Grow It Long 2020 Challenge

It’s wash day, and my hair is still soft and moisturized and doesn’t look bad at all. I could go another few days but I won’t. In the past by time wash day rolled around it’d be dry af and in desperate need of moisture, so this is a good sign :lachen:.

im hoping to see minimal breakage today. And I think slowly but surely I’m getting a solid routine down. I like @GettingKinky ’s idea of monthly length checks so I think I may do a length check next week.

I can’t believe January is almost over already. This month I was heavy handed with my scissors doing search and destroys. I’ve hid my scissors, and I’ll be going in for a professional trim/ dusting at the end of February!
 
snoop said:
I'm currently pre-pooing with a random mix of oils, butters, and ayurvedic herbs. I'm taking down these twists after 4 weeks. My hair was feeling so soft and lush, but I'm looking forward to finally washing my hair.:look:
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The mix worked really well and take down was a breeze. This is the first time that I've taken my hair down and lost sooooo little hair. Even shed hairs.

My wash day got messed up a bit and I wasn't able to keep my hair damp while I waited for some time to do my hair. I had to rehydrate it. I got some broken hairs, but nothing like what I was considering normal. I didn't think that I detangled well and so yesterday I re-did my hair. Unfortunately, it resulted in a bit more broken hairs, but not much, but I was also able to remove a couple of knots as well.

It was an eye opener. I realize now that I've not been as gentle with my hair as I could have been. If I had had wash days like this all along, I'd probably be at hip length by now.
 
All done with wash day. Tried cocktailing my shea butter mix with some conditioner. Now my hair feels greasy. Meh. I'm ready to throw the whole shea away lol. I'll continue to use the mix up on my hair and body until it's finished. Then I'll switch to trying mango butter.

On the bright side! My hair looked and felt really good this wash day. I think I've discovered my favourite conditioning oil - babassu. It is everything that coconut oil is supposed to be. Light, not super greasy, absorbs quickly and provides great slip. :yahoo:
 
Bleh 2nd go with a protein DC didn't go well. I tried the Miche Beauty Strengthen Protein DC a few weeks ago and my hair didn't like it much. So my idea last week was to mix it with my TGIN Honey Miracle Mask, so that way I'd get a bit of protein in but still plenty of moisture. Did about 1/3 Miche Beauty Protein DC and 2/3 TGIN HMM. Nope. My hair is soft as usual when rinsing the DC, but my resulting twistout is again dry and frizzy, resulting in more opportunity for tangling and knots.

Just going to stick with Henna and amla for my strengthening needs for the rest of the year. I said in my opening post in this thread that I was going to stick to my tried and trues and not be experimenting with different product and techniques too much. Need to heed that.
 
Mapleoats said:
All done with wash day. Tried cocktailing my shea butter mix with some conditioner. Now my hair feels greasy. Meh. I'm ready to throw the whole shea away lol. I'll continue to use the mix up on my hair and body until it's finished. Then I'll switch to trying mango butter.

On the bright side! My hair looked and felt really good this wash day. I think I've discovered my favourite conditioning oil - babassu. It is everything that coconut oil is supposed to be. Light, not super greasy, absorbs quickly and provides great slip. :yahoo:
Click to expand...

I used babassu a lot last year since coconut oil is a no-go for me. It's a great oil!
 
snoop said:
I used babassu a lot last year since coconut oil is a no-go for me. It's a great oil!
Click to expand...
It really is! Yeah raw coconut oil is a no bueno for me as well. I’m hoping that mango butter will fall in the same category as the babassu oil - a great alternative/dupe for what I was hoping Shea butter would do
 
water_n_oil said:
Washed yesterday and my twists look and feel really good. Shampoo bar, acv rinse, oil blend #1 on hair, a little shea on the ends, oil blend#2 on the scalp. I added cedarwood EO to the second oil thanks to @PlanetCybertron and it's a game changer for my scalp. The mix was already good w/o it but it's a great boost.
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Did you wash your hair in twists?

My friend twisted my hair two weeks ago. My scalp needs to be washed.

She did such an excellent job twisting my hair, that I don't want to take them out. But they are frizzing and unraveling

It's only Tuesday, so i'm telling myself, I can hold out until the weekend, to take them out and wash.
But MY twists don't look as good as HERs do and she out of state.....

I just asked her to give me a detailed account of how she did my hair.
and she did it in an hour.... Amazing
 
Im realizing that the ends of my twists tend to dry out really quickly and really badly. Leading to frizz, whispy tangles and ultimately SSKs and splits. I'm experimenting with smoothing them down with a hydrating gel as opposed to just water/oil during the week. The gel gives definition and holds the curl in place, which is really key to preventing the tangles, maybe even more so than keeping it moisturized. Hopefully this might just be a break through aha moment for me!
 
guyaneseyankee said:
Did you wash your hair in twists?

