Reintroducing myself

[testimony777]

Hello ladies

I have been a member of the forum for a very long time but I am not a frequent. Over the years I have taken very long breaks and then returned; I am coming off of one such break. But I am back and looking forward to journeying with you all towards my final goal of HL this coming year.

I have had quite a journey growing my hair out. I was at my current length back in 07 but ended up cutting it all off (I had a 1 cm long TWA) due to utter frustration. My hair was long but it was in terrible condition. At the time I thought I was doing everything right so the condition of my hair made me feel like healthy long hair was an impossibility.

I grew it back to BSL by 2009/2010 and then cut it back to APL due to damage. I finally figured out the missing piece of the puzzle (low manipulation) in 2010 and have been going strong since then.

As I said earlier, I am not a frequent poster but I have really enjoyed the board over the years and have learned a great deal. I just wanted to say hi and wish you all happy growing .

 

[MeowMix]

Hi! Welcome back Thats from a TWA only years ago? WOW! I've been on this board since then and have only hit SL. Your hair is GORGEOUS

 

[~~HoneyComb~~]

Welcome back and good luck on your HHJ!!

 

[Bnster]

Your hair is gorgeous, that is what my hair wants to be when it grow up. Welcome back and HHJ, I look forward to your HL reveal.

 

[Lita]

Welcome back...


Happy Hair Growing!

 

[remnant]

Welcome back , beautiful hair!

 

[testimony777]

Thanks so much ladies. I love how supportive and encouraging everyone is here. You all have some beautiful hair

 

[Janet']

Following the Welcome Back, Kotter Theme Song... back back :welcome3: back...

I guess I'm showing/telling my age

 

[testimony777]

Following the Welcome Back, Kotter Theme Song... back back :welcome3: back...

I guess I'm showing/telling my age

That is, to this day, one of my favorite TV show theme songs (now we have both outed ourselves) .

 

[Qurlyqt]

You gave me advice when I was a new natural! Good to see you again! Your hair is still as gorgeous as I remember.

 

[Firstborn2]

Welcome back I remember you, participated in one of your challenges..Nice to see you active again.

 

[Rina88]

Your hair is lovely, could you tell us what specific changes you made that helped turn your hair around?

 

[ThickRoot]

Welcome back! Glad you decided to be more active.

 

[keelioness]

Pretty hair..are u relaxed or natural? The key you say is low manipulation? Meaning..no heat...no frequent washing, combing? do tell

 

[Ms_CoCo37]

Welcome back! Your hair is absolutely GORGEOUS!

 

[tenderheaded]

Beautiful, from root to tip! Glad you're back!!!

 

[sunnieb]

Glad you're back on the board! Beautiful hair!

 

[testimony777]

You gave me advice when I was a new natural! Good to see you again! Your hair is still as gorgeous as I remember.

Thank you so much! Your hair is looking quite fabulous as well . I am loving the bun in your avatar!

Welcome back I remember you, participated in one of your challenges..Nice to see you active again.

Thanks! I hope it wasn't the WL challenge that I started and then completely abandoned. If it was I still feel bad about that

Your hair is lovely, could you tell us what specific changes you made that helped turn your hair around?

Thank you for the compliment! I made five big changes. Four had to do with the way I handled my hair and one was a change of mindset.

1) I finally accepted that my hair and direct heat do not mix. I had to completely give up flat ironing my hair for about a year. I had already figured out that I needed to be careful with heat but I was still flat ironing about 4 or 5 times a year. I realized that even that was too much.

I now flat iron my hair once a year (if that). I have learned more about flat ironing now and given the fact that my hair is in much better condition I could probably do it more often. However, I am over straight hair. I ralized that part of why I was so into flat iroing it was because I wanted to show my length. I am over that now.

2) I gave up frequent combing and started being gentle with my detangling. My hair has always been fairly easy to detangle which falsely led me to think that how I detangled it didn't matter. I used to comb it rather quickly in the shower, then comb it again once I got out of the shower, then comb or brush it into whatever style I was going for. I was basically shredding my strands. I decided to follow the detangling tips that Terry gives on her site and that has been huge.

3) Related to that I went back to good old wash and goes as my go to style. I was so hung up on PS that I was not really being honest about what it was doing to my hair. I have a post on here where I am praising buns. Well shortly after that post I realized that my hair was breaking on the side where I started the twist for my bun. For me the wash and go is the perfect style because it is low maintenance and my individual strands are "protected" so to speak because they are clumped together (does that make sense?). I set my curls once a week on wash day and during the week all I do is braid at night and refresh in the morning.

4) I went back to trimming. I used to trim my hair regularly but after years on the hair boards I had fallen into the "trimming isn't necessary" camp. I was doing S&Ds but before my BC I had not properly trimmed my ends in years and they suffered for it. Now I still think that trimming isn't necessary for everyone; there may even be a time when I no longer have to trim as often (every 3 months) but if you are still doing things to your hair that cause damage you need to trim. I think that most people fall into this category (even if they don't know it). I thought I didn't have to trim because I thought I had the hair thing down and that I wasn't damaging my strands, but I was. I still have some residual damage from those days, so until I truly perfect this hair game I will be a trimmer .

5) I finally got to a place where I decided to be happy with my hair at whatever length. This is what led me back to the wash and go and helped me give up heat. I was convinced when I decided to where my hair out everyday that I was not going to get much more length because I was going to have to trim at the same rate of growth to keep damaged ends at bay. But I didn't care. I really enjoy wearing my hair down so I decided that if my hair didn't get any longer (at the time it was just past APL stretched and shoulder length curly) I was ok with that. I started enjoying my hair and sure enough it continued to grow and my ends have never looked better (even with the small amount of damage I still have).

Pretty hair..are u relaxed or natural? The key you say is low manipulation? Meaning..no heat...no frequent washing, combing? do tell

Thank you! I am natural. I am a dense, medium textured, silky (kind of) 3C (or 3B/C depending on who you ask)

For me low manipulation is all of that. I use heat about once a year. I wash, detangle and style once a week. I sleep with my hair in one braid at night on a satin pillow case with a satin scarf on. In the morning I take my hair down lightly spritz with water glycerin mix and add a bit of moisturizer to my ends (if necessary).

Thanks again ladies for the warm welcome back!