What was the starting point of your hair journey?

[beana]

Where were you hair-wise when you first started your hair journey? For example, you had a bad relaxer, so you searched the internet and found this board.

How long did it take you to get to where you are now?

My story:
I originally found longhairlovers back in 2002 when my hair was actually pretty heathly and almost BSL length. I just wanted to get it as long as possible and thicker. Unfortunately i went crazy on the boards and started doing things that werent for me or my hair type, went to a few terrible stylists, and even failed at self relaxing.. Long story short, i jacked my hair up trying to improve it!

This has been a looonnggg journey, i still havent achieved my original goal.. but im armed with more knowledge of how to care for MY hair now. I'm confident ill reach healthy BSL length by next June.

 

[Lady Esquire]

I have an embarrassing hair history. My mother, a cosmetologist, owned and operated a beauty shop. So, I practically grew up in her salon. With that said, one would assume that I have the healthiest and longest hair. NOT!! Perhaps in high school it was healthy, when I used to get my hair done regularly.

In my early 20s, I started experimenting with weaves. At first, I only wore weaves on days where I had a special event to attend and I would simply add one or two tracks in, for fullness. But the weave became a crutch. I washed less frequently, used heated appliances more often, and was addicted to hair gel.

During my last year of grad school, when I started planning for interviews for my first job after graduation, I realized that I was going to be an attorney with some jacked up hair and clear edges. My edges had gotten so bad; I had to purchase a mascara-type dye, made specifically to fill in clear edges. I was even contemplating calling those hair specialists who advertise on infomercials...to get some doll hair injected in. I WAS DESPERATE.

Because my sister wore protective styles during the winter, she offered to braid mine for me as well, to give it an overdue BREAK. I decided not to relax my hair for a one-year period. I wore braids for 3 weeks at a time, and did that from February thru May 2005. Then my sister moved to another state. Besides, I was getting sick of the braids, anyway.

So I started wearing a wig, with my hair corn-rowed and covered with a plastic cap underneath the wig. I wore wigs from May 05 thru Feb 06, but during that time, I gradually chopped off all of my relaxed hair, in order to be completely natural. At one point, I had about an inch of hair. I was sporting a teeny weeny afro!!! During this “natural” stage, I found great info from www.MotownGirl.com. I also purchased the book, “Healthier Hair in Six Weeks,” by Caroline Gray because she relaxed and had healthy long hair.

On March 1, 2006, after one year of being relaxer-free, I finally relaxed it.

From March thru May 06, I stretched my relaxer for 11 weeks - my very first stretch! I went to a beautician, but it was a very underprocessed. After the second 12-week stretch, I relaxed it myself ...thanks to the Self-Relaxing thread, which was very helpful. Thanks, SistaSlick. And I have been growing ever since. I have had some set backs, and I have had to cut many inches along the way, but my regimen is getting better.

So, I went from a TWA (teeny weeny afro) in the Fall of 2005 to APL in the Spring of 2007...not bad for less than 2 years. I am now shooting toward BSL.

 

[Twisties]

Let's see.

For me it was a very bad reaction to a relaxer. I had to go natural and was having so many problems with my hair. One day in desperation, I did a search and found site called Blackhaircare, that was the first site I ever saw dedicated to our hair in a forum format. Something went wrong at that site and it shut down.

From there, I found naturallycurly that was geared to white girls with super curly hair. Since the site was not focused on us, I think several sites were created as an offshoots (sp). I found nappturality and then I found LHCF.

So my hair care journey was more about how to keep the hair healthy and how to style it outside of a bush, wigs. Also, there was good book that helped me called "Let's Talk Hair" by Pamela Ferrell-her instructions taught me how to twist. Her book, coupled with the forums really saved my hair.

I would say the forums really took off around 1999 - 2000. There's so many nowadays but in the past, it was a lonely journey.

 

[mscocoface]

Back in the 90's I stopped the relaxer but got hooked on weaves, hair was growing but I would still kill it with press and curls every two weeks. My hair would need to take the hair dryer, blow dryer, hot combs, flat iron and curling iron to get straight. Did this up until Dec 5, 2006.

