APL by Dec 2010!!!

[Salsarisma]

are any of you taking vitamins specifically for hair health/growth? i've been taking GNC ultra nourish-hair since Jan. 12th but when i get back to my home base i wanna start taking my balanced b-complex as well but i refuse to take any more than 3 tablets a day, hair care should not be that complicated. basically what i'm asking is what are your tried and true vits for hair and how many are you poping a day?

I don't just take vitamins for my hair. It's for my general health. I would love to get all my vits/nutrients from food, but working full time with two little ones makes that almost impossible. So I take 6 pills/day. In the am, I drink 1TBS of Omega 3-6-9 oil. At lunch, I take GNC Nourishair, a prenatal vitamin, 1000 IU of Vitamin D3 and 25mg of magnesium. At dinner, I take GNC Nourishair and 1000 IU of Vitamin D3.

I'm so used to this, it is a no brainer for me. I have a small pill cap on my key chain and I put my daily vitamins there.

 

[goodmorningruby]

I haven't used heat in exactly one month as of the 24th. I'm thinking about a six month no heat personal challenge, and since my next touch up is presumably in six months also, it may turn into a 7 month challenge. I am good at staying away from heat, but I've been having recurring thoughts of bringing out the flat iron. We'll see. Good news is my hair seems to have gotten longer already. Dealing with some shedding/breakage issues...I will beat this...I want long hair, but not chewed up long hair.

 

[Platinum]

I'm removing my Senegalese Twists today and will try to do a length check as soon as possible. I'll probably rebraid in a few days because I'm a truck driver and I'm transitioning. It's hard to deal with 2 different textures when I'm on the road. I don't like wigs or phony ponies.

 

[Miss AJ]

Now that i am no longer afraid of protein, taking better care of my ends, staying consistent with my hair regimen, and starting a vitamin regimen i am very confident that i will make APL or come close to it at the end of the year!

 

[coolsista-paris]

well ladies as i missed this (registerded yesterday) im gonna have to watch ya and do my challenge alone. well, good luck and ill come by to see the progress!

 

[Lanea87]

Tomorrow is wash day, so I will be updating you ladies on that.
I have been bunning for 2 days.....

 

[panamoni]

Did a wonderful DC last night. I'm going to stick to adding EVOO and honey to my DCs. Hair feels great. Air dried and am back to bunning.

 

[buddhas_mom]

I just realized I never posted my starting pic. Here it is. I'm 9 weeks post.

 

[grow]

I haven't used heat in exactly one month as of the 24th. I'm thinking about a six month no heat personal challenge, and since my next touch up is presumably in six months also, it may turn into a 7 month challenge. I am good at staying away from heat, but I've been having recurring thoughts of bringing out the flat iron. We'll see. Good news is my hair seems to have gotten longer already. Dealing with some shedding/breakage issues...I will beat this...I want long hair, but not chewed up long hair.

i hear you Goodmorningruby!!!
i stopped using heat the 6th of nov., 2009 and i would like to go a year without it if i can...lol, i used to love the flat iron, too, but am so loving this new growth without it that i really want to stick with this regimine.

let's start a no heat challenge ladies!

if we wanna get to apl and beyond, ending breakage is a major stepping stone towards the achievement of that goal, and nothing breaks hair like heat!

after i wash, dc and all, i wrap my hair and let it air dry.
since i'm only shoulder length now, drying doesn't take that long.
and i've still got flat, straight hair with bounce!
(i put 1 or 2 hard plastic rollers at the crown to give some lift and to make the wrap easier, but at night i just wrap it all up before silk scarf then plastic cap)

current regimine:
yesterday i pre poo-ed with cayenne pepper, castor oil & essential oils
today i washed with amla, shikakai, and brahmi
cowashed that out with a shea butter dc (it's an italian brand so i don't know if it would serve a purpose to list it, as it's not global)
lightly condished with alterna life solutions volume restore conditioner

then i did my tea rinses and avc final rinse.

my comb out was super supple and easy....hair felt soft and was detangled already.

then i put joico k-pak recontruct on and wrappèed it.

as i type, my hair is drying, so we'll see what it looks like after i take it down, but it sure felt good to do this and not need a blow dryer or flat iron!

HHG ladies!

