Grow It Long 2020 Challenge

I straightened almost all of it. it's choppy because I cut each section as much as I think needs to be cut without regard for shape. now... i can wear my clips ins. I could now braid it...I could completely trash this straightening job, deep condition and forget it. idk what i'll do.

final photo in media. i was finally able to capture how it draws up before I'm done straightening it making me think I'm not growing anything. I have to get it done at a salon for it to stay straight for a couple of hours longer
 
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Rastafarai said:
Speaking of old school hair products, do you all remember this? I remember my mom using this on wash days and my hair being thick and shiny for days! Makes me reconsider all this PJism, lol.

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My aunt in Haiti used the version that came in a tube (why, I will never know; there were better products available). At one point, it became impossible to find/afford there, so I would have to scour stores here that I would normally avoid, in order to send some to her.
 
Sooooooo....I swear this part of my hair never grows THIS long! :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

I've been staying faithful to my regimen for 3 months now, which is to shampoo/dc/moisturize/seal with grease/gel for hold of my curls and bun throughout the week until next wash day.

I have gone back to grease, silicones, and sulfates and my hair seems to be retaining length a LOT faster than it has in the past few years! :yep::clap:

It wasn't about the ingredients, it was about learning how they work and how to use them.

I cannot wait to see what my hair looks like in another 3 months! I gotta take more pics bc my hair has definitely made a major turn around in the past few months! I can't believe the SIDES of my hair are at BSL! They are usually so prone to breakage and usually only reach APL.

GREASE!!!
 

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apple_natural said:
Okay. I got the indian herb one. I have been staring it at all evening. I finally put it on my back two twists. I think it'll be okay :D I'm happy it's working for you!



This was it!!!! :drunk::drunk::toocool: Thank you so much! lol I remember the container, the herb bits, the color and definitely the scent. I wish I got this one today



Awww thank you for looking for me. How sweet that everyone is trying to help me remember it :blush:
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Allways Indian Hemp I’m sure of it. Smelled like cocoa butter and I swore was growing my hair every time I applied it (not likely)!
 
SmilingElephant said:
Sooooooo....I swear this part of my hair never grows THIS long! :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

I've been staying faithful to my regimen for 3 months now, which is to shampoo/dc/moisturize/seal with grease/gel for hold of my curls and bun throughout the week until next wash day.

I have gone back to grease, silicones, and sulfates and my hair seems to be retaining length a LOT faster than it has in the past few years! :yep::clap:

It wasn't about the ingredients, it was about learning how they work and how to use them.

I cannot wait to see what my hair looks like in another 3 months! I gotta take more pics bc my hair has definitely made a major turn around in the past few months! I can't believe the SIDES of my hair are at BSL! They are usually so prone to breakage and usually only reach APL.

GREASE!!!
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I'm really glad to hear you've got something that's working. Stick to it! Some of the old methods are best.

My hair is doing well, too. I've managed to find pockets of time for the last couple of months, and with my mother here for the last 3 weeks, I can give my hair the care it deserves. I know what needs to be done, really. It's just that generally I don't have time to do it. So I'm always looking for shortcuts, which in the end never work out. Some people have hair that is, frankly, just easier. Less time-consuming with equally good results. I'm not one of those people. My hair sounds the way people below describe their hair, and their regimens sounds time-consuming as well. IndigenousStrandz mostly spreads her time out, doing something to parts of her hair throughout the week, like retwisting 2-3 twists at a time, which might be my best shot, because I don't have large blocks of time at once because of the kids. Even her, though, she says sometimes she takes her daughter to her mother's for 4 hours to focus on her hair, and that's a luxury I usually don't have.

This video is really long, but I like to play it while I do my hair.



She goes longer periods of time without doing a whole lot, but then has long detangling and take-down sessions:


Seeing how she manipulates her hair and it responds, her hair also seems a lot like mine:
 
nyeredzi said:
I'm really glad to hear you've got something that's working. Stick to it! Some of the old methods are best.

