APL 2012 Challenge

[claud-uk]

I'm in a "seems like my Hair's been stuck at SL forever" mood today :/

SL is the longest I've been and I'm beginning to think one of two things:

Im a slow grower or SL is my terminal length *faints and falls on the floor*

No major breakage or shedding, just *wipes tears* taking forever to grow
*sigh*

Hi Tracie, just signed up myself - giving myself a little longer than you to reach APL - my goal is Dec 2012.

Really embarrassed to ask but hey, I wouldn't be here if I knew all there was to know about hair!!! Can I ask what's the difference between the photo in your avatar and the one in your starting pic? Thanks

 

[faithVA]

growbaby, Sorry to hear about your experience. I hope you are ok and feeling better soon.

 

[NikkiQ]

NikkiQ I haven't relaxed in two months and for me that's a long time. I can't wait to get a perm lol. Since my mini cut I have been praying on retaining some length so I try not to think about it. But I do need to change what I eat and drink, and I also need to add exercise to my regimen and I may get faster results than what I have now....not complaining

I didn't mean relaxing in that way lol. I meant sitting down and resting. No perms for me.

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

 

[Your Cheeziness]

Every time I think I want to go back and read this thread from start to finish, it jumps 20 pages in 5 seconds. I give up. LOL

I'm 3 inches from APL and I'm a slow grower. So, I'm in sew ins until the end of the year.

 

[NikkiQ]

Hello ladies

Checking in- had a terrible weekend, I was unfortunately a victim of police brutality on Saturday so I've been dealing with that. Can't really do much to my hair due to a mild
Concussion , shoulder pain, and a sprained thumb, but I managed to wash it a few hours ago. I'm gonna try to convince the bf to put conditioner in it and see if im up for washing it out in the am.. Hope u all have a better week than I.

Oh HELL NO!!!!!

APL challengers...time to mount up and roll out!! These cops gone cray on our growbaby????!! It's time to head there and shut it down!!

 

[PinkSunshine77]

Please dont cry. You might be watching the pot too much, and so you only think its not growing. When I want to forget my hair I install twists. If you aren't currently in the braidy bunch you might consider joining. Sew ins, wigs, braids. anything that will let you ignore your hair for a bit.

I prefer kinky twists because they are easier (for me) to take out, I forget about constantly 'checking'my hair, but I can still apply my treatments. I cannot wait to get a job, so that I fan go back to that instead of wearing wigs. I find I notice hair growth more after I remove the twist. Not to say they grow more (I dont know maybe they do), just that the growth is more evident when I do.

Hi thanks I really don't like Braids or Twists in my hair. I always got breakage no matter how good they were done. I have so many pics and I know I'm about 4 inches from APL. How did I NOT get 4 inches in 1 yr? LOL well, I just pull a strand and sure enough, I have a split in the end of the strand and it split again at the bottom. WTHeck? I have no idea what this is called but I guarantee it's my issue.

 

[PinkSunshine77]

Hi Tracie, just signed up myself - giving myself a little longer than you to reach APL - my goal is Dec 2012.

Really embarrassed to ask but hey, I wouldn't be here if I knew all there was to know about hair!!! Can I ask what's the difference between the photo in your avatar and the one in your starting pic? Thanks

Haha good to know, I thought I was too late. I was going to say November, but I don't know, I'm pushing for September (if possible)

My starting pic is unstraightened and blow dried (cool) at about 10 weeks post. I took this pic 5/1

My Avatar is a Fresh Relaxer and Flat Iron at SL in April of this year

 

[livinthevida]

Moisturizing with Elasta Qp mango butter while watching braveheart

lamaria211 I love Braveheart! its one of the very early movies where we get to see Mel's ranting that he's now so famous for

 

[livinthevida]

Hello ladies

Checking in- had a terrible weekend, I was unfortunately a victim of police brutality on Saturday so I've been dealing with that. Can't really do much to my hair due to a mild
Concussion , shoulder pain, and a sprained thumb, but I managed to wash it a few hours ago. I'm gonna try to convince the bf to put conditioner in it and see if im up for washing it out in the am.. Hope u all have a better week than I.

