Time for an update

Big thanks to Rochie for reminding me of this blog!  I think we both just got busy this year, and stopped tracking our progress. I HAVE been paying attention, but not posting.  Will try to change that in the new year!

Where my journey started: This was taken on the day of my last major haircut March 24, 2010. You can see that my hair was broken, thing, and dry looking...even though I was really pleased with my cut (at the time!) The collar of my coat is deceiving.  It goes right up to the botton of my ears. So if we had to give my length a name, I'd say  Jawbone length.

So big news!  I'm expecting a new addition to my little family in 2012.  Many have suggested that this news is responsible for my hair growth.  Perhaps it has contributed somewhat, but that insinuation annoys me a bit, because those people are unaware of how much time and effort I have invested in learning proper care of my hair.  In fact, begining in June (before I was pregnant).  I started noticing that my hair was already past my shoulders and I couldn't resist the urge to wear it pressed all summer long.  Usually in the summer I am the queen of fros and curly styles, but I was very pleased with how far my hair had come along..and found myself wearing it straight after most washes.

This is me now... (November 14, 2011) Also taken about 3 days after a trim.  Stylist took of 1.5 to 2 inches all over to even out my end and remove splits.  Haven't measured, but from my Jaw to almost my Armpit is around 8 inches of growth.

So how did I get here?

My last post was about protective styling.
- Protective styling: I wore a half weave for 3 weeks last february (i couldn't stand it any longer) ...which cut down on wear and tear.  it really helped the weaker/short parts in the back to catch up with the rest.  Now it's all filled in!  I wanted to reduce heat, and I was good with that till summer came around.  Then I took another break from September to November.  I think if I limit flat ironing or blow drying to once a month, I'll be ok.
-Protected my hair from the elements.  Canadian Winters are brutal!  I wore hats daily when travelling outdoors.  And I moved my daily walks indoors.  Instead of strolling the city streets on my lunch breaks, I chose to walk the indoor network of shops and food courts that connects all the financial office buildings.  It's big enough that it was never hard to spend 20 minutes down there, get my daily exercise without stressing my hair or immune system.
- Moisture:  This is a key element for me.  I have a humidifier I got as a Christmas gift a few years ago.  I now know my old apartment was so dry it literally made my hair snap off all over the bathroom floor.  I knew less about hair then...so I only used it sporadically.  This year, I got it right and turned the humidifier on in the house for a few hours while sleeping almost nightly.  It kept the air from being so hot and dry indoors.  My deep conditioning has become Pre-Pooing.  I mix conditioner with Coconut oil or Olive Oil..a and put it my damp hair, and slap a plastic bag on for a couple hours before shampooing (or overnight the night before). Then I just wash and condition the normal way.  Sulfate free 3 our of 4 washes, and I used baby shampoo the other time as a clarifier.  Now, I'm cutting out the baby shampoo.  Found out it has some wacky ingredients that aren't so good.
- Vitamins - Being consistent helps.  Some people think that no matter what you consume it won't affect hair growth, but I disagree.  I don't think my hair was growing faster.  But I believe that it was growing healthier, more manageable, and less brittle. Giving your body the best building blocks for nutrition affects your overall health.  It just has to.

So, that's how I'm doing...and I have a long way to go.  Now that I think I have a better idea of what I'm doing...I have higher expectations for success.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Happy New Year! vague resolutions and hair plans

So we're into a new year and I'm starting to get impatient for results.  My hair has been growing, as it always does.  It has been growing quickly too.  Even that isn't that big of a surprise.  My issue is that it's not as thick as I want it to be.  I remember being 15 years old, at the hairdresser getting styled for my auntie's wedding.  The stylist had to spend 3 hours putting ringlets in my hair with the curling iron....just because it was so thick.  I remember having fat ponytails even when I had a perm..and that is supposed to flatten and thin out the texture of your hair.  So why, now that it is mainly natural, and I've been attempting to grow it long and healthy does it seem to be thinner.

I'm sure youth plays some role.  Little kids always have thick healthy, strong hair.  my hair benefits sometimes from being left alone. however, I no longer work from home or in a funky artsy non-profit where I can rock head wraps on a daily basis...nor is that the style right now.  I feel like a brat for complaining, but I want more this year.  My focus has switched from length to strength.

So as not to get all stuck on the negatives, here are a few positive updates.  I have started to deep condition.  Rather, I have done so a few times lately.  I had time over the holidays and found it to result in leaving my hair so much easier to cope with.  The best beauty aid:  HONEY.  Yup.  I read about it online and tried it three times.  I made a mix using coconut oil, Roux Porosity Control Conditioner...and Live Clean Leave In condishAfter leaving the conditioner mix on my head for 45 mins to an hour under a plastic bag, I found shiny, wavy locks that had a lot of movement and bounce when dried and styled later.   I caved and pressed my hair like 3 times over the holidays.  I was trying to limit it to once a month.  I'm realizing that goal will be much easier in the summer months.  The winter is very tough of hair, and having it wet more often sucks in the first place, but combining that with air drying in the house and letting my hair shrink up really hasn't been working for me.  I feel like a beat my hair up more when I don't press it.  I fuss with it more.  Maybe that will change as it gets longer.  Which reminds me I need to pick up some soft elastics.  I can't find any of those things around.

i'm running out of Cocunt oil too.  It's really great stuff!i need to get more of that, and i'd like to try castor oil too.  I've heard that it's good for the scalp. I would like to try this since my scalp is dry and itchy in the winter.  BTW, as for the trim I said I would get....I gave myself a tiny one more for shape...but I need to go on a search and destry mission.  I have to get rid of the splits.  I sometimes wonder if that's why my ponytail doesn't seem thick....like if certain hairs just don't seem to be growing past a certain length.  Gotta do better!