My hair is doing well, too. I've managed to find pockets of time for the last couple of months, and with my mother here for the last 3 weeks, I can give my hair the care it deserves. I know what needs to be done, really. It's just that generally I don't have time to do it. So I'm always looking for shortcuts, which in the end never work out. Some people have hair that is, frankly, just easier. Less time-consuming with equally good results. I'm not one of those people. My hair sounds the way people below describe their hair, and their regimens sounds time-consuming as well. IndigenousStrandz mostly spreads her time out, doing something to parts of her hair throughout the week, like retwisting 2-3 twists at a time, which might be my best shot, because I don't have large blocks of time at once because of the kids. Even her, though, she says sometimes she takes her daughter to her mother's for 4 hours to focus on her hair, and that's a luxury I usually don't have.

This video is really long, but I like to play it while I do my hair.



She goes longer periods of time without doing a whole lot, but then has long detangling and take-down sessions:


Seeing how she manipulates her hair and it responds, her hair also seems a lot like mine:
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IndigenousStrandz has all the hair int he world on her head. She needs those hours.:drunk:

I think my hair and regimen mostly resembles Naturally High's though my shrinkage is WAY more than hers which is what makes detangling time consuming for me. My hair is 4c and cottony. Over the past 2.5 months I've been testing out a new low maintenance method of taking care of my hair and it's working. Instead of redoing my twists every one to two weeks, I've managed to do them monthly. I still wash each week, but I've been threading my hair after each wash day. I've been using DIY herbal shampoos to wash my hair, but it can easily be done with diluted shampoo and conditioner. I've found that setting my hair into medium twists, with the roots braided then senegalese/rope twisting the length works best to minimize the frizz and therefore minimizing the amount of detangling time I need at the end of the month. The threading also helps to minimize the frizz and it's been great for my ends, especially since I bantu knot them first.

I have kids as well, so I totally hear you about not having the time to spend doing your hair on the regular.
 
snoop said:
IndigenousStrandz has all the hair int he world on her head. She needs those hours.:drunk:

I think my hair and regimen mostly resembles Naturally High's though my shrinkage is WAY more than hers which is what makes detangling time consuming for me. My hair is 4c and cottony. Over the past 2.5 months I've been testing out a new low maintenance method of taking care of my hair and it's working. Instead of redoing my twists every one to two weeks, I've managed to do them monthly. I still wash each week, but I've been threading my hair after each wash day. I've been using DIY herbal shampoos to wash my hair, but it can easily be done with diluted shampoo and conditioner. I've found that setting my hair into medium twists, with the roots braided then senegalese/rope twisting the length works best to minimize the frizz and therefore minimizing the amount of detangling time I need at the end of the month. The threading also helps to minimize the frizz and it's been great for my ends, especially since I bantu knot them first.

I have kids as well, so I totally hear you about not having the time to spend doing your hair on the regular.
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IndigenousStrandz does have a ridiculous amount of hair! She seems to be in love with it, though, so it works out. Like, she actually likes attending to her hair. I used to, but don't anymore. I used to have way more hair, too (not as much as her, obvs), but now it's thinner. Which I don't mind because it saves me time. My hair is like Naturally High's too. Not sure if our shrinkage differs; she blow dries her hair pretty often, right?