Was tired of being natural and only having neck length hair. Got on the internet and typed in long black hair, healthy black hair, and natural black hair. Found three things. Cathy Howse, Motown Girl, and Grow Afro Hair long. That was my jumping point. I had signed up with natural hair hairboard but I just didn't think I was that extreme about natural since they did not advocate pressing hair.

So I started looking at the site more and I think someone mentioned this site and started to check it out here. I took Cathy's 1 year challenge about 6 inches in a year, and also decided not to use heat for that same period based on what I read from the other hair site.

The rest as they say is history. I researched everything, tried what I thought would work for my hair type and am happy to say I like the results.

 

[miss Congeniality]

Well, for me I always admired people with natural hair. I was just too scared to do it myself. So when I had my son i realized how beautiful his hair was and it made me curious about my own. So I looked on many sites and read books and magazines to determine how to transition. I 'researched' for about two years before I was ready to do it. Came here and saw how wonderful and beautiful everyone's hair is and the potenial. Hated the two different textures so I BC and I haven't looked back since.

It is funny that in real life I hardly see anyone with healthy long hair; relaxed or natural, but to come here and everyone has great hair is pretty cool. I have learned so much. Even though I have been here for a while, I still feel like I am in my early phase of my journey. I think it will take between 5-8 years for me to get to my ultimate goal.

 

[blueabyss333]

Longer in the front right above my ear and shaved/tapered in the back.
ETA: JAN 2004

 

[HoneyA]

I started wearing weaves and braids when I was at college in a country with no hairdressers who style african american hair. I didn't find any all the while I was there. Anyway, I became addicted to the length and the look of the weaves and braids and kept wearing them but they were messing up my hair big time and I didn't realise. So for four years I paid more attention to fake hair than to mine. When I think back, I can't believe I treated my own hair like that. Two years ago when I cut it to above chin length because it looked uneven but I still liked my weaves. Things came to a head last year August, when the weave I was wearing looked like something died and I convinced myself that my own hair could never look as bad as that in a million years. I took it off and that's the last time I wore fake hair. I did a search online that same week to get tips for growing long healthy hair, found this site and began my hair journey. Been having a love affair with my hair ever sinceThank God I found LHCF.

 

[poetist]

I had been addicted to weaves throughout high school and college. I always neglected my hair for the aesthetical look of the weaves. In late 2005, I had been wearing weaves and braids and my scalp was sooo dry because I refused to use water or oil on my scalp because it made my braids look bad. I also only shampooed my hair at most 4 or 5 times a year (since my braids were always in.) When I finally took my weave/braids down, my hair starting falling out. I hadn;t had a perm in about a year, so the multiple textures and lack of moisture was all bad.

Once my hair started falling out, I was determined to find some way to grow my hair out. I found Cathy Howse's book and then searched the web and found LHCF. That was in Jan 2006.

 

[SelfStyled]

Wow....weaves sounds like a common way we all ended up here. Anywho, my story is that in 2003 when my 3rd child was born I suffered SEVERE postpartum shedding, it was really bad! And nothing like I had ever experienced with my 1st 2 kids. I feel so bad because I have learned so many things here that I could of done for the PPS, what I did do was get a weave, I don't know why my stylist agreed to do it- cause my hair was in an awful state. She had been wanting to weave me up for a long time- she did gorgeous weaves. Mind you I had never seen what her hair looked liked cause it was ALWAYS weaved up, once she showed me that her edges were bald though :burning:.

Sorry for rambling...I kept weaving off and on barely giving my hair any rest. With each take down my hair was getting thinner and thinner. I become addicted to the length, thickness and it was just so easy. I now had 3 kids, worked FT, how could I have time to take care of my own hair? In May 2006 I was diagnosed with female pattern hair loss. I was so sad and felt even more trapped because the weaves were once optional were now necessary . I kept weaving for the next year but started to go longer periods with out the weaves. In May 2007 I took the weave out to have a follow up with the dermatologist, what I found was hair that was even more damaged than when I first started with the weave. What began as a 2 week rest period before the next weave ended with some serious contemplation, and I decided that I would take matters into my own hands and start dealing with my own hair.

