plaits at the most and they look very neat!

I don't have that many. It started out in 4 sections and I had to split some into 3 or 4 braids since my hair is so thick.

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

 

[Seamonster]

livinthevida great growth, your hair is so thick, it totally all grew back in 90 days!
sajjy love the hairstyles, and your cat is so cute
Trixie58 Girl, your ends look thick right now, Beautiful APL! Congratulations! :Copy of 2cool:

 

[GoodNewsHairJunkie]

Hi, I'd like to join this challenge. I've been lurking on LHCF off and on the last 3 years and I've learned quite a bit of great information. It's time for me to start contributing. For the first time in my life I believe I can reach APL.

My ultimate hair length goal is daBOMB (bottom of my butt). I have no idea if I'll ever get there, but I expect to have some fun trying. I'm having fun now reaching the APL milestone.

So here's some information about my hair along with my current regimen. I'm always tweaking it.

Current hair length
~~ stretched, just past CBL
~~ my Crown stretches to the bottom of my neck.

Relaxed/Natura/Texlaxed/Loc'd
~~ Natural; Front - 4a, Crown and Back - 4b
~~ I'm almost 2 years and 5 months post BC

APL goal month
~~ Oct 2012,
~~ According to my growth tracking t-shirt, I have about 2.5" to go
~~ APL will be the longest length I've achieved without locs

Current Reggie and styling choices
~~ Pre-cleanse: scritch scalp with oil and saturate hair with reject liquid and creamy leave-in conditioners. Wear a conditioning cap for about an hour. Detangle and remove shed hair with a wide tooth (seamless) comb.

~~ Cleansing: 1 time per week, Terressentials (Left Coast Lemon or Lavender Garden) and Meera Hair Wash diluted with water applied with an applicator bottle. Currently trying a mid-week Wen co-wash now that the weather is warming up. I place my hair in 8 chunky 2-strand twists during the cleansing and rinsing process.

~~ Pre-Deep Conditioning Rinse: Coffee or Tea to combat excessive shedding

~~ Moisturizing Deep Conditioning: Marie Dean Coffee & Kokum Moisturizing DC, Surya Brasil Color Fixation Restorative Hair Mask, or Komaza Care Olive Moisture Mask; sometimes I add extra-virgin Olive Oil to my DC's - depends on my mood. I use a soft bonnet hair dryer while DC'ing

~~ Final Hair Rinse (I have hard water): Apple Cider Vinegar or Dr. Bronner's Magic "All-One!" Organic Shikakai Conditioning Hair Rinse.

~~ Leave-In conditioners: Liquid Leave-In - HealthySexyHair Soy Tri-Wheat; Creamy Leave-In - Alba Botanica

~~ Moisturize and Seal as needed: Aloe vera juice plus distilled water and rosewater spray. Various butters to include Crisco for ends.

~~ Protein conditioner as needed: Eqyss MegaTek Equine Rebuilder or Suave Professional Damage Care Conditioner for Weak or Damaged Hair. Sometimes I add some protein conditioner to my moisturizing DC if I believe it's needed.

~~ Hair Coloring: Every 4-6 weeks, Naturtint Permanent Hair Colorant, BAQ Henna and Indigo, and/or Sebastian Cellophane

~~ Growth Aids: Hair Trigger Growth Elixir - original formula, unscented and/or Euphoria & Bliss with sublimed sulfur. Currently trying a Miconazole Nitrate 2% plus Hair Trigger and Fractionated Coconut Oil mix nightly (1:3:1 ratio). I haven't decided yet if I like it or not.

~~ Styling: 2-strand twists or braids without extensions, braid/twist-outs, buns. Just ordered some phony-ponies to try during the warmer weather. The last 2 winters I wore wigs which helped a lot, but my edges thinned a little bit this past winter due to the rubbing. Wigs did help me retain my growth though. My hair is long enough now that I won't wear wigs anymore.

~~ Drying: I prefer air-drying. Sometimes I will tension blow-dry using a no-heat setting.

What do you plan on changing (if anything) to make it to APL?
~~ None. I've been improving my hair practices the last 3 years. I'm now confident enough to share what's been working for me. My hair is the healthiest and strongest it's ever been. I owe all my success to the wonderful advice and recommendations given here on LHCF!

Post a beginning picture
~~ 1st pic taken 4/15/2012

The 2nd pic I took 3/26/2012 when I was putting my hair in 2-strand twists. I wanted to show you how much my hair shrinks.

 

[mami2010]

I wear them under my wigs and take them down for a braid out at the end of the week. They are so not cute when I do them so I would never wear them out. Can we say 'hot mess'?

I'm thinking about doing the celies. I will be wigging till next check in.

 

[NikkiQ]

I'm thinking about doing the celies. I will be wigging till next check in.

Celies are great to wear under wigs. They're easy to do and keeps your hair protected and flat so wigs fit better

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

 

[diadall]

I am in Curlformers. It took my an hour! Whew!!!

 

[ManiiSweetheart]

Detangled - Shampoos'd this morning...

Currently have a DC in ... struggling to get of the couch and rinse since i'm feeling under the weather. Day dreaming about getting up and rinsing my hair out and doing a twist out..... then starting on my homework

 

[Blairx0]

Doing a lazy dc which means just have product on the ends and plan on only rinsing the length. I know am doing a half *** job. I have convienced myself this is good for my fragile ends and the rest will like the no manipulation. A girl can dream right?

 

[jessicarabbit]

GoodNewsHairJunkie
Welcome! your reggie is on point! lol

 

[Seamonster]

GoodNewsHairJunkie Lovely reggie