I apologize in advance for the long post:
So I straightened last Thursday and my hair turned out very well. I think I've finally mastered my straightening technique. The only problem was that I wasn't really feeling my hair so I didn't take pictures. I'm disappointed. I should've been at least HL by now as I was WL two years ago. So I think that impacted how I felt about it.
If I'm honest, I haven't been feeling my hair since I made WL back in Dec 2013. That's why I texlaxed in April 2014. I wanted to show more length and get away from those stinkin' SSKs. I had hoped to wet bun since I planned to start working out. But that didn't happen and I grew even more ambivalent about my hair. There were a few benefits to texlaxed hair though - less SSKs, my scalp could breathe better, my "out" styles held better, easier air drying and straightening.
That year, I tried wearing it out more. I tried straightening more often. Yet, each time I straightened, I was disappointed that I had not progressed. Don't get me wrong. I've never had hair this long (MBL) in my entire life. For over 20 years, my hair was never longer than 3-4 inches. So when I shaved my head and started this journey back in 2009, my ultimate goal was APL. I hit that within 2.5 years and I kept hitting goals quickly.
Which brings me back to my disappointment.. since 2014, I haven't been happy with my hair and I had no desire to go back to heavy PSing. So I put my hair back into mini braids this past Thursday, thinking that I would PS for the next 1-1.5 mths and then texlax in March. But I think I've made the decision to leave them in and grow braidlocks. I really didn't want to have to cut off my hair so I found a few blogs and this lady's YT vid:
My mini braids look very similar to hers in length and density. I had always planned to loc at some point in my journey but I had always thought that I had to have natural hair in order to do so. I'm actually getting excited about my hair again. I have fine strands that love low-no manipulation so I anticipate that this will be a move in the positive direction. If not, I have no problem shaving it off and starting over again. Either way, I won't sell myself short again. I'm definitely going for HL hair any way I can get it!
HHG, ladies!!