Hip–Tailbone Length (HL–TBL) 2014 Challenge!

MileHighDiva , your hair is so thick :lick: , and a trim where you can't tell any hair was cut is trimming the right way :lol:.

I got a new phone yesterday, and decided to do a length check pic. Let's just say that I'm taking it better this morning than I did last night. I'm just so disappointed :sad:. My hair was right on track my first 2-3 years of being natural, but these last few have gotten me nowhere. And what hurts the most is that I was seeing progress, but this last month ate it back up :nono:. Right now I would be embarrassed to tell someone how long I've been natural and the amount of time I've spent working on my hair. All these years of knowledge and I'm still struggling :sad:.
 
I needed this thread because I've been jumping on and off challenges and routines since February and my hair's done nothing but suffer from them :ohwell:. I know what my hair likes. And everytime I try a new routine, I end up going back to what I know.

My hair likes to be cowashed and left alone. I need to detangle with my paddle brush at least once a week, but that's it. No styling, no gels, no braids or twists, nothing but a plain ole wash n'go is what my hair loves. When I try to get all fancy with it (ie. actually styling), that's when problems start to arise. I have the easiest head of hair and I don't even appreciate it :rolleyes:.

^ That right there is what I have been doing wrong for the past 3 years. That post is from April 2010 :blush:. I'm in the Twist/Braid/Bun PS Challenge and I've actually been sticking with it. BUT the problem with sticking with it is that all the braiding, twisting, and unbraiding has been steadily eating away my progress :nono:. Last night, I gently took down my twists and finger-detangled, and everything seemed pretty okay until I jumped in the shower. There was so many broken hairs that I was seriously shocked. I had planned to retwist my hair, but seeing that and doing the length check made me say Hell NO!!

It is so hard for me to not style my hair! When it was short, it looked best as a wash n'go rather than stretched out. Now, I want to see some length and I know that I can style my hair and not wash it for a week+ . That's no-no number 2 for me. I need to wet and detangle my hair at least twice a week.

Also looking at my old post has been eye opening. I reached BSB in 2010 before my third anniversary. How could I still be there 3 years later?! :cry:
 
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^ That right there is what I have been doing wrong for the past 3 years. That post is from April 2010 :blush:. I'm in the Twist/Braid/Bun PS Challenge and I've actually been sticking with it. BUT the problem with sticking with it is that all the braiding, twisting, and unbraiding has been steadily eating away my progress :nono:. Last night, I gently took down my twists and finger-detangled, and everything seemed pretty okay until I jumped in the shower. There was so many broken hairs that I was seriously shocked. I had planned to retwist my hair, but seeing that and doing the length check made me say Hell NO!!

It is so hard for me to not style my hair! When it was short, it looked best as a wash n'go rather than stretched out. Now, I want to see some length and I know that I can style my hair and not wash it for a week+ . That's no-no number 2 for me. I need to wet and detangle my hair at least twice a week.

Also looking at my old post has been eye opening. I reached BSB in 2010 before my third anniversary. How could I still be there 3 years later?! :cry:

Please don't cry! I am trying to get to APL. It is taking a long time. Maybe you need a protein treatment. Please do not cry anymore. Get up and be courageous. I am so sorry to see these tears!:sad:
 
^ That right there is what I have been doing wrong for the past 3 years. That post is from April 2010 :blush:. I'm in the Twist/Braid/Bun PS Challenge and I've actually been sticking with it. BUT the problem with sticking with it is that all the braiding, twisting, and unbraiding has been steadily eating away my progress :nono:. Last night, I gently took down my twists and finger-detangled, and everything seemed pretty okay until I jumped in the shower. There was so many broken hairs that I was seriously shocked. I had planned to retwist my hair, but seeing that and doing the length check made me say Hell NO!!

It is so hard for me to not style my hair! When it was short, it looked best as a wash n'go rather than stretched out. Now, I want to see some length and I know that I can style my hair and not wash it for a week+ . That's no-no number 2 for me. I need to wet and detangle my hair at least twice a week.

Also looking at my old post has been eye opening. I reached BSB in 2010 before my third anniversary. How could I still be there 3 years later?! :cry:

ckisland You should do what you know is best for your hair. How often do you re-twist? I only retwist once every week to two weeks even. Then put the twists up in a bun or pin up style.
 