I did note you talked about your new regimen a while back, using threading. I missed the bantu knotting part, though. Did you see my post about the lady who wraps the ends of her twists around the shaft? It makes the hair look shorter, but I find this helps with ends tangling, too. Rope twisting + threading makes my twists look too emaciated for my tastes, though, but I do see how it can work. I'm going to see how long I can keep up IndigenousStrandz' method of doing a few twists every few nights. I have about 25 twists right now, so if I can do 5 every 3 nights or so, that should get me to 2 weeks. And then if I can wash my hair once every 2 weeks, that works out. I just have to actually do it. :/ Like Naturally High, I don't like doing hair maintenance before bed, and I'm usually just so tired I don't want to. But, I do find that it's less stressful to me if I'm only using my fingers. Fingers don't do as efficient a job, but somehow I'm more stressed when using a comb. I'll still use a comb or comb attachment on the dryer every 4-6 weeks, though; otherwise I don't get all the shed hair out and it really builds up.
 
nyeredzi said:
IndigenousStrandz does have a ridiculous amount of hair! She seems to be in love with it, though, so it works out. Like, she actually likes attending to her hair. I used to, but don't anymore. I used to have way more hair, too (not as much as her, obvs), but now it's thinner. Which I don't mind because it saves me time. My hair is like Naturally High's too. Not sure if our shrinkage differs; she blow dries her hair pretty often, right?

I did note you talked about your new regimen a while back, using threading. I missed the bantu knotting part, though. Did you see my post about the lady who wraps the ends of her twists around the shaft? It makes the hair look shorter, but I find this helps with ends tangling, too. Rope twisting + threading makes my twists look too emaciated for my tastes, though, but I do see how it can work. I'm going to see how long I can keep up IndigenousStrandz' method of doing a few twists every few nights. I have about 25 twists right now, so if I can do 5 every 3 nights or so, that should get me to 2 weeks. And then if I can wash my hair once every 2 weeks, that works out. I just have to actually do it. :/ Like Naturally High, I don't like doing hair maintenance before bed, and I'm usually just so tired I don't want to. But, I do find that it's less stressful to me if I'm only using my fingers. Fingers don't do as efficient a job, but somehow I'm more stressed when using a comb. I'll still use a comb or comb attachment on the dryer every 4-6 weeks, though; otherwise I don't get all the shed hair out and it really builds up.
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I think you're right in that Naturally High Hair blow dries. I'm not sure where I got that from because she doesn't talk about it much, but her hair doesn't really seem to shrink at all. Mine just has to hear the weather forecast before it starts creeping into my scalp.

Yes, I saw your post about the lady who wraps her twists around the shaft of her hair. I'd actually started doing that with my hair a couple of days before I saw your post. I find this has been working much better for me than to just wrap my ends alone. I also don't twist my hair individually. I'll braid my twists into a single ponytail or two pigtails (or more sections) and then I will thread that group of hair. It's so much faster for the install and take down of the thread. We have been in covid isolation since March, so I don't have to worry about the styles looking any particular way since I'm at home. If I have to go out I'll either throw on a hat or not thread my hair for the week or whatever.

I need to watch Naturally's latest clumping video. I get it in theory, but my hair doesn't hang like hers. I think the braided roots is what helps with detangling. Between carefully styling my hair and using a good amount of shea butter, I have been finding that I can now keep my twists in for a month without having to spend any more time on my take down than if I'd kept them in for two weeks.
 
Silkylover said:
Indigenous strands been growing her hair for 15yrs. I wish she was more transparent about that
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Well, we've all been growing our hair all our lives :look: I never know how to answer the question "how long have you been growing your hair?" Because, when is the start? Like, when was the last time I stopped and when did I restart? :lol: Or have I been trying for my whole 42 years? Is it from the time you went natural, assuming your hair was ever relaxed (my hair was only relaxed for ~7 years of my life). Or is it the time you started "trying" to grow hair by reading forums and stuff, the time you started a "hair journey"? Does your 'start' time have to be when you are bald, or do you get to 'start' growing at shoulder length? That feels kind of unfair, to get to start when you already have life 6 inches :lol: How long are we all in our "hair journey", and will be be thigh length once we've been on it for 15 years? I don't mean to attack you, I'm realizing it might be coming off that way, and I'm sorry if it's sounding like that. I've just never understood the idea that hair necessarily gets longer as time passes. For most people, it doesn't. Hair grows, but most of us don't retain very well, or hit a wall and don't retain past that, regardless of how many years pass. For me, things get difficult getting past waist length, not matter how many years I've been on a hair journey.
 