October 2010 Update

So, I know it's not October yet.  We have a week to go, and therefore, my hair still has plenty of growing time left before I ought to update.  However, one of the things I have been doing is cutting back on heat usage.  I say that to also say that as a result, I can only properly assess length when straightened.  That just happens to be right now!

 The above shot gives an idea of length.  I still haven't sent my boken Avanti flat iron back for service, so my hair never looks straight to me when I do it at home.  I can see that my hair has grown almost to the length of where I cut it from in March.  Only this time, the ends are not so badly broken, and there's less over all breakage.

Here in the front you can see that ends are still fairly blunt.  I think the last trim was in June.  Can't remember I may have dusted since then.  But yeah, it seems to be stronger, and definitely longer.

Don't get too excited though!  I think this pic will show you that I am still struggling with slower growing areas in the back, various textures and a bit of thinning due to what I refer to as ponytail stress.

I think I'm going to continue Co-washing twice weekly, Spraying daily with Infusium 23, and sealing either with EV Coconut Oil or "Live Clean" Argan Oil.

I have a couple challenge for October. I will be vacationing in Central America, and want to maintain good hair practises while I enjoy the beach and scenery. Sun and salt water are likely to negatively affect my efforts.    

My only plan is to read a little bit about good deep conditioning regimens and I will travel with protective and conditioning products.

September 1st update

Thanks to Rochelle,

I snapped a couple pics of my hair in its current state. Here's the back. Please note, I am transitioning out of a no-lye "Just for me" texture softener - texturizer. Please don't be fooled. Texturizer is perm. I didn't realize that...and my hair suffered. I lost my natural curls. In fact, even when I used to perm my hair in high school, it was never as straight as that box made it. My stylist was applying it maybe every ten weeks. I couldn't understand why no curl was left. I think "No Lye" is the culprit. In my perm days, we always used Lye relaxers which resulted in a loose ringlet texture to my wet hair.

N E Wayzzz, no one asked about all that. I have several inches of natural hair, and in these photos, it has not been straigthened out or "Stretched" to show length.

Here is how the front looks.  According to the chart below.  The hair at the front of my scalp is type IV in it's natural state.  At the nape, and lower part of the sides it is type V.  At the centre of the back it is time VI.  My favourite areas to style are type V.   Using other charts I usually see, I believe that the texture at the front of my hair is 3b, while the back it 4a, with some 4b.

Knowing your hair type is important if you want to grow it.  The hair with a looser texture appears to grow like a weed, and never seems to break.  It is stronger, but it is also better maintained because I can see it.  I tend to pull my hair back often.  The "IV" hair gets regular watering from leave in conditioners and styling gels used to slick my hair back.  The rest of my hair is often neglected.

the more fragile hair at the back suffers from contact with my clothing, my pillow, and from heat.  Because it's coarser, I take longer to flat iron this portion.  That really dries out each strand.  So yep, the front is much longer than the back.  But we're working on that!

June update

please ignore the vex look on my face. it was frustrating trying to get pics of my hair.

I took these on June 18. I only recall the date because my fiance proposed later that night!
This day I washed, deep conditioned, air dried, cool flat ironed, and gave myself a trim. I remembered being surprised at the length acculation since the late March chop.
At the time I was conditioner washing every other day using Le Kair Cholesterol Condtioner. I used infusium 23 leave in strengthening formula daily. I also had this Just for me conditioning detangler. I haven't figured out if my hair likes silicone products or not. Because I wash often, I think they're ok. However, my regimen is becoming a little more "natural" nowadays.
Looking back my hair was getting too much protein from the Le Kair, and the infusium. I was starting to get hard and a little unruly.
Karen Richardson

May growth check.

May 7th

Not much to see here. I just was wrapping at night, Drinking water, switched to sulphate free shampoo. Live Clean Argan Oil, sometimes and Johnson's baby shampoo at others. Funny, but the baby shampoo seems to be the harsher chemical. It's probably naïve to think this, but it's my clarifier. It seems to wipe my hair clean of all buildup and residue.

Anyway, I found it interesting. You can already see that the front of my hair is definitely outgrowing the back. I'm not surprised by that. It has been the case since childhood. This is about 5 weeks after my big cut. The hair at the front was cut shorter than the back, with a bit of a side bang. You can see it still in this picture. The bang seems to be trying to catch up to the rest. The sides appear to be one full inch longer. The back (if you look close to my neck on the left side) is still thinner, and is now shorter than the front.

I always have to remind myself that the hair at the back needs the most attention, and the tenderest care. It's very fragile. Moisture, moisture moisture. I'm doing a better job of doing that now.

Karen Richardson

Snip snip

So here's my starting point. I decided to cut my hair. The ends were a mess and my pony tail was thin. My hair was dry from too much heat....and oh so damaged. The only thing was winter wasn't quite over and I kinda wanted to keep some length. It looks longer in this pic than it was.  The collar on my coat went up past my chin.  My ends when pulled reached to down to my could not reach the my collar bone at the base of my neck.

You can see the length better in the next pic.  So I had the stylist take off a lot from the front where it was in better condition, to match (more or less) the apparent length of the back. The truth is, the back had very little length to speak of.


 It was so damaged that it was all different lengths...and still is. Just now, many of those strands actually make it to my ponytails!

See the hairs sticking up at the back? Yep. Poorly broken off!

I think the girl who chut my hair was feeling my pain.  I think another 2 inches off would have left me with the healthiest portion of my hair only.  None the less, as my hair grows, you will be able to see how this hair compares to the un-abused new growth!