Decisions.....

I have decided to cut my hair little by little until the end of the year. I have cut off between 1-3" of hair so far. In the middle I ended up cutting like 2" and the rest like 1/2". Then I cut again. I straightened my hair out so I could see how it lays. It is so much better than the last time. lays nicely and its getting longer. I havent done a measurment yet so cant tell how much longer it is in inches will do later this week.

I bought a new flat iron a FHI 1". I love it, it makes the hair so nice and smooth. I also splurged on a bunch of products. I even bought the big bottle of aphogee for $20. crazy I know! I did a treatment and I wish I would have done it sooner cause the strength is amazing. Also finally got some eqp dpr 11. I tried it and cant say it was the best thing ever but it really was not bad. I will buy again.

I have been experimenting with my rollersets and this time I used very little product. It was good but it still took forever to dry. I then flat ironed and did the silk wrap. very nice! it came out so smooth and silky, will do this every time. the only thing is I need to get rid of the frizz. wearing it down is terrible. I think it s the heat protectant i have been using, fantasia ic pink one. Ill be on the look out for a better one, I want to try redken heat glide next.

I dont know but I hope that i am getting some extra growth from the vits I am taking. I wont be able to really tell how much growth im getting until i get these ends right. If I'm getting exta growth then I will be BSL before the end of the year. We will see.

My styles or the summer after I wash out this roller set will be a sewin worn for like 1-2 months, then for the rest french braids, twists, and ponies until the school year starts when Im going to put in some micros. I am not going to straighten for a long time unless I feel like it. I am going to be focusing on my ends, keeping them strong moisturized and protected so I wont have to cut anymore.

Progress

Made a lot of progress. Got past the its not growing phase and I am almost to my first goal of APL. I'm mad that I am not there yet. But its ok. I have been trimming alot, every time I put in twists or straighten. That has cut me back a bit. No matter, its still growing.
Been wearing flat twists, singles and braids. I flatironed it once and it was so nice and soft. The only thing is that I hate the way it lays cause its so thick and then the breakage in the middle makes it look crazy. I washed it out after like 3-4 days. I just washed again yesterday and am planning on re twisting tonight, keeping them in for like two weeks, cowashing every other day.
Doing the henna thing, makes everything so nice. And still taking the vits slowly increasing the dosage. Up to 1500mg in msm, 5mg in biotin, and 1000mg in EPO. I'm just going to keep on doing what I'm doing protecting those ends till they grow out. My plan is when I get to BSL I'm going to start chopping them off a little at a time till I am happy with the way they look. Hopefully I will be BSL by the beginning of next year. We shall see....

Measurements

back 9-11"
middle 11.5"
front 10.5-11"

These are measurements as of the beg of may, from root to tip. Getting there slowly but surely.

What to do?

Been wearing a lot of different styles lately. Had twists in for a little over a month, took them out too soon. Put in a sew in it was cute but the hair was cheap and it tangled like crazy. I had braids in the front and curly hair in the back, only kept it in for two weeks. Normally a sew in lasts for at least a month or two. I plan on doing the usual again, phony pony with baggie (knock-off of chicoro's) and when I get tired of that, cornrows for a week or two. I don't know what else to do with my hair right now.

My texturizer from last year is growing out gradually. It upsets me because the ends compared to the roots look crazy. You can see where all the baby hairs are growing up. They are at least 4" now. My ends aren't thin they are just not as thick as the roots. I don't think its breakage at the demarcation line because i have been trying to protect it like crazy. I don't touch it or comb it unless I am washing or styling. The most I do my hair is like every 2-3 days and that is only when I am wearing my ponytail. I will just continue what I am doing and just hope for the best.

I finally found a place that sells henna. I got Reshma henna and shikakai powder(haven't tried yet). I still haven't found the cassia though. I did a henna treatment the other day. When the stuff was in my head it felt weird, kind of grainy like it was going to be dry as hell when I rinsed it out. So I deep conditioned with QH and when I rinsed my hair...... let me tell you I was in heaven! I have never felt my hair so soft before in my life, and my hair is already super soft by itself. Is wasn't mushy soft it was strong, healthy soft and smooth and it has a tiny reddish tint. I am in love and I will henna for life!

New findings and misunderstandings

I’m in braids now. Had them in since the beginning of Feb.and plan to keep them until the end of march. I have been following the same braid reg as before and have been using mn and my sulfur oil every other day. Also redoing a few braids here and there so they can stay neat. My braids slip so easily it looks like i have 2 months worth of new growth. They don't look bad though.

After I take these out I will continue to hide my hair until the summertime. That is the only time that I can wear my hair out constantly without a problem. I cowash daily which my hair loves and I wear alot of sleeveless shirts. (I cant wait!) My protective styles will be cornrows/flat twists and phony ponies alternated weekly.

I had a setback over the past few months. It started with a bad rollerset, the ends began to break off. I haven't gained much length since Nov. My measurements as of the end of Jan are:

back 8"

sides & middle 9"

front 10"

I have been using a ruler to measure and I finally got a tape measure. It turns out that my measurements were about 2" off. So APL is actually 11" and BSL is actually 14". The thing is that even with my measurements being completely messed up I will still make my goal of MBL by the end of the year, unless I have some major setbacks which hopefully wont happen. My shortest piece is 8" so I need 3" to be APL and another 3" to be BSL based on the measurements above.

I want to do another rollerset in may. I am still attempting to perfect my technique. What does not work for me is; less products, blowout before and after, combing when finished. What does work is; very well conditioned and moisturized hair, a little setting lotion, completely drying, flat ironed roots. What I want to try are; ponytail sets, silk wrap, different moisturizers. I do also want to get a new flat iron, one with full ceramic plates. If I can find one for cheap I will get it otherwise I will get a maxiglide.

One more thing I wanted to try is henna and cassia. I plan on adding it to the reggi for conditioning benefits and possibly color. Also those henna tattoos are beautiful.

Winter time blues

My hair is making me crazy. Because its so cold out i cant wash like I want to, and its breaking like crazy. I put it in cornrows for two weeks cause school started and i didn't have the time to deal with it. I think I will do the same thing that I did last summer. I am going to braid it up again till it gets warmer. I am going to do a rollerset this weekend to see the length then do a protein treatment and put back in my infamous two strand twists. this time I will make them longer. I plan on keeping them in for at least one or two months. the longer the better. My hair is thickening up like crazy also.
I stretched a piece and I am actually grazing APL. :D YAY!! I didn't do an actual measurement yet but, will do before i put it up in the braids.
Still taking my vits. iron, 500mg msm and epo, 2mg biotin, b complex. Using mtg and mn not too often I'll say twice a week. I haven't measured since i was taking them so i don't really know how much they have been helping. one thing i can say is that i am seeing more and more baby hairs popping up which is really good and bad at the same time. Its becoming more and more difficult to get through the new growth.
I have decided not to texturize again. when i reach MBL I will chop off the remainder of the relaxed hair. it doesn't look bad, its just hard to handle the different textures. if it was all one texture i wouldn't have a hard time getting the comb through it at all.
I still need to figure out how to stop the breakage i have been having. I know it not moisturized properly because it only feels right when I cowash it daily. I don't want to wash every night because putting it in a wet ponytail so often is also contributing to my breakage. Maybe i could just smooth some conditioner on it every night for the same effect. Ill figure it out.