Luscious Healthy Ends Challenge 2024

[faithVA]

I have had my fourth and final trim for 2024. My routine for most of the year has been shampoo, condition, leave-in, oil and spray with distilled water. I put it in two strand twists with braided roots which I redo every two weeks.

As previously stated, this is the first time in my entire life that I have stuck with a quarterly trim schedule and my hair is thriving as a result.

Edit: I forgot to include that I apply my whipped Shea butter mix to my hair and ends before twisting it. That is what I believe has caused my strands to thicken. Notice on the bottom left of the September picture, my hair is see-through, but in December it looks a lot thicker because it is.

Fabulous progress. You have had some great growth and retention in that short spell. The thickness is definitely noticeable.

 

[faithVA]

I see a lot of gains.

Firstly, the thing I notice in your ending photo @faithVA , in @newgrowth15 and in mine is how the hair hangs flatter, and heavier. This is a GOOD thing. I am not sure if that the hair has more internal moisture and thus it is hanging 'heavier' or what. But what I DO know, is that this flatter, heavier hanging hair seems to ALWAYS appear when the hair is in better health. It is NOT necessarily due to being blow dried in the first picture and flat ironed in the second picture, as was the case with me and maybe with both you an newgrowth15. This flatter, heavier hanging hair looks different and I have found it is a sign of deeper, better care and health of the hair. The hair just looks DIFFERENT and healthier.

Secondly, in the December 2023 sideview photo I noticed the hair at the front, top of your hairline is outside of the frame of the photo. I blew up the photo to get a better view but I could not see that hair clearly. If I could have seen the length of that hair in the picture, I could give a more definitive and sure answer. But, I think I can see enough to be sure about what I am going to say next. When I look at the side view from 2023 and compare it to 2024, at a glance I see about 1 inch of length gain. WRONG! Your hair started around your glasses and ended up 1-2 inches below your chin. THAT, my friend is an incredible 4-6 inch length GAIN in 12 months!!!!!!

Thirdly, if the assumption in the aforementioned paragraph above is correct, then we get a huge piece of information. We get a great peak into your hair's growing pattern. That is a key. Your hair grows from the inner crown area down to gain length. The majority of your growth in 2024 looked like it came from the crown down, to below your chin. So, not only is your hair growing, you are able to gain great lengths during a 12 month cycle.

Fourthly, there is something that your hair is needing to keep your length. It looks to me like you made some kind of change between December 2023 and December 2024 that may have been harder on your ends in 2024. I noticed your hair color is different. Did you change the color, the brand, the type of hair color you use at all during Dec 2023 to Dec 2024? Did you make any other changes? Did you change how you wear your hair? Did you change a hair care product?

Fifthly, when I look at the front facing photo of the December 2024 image, I can see the ends of your hair. Very few if any splits or knots. That tells me that the hair has been protected. So then I ask, are you or have you been wearing/braiding or using added hair or extensions in combination with your natural hair? Are you wearing wigs? Are you wearing hats or head coverings during the day?

How are you styling and wearing your hair on a daily basis? Are you doing flat twists? Are you putting anything on the ends to seal them or to keep them from tangling? When is your tangling and knotting happening - only during wash days or on other days, too?

@Chicoro, Thank you for all that you do. Your attentiveness and the time you invest to share your thoughts is greatly appreciated.


@Thirdly, As you stated my hair did grown down from the crown and it is evening out. It is almost as if all the lower layers of my hair wait until the top layers grow down. My hair has always been this way even when I was relaxed and wearing wraps. Hopefully, this year then allows me to do a blunt cut all the way around and get rid of all the layers. This alone should help my retention.

@Fourthly, The change that impacted my ends all happened in the last quarter of 2024. I didn't change hair color, hair products or hair styles. So now to this head.
What changed? I went back into the office 4 days a week and neither I nor my hair routine was ready for it. I hadn't been in the office more than 2 days a week since March 2020 My hair was just fine through September. I took pictures and I can see the loss and devastation that occurred after I went back into the office on 10/1.


Overall I would say from October 1 to December 15, I didn't retain and actually lost some hair due to the following:
1. Trying to rush and get my hair done and ready for work in a 2 hour window versus the day I was using before.
2. I didn't make any adjustment for the dryness of the winter weather, which impacts my scalp and thus impacts my hair.
3. I was flat twisting my hair wet and letting it dry versus letting it dry and then flat twisting it. And I was doing this due to a time shortage.
4. As my hair gets longer, my shed hairs get longer and I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how to remove them without ripping through my hair.

@Fifthly: I trimmed off 3/4" before I posted the picture so my ends look better than they were. Oddly enough, although my hair is super curly, my ends do not tangle. All of my issues lie at the root of my hair. Next time I shampoo I will take a picture of my shed hair and I think it will make sense. But imagine an 8" piece of hair curled into 1/10 circle and then taking 100 of them and just placing them at the root of my hair. Now I need to get all of these pieces out of my hair. And what ends up happening is that as I pull them from the root they wrap around my ends and just snap them off. And it also is a lot of manipulation of my strands to get them out because I haven't found any one tool or method that does so.

Despite how crazy they look this December, my ends and my hair in general are better than they were last December. So progress has been made.


What needs to happen for 2025
1. I need to figure out how to remove shed hair from my roots without killing my ends and without having to go through my hair 4 times.
2. I need to use some type of heat after conditioning to stretch my hair before styling. Going to start with a dryer and may use the blow dryer to finish it off.
3. Going to stick to flat twist and 2 strand twists.
4. May need to do my hair 2x a week but need to figure out how to do it 1x a week first
5. Trim my ends quarterly regardless. Better to do small trims than larger trims.


I'm ready for the 2025 challenge.