I actually found BHM first because I had the audacity to be searching for how I could blend my hair with curly weave hair. This was right about the time I decided to leave weaves alone. I immersed myself in their growth section and found many reference to this site...and the rest is history.

I have had always had thin hair,but my hair is doing a lot better in only 4 months since my no weave regimen. I am not sure if I have female pattern hair loss or if I just aggravated the situation, by choking my poor hair of oxygen for 3 years. I can't wait for my next appt with my doctor to show her all the progress I will have made .

 

[JustKiya]

I had dreadlocks in for about five years, and over the last year I bleached them twice, dyed them four (or was it five? ) times, and ended up with a head full of stringy, hard, crunchy, unattractive APL dreads. I tried cutting them, thinking that the weight was weighing them down (excuses, excuses), and then, went through a pretty stressful period that had me picking in my hair.
I took out the back row of dreads, right along my nape, and realized that I MISSED my hair - I missed the soft, tight curlies of it, and the ability to do what I wanted with em.
I took out my locs over a period of about a month, and finally took the last bit out over the same weekend that I moved into our house.

Then, not having learned my lesson, promptly bleached my loose hair platinum blond, and dyed it red.

I had a couple of friends (white girls!) who told me that I was killing my hair by going back to the chemical dye over and over again, and I should look into henna. That lead me to finding TLHC - and as I read there, and thought about MY hair and what I wanted out of it, I KNEW I wanted to see just how long it could get. I've had APL loose hair before, when I was TOTALLY ignoring my hair, so I knew I could definitely do that again. I stumbled across Nymphe's Journal and realized that there was a whole COMMUNITY of BLACK women trying to grow their hair long - that actually had sense, cuz ya'll BHM scurred me, just a lil bit.

So.

That got me here, and about a month later, I was a hardcore henna convert, and was working towards getting all that nasty, nasty dye out of my head. Even though I HAD hair, I still claim that I went bald in May 06, because I went blond, and there isn't a scrap of that previously dyed hair left on my head now.

Good lord, that was a BOOK.

Anyhow, that was my starting point.

Who knows where I'll end?

 

[kiesha8185]

My starting point...

The second time I got kinky twists, I attempted to wash my hair without first combing out my hair (after removing the twists). I shampooed it without first detangling. My hair was horribly damaged because I had to comb out all of the knots I had in my hair. Because my hair was healthy when I found LHCF, and I was anxious to start trying eveything I had read about, and jacked up my hair. I'm so dumb some times, I think I cried that day!

 

[ubavka123]

My hair broke off from highlights, so I wore braids for a year and started with a healthy head of hair. Unfortunately, I wasn't happy with my length, so I wore a phony pony for two years and abused my hair underneath as it grew out. When I was finally able to let the phony pony go, my hair underneath was long (by my standards back then) but thin. I had to get a major trim. I was so upset to let the length go, because I never realized my hair could grow below my shoulders. I immediately started researching on the 'net about caring for my hair type. That was when I found LHCF.

My hair immediately took off-- within months. I was so pleased. Too pleased. I became fearful of stylists (to an unreasonable degree). When I moved to another city, I was so sad to leave my stylist, who really was a great partner in my haircare journey--an LHCF dream. I didn't think there could be another like him, so I attempted to do my own relaxer and caused a major setback. I lost so much hair. I just bounced back last spring after many trims and lots of TLC.

I could have been way beyond my goal right now, but I am so happy with where I am now. I know that I will surpass my goals because I have the right tools. Plus, I am more reasonable now that I am more seasoned. I do what works and if I go to a stylist, it is either someone I trust, or I let them know up-front what my standards are. I am in control.