My friend twisted my hair two weeks ago. My scalp needs to be washed.

She did such an excellent job twisting my hair, that I don't want to take them out. But they are frizzing and unraveling

It's only Tuesday, so i'm telling myself, I can hold out until the weekend, to take them out and wash.
But MY twists don't look as good as HERs do and she out of state.....

I just asked her to give me a detailed account of how she did my hair.
and she did it in an hour.... Amazing
Click to expand...
No but I've washed in twists many times. It was only 4 twists in this case though.
 
Mapleoats said:
Im realizing that the ends of my twists tend to dry out really quickly and really badly. Leading to frizz, whispy tangles and ultimately SSKs and splits. I'm experimenting with smoothing them down with a hydrating gel as opposed to just water/oil during the week. The gel gives definition and holds the curl in place, which is really key to preventing the tangles, maybe even more so than keeping it moisturized. Hopefully this might just be a break through aha moment for me!
Click to expand...
Flax seed gel on the ends
 
I’m really trying to minimise my routine in terms of products so basically looking for holy grails so I stop spending. I tried the crece polo deep conditioner. It was amazing - smoothed my hair and really defined my curls so I’m going to keep using it a few times but I think it’s probably a new HG. I did my first WnG after the last 2 weeks as it was exam period for me. I need my partner to double check for me but I did my first monthly length today and my hair has grown & retained an inch all round. I’ve noticed as I do WNGs majority of the time too that my hair seems to be defining very easily even parts of my hair that usually frizz.
 
Realized that I can't keep these cornrows in for 8 weeks as originally planned to minimize manipulation. Re-braiding more often will keep my new growth better protected and stretched. I also plan to combine every two braids to alternate my exposed parts for a total of only 7 braids.

The next time I re-do my hair, I'll split them back into 14 cornrows.
 
Mapleoats said:
All done with wash day. Tried cocktailing my shea butter mix with some conditioner. Now my hair feels greasy. Meh. I'm ready to throw the whole shea away lol. I'll continue to use the mix up on my hair and body until it's finished. Then I'll switch to trying mango butter.

On the bright side! My hair looked and felt really good this wash day. I think I've discovered my favourite conditioning oil - babassu. It is everything that coconut oil is supposed to be. Light, not super greasy, absorbs quickly and provides great slip. :yahoo:
Click to expand...
Where did you purchase your babassu oil?
 
nyeredzi said:
How long do you think it will take you?
Click to expand...

30 mins detangling
Entire wash day (Poo, DC, style)
About 2.5 hours.

If I didn’t have to detangle from skipping last wash day, it would be about an hour and a half (I sit under the hooded dryer for 45 mins)

Poo/Regular Con/Style: 45 mins- to an hour. 30 mins if I don’t have to detangle again before styling.

Co-wash/Style: 20 mins.
 
Right now, I refuse to purchase anything hair related until I use up my stash. My product junkie self went out of control in 2019. Today, I oil rinsed my hair with apricot oil, then added APB Spinach Mask. I layered my hair with Sirod Naturals Rice Leave-In and SPB Curl Pudding.

Two weeks ago, I realized that I may wash my hair too often. My hair was unusually dry for the month of January, even after clarifying. So for the month of February, I'm going to try to wash my hair every two weeks instead of once a week. If stretching my wash days out doesn't help, then I know it's the products I'm using and I may need to revamp.
​
@HappyAtLast

I'm transitioning from being color-treated. Color treatments change my curl pattern, since my hair is so fine. I finally took notice when I looked at a completely virgin shed hair. My natural hair not only has a tighter curl pattern, but it's slightly thicker (still considered fine). So I'm slowly going to cut the color out of my hair. My next trim won't be until April. What are you transitioning from?
 
NaturalShe94 said:
30 mins detangling
Entire wash day (Poo, DC, style)
About 2.5 hours.

If I didn’t have to detangle from skipping last wash day, it would be about an hour and a half (I sit under the hooded dryer for 45 mins)

Poo/Regular Con/Style: 45 mins- to an hour. 30 mins if I don’t have to detangle again before styling.

Co-wash/Style: 20 mins.
Click to expand...

Ok, I haven't timed myself but these are good guides. My wash routine is super short, which may or may not be a good thing.

I need to be more careful about each step in my wash process.
 
I washed my hair on Tuesday using ORS poo and Joico Moisture Balm. I left it on for 10 mins and my hair was so soft :drool:. Then I put my hair in 2 banded ponytails to let it air dry overnight. Got up the next day, and flatironed on 419. Hair came out great!! It wasn't as bone straight as usual, but it looked fuller and healthier! I wrapped it overnight and it smoothed out some more. Everything took me about 2 hours to wash, DC, detangle, band and flatiron. Not bad! I'll keep sleeping with my hair just pulled back and tied with a scarf.
I'm actually feeling good about my hair! I think I've retained a little bit of length :D
 
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