nyeredzi said:
Well, we've all been growing our hair all our lives :look: I never know how to answer the question "how long have you been growing your hair?" Because, when is the start? Like, when was the last time I stopped and when did I restart? :lol: Or have I been trying for my whole 42 years? Is it from the time you went natural, assuming your hair was ever relaxed (my hair was only relaxed for ~7 years of my life). Or is it the time you started "trying" to grow hair by reading forums and stuff, the time you started a "hair journey"? Does your 'start' time have to be when you are bald, or do you get to 'start' growing at shoulder length? That feels kind of unfair, to get to start when you already have life 6 inches :lol: How long are we all in our "hair journey", and will be be thigh length once we've been on it for 15 years? I don't mean to attack you, I'm realizing it might be coming off that way, and I'm sorry if it's sounding like that. I've just never understood the idea that hair necessarily gets longer as time passes. For most people, it doesn't. Hair grows, but most of us don't retain very well, or hit a wall and don't retain past that, regardless of how many years pass. For me, things get difficult getting past waist length, not matter how many years I've been on a hair journey.
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A lot of people, who are serious about (starting) their hair journey usually ask the follow up questions: Did you big chop? How long was your hair when you BC'd? Have you had any setbacks? Then hopefully, by then you'll have figured out which starting point they want to hear about.
 
snoop said:
A lot of people, who are serious about (starting) their hair journey usually ask the follow up questions: Did you big chop? How long was your hair when you BC'd? Have you had any setbacks? Then hopefully, by then you'll have figured out which starting point they want to hear about.
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I almost never get these questions anymore. I don't wear my hair out anymore and I think I also don't engage people much with hair talk. Also long natural hair is more common than it used to be, so it's not as big a deal. A woman asked me a week ago, though, how long it took me to grow my hair. I told her 3 years because... it seemed like a reasonable answer. :lol: I think my hair does grow the average of 6 inches a year or so. Regardless of breakage, then, regardless of my efforts or failures, the oldest ends of my hair are probably about 3 years old, since my hair is around 18" root to tip.

I guess the most reasonable interpretation of 'when did you start growing your hair' is 'when did you start being intentional about growing out your hair', no?
 
nyeredzi said:
In a video I watched from last year, she said she hadn't trimmed her hair in 7 years. Would that be the "start" of her growing her hair?
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I wouldn't calculate from a trim, because a trim and a hair cut are not the same, IMO.

I am not sure how she started her journey, i.e. big chop, transition or whatever, but if she were calculating based on your comment above she would have said 1 year, not 9... (she commented this past October).
 

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nyeredzi said:
I almost never get these questions anymore. I don't wear my hair out anymore and I think I also don't engage people much with hair talk. Also long natural hair is more common than it used to be, so it's not as big a deal. A woman asked me a week ago, though, how long it took me to grow my hair. I told her 3 years because... it seemed like a reasonable answer. :lol: I think my hair does grow the average of 6 inches a year or so. Regardless of breakage, then, regardless of my efforts or failures, the oldest ends of my hair are probably about 3 years old, since my hair is around 18" root to tip.

I guess the most reasonable interpretation of 'when did you start growing your hair' is 'when did you start being intentional about growing out your hair', no?
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Agreed.
 
apple_natural said:
@SmilingElephant my sides never want to grow either. I see them kind of trying now though. Great job at sticking to your regimen!
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Try a little grease on the ends/length of them after you condition & moisturize and keep them up and out of the way.