It's interesting that pre_medicalrulz hair prefers protective styling while ckisland's hair prefers wash n goes. Everyone is different and I'm glad to have confirmation from both your stories that if it aint broke...don't fix it. :yep:
 
Please don't cry! I am trying to get to APL. It is taking a long time. Maybe you need a protein treatment. Please do not cry anymore. Get up and be courageous. I am so sorry to see these tears!:sad:
I'll stop being a baby about it, but this length check stung something fierce!! It's like I thought I knew how to ride this bike, but then I turned wrong and splattered all over the sidewalk :lachen:. I'll get up and put on my big girl pants :yep:.

ckisland You should do what you know is best for your hair. How often do you re-twist? I only retwist once every week to two weeks even. Then put the twists up in a bun or pin up style.
It's interesting that pre_medicalrulz hair prefers protective styling while ckisland's hair prefers wash n goes. Everyone is different and I'm glad to have confirmation from both your stories that if it aint broke...don't fix it. :yep:

When I wore my twists and braids I don't re-twist or braid for about a week. When I was doing my braidout buns I was re-braiding my hair in 3-4 braids every night. Even though it was more manipulation, I had less breakage with that than with putting in and taking down twists. Twist just do not work for me. No ifs, ands, or buts about it :nono: .
As long as I've been in hair world I know first hand that every head of hair is different. Why I keep jumping on board with what everyone else seems to be doing, I don't know!! Maybe I just want to fit in :lol:.
 
MileHighDiva

Girl your hair is so Lush and Thick. I must agree with ckisland that is what a trim truly is. Not 3-4" or more. That there would be termed a cut, and more stylists need to understand that, lol. Dont worry, you know your hair stuff (I can tell by your posts), and I'm sure the next check will have you right where you desire to be! KUTGW!!
 
:nono: this is making me :sad: Both of you had successful regimens, before the setbacks.

ckisland, get back to WNG! I wonder if your shrinkage is a blessing in disguise, keeping your hair off of your clothes etc. w/o having to PS. pre_medicalrulz, get back to PS via Wigs! How do you and metro_qt get all of that hair up under a wig? Anyhow, both of you have off the hook retention with wigs. I'm thinking that maybe you should only wear your hair out on special occasions and after a fresh relaxer, so you can stunt on people and let em know.

I think that all of us need to remember that we live with "our hair" on a day to day basis. Nobody knows our individual heads of hair better than "the owner." The one thing that I've learned over the past year is that no two heads of hair are the same, and that what works for one may not work for another. If you've had off the chain success with a particular method handling "your hair." Stay consistent! Politely listen to "others" they may have some good info, but take into consideration your hair's properties and KIM.

We are not going to have anymore setbacks going forward! :yep:
 
:nono: this is making me :sad: Both of you had successful regimens, before the setbacks.

ckisland, get back to WNG! I wonder if your shrinkage is a blessing in disguise, keeping your hair off of your clothes etc. w/o having to PS. pre_medicalrulz, get back to PS via Wigs! How do you and metro_qt get all of that hair up under a wig? Anyhow, both of you have off the hook retention with wigs. I'm thinking that maybe you should only wear your hair out on special occasions and after a fresh relaxer, so you can stunt on people and let em know.

I think that all of us need to remember that we live with "our hair" on a day to day basis. Nobody knows our individual heads of hair better than "the owner." The one thing that I've learned over the past year is that no two heads of hair are the same, and that what works for one may not work for another. If you've had off the chain success with a particular method handling "your hair." Stay consistent! Politely listen to "others" they may have some good info, but take into consideration your hair's properties and KIM.

We are not going to have anymore setbacks going forward! :yep:

Im thinking you are absolutely right! Going back to what got me here in the first place. #Done
 
So behind with this thread. Gotta go back and catch up. Right now I'm just in kind of a weird slump hair wise, hopefully I get out of it.
 
Kindheart , your hair is absolutely gorgeous!!!

It took 3 wash n'gos, a shampoo, and a protein DC for my hair to finally act right. Jeez lol!! Hopefully it'll be smooth sailing here on out. My wash n'go today is really cute. It shrunk up to my ears, so it can't rub against jack LOL, but it has good definition and movement.
 
Kindheart , your hair is absolutely gorgeous!!!

It took 3 wash n'gos, a shampoo, and a protein DC for my hair to finally act right. Jeez lol!! Hopefully it'll be smooth sailing here on out. My wash n'go today is really cute. It shrunk up to my ears, so it can't rub against jack LOL, but it has good definition and movement.

Thank you ckisland
I will post better quality pics soon .

image-1202520230.jpg

Split ends
 
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So ladies i may be transitioning :lol: if I do relax again it I'll be a Texlax in 2014 . We'll see... I still love this thread though!
 
Did a flexirod set :look: I don't think my hair is right for sets. I've tried rollers and flexi rods so far. *sigh*
 
It's that time of the month and I am going through the worst hormone fluctuations I have ever experienced in my life!!!!! I'm having horrible cravings for sugary drinks (I don't drink soda, but I've had it almost everyday for the past 2 weeks), and my hair-esteem is so low. I just watched a youtube vid and immediately wanted to cut all of my hair off :blush:. Like her hair was so gorgeous and mine was so pitiful that I needed to chop it all and start over :sad:. I even went to the bathroom mirror to estimate how much I was going to chop off!!!
OMG! I need TOM to hurry up and go because it is making me crazy :spinning:.
 
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