Anyway, I live abroad, and frankly, my hair has really taken off since I have had to be on point with the maintenance and care. There is no one here to clean up my mess, should I make a mistake. So I am super careful about everything I do, down to the self-relaxing. Learning to fully care for my hair because I know that there is not a stylist around the corner to help has truly been a blessing in disguise. I can do a mean rollerset, and I never have a bad hair day, unless it is by choice!

If things keep going so well, I am going to change my goal to BSL. I think I will be APL with my next touch-up at the end of October. My dream is to have my ultimate goal hair by the time we return to the states. I haven't determined what that is yet. I am letting my hair do what it do...No pressure...The worst part of being new to the game was all that pressure I put on myself to reach a goal and all the worrying over how many centimeters I got and by when. It was going to grow. All I needed was a little patience, time, and lots of care.

Relax and enjoy the journey everybody!

 

[Ladyhenri]

I attended a catholic school where all girls had to shave all their hair every few weeks to say 1/10 of an inch. I hated looking like a boy all through high school, so the second i left school, i celebrated by getting my first butt length weave....(i know...my taste in weaves improved with time)
Over the next years my hair routine was this :apply relaxer to whole head, Blowdry after washing, put weave. carry weave for 4-6 weeks, relax again (about five minutes after removing weave), then fix weave again.

I had a boyfriend of nearly 3 years that thought the weaves were my hair cos he never saw me without them, and after years of experience, i knew how to make a weave look natural. Even my mum never saw my own hair.
This being said, i always felt insecure about my own hair cos needless to say, it was near totally messed up. I always envied people that had long hair and i thought it could never be me...

Met my current BF who started reasuring me that i didnt need weaves to look nice...so i started researching into ways to make my own hair healthy. That was when i met LHCF.
Since then i have learnt so much, and it has shown in my hair. Will always be grateful.

 

[LovedAlot]

Well I actually stumbled upon this site when I decided to go from being natural to relaxed again. I found a lot of information and was very excited to be relaxed again after being natural and wearing braids for almost three years. Well I can honestly say I made a big mistake. About five to six months after going back to being relaxed, the breakage started. I got a little discouraged and then decided I would go back to what I knew. I decided to go natural again and cut the relaxed ends off gradually. I am so happy I found you ladies because my hair has completely grown back so much thicker and healthier. I used the techniques leared here. I went back to braids, but this time i get them braided all the way down past my hair. I can't believe that my hair is almost the length it was when I had braids for three years in only one year. I learned to moisturize and say no to blow dryers. All I can say is that you ladies are awesome. I am so thankful for you all. I am also so encouraged to see so many people willing to help and encourage others with their goals. I truley feel blessed because of all of you.

 

[harrison]

My trekk started as a protest.

My mother had gotten on my nerves and a guy that I liked all of a sudden lost interest in me.

At that time my hair was just past shoulder length, thick, and relaxed. I was so stressed out during that period that I went to my beautician for my regular visit and told him to just cut it all off.... and that is what he did. I got in his chair with a full head of hair and got up with a fade. YES INDEED.

Over the next 4 years I would let it grow then cut it all off again. After the last cut I decided to lock it... I wore locs for 5 years.
I cut them to shoulder length, unraveled and had a head full of something that I had no clue of what to do with. But I didn't want to relax it..
After 14 months of torturing my hair I stumbled across LHCF... while searching online for natural hair products to help soften and detangle..

Now I'm addicted to LHCF... It has been what I needed for so long!!!!!!!!

 

[bluefolli]

After I had my first child. I had lost a great deal of my hair in the back after being on hospital bedrest for nearly two months. That cotton pillow, not being able to wash or condition my hair that entire time...it was a wreck back there.

I had known about this website, but forgot about it until DD finally came home. Looked in the mirror and realized I needed to pay my five dollars and get serious with my hair. I haven't looked back since. I'm trying to stay pretty forever.