OMG @growbaby really sorry to hear you were a victim! How are you doing? Are you ok?

 

[sajjy]

What is going these days, so sorry growbaby will keep you in my prayers.

 

[livinthevida]

View attachment 148825

For those who didn't get a chance to see what I call my mini cut this is it. I took this about a month ago and I have been protective styling and completely hiding my hair. So I'm considering this my new starting point. Wish me luck!

Nice cut SincerelyBeautiful! You are just a couple of inches from APL!

I'm late but I keep seeing this challenge knowing full well I should be with it. Hey ladies! I'm Tracie

Welcome TracieBLovely! Definitely stick with us we'll help you make APL! There are a ton of great ideas from the ladies here on this thread

Oh HELL NO!!!!!

APL challengers...time to mount up and roll out!! These cops gone cray on our @growbaby????!! It's time to head there and shut it down!!

NikkiQ let's do this!
@growbaby please check in when you can and let us know how you are healing. Know that we are here to support you!

 

[growbaby]

Good morning ladies, thank you all do much for your concern and prayers. I live in California and unfortunately this kind of stuff happens all the time. My head feels a little better today which is good because I need to study for my finals. Long story short I was beat and dragged by me HAIR because i wouldnt sign a noise complaint Ticket made out to someone else, (so basically i refused to forge my roommates Signature). Don't worry we will sue. Thank you again ladies I do believe you good vibes and prayers are helping me feel better. Here is a pic of my head this morning, looking a lot better.

 

[Phaer]

Good morning ladies, thank you all do much for your concern and prayers. I live in California and unfortunately this kind of stuff happens all the time. My head feels a little better today which is good because I need to study for my finals. Long story short I was beat and dragged by me HAIR because i wouldnt sign a noise complaint Ticket made out to someone else, (so basically i refused to forge my roommates Signature). Don't worry we will sue. Thank you again ladies I do believe you good vibes and prayers are helping me feel better. Here is a pic of my head this morning, looking a lot better.

Whoa!!! Dragged by the hair??? That looks painful. Did you go to the hospital?

(Note to self ... do not move to Cali)

 

[NaturalfienD]

growbaby ~ I am sorry to read of your being victimized in California. It is upsetting to know that the police department continuously abuses their power with no consequences for their actions ... I am happy to know that you will be suing. Best of luck to you ...

 

[NaturalfienD]

I have been reading about terminal length and running across concerns that someone has reached their terminal length (I am not trying to be subliminal, I truly cannot remember who had the concern.) I wanted to share this link to Black Hair Science that addresses the miseducation of terminal length. From what I understand, we all have a terminal length- the length a hair grows within a certain time frame/length of growing cycle ... it is not a predestined length that your hair will grow. According to Black Hair Science:

Now, there's a very important point to be made. You often hear people say "Well, my hair grows to (insert length here) and stops, so this must be my terminal length and genetics. This is not completely true. " Your particular hair length does not determine when your hair stops growing or goes into resting (telogen) phase. TIME does. Our hair doesn't stop growing at a certain length-it stops growing after a certain time period.

Check out more here: http://blackhairscience.com/terminal_length.html

HTH

 

[NikkiQ]

Good morning ladies, thank you all do much for your concern and prayers. I live in California and unfortunately this kind of stuff happens all the time. My head feels a little better today which is good because I need to study for my finals. Long story short I was beat and dragged by me HAIR because i wouldnt sign a noise complaint Ticket made out to someone else, (so basically i refused to forge my roommates Signature). Don't worry we will sue. Thank you again ladies I do believe you good vibes and prayers are helping me feel better. Here is a pic of my head this morning, looking a lot better.

View attachment 148869

Nothing but love and prayers coming your way growbaby. Glad that you're doing a bit better, but I'm still one pissed off person that this had to happen.

 

[NikkiQ]

I'm thinking about attempting to do a set of mini twists myself instead of spending money on braids right now. Gotta learn to do braids and twists for myself since I will more than likely be unemployed in PR. Any good tips for me ladies? I've never done mini twists before. Just ridiculously fat ones.

