Apl Challenge 2017

The back and side of my hair should be APL+ by the fall (2 inches to go) as long as I keep it simple + no setbacks.

The front and crown however will need all of 2017 + a few months into 2018 to make APL.

** sorry if the pics are HUGE. I do not know how to resize.***

BACK

SIDE
 
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yaya24 said:
The back and side of my hair should be APL+ by the fall (2 inches to go) as long as I keep it simple + no setbacks.

The front and crown however will need all of 2017 + a few months into 2018 to make APL.

** sorry if the pics are HUGE. I do not know how to resize.***

BACK
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Don't tilt your head when you check your length and you will gain about another 1/2 inch.
 
faithVA said:
Don't leave me. I thought we were ride or die. You are the only one that is always exactly where I am :sad:

Even though things are tough they can always turn around in the summer.
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shortdub78 said:
Don't go! It's only April! And remember this is a challenge! I'm having a moment too! Even if you don't make it, whatever you achieve is still progress! We gotta believe that about a lot of things!
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thanks guys, I feel crappy about everything I'll re-eval in a month. lol faith I'm still with ya...just tired of the waiting and now with this acne starting up again, the last thing i want to do is take a photo.
 
Wenbev said:
thanks guys, I feel crappy about everything I'll re-eval in a month. lol faith I'm still with ya...just tired of the waiting and now with this acne starting up again, the last thing i want to do is take a photo.
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Sorry that you are having tough time. I'm tired of waiting too. Let's just be there already.

@Wenbev, if you aren't up to taking a photo, skip it. There will be another check in, in August or you can't wait until you are on the other side of what you are going through.

:bighug:
 
Hey guys,
So I took my marley twists out and I'm feeling both discouraged and confused. I know my hair has grown because I have three comparison pics of each section, and I see a big difference, but when I measured some parts today, the numbers weren't making sense to me. Now I'll admit, I'm not consistent with measuring, or which sections are/ were what length, so it could be that if one section was 7" before, and another was 6", and now the first section has grown and the second has also grown to 7", in my mind, it might look like nothing's changed. That's probably what it is. It just seems like I've experience little growth. Especially when working with my hair today, I guess I was expecting it to feel longer.

But I'm not giving up. I don't think I'll put the marley twists back in for the next 4 weeks (until I straighten). I'm going to twist my own hair. Lol, every time I say that I end up doing it for only a couple of days. They make me feel unattractive because they're so short.

Does anyone else (naturals) feel like one of the most important milestones is being able to twist your hair and it hangs and looks good, and being able to section it when washing/ styling and not having to do 1 million stubby sections, lol? Or when you can bun your own hair without extensions.
 
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SAPNK said:
Hey guys,
So I took my marley twists out and I'm feeling both discouraged and confused. I know my hair has grown because I have three comparison pics of each section, and I see a big difference, but when I measured some parts today, the numbers weren't making sense to me. Now I'll admit, I'm not consistent with measuring, or which sections are/ were what length, so it could be that if one section was 7" before, and another was 6", and now the first section has grown and the second has also grown to 7", in my mind, it might look like nothing's changed. That's probably what it is. It just seems like I've experience little growth. Especially when working with my hair today, I guess I was expecting it to feel longer.

But I'm not giving up. I don't think I'll put the marley twists back in for the next 4 weeks (until I straighten). I'm going to twist my own hair. Lol, every time I say that I end up doing it for only a couple of days. They make me feel unattractive because they're so short.

Does anyone else (naturals) feel like one of the most important milestones is being able to twist your hair and it hangs and looks good, and being able to section it when washing/ styling and not having to do 1 million stubby sections, lol? Or when you can bun your own hair without extensions.
Click to expand...

Don't feel discouraged. It's hard when you tuck it away to sometimes get a real feel of the progress. I would trust the comparison pics for now. It might be best to leave measuring for times when you straighten :yep: Hopefully, when you straighten it will put a smile on your face.

I am so with you with the milestones. I have begun to wonder, what difference does it make if I hit this length goal and that length goal if I still don't have any other styling options but flat twist :perplexed:

I didn't post my 2 strands in here but in the SL challenge. They are sort of hanging in the front but not in the back. Theyow are OK but I wouldn't call them nice. I'm thinking I'm going to have to be BSL before I have some nice juicy twist. I have to do over 30 twists to get a defined twist out. And I don't even bother with bantu knots.

I feel you girl. We are in this together. We can do it though. Just a few more months and we are going to see some noticeable progress :yep:
 
Awe, thanks faith. I feel like once you get over the styling options hump (can't think of a better word), it's easier to retain length because it becomes easier to protective style. If I could do some nice long twists, that would be my go to.
Your twists actually look really good. Now I'm more encouraged to do my own.
 
SAPNK said:
Awe, thanks faith. I feel like once you get over the styling options hump (can't think of a better word), it's easier to retain length because it becomes easier to protective style. If I could do some nice long twists, that would be my go to.
Your twists actually look really good. Now I'm more encouraged to do my own.
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Thank you. I think they look OK but I'm not in love. The back looked matted the second week so I reverted back to flat twist this week. I will try 2 strands again at the end of May.

