Hip Tbl & Beyond Challenge 2018

[KinksAndInk]

Awesome! Congrats! Will you be continuing for your APN? This is not what I had planned in life but I think itll be an amazing field for me.

Thanks. Yes I'll be continuing next fall. Need to give my brain time to relax and I want to get some real hands on practice under my belt. My next step before that though is to obtain my pediatric nurse certification. I started nursing school then stopped for a few years. I went through some stuff and I couldn't deal with people being sick and dying. So I tried other things and was miserable. Went back to nursing and I've never felt more at peace. It may not be your chosen path but if it's for you, you'll just know. Good luck.

 

[morgandenae]

Thanks. Yes I'll be continuing next fall. Need to give my brain time to relax and I want to get some real hands on practice under my belt. My next step before that though is to obtain my pediatric nurse certification. I started nursing school then stopped for a few years. I went through some stuff and I couldn't deal with people being sick and dying. So I tried other things and was miserable. Went back to nursing and I've never felt more at peace. It may not be your chosen path but if it's for you, you'll just know. Good luck.

God bless you and thanks for the advice. Good luck to you as well our journey isn't always our own!

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

Cute hairstyle. Good luck. I just finished nursing school in April. Passed my NCLEX on Tuesday...which also happened to be my birthday.

Wow! What an amazing birthday gift! Congrats on all of your accomplishments and Happy Belated Birthday!!!!!!

 

[KinksAndInk]

Wow! What an amazing birthday gift! Congrats on all of your accomplishments and Happy Belated Birthday!!!!!!

Thank you!

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

Here are my mid year hair updates:

I have been really lazy with styling. I'm 7 months pregnant now and experiencing lots of lower back pain, so when I wash; I put my hair in 1 single braid while in the shower.



Once I get out, I put a flexi rod on the end and air dry.



I'll wear the braid down, in a bun, or just clipped up with a bobby pin.





It's been a little too hot to wear my hair down but when I do, this is what it looks like:



Once I take it down, instead of putting it back in 1 braid; I'll do 2 or 3 and either Bantu knot the braid or just let them hang. I sleep with a silk headband.





My braidouts can triple in length if I continue re-braiding every time I wear it down instead of just starting over with a fresh wash. This is the first day I removed the single braid versus stretching with 2-3 braids as the days go by. I wore the same dress to show a comparison.



Length wise;
When I'm in the shower and my hair is soaking wet; some strands vary in length from the middle of my butt down to the end of it. I really want to roller set and do an official length check but my back pain and a new baby coming in a few months says otherwise. So I'll try to get an official one in by year end.

Tagging @tapioca_pudding to show the life of my stretched braidout.

 

[beauti]

@lulu97 your growth and retention is nothing short of amazing!

And girl don't worry about straightening all that hurr any time soon, we can wait until after your delivery

 

[AgeinATL]

@lulu97

Absolutely beautiful

 

[AgeinATL]

I recently had to trim more SSKs from my ends putting me back to full WL. I am trying to develop a plan to get me over the WL hump so that I can try to reach HL (or close to it) by the end of the year.

Stretching the ends of my twists with spoolies or satin pillow rollers help. Also heavy sealing but the best way is to rollerset but I worry about rollersetting weekly and that it will be too much manipulation for my kinky hair. Thinking about either:
1. Washing every two weeks instead of weekly and rollerset twice a month or
2. Rollerset every other week and wear stretched out twists on the other weeks.

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

@lulu97 your growth and retention is nothing short of amazing!

And girl don't worry about straightening all that hurr any time soon, we can wait until after your delivery

@lulu97

Absolutely beautiful

Thank you Pretty Ladies!

 

[Coilystep]

@lulu97 it is always such a treat when you share pictures with us. Your hair is beautiful.

 

[Alma Petra]

I love everything about your hair @lulu97
That braid out is bomb!

 

[tapioca_pudding]

Here are my mid year hair updates:


Tagging @tapioca_pudding to show the life of my stretched braidout.

OMG! This is beautiful... thank you so much for tagging me!!! I think I'm going to adapt something similar to what you're doing here.... just start with a basic style that can turn into something else down the line..... I love your hair...

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

@lulu97 it is always such a treat when you share pictures with us. Your hair is beautiful.

I love everything about your hair @lulu97
That braid out is bomb!

OMG! This is beautiful... thank you so much for tagging me!!! I think I'm going to adapt something similar to what you're doing here.... just start with a basic style that can turn into something else down the line..... I love your hair...

Oh wow! I really appreciate all the kind words. You Ladies are so amazing. You know how to make a swollen pregnant gal feel special.