 

[SunnyDelight]

In February 2007 I noticed that hair was breaking badly, was dry (even though I used grease???) and was brittle. I was going to the salon every other week where I'd regularly get a touch-up every 6 weeks, wash, blow dry and hot curl (and spritzed with freeze) and I'd ONLY flat ironed it every 3 days so I thought I was taking good care of my hair. NOT. Even after I told the stylist that it was thinning and she blew me off by telling me that was because my roots were so thick - offering to touch up every five weeks, I continued to wreck havoc with my tresses.

By March I'd had enough. I did a search for healthy black hair and found the LHCF. I'll admit, I jumped on a lot of bandwagons but I have found what works for me and my hair is thick and healthy. It still has a long way to go but I love the forum and learning so much about taking care of my hair.

 

[GinaC]

I had a friend in beauty school and in 6 months it went from virgin shoulder lenghth (grey and frizzy too) to short and red. In between there were some really cute styles and colors, but I really don't want it short! We fried it with a straightener (Japanese straightening) and bleach too... anyway, it was such a mess I just had to cut it off. It's a nice cut, but I DON"T WANT SHORT HAIR!!!

Grow hair, grow!

Gina

 

[poetist]

I attended a catholic school where all girls had to shave all their hair every few weeks to say 1/10 of an inch. I hated looking like a boy all through high school,

You're kidding, right?erplexed I'm traumatized for you. Guess they didn't think your crown was your glory.

Well, I'm glad to know your hair is flourishing now.

 

[CurliDiva]

I realized that relaxers and my hair just don't MIX, so I decided to be weave it up! I defintely put style over hair health. If my stylist said not to wash my weave or braids for the entire 3 months- no problem, if they had to make knot or use glue to make my weave lay just right- no problem, apply dye to match a weave- no problem!

I don't think I ever DEEP CONDITION my hair- no problem! I would remove my extenisons, wash with whatever was in the cabinet- no problem and just get my next weave or braids installed!

My dry, crispy hair finally said - HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

My ends were ragged - I did not beleive in trimming. The back section of my hair just fell out - I literally had not hair (just dry, crispy peach fuzz) from the top of my ears to the nape. It got so bad I had nothing to attach a weave or braids in this section - so I need to find a plan B.

Plan B: I did a search one day for black haircare - and found LHCF!

The back section gro in within the first 4 months. My hair is the healthiest, thickest, and longest that it has ever been since adulthood.

I can't stress how which of a blessing LHCF and all of its beautiful, supportive people have been to ME!

 

[HoneyDew]

I had just cut, yes literally cut, a matted weave out of my hair and I went online to search for weaving or braiding hair to help me cover up the HOT NASTY MESS that I was left with. I was so sad.

I googled all kinds of terms and found Black Hair Media. Someone there mentioned LHCF and I checked it out.

I liked LHCF much better from the start and the rest is history. My goals to find ways to cover my hair changed to finding ways to fix my problem and love my own hair.

 

[Ladylyn]

When I was 14 my mom decided she no longer wanted to press my hair and she relaxed my hair herself I begged her not to do it. OMG she messed my hair up so bad I had to wait 6 wks to get it done by a licensed beautician. The nightmare cont'd she still didn't give me a virgin perm and gave me a "touch up". My hair started falling out, swelling from humidity,dry, brittle, and split ends at the time it was between SL and APL. The next beautician had to cut my hair to my ears I was devastated. My sister whose 18 yrs older took me 2 her beautician who taught me everything I know which is the same stuff that's said here. She had to cut even more hair off my head it was so short I couldn't do a ponytail if I dreamed it. She told me if I wanted my hair back I needed to do what she said and that meant not keeping up with my friends and the current styles. Current styles is why I was there pratically bald. From that point I gave up curling irons, blow driers, all heat except hooded driers and have not owned one until mayB 5 yrs ago I bought flat iron and blow drier (rarely use em). I wasn't after long hair as so much having it healthy as possible. I had current cuts by other beautician cause Ms Mitchell refuses to do it, but I lay down the rules and I'm firm no spritz, no gel, no blow drying, no hot curlers on my hair period. If a beautician can't do it she doesn't touches my head. Now I'm ready for long healthy hair.