 

[Trini_Chutney]

Cowashed my kinky twists this morning. Wearing a bun for the rest of the week.

 

[PDub]

I've been bunning since my last relaxer in late December '09. I'm going to continue bunning until my next relaxer (12 weeks). I'm hoping this will help me retain all my length so that I can make it to full APL by the end of the year.

I'm starting to get frustrated with my hair journey. It seems like my hair just won't grow!! I've narrowed my regimen down to almost doing nothing to my hair because I'm so frustrated. All I do now is wash, condition and bun. I usually sleep in conditioner because I'm tired of the entire deep conditioning process (sitting under the dryer). I moisturize and seal whenever I feel I've gone too far in neglecting my hair. Basically, I ignore my hair as long as I can. Sigh...........I hate this and sometimes I hate my hair, very very much.

 

[jlh48047]

update... I have been gone for bit trying to get back to U.S. However, I have been weaving it up as a protective style. I got my install on 07 Jan 10. It is hard to keep it in. I just am not real happy with it. I have a lot of restrictions as to how I can wear my hair being in the military and having to look all professional and stuff. So, that is one of the main reason's I have been weaving.

I have been washing with diluted shampoo once weekly and dc' ing as well.

I oil and moisturize the hair that is braided about 2x a week.

I take a women's mega vitamin, biotin and vitamin c daily or every other day.

I am drinking plenty of water. now that is a challenge!!!

If I can managed to leave this weave in until the beginning of march I will be able to check my progress at that time to see if these things need to be changed or updated.

I am also trying to become a use your stash type person because my hair product closet is rediculous!!

I would take any advice for you ladies on how to better my regimen!!

 

[PaleoChick]

Update:
Pared down my vitamins to one multivitamin, 6 drops of BioSil (my skin is jacked up), fish oil and CoQ10. I drink a LOT more water than before. Still using braids as a protective style during the winter and early spring. While braided, I use a braid spray by African Pride, Keratin Mist by CHI, and a herbal oil that I apply between sections with a QTip (about 3x a week). I use a dilute shampoo and a conditioning leave in weekly. That is all.

 

[Miss AJ]

Still trying to devise a vitamin regimen. I've only been taking ultra nourish hair for 2 weeks but I can feel my nails getting stronger already.

 

[CDiddy614]

Washed this evening. And after 2 back to back flexi sets I had some major detangling to do. With that said, I need to start purchasing materials for my first LHCF self-lax. I'm thinking I'll go with the Mizani BB line in mild. I see that I can buy everything that I need from amazon for around $120, but I'll do some BSS searching first. Hair is starting to become an issue and I'm tired of looking like a crazy lady at work. Hopefully this set and flat iron will get me motivated to stretch a little longer. 3 months will be great, but I'm scared to commit to that time frame.

 

[goodmorningruby]

i hear you Goodmorningruby!!!
i stopped using heat the 6th of nov., 2009 and i would like to go a year without it if i can...lol, i used to love the flat iron, too, but am so loving this new growth without it that i really want to stick with this regimine.

let's start a no heat challenge ladies!

if we wanna get to apl and beyond, ending breakage is a major stepping stone towards the achievement of that goal, and nothing breaks hair like heat!

after i wash, dc and all, i wrap my hair and let it air dry.
since i'm only shoulder length now, drying doesn't take that long.
and i've still got flat, straight hair with bounce!
(i put 1 or 2 hard plastic rollers at the crown to give some lift and to make the wrap easier, but at night i just wrap it all up before silk scarf then plastic cap)

current regimine:
yesterday i pre poo-ed with cayenne pepper, castor oil & essential oils
today i washed with amla, shikakai, and brahmi
cowashed that out with a shea butter dc (it's an italian brand so i don't know if it would serve a purpose to list it, as it's not global)
lightly condished with alterna life solutions volume restore conditioner

then i did my tea rinses and avc final rinse.

my comb out was super supple and easy....hair felt soft and was detangled already.

then i put joico k-pak recontruct on and wrappèed it.

as i type, my hair is drying, so we'll see what it looks like after i take it down, but it sure felt good to do this and not need a blow dryer or flat iron!

HHG ladies!

I'm glad you're seeing progress, that's awesome. Keep up the good work! After I use heat (safely) I go long periods of time without using it again and when I do I notice a huge difference in my hair, mostly with the length and health.