 

[Colocha]

My LCs are all over the boards. I need to pick a place and stay there, lol.
Happy to report that I am growing despite frequent dusting/trims. My hair pulls down to just below my bra strap, so in a few months I'll be comfortable calling it MBL rather than grazing.
Question though: I circled a birthmark on my back that I also use as a marker. Is the bottom of the birthmark considered waist? My torso is fairly short and I have trouble separating some of the checkmarks.

 

[snoop]

My LCs are all over the boards. I need to pick a place and stay there, lol.
Happy to report that I am growing despite frequent dusting/trims. My hair pulls down to just below my bra strap, so in a few months I'll be comfortable calling it MBL rather than grazing.
Question though: I circled a birthmark on my back that I also use as a marker. Is the bottom of the birthmark considered waist? My torso is fairly short and I have trouble separating some of the checkmarks.
View attachment 403433

Great progress!

I feel like where your wrist is bent is where your waist is, but someone else can chime in.

 

[Colocha]

Great progress!

I feel like where your wrist is bent is where your waist is, but someone else can chime in.

Thank you!

I always thought that was hip, lol. If that's waist let me politely exit this thread and find where I belong, lmao. (jk) Either way, that's about my goal length where my wrist sits. I'll have to make an imaginary check point in between so I feel good about myself.

 

[snoop]

Thank you!

I always thought that was hip, lol. If that's waist let me politely exit this thread and find where I belong, lmao. (jk) Either way, that's about my goal length where my wrist sits. I'll have to make an imaginary check point in between so I feel good about myself.

Haha! You're funny! I'd say you're hips are on the outer side of where your wrist is.

Stay and play. You'll make these milestones by the end of next year no problem!

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

My LCs are all over the boards. I need to pick a place and stay there, lol.
Happy to report that I am growing despite frequent dusting/trims. My hair pulls down to just below my bra strap, so in a few months I'll be comfortable calling it MBL rather than grazing.
Question though: I circled a birthmark on my back that I also use as a marker. Is the bottom of the birthmark considered waist? My torso is fairly short and I have trouble separating some of the checkmarks.
View attachment 403433

Your waist looks to be here:


Sometimes it's hard to see from the outside looking in if the person does not have a very defined waist like this shape: > < The easiest way to tell is to grab a belt, put it around your midsection...play around with moving it up and down. The place where the belt fits the smallest would be where your waist is. Well at least that's what a seamstress did for my sister when she was getting fitted for a prom dress. LOL

I hope you don't mind me altering your picture. My apologies in advance.

Same disclaimer as @snoop gave. This is all just my opinion. I could be totally wrong.

 

[Colocha]

@snoop , @lulu97

Thank you both!
I don't mind the alteration at all. It seems like it gets a little vague without the defining coke bottle shape and there are a lot of different opinions. Either way I'll stick around and see where I get. You ladies are great company.

 

[JosieLynn]

So I'm coming in late in the game but I want to join this challenge for the rest of '17 and '18 to see how far I can grow my hair. I've been a bit lack the last year or so, living abroad has made it harder to maintain my hair the way I wanted to but I'm hoping I can get back on the ball and finally see my hair really grow.

Current length: I'm floating around MBL and halfway to WL I believe. I've been in a protective style of box braids for the past 2 months and just got my hair re-braided so I won't have a picture until late August/Early September when I take these out and return to the States. My hair is probably 16" all around

Regimen:
Currently maintaining moisture in the box braids, spray bottle of water and a leave-in condish and some argan oil.
Wash 2X a month

When I take my braids down I will:
weekly wash/deep condition in parts
recycle parts and stretch hair
wear protective styles with my hair only (kimmaytube 10-twist bun/buns)
mid-week moisture
no heat
once a year stretch with a rollerset to straighten hair and trim
twice a month hot oil treatment


Exact goal length: grazing HL

Plans to help you achieve your goal: Keeping hair moisturized, making sure to keep my hair in protective styles like twist buns to keep my ends from forming SSKs, actually sticking to my deep conditioning sessions

List any vitamins/supplements you are taking:
Multivitamin

Your ends care regimen to keep them healthy: protective styling, twice a week castor oil/black castor oil on ends to preserve

Trimming/Dusting/S&D'ing schedule/routine:
I plan to have my main trim once or twice a year when I straighten my hair, this will usually happen around my birthday in January and maybe once in July. I hope to avoid SSKs with this regimen but I will obviously trim those if they are still occurring maybe once every 3 months

Top 10 products:
I'm planning on using Kimmaytube's haircare line I've used it in the past and it worked pretty well.
In addition to that, I will be using castor and black castor oil for my ends, argan oil for my braids. I'll update this later with the specifics.

