Well, I am a bit bummed right now. I finally took time to look at my pictures from the last time I straightened and trimmed, which was about 2 months ago. And when I compare the pics to my hair a year and two years ago, it doesn't look great. I keep needing to cut my hair almost to the same place. To be honest my hair did get an inch below TBL, however, the bulk of my hair doesn't seem to be getting longer. In fact, it might have gotten shorter. I really want my hair to thicken up, not just part of my hair to get longer.
I'm not sure if I should just be expecting my hair to thin out at the ends. I see in some pictures of other people their hair makes a V at the bottom. Does anyone have thoughts about that? If my hair would do a V that would be one thing, but my hair makes a W (haha), not cute. I'm also not very good at flatironing. I think I've got my technique down, I just need to bump up the heat a little bit because I've been using 360 - 375 and it's not enough so my photos aren't very accurate.
Plan Moving forward: I'm going to start oiling my ends throughout the week, and I'm going to go back to using henna every three months. I always felt like my hair was the strongest when I was using it consistently and thicker (because my hair is really fine) and I really liked the subtle color. Also, I'm going to start taking better pictures. I looked online for a length check t-shirt, but I don't see anyone who has one that goes past MBL. So I'll have to figure something else out.