 

[newgrowth15]

Fabulous progress. You have had some great growth and retention in that short spell. The thickness is definitely noticeable.

Thank you @faithVA. Between the feugreek/clove/rosemary oil and the whipped Shea butter that I use, my hair has never felt better. My strands are soft, but strong at the same time.

 

[Chicoro]

@faithVA
Thank you for letting me be nosy and allowing me to be bossy and in your business. I appreciate the detailed clarification that you provided to me.

So, to check my understanding, the process that you are trying to solve is how to remove the shed hairs at the root, which concentrate around the root area and literally get tangled at the root area.

Do you wash your hair loosened or in some type of braids, twists and or sections? Do you keep your hair stretched when you wash it?

 

[faithVA]

@faithVA
Thank you for letting me be nosy and allowing me to be bossy and in your business. I appreciate the detailed clarification that you provided to me.

So, to check my understanding, the process that you are trying to solve is how to remove the shed hairs at the root, which concentrate around the root area and literally get tangled at the root area.

Do you wash your hair loosened or in some type of braids, twists and or sections? Do you keep your hair stretched when you wash it?

Please be nosy. Those who have made suggestions have helped me save my hair.

Yes, I think my main issue is the shed hair at the roots.

I've done both; loose and in braids. When I was doing curly sets I would put it in sections but it didn't seem to do anything so I stopped.
But for the most part I do loose because I hate having to do the back of my hair in so many sections because it is so short.

It is worth a shot. I can use barrettes to section it off. It is still too short to twist or braid.

 

[Chicoro]

Please be nosy. Those who have made suggestions have helped me save my hair.

Yes, I think my main issue is the shed hair at the roots.

I've done both; loose and in braids. When I was doing curly sets I would put it in sections but it didn't seem to do anything so I stopped.
But for the most part I do loose because I hate having to do the back of my hair in so many sections because it is so short.

It is worth a shot. I can use barrettes to section it off. It is still too short to twist or braid.

The act of braiding can also tangle the hair. So it seems to me that you may need to find a way to anchor your hair, keep it stretched while you are washing and cleansing it, that works with available your energy, interest, time constraints and desired outcome.

I would suggest changing only 1 thing at a time. For example, washing hair requires a cleanser, pre-process, state of hair during washing, way that you wash and way that you rinse and way you handle hair after you rinse out shampoo and next step.

Maybe pick one thing and ONLY change that. May be you decide to anchor hair with some clips (for me that would be cumbersome). If you must, then only change two things. And observe what differences you see. I would suggest to make the 'change' on a day when you have time and no commitments before or after and document what happens.

 

[Chicoro]

Thread 'Luscious Healthy Ends Challenge 2025'

Tuesday at 7:48 AM

Welcome to the Luscious Healthy Ends Challenge 2025!

Ends are considered the points or the bottom tips of the hair strand. The ends are the oldest and most fragile part of the hair. The ends are KEY to retaining length and it is the ends of the hair that make us sigh and exhale and say, "Wow, that's some beautiful hair!" Hair that is thick and full from root to tip often has Luscious Healthy Ends.

Interested? Well, come on over, sit down right here, and join this challenge for 2025...

• Chicoro
• Replies: 7
• Forum: Hair Care Tips & Product Review Discussion

• 
• 

I am officially closing out this thread and challenge. If you are interested in participating in the 2025 challenge, I have linked it above and below for you. See you in the other thread for 2025.

Congratulations to you and thank you to all who participated, lurked, liked, lamented and loved these posts. Every conversation led us to answers to many unsolved mysteries.

Happy New Year to You! See you on the other side of 2025!

Thread 'Luscious Healthy Ends Challenge 2025'

Tuesday at 7:48 AM

Welcome to the Luscious Healthy Ends Challenge 2025!

Ends are considered the points or the bottom tips of the hair strand. The ends are the oldest and most fragile part of the hair. The ends are KEY to retaining length and it is the ends of the hair that make us sigh and exhale and say, "Wow, that's some beautiful hair!" Hair that is thick and full from root to tip often has Luscious Healthy Ends.

Interested? Well, come on over, sit down right here, and join this challenge for 2025...

• Chicoro
• Replies: 7
• Forum: Hair Care Tips & Product Review Discussion

• 
• 

 

[MzSwift]

I FINALLY did my EOTY photo! It's not great bc I debated with myself so hard about whether or not to do one this year. The issue is that I spend all year being so gentle and good to my hair that it feels like abuse to comb/brush it, use my blow dry brush and then flat iron it just for some pictures. I did that this past September with my texlax and it felt wrong to do it again only 3 months later. So I compromised. I started my mini twists as usual and then just left the back part out for my EOTY photos. I know it's anticlimactic but I hope this is decent enough.

Report: My ends are still doing well and I'm retaining. I don't have a ton of splits and my ends are not brittle, bushy/poofy or sticking to each other. Next year, I will be more intentional about adding extra product to the last 1/3 of my hair when M&Sing and conditioning. I will also be more regular about bun bagging at least 3x a week. Overall, I want to DC at least every 2-3 weeks. I just couldn't get that to stick this year and I think I could have better results next year if I stick with that. Also, I'm going to go back to EVOO or an EVOO mix as my main hair oil. There is a difference using my ceramide mix with EVOO, Safflower and Grapeseed oils and I want to go back to it. Lastly, I still need to find a good protein DC. I might just go back to Joico Kpak.

OK, on to the pix!

EOTY 2023, last year:

I was about Line 5-6


EOTY 2024:

Washed-


Blow dried-



Flat ironed in 4 big sections-



I'm about Line 9-10-

 

[GettingKinky]

Beautiful progress @MzSwift
It’s amazing how much more length you can see with a flat iron v just a blow dry.