 

[beauti]

Hi ladies. June 28 was my 3 year nappiversary. Here are a few pictures taken along my journey. I'm always amazed at all the things my hair can do as long as I take great care of it.

 

[AgeinATL]

@beauti

Beautiful coils, curls, and kinks. You have a lovely texture. Happy nappiversary!

 

[beauti]

@AgeinATL thank you so much

 

[Daina]

@beauti, I agree your hair is lovely and you can really see the progress throughout your journey! Taking pics is so important, you just reminded me I need to take some updated photos.

 

[beauti]

@Daina thank you sis. Pictures are definitely helpful especially if your hair is prone to shrinkage.

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

The photos submitted in this thread are gorgeous!

Is it just me, or does it seem like within 3-7 years, black women's hair is reaching lengths we weren't reaching before? I am in no way anti-relaxer in general, but is it just me? It seems like our hair is THRIVING natural, no? (And I know length isn't a measure of health.)

 

[AgeinATL]

The photos submitted in this thread are gorgeous!

Is it just me, or does it seem like within 3-7 years, black women's hair is reaching lengths we weren't reaching before? I am in no way anti-relaxer in general, but is it just me? It seems like our hair is THRIVING natural, no? (And I know length isn't a measure of health.)

I agree. What I really have enjoyed seeing is that moms are no longer as quick to slap a relaxer in young girls' hair. I, like SO many, was relaxed very young and since a lot of our mom's didn't know how to take care of our hair, all you saw was short, broken off, ponytails with dry, thinned out hair. I love seeing young black girls LOVE their natural hair. I LOVE seeing young black girls with hair as long or longer than the white/Asian/Hispanic girls. If for no other reason, I am glad that the natural hair movement changed how our young girls view their beautiful curly/kinky/coily hair.

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

I agree. What I really have enjoyed seeing is that moms are no longer as quick to slap a relaxer in young girls' hair. I, like SO many, was relaxed very young and since a lot of our mom's didn't know how to take care of our hair, all you saw was short, broken off, ponytails with dry, thinned out hair. I love seeing young black girls LOVE their natural hair. I LOVE seeing young black girls with hair as long or longer than the white/Asian/Hispanic girls. If for no other reason, I am glad that the natural hair movement changed how our young girls view their beautiful curly/kinky/coily hair.

Yes!!!! Same here!

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

So I'm coming in late in the game but I want to join this challenge for the rest of '17 and '18 to see how far I can grow my hair. I've been a bit lack the last year or so, living abroad has made it harder to maintain my hair the way I wanted to but I'm hoping I can get back on the ball and finally see my hair really grow.

Current length: I'm floating around MBL and halfway to WL I believe. I've been in a protective style of box braids for the past 2 months and just got my hair re-braided so I won't have a picture until late August/Early September when I take these out and return to the States. My hair is probably 16" all around

Regimen:
Currently maintaining moisture in the box braids, spray bottle of water and a leave-in condish and some argan oil.
Wash 2X a month

When I take my braids down I will:
weekly wash/deep condition in parts
recycle parts and stretch hair
wear protective styles with my hair only (kimmaytube 10-twist bun/buns)
mid-week moisture
no heat
once a year stretch with a rollerset to straighten hair and trim
twice a month hot oil treatment


Exact goal length: grazing HL

Plans to help you achieve your goal: Keeping hair moisturized, making sure to keep my hair in protective styles like twist buns to keep my ends from forming SSKs, actually sticking to my deep conditioning sessions

List any vitamins/supplements you are taking:
Multivitamin

Your ends care regimen to keep them healthy: protective styling, twice a week castor oil/black castor oil on ends to preserve

Trimming/Dusting/S&D'ing schedule/routine:
I plan to have my main trim once or twice a year when I straighten my hair, this will usually happen around my birthday in January and maybe once in July. I hope to avoid SSKs with this regimen but I will obviously trim those if they are still occurring maybe once every 3 months

Top 10 products:
I'm planning on using Kimmaytube's haircare line I've used it in the past and it worked pretty well.
In addition to that, I will be using castor and black castor oil for my ends, argan oil for my braids. I'll update this later with the specifics.

@JosieLynn Welcome to the Challenge! Glad to have you and to watch you reach your hair goals!

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

@beauti Your hair and progress is so lovely! I agree with @Daina You are a great example in showing how important it is to take pictures throughout your journey. From that first picture to the last is such a huge difference. Thank you for the eye candy and encouragement!