Grow it Long 2023 Challenge!

[ckisland]

I'm really want to document this season my hair is in. Yesterday I took a pic of what my hair now looks like towel dried. I have a long way to go to have healthy hair again, but that's okay! It's all a part of the journey

 

[Chicoro]

I'm really want to document this season my hair is in. Yesterday I took a pic of what my hair now looks like towel dried. I have a long way to go to have healthy hair again, but that's okay! It's all a part of the journey

View attachment 490969View attachment 490971

Your hair looks really nice, to me.

 

[Chicoro]

My hair flourishes with weekly washing. I was doing monthly.

 

[ckisland]

Your hair looks really nice, to me.

Aww! Thank you!! It could be worse I guess

 

[ckisland]

My hair is filling back in again!! My hair was coming out and breaking off a concerning amount, but I think that it's finally slowed down and my roots are starting to thicken up. Thank goodness

 

[apple_natural]

Good things: I've been tying my hair up at night. I think I've been retwisting once a week with water and shea butter. I've been washing as needed ~every 2 weeks
I'm going to keep up what I'm doing. I don't think I need to change anything. I have super huge twists in that are easy to redo. I like it like this although it isn't a very sophisticated style. I pull out a wig when I need it to look like anything and then put the twists back in

 

[ItsMeLilLucky]

Good things: I've been tying my hair up at night. I think I've been retwisting once a week with water and shea butter. I've been washing as needed ~every 2 weeks
I'm going to keep up what I'm doing. I don't think I need to change anything. I have super huge twists in that are easy to redo. I like it like this although it isn't a very sophisticated style. I pull out a wig when I need it to look like anything and then put the twists back in

Girl I thought you posted in the Lock it up thread *face palm* I was about to say, babe you are retwisting too often, especially with shea butter I had to look at where I was posting

 

[Chicoro]

My hair is filling back in again!! My hair was coming out and breaking off a concerning amount, but I think that it's finally slowed down and my roots are starting to thicken up. Thank goodness

Congratulations!

To what would you attribute this?

 

[ckisland]

Congratulations!

To what would you attribute this?

Mainly time. I have been taking collagen regularly. I take biotin and use Wild Growth Oil more infrequently, but I think that it was just a matter of time before my new growth would become noticeable. The other things may be helping a little bit, but I think I need to be more consistent with them.

 

[Chicoro]

Mainly time. I have been taking collagen regularly. I take biotin and use Wild Growth Oil more infrequently, but I think that it was just a matter of time before my new growth would become noticeable. The other things may be helping a little bit, but I think I need to be more consistent with them.

Thank you for the detailed response, I appreciate it!

 

[apple_natural]

Growth Status:
I blew out my hair Monday.
I cut some off the ends Tuesday. It wasn't damaged, but I have been doing curly cuts. I want to cut off the multi-layers that come from that
It looks the same as it was last year when I cut it in March- somewhere around shoulder length at the longest. I cut it last year for no good reason.

Winter Style:
I've ordered curly clip ins. I want to be able to dc more often this winter. I hope that clip-ins will allow me to do that, not fiddle with it too much, and to keep my ends up.

Products:
I needed to replace my henna - done. I'll mix it with any conditioner i have around as well as wheat germ and avocado oils
I dropped my glass shea butter jar during the move. - not replaced yet

New Products:
Melanin shampoo
Natty Naturals leave in- I've used this before. I got smaller ones this time for more scents
Melanin DC
Camille Rose oil - I got this, but I want to make an infused coconut oil whenever its finished -- I ended up mixing this with wheat germ and castor oil
Melanin styling creme

Regimen update:
I'm adding in more oil. I did add oil this year, but I've still been lazy. I need hot oil treatments on scalp and strands 2x a week.
Monday - hot oil
Tuesday x
Wednesday - wash or acv rinse, moisturize
Thursday - hot oil
Friday x
Saturday - wash or mask and dc
Sunday x

Currently:
i put acv on my scalp last night and put it in bantu knots. its in a halo twist at the moment. I'm waiting for my clips in.