I was using bobby pins to keep them up in my bun earlier in the year, but now I don't need the bobby pins anymore. :yep:
 
Another day, another bun of twists. Stole my daughter's hair bow. I stole it right out the gate, too. She didn't even get a chance to wear it. And it matched my new sweater dress perfectly
sparkly_hair_bow1.jpg

sparkly_hair_bow2.jpg

Yes, it is a child's bow, and yes, I love it. She ain't neva getting it back! (she couldn't care less, actually)
 
nyeredzi said:
Another day, another bun of twists. Stole my daughter's hair bow. I stole it right out the gate, too. She didn't even get a chance to wear it. And it matched my new sweater dress perfectly
View attachment 466277

View attachment 466279

Yes, it is a child's bow, and yes, I love it. She ain't neva getting it back! (she couldn't care less, actually)
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Your twists look so soft and pretty. I want to touch them....
 
Mapleoats said:
Here’s my final check in View attachment 466431

Very happy with my progress this year, went from barely touching armpit length to being comfortably BSB I think. BSL still feels like a world away but I’m sure I can make it next year

sidenote — Wish I took a better starting pic lmao why would I take that pic with my hair looking all crazy smh I was new lol :nono::look:
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I think your bra is sitting at a MBL on you. BSL = BSB, they aren’t two separate goals. BSL was basically changed to BSB cause folks bras were sitting all over the place, from their armpits to their waist. :lol: BSB is the more static marker. So you’ve already hit that milestone. Your next one is MBL.
 
Theresamonet said:
I think your bra is sitting at a MBL on you. BSL = BSB, they aren’t two separate goals. BSL was basically changed to BSB cause folks bras were sitting all over the place, from their armpits to their waist. :lol: BSB is the more static marker. So you’ve already hit that milestone. Your next one is MBL.
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This makes sense cus BSL changes depending on the bra of the day and it’s hard to keep track of :spinning:
 
Final length check is at 19". As a recap, initial check in was around 16"
Starting point

At Spring check in, I was at 17"
Spring check in

At Summer check in, I was at about 18"
Summer check in

At Fall check, I was back down to around 17.5". I was not surprised at the time, because I had already posted that I'd not been treating my hair properly
Fall check in

Now I'm at about 19"

dec_2020_length_check.jpg

I want to blow dry for a good stretch to take a good pic, and then also perhaps do a trim for the start of the next year (and next challenge!), but I don't know if I have the energy or will to do it.

I'm currently following a Indigenous Strandz-inspired regimen. Or rather, the thing I'm mostly copying is leaving hair in twists and redoing a few every 2-3 nights. And no combs when I do it, just hands. This has made my hair more manageable since I haven't had to do all my hair at once. I've been doing this for just a month or two, so hopefully I can continue.

My goal was 20" and I didn't make it, but I'm still pretty satisfied with getting the 3". For next year, I'd start off with max 1" cut and hope and hope to get another 3" to bring me to 21". 20" is grazing hip on me, 18" is waist length.
 
I'm a bit sad that I didnt reach my goal this year, but at least I didnt lose length!

On a positive note, my ends look good (I cut an inch off in june) and i'm retaining moisture for longer while protective styling, this makes detangling on wash day wayyyy less longer. :)

Here are photos from earlier this year and one taken yesterday (from BSL to BSL lol).

BSL-63a80624$9c86$4449$b35d$18d1d3ee55c8_3456_4608_1577630386397.pngSnapchat-552135479.jpg
 
4658F288-4164-4D66-B1D6-BC0E0C4FA7D9.jpeg

Final check-in for the year ladies! Hope you are all having an amazing holiday! Started the year off with front: 10 inches, middle: 11 inches and back 9 inches. Now I’m at F: 17 M: 17.5 B: 15.5. Really happy with my results - didn’t hit my 8-inch mark but that was probably a bit too ambitious considering how many wash and goes I did. I definitely plan to do more protective styles this coming year and hoping I will hit waist length by March than just maybe hip length by the end of next year. The first photo is December 2019, 3rd is October 2020. The final photo is my last check-in photo as I’m unfortunately terrible at taking photos from the back, as I’m not with my partner atm.
 
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