 

[goodmorningruby]

I decided to braid my hair up tonight. Box braided all of the hair. I want to leave them in for at least 4 weeks, maybe longer. It took forever and my hair needs a break from breaking. And I'm sick right now and the last thing I want to deal with is my misbehaving hair.

 

[LushLox]

Will be DC'ing tonight using my new lush smelling Molton Brown condish and then proceed to rollerset. I'm enjoying my hair at the moment, it seems to be behaving itself and I've got a decent amount of new growth 6 weeks post.

Put a few flexi rods in on dry hair with a bit of Aveda USC and castor oil at the ends, and I've got nice luscious curls this morning - no frizz and no flyaways. USC and castor oil as a combination is fantastic and these little beauties will always be in my product rotation.

 

[grow]

Goodmorningruby, i hope you feel better soon!

Cream Tee, what's Aveda USC?

HHG!

 

[myhair84]

update: i've been kinda frustrated with my hair so i decided to take a break from it: it was breaking like crazy and my edges and temples were thinning. now that i have figured out the problem, i have been remedying them. i still dc 2/month and keep my ends protected (for the most part).

i am also trying to change up my protective styles because two strands are becoming really boring to me. i'm not sure if its growing but in may when i take my 6 month point pic i can see if it has.

 

[dionne81l]

Just Checking in....I have been wearing protective styles for 3 weeks now. Saturday is going to be wash day for me. I will dc and cornrow to dry.

 

[Amerie123]

Updating: so, I've been wearing this braid under my wig for 1.5 weeks now, and i have 5.5 weeks to go.. I'm still undecided if I want to take it out by then or not.. :scratchch

 

[mzsophisticated26]

This week I decided to wear my lace wig instead of bunning since I am also rollersetting my hair and then wrapping it under my wigs. I think I am going to switch back to my halfwigs next week. I will be 9wks post on friday and I will be doing my next length check and texlax on Feb 13th. I think now I am about 2-2.5inches from top of APL.

 

[Platinum]

I removed my Senegalese Twists yesterday so I'll try to do a length check before the end of the week.

 

[Salsarisma]

Hey everyone! I didn't protective style with my buns this week:-( I'll get back on track Monday. I plan to roller set Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. I have a big dance event this weekend and I know my hair is going to be sweaty and wet after dancing till 3am Friday night.

I'm going to bun tomorrow and Then tomorrow night I'm going to do a prepoo with Burt's Bees Avocado butter pre shampoo treatment. I plan to shampoo with Trader Joe's peppermnt shampoo and DC with UBH conditioner under the dryer for 30 minutes. Then rollerset for my big night Friday. Maytry porosity control, but not sure what step of the process to use it?

 

[Afrolinda]

I just did a sew-in-weave today which I will wear it till' end of march.

 

[GreenD]

I guess I should post something since signing up. I've been wearing my hair in box braids with my own hair that I redid the first of the year under a wig. So I'll take these out for my one year nappiversary in mid-March and will use that as my starting length for this year/challenge. I'm hoping to be APL by late summer.

We shall see.....

 

[Miss AJ]

Braided the twist out instead of twisting. I like braid outs better but twisting is less of a hassle than braiding. I haven't looked at my ends since my December trim but they feel good.

 

[hairaboutit]

Update: I've been sticking to my reggie and I'm excited to say I have some pretty good growth. I've been bunning and airdrying but I'm not so thrilled w/ having damp hair when I leave for work. Any tips (with minimal to no heat) would be appreciated

 

[grow]

Update: I've been sticking to my reggie and I'm excited to say I have some pretty good growth. I've been bunning and airdrying but I'm not so thrilled w/ having damp hair when I leave for work. Any tips (with minimal to no heat) would be appreciated

hi Hairaboutit! i'm so happy to hear about your sticking to your reggie and growth progress!!!
how often do you check your growth progress?
one tip i've tried for airdrying is wrapping.
i stopped using heat last november and hope to go a year without it!
so what i've been doing is, after i'm finished poo ing dc ing and all, i take 1 or 2 big hrad plastic rollers and roll my crown up.
the rest of my hair, i wrap, then i sit where the air vent is at home.
1 and a half to 2 hrs. later, my hair is completely dry and straight!
no heat, no blow dryer, no flat iron!

hth!