 

[TheNDofUO]

livinthevida

I had crochet braids in for 3 weeks. But my real fear is slow growing. I also had a period where my nails (that usually grow like weeds) stopped growing for 2 months. I cut them and they didn't grow bwck until recently. And I was taking multivitamins at the time (kinda slacking now)

 

[AyannaDivine]

Long time no post ladies! I've been neglecting my hair for a couple of months and am paying the consequences right now. Lots of breakage, ssk and haven't met my goal for APL. My new goal date is December 15.

Good morning ladies, thank you all do much for your concern and prayers. I live in California and unfortunately this kind of stuff happens all the time. My head feels a little better today which is good because I need to study for my finals. Long story short I was beat and dragged by me HAIR because i wouldnt sign a noise complaint Ticket made out to someone else, (so basically i refused to forge my roommates Signature). Don't worry we will sue. Thank you again ladies I do believe you good vibes and prayers are helping me feel better. Here is a pic of my head this morning, looking a lot better.

Hugs to you sis. I wish you the best with your case against the police dept

 

[livinthevida]

I have been reading about terminal length and running across concerns that someone has reached their terminal length (I am not trying to be subliminal, I truly cannot remember who had the concern.) I wanted to share this link to Black Hair Science that addresses the miseducation of terminal length. From what I understand, we all have a terminal length- the length a hair grows within a certain time frame/length of growing cycle ... it is not a predestined length that your hair will grow. According to Black Hair Science:

Now, there's a very important point to be made. You often hear people say "Well, my hair grows to (insert length here) and stops, so this must be my terminal length and genetics. This is not completely true. " Your particular hair length does not determine when your hair stops growing or goes into resting (telogen) phase. TIME does. Our hair doesn't stop growing at a certain length-it stops growing after a certain time period.

Check out more here: http://blackhairscience.com/terminal_length.html

HTH

Great article @NaturalfienD! I will reference this one time and time again!

Here's my favorite quote from the article especially for us ladies in the APL 2012 Challenge:
"I am willing to go out there with almost 99.9% certainty and say that shoulderlength and APL (armpit/arm crease length) are hardly anyone's terminal lengths. If growth cycles range from 2-6 years, then the woman with the shortest growth cycle of two years can expect her hair to reach 12 inches in length before the hair will shed- assuming she has not trimmed or lost any length to breakage. Thanks to the spherical shape of the head, for many of us, 12 inches measured from the nape and ear area on down will equal at least brastrap length."

 

[livinthevida]

I'm thinking about attempting to do a set of mini twists myself instead of spending money on braids right now. Gotta learn to do braids and twists for myself since I will more than likely be unemployed in PR. Any good tips for me ladies? I've never done mini twists before. Just ridiculously fat ones.

NikkiQ how about these twists here @ Ms-gg's Frostoppa.com. Here are great pictures of flat twists I really like how she has them twist and go up in a direction very pretty style!

Frostoppa:
http://www.frostoppa.com/2011/03/aint-nothing-but-ms-gg-thang-bay-by.html

 

[LilMissSunshine5]

growbaby- These police are out of control I was just reading about the Kelly Thomas police beating/murder and I couldn't bring myself to watch the video I am glad you are ok and I will keep sending prayers your way!

 

[LilMissSunshine5]

NikkiQ- I have done several installs of mini twists and my only advice is to blow dry your hair first. I did my first set this way and it took a little over 6h...the last 4 installs I have done a braid out to stretch my hair w/o heat & then did the twists. It took at least 2h more that way (usually 8-9h ) So I am going back to blowdrying (this time on low heat/cool) to speed up the install process. I was trying to avoid heat, but the extra time is not worth it IMO

It is easier to do them when your hair is pretty stretched bc you can just grab and twist. I didn't like how skinny they looked, so I wet them and they plumped up nicely. The first time always takes a bit longer bc you are learning the rope twisting motion, so be patient with yourself and break the work up (Youtube has great tutorials-like Naptural85). I did the front first, then the back next day, and the middle the last day so I could still go out my house and look presentable Good luck with your install and, of course, let us know how it goes HTH

 

[jayjaycurlz]

Hello Ladies,

After having my hair in braids since January 1st, here's my length check pics taken on May 1st.

I'd like to get to a more 'fuller' APL because I'm transitioning w/o BCing and when I trim those ends I'll loose my length. So.........

I'm staying in this challenge - y'all can't kick me out!

 

[NikkiQ]

NikkiQ how about these twists here @ Ms-gg's Frostoppa.com. Here are great pictures of flat twists I really like how she has them twist and go up in a direction very pretty style!

Frostoppa:
http://www.frostoppa.com/2011/03/aint-nothing-but-ms-gg-thang-bay-by.html

I absolutely LOVE her twists, but there's no way I can do those flat twists.

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

 

[NikkiQ]

NikkiQ- I have done several installs of mini twists and my only advice is to blow dry your hair first. I did my first set this way and it took a little over 6h...the last 4 installs I have done a braid out to stretch my hair w/o heat & then did the twists. It took at least 2h more that way (usually 8-9h ) So I am going back to blowdrying (this time on low heat/cool) to speed up the install process. I was trying to avoid heat, but the extra time is not worth it IMO

It is easier to do them when your hair is pretty stretched bc you can just grab and twist. I didn't like how skinny they looked, so I wet them and they plumped up nicely. The first time always takes a bit longer bc you are learning the rope twisting motion, so be patient with yourself and break the work up (Youtube has great tutorials-like Naptural85). I did the front first, then the back next day, and the middle the last day so I could still go out my house and look presentable Good luck with your install and, of course, let us know how it goes HTH

Well my blow dryer is on it's way to Puerto Rico right now so no stretching my hair that way. I might get it blown out and flat ironed before I leave for my length check pics. If I do,I can do the twists then.

Sent by me from my Android phone.Boom

 

[faithVA]

NikkiQ, to start playing around with flat twists, wait until you are ready to wear a puff, and then practicing putting 2 or 3 flat twists in the front. I did this when I first started practicing flat twists. And every 2 or 3 days I would take them down and retwist them. Each time I did them I got better.

I don't do anything special for mini twists. I twists my hair wet because stretching it does absolutely nothing for me. Makes my hair look scraggly. I separate my hair in sections and just pull small pieces and twists. If I don't have enough time to do mini twists, I do medium size twists and over the next few days, take a medium twists and separate it into smaller twists.

But I can put mini twists in, in 4.5 hours. I can flat twists in 45 minutes to 1.5 hrs depending on what I am doing. I am currently doing something like ms-gg's but bigger and not as pretty My hair stays fuzzy. Its only neat like heres on day 1.

You can do it. Instead of trying to do your entire head, just try practicing on the front section whether you are doing flat twists or mini twists. I will twists the front and puff/bun the back in a minute.

 

[faithVA]

Ok - I've had enough of the henna. I thought the color I was putting in my hair was tearing up my ends so I stopped coloring my hair and started using henna. 2011 I didn't use any color and my ends are still jacked and my hair is back to gray 5 days after henna. I hate henna It takes too dang on long. So I figure since my ends are still jacked and my hair is gray and ugly I should just as well at least enjoy the color of my hair.

So I am coloring my hair right now Sable Brown. I am so looking forward to getting rid of the 4 different shades of hair I have.

 

[LilMissSunshine5]

faithVA- 4.5 HOURS?!?! You are fast! Or I am really slow I am going to try to make them larger this time

 

[faithVA]

@faithVA- 4.5 HOURS?!?! You are fast! Or I am really slow I am going to try to make them larger this time

I've had a lot of practice. I twisted my hair every weekend from May 2010 through Dec 2011. I've just switched up from twists. It used to take longer. But after a while your hands just move by themselves. It used to take me all day. Now I can do it when watching 2 movies and shorter, if I put all the product on at one time instead of twist by twists.

Now ask me how long it takes me to do a puff All dang on day.

I'm lazy now though, I do 2 hrs twists now and call it a day.