I'm waiting for that bun life. I know some ladies can bun at SL but I think I'm going to have to be APL before I can bun.
 
faithVA said:
Thank you. I think they look OK but I'm not in love. The back looked matted the second week so I reverted back to flat twist this week. I will try 2 strands again at the end of May.

I'm waiting for that bun life. I know some ladies can bun at SL but I think I'm going to have to be APL before I can bun.
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I agree. I might need to be APL or more, but I can't wait! I think texture and thickness plays a big part too. My hair is so thick, just trying to grab 1/4 of it when wet is nearly impossible, lol. It would need to be stretched first, but that's not a big deal, I don't think.
 
SAPNK said:
I agree. I might need to be APL or more, but I can't wait! I think texture and thickness plays a big part too. My hair is so thick, just trying to grab 1/4 of it when wet is nearly impossible, lol. It would need to be stretched first, but that's not a big deal, I don't think.
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I agree. If my hair was less dense I could bun. I'm not wishing cod that. Lol. I will just have to wait it out.
 
Took all my minis out over yesterday and this morning. Now I have some Miss Celine plaits in a struggle bun. I'm good with it though because I haven't been able to do this since 2014. I'll be clarifying and deep conditioning with protein tomorrow top prep my hair for coloring this weekend.
 

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B_Phlyy said:
Took all my minis out over yesterday and this morning. Now I have some Miss Celine plaits in a struggle bun. I'm good with it though because I haven't been able to do this since 2014. I'll be clarifying and deep conditioning with protein tomorrow top prep my hair for coloring this weekend.
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Yep, progress is progress. I know my braids wouldn't reach to even band them together so having a struggle bun is a good thing :yep:
 
SAPNK said:
Last night I did my twists. This morning I took them out, so that was a fail.
On a different note, does anyone have a good detangling method? I'm still tearing through my hair when I try to style it.
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How are you entangling now? My hair is detangled before I rinse out the conditioner. If does into lock down then. It's usually twisted or held in separate sections with barrettes.

Then I keep my hair moist with a lot of diluted leave in.
 
@faithVA, I wash and condition in sections. Then I detangle, re-twist and let it dry. But when I take them down to style, I can't even part it. I think I need to detangle with the conditioner in.
That was a duh moment, lol. I think sometimes I just need to hear myself say what I do to realize it doesn't make any sense.
 
SAPNK said:
@faithVA, I wash and condition in sections. Then I detangle, re-twist and let it dry. But when I take them down to style, I can't even part it. I think I need to detangle with the conditioner in.
That was a duh moment, lol. I think sometimes I just need to hear myself say what I do to realize it doesn't make any sense.
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It sounds like you need to put product on before you retwist or at least before you let it dry. Are you letting your hair dry product free? Are you using a leave in?

Glad you figured it out.
 
faithVA said:
It sounds like you need to put product on before you retwist or at least before you let it dry. Are you letting your hair dry product free? Are you using a leave in?

Glad you figured it out.
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Yes and no. Okay, I'll do those things and see how it works. Thank you.
 
I think I solved the mystery of why my hair measurements were so disappointing. I went to a stylist a few month ago (that knew nothing about natural hair) and she cut a lot of length of. I measured my hair long before this happened. The next time I measured, my hair had grown back from the cut (to the same length or a little more). The progress pics all started after the cut. So this means my hair actually grew a lot!
 
PerfectlyFlawed said:
View attachment 392651Ignore background lol

Edited to add: 2 day post relaxer
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Nice! Your hair grows in a V pattern just like mine. It took me years to figure out that hairstylist were cutting it perfectly even which is why I was never retaining length. They kept cutting the V off. I stopped going to stylist and trimming my own hair and I've seen much more length retention
 
SAPNK said:
I think I solved the mystery of why my hair measurements were so disappointing. I went to a stylist a few month ago (that knew nothing about natural hair) and she cut a lot of length of. I measured my hair long before this happened. The next time I measured, my hair had grown back from the cut (to the same length or a little more). The progress pics all started after the cut. So this means my hair actually grew a lot!
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That is great news. Congratulations.
 
The braids were a fail. Braider snatched some of my hair out. Now I gotta work on recovery from a setback. This is what happens when you don't stick to the plan and start doing different crap! I'm not going to wash or anything right now. I'm going to let my scalp breathe for a minute. Going to clean it with some antiseptic spray.
 
DST1913 said:
Nice! Your hair grows in a V pattern just like mine. It took me years to figure out that hairstylist were cutting it perfectly even which is why I was never retaining length. They kept cutting the V off. I stopped going to stylist and trimming my own hair and I've seen much more length retention
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Thanks girl and I know how you feel. It took me awhile to realize thatt hair naturally grows in a V. I still get mad thinking about all of the length that I lost from SHS trying to get rid of my "thin ends" and even up my hair.

Edited to correct spelling
 
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