 

[Mapleoats]

I am back after a semi hair hiatus. Had box braids in for the past 6 weeks. I took them out last weekend and washed / blow out with revair and wore a bun for the week. This weekend I had my mom put in some mini twists on my old blowout. I am going to try and leave these in for 3-4 weeks.

For the last 3 months of the year I am doing a protective style challenge and wearing my hair in twists (of varying sizes) with few exceptions. Here
the rules of my challenge.

Start Date: October 7
End Date: Dec 18
Goal: I am about 2.5 Inches from WL. I would like to see if I can close that gap by the end of the year.

Rules:
1. Keep hair styled in twists at all times, other than wash days. (I will usually wear my twists in a bun/updo, but this isn't mandated for the challenge.)
2. Full wash day every 2-4 weeks.
3. Scalp refresh and moisturize my strands 1-2x per week.

Passes:
Only 2 passes for the duration of the challenge.

I will alternate 2 different wash days for the challenge. I started the challenge with Wash Day A, so next wash will be Wash Day B.

Wash day A
1. Shampoo
2. Olaplex 1&2
3. DC with heat
4. Blow dry with Revair
5. Twist on blown out hair

Wash day B
1. Shampoo
2. Clay Rinse
3. DC with heat
4. Twist on wet hair
5. Hooded dryer for 45 mins

Scalp Refresh and moisturize routine (still a WIP)
TBD. I am looking for products that are already formulated for scalp care, as that is the only way I will stick to the regimen on a weekly basis. I am over DIYing other than my clay rinse which I mix one big batch of and freeze, and it lasts me several washes.

Let’s see if I can stick with this for the rest of the year and make it to WL (or at least very close!)

Heres a pic of my current mini twists.


Edit - Just realizing that my mini twists are about the same length as my hair in my profile pic which is from a few years ago. Wow, that’s a nice feeling.

 

[Mapleoats]

For my scalp care needs I just ordered the Sauce Beauty Sparkling ACV Treatment. It was between this and Pattern Beautys new Scalp Detox Serum. But the Sauce Beauty product is cheaper, comes in a bigger bottle AND the ingredient list is very similar to the DIY ACV rinse I’ve used at home with great success. The Sauce treatment is meant to be rinsed out while the Pattern Beauty one can be used as a leave in or rinse out product. I do not intend to rinse out the Sauce beauty product, so we’ll see how it goes. I may also try the PB treatment later and compare the two.

Once this arrives I should have everything I need to be successful on this challenge.

 

[Napp]

I cut my hair in July to a few inches above APL so I’m a bit excited on seeing if my hair can reach APL again by the end of the year

 

[Mapleoats]

I am 1 week into my mini twists and I absolutely love them. I wear them in a bun daily and band them in a single pony tail over night. This has actually helped them stretched out nicely. I can already tell these should last me a solid 2-3 more weeks easily.

I want to start tracking my length in Mimi twists now as well lol. I am 1.5 inches from BSL and 5 inches from WL in these twists. New goal unlocked - WL mini twists by Dec 2024

 

[ItsMeLilLucky]

The hair is lovely! But let's get into those armzzzz! I see you arms

 

[Chicoro]

The hair is lovely! But let's get into those armzzzz! I see you arms

@Mapleoats arms and everything she got up on her body looks great!

I was inspired to take a picture of the back of my hair by putting the camera on top of my head like her, too. After two photos I noticed I was getting great shots of the back of my body.

As an aside and a digression, I took about five (5) photos of my hair like her and then subsequentally took twenty five (25) of the back of my body. I got a new way to track my back and my booty photographically!

 

[Mapleoats]

Lol y'all are too sweet thank you @ItsMeLilLucky @Chicoro ! The gym be tryin' me sometimes but I guess it's working

 

[Chicoro]

Natural, Relaxed, Texlaxed:
My hair is natural.

Current Length:
The longest length at the nape is 22 inches.
The longest overall is in crown and is 24.5 inches.

Goal Length:
I want 30 inches of hair. I would need to retain over
5.5 inches to get there, in the crown area.

Plan to reach goal length:
I had to stop using shampoo. So, I am
trying clay washes right now.

Regimen:

1. Prepoo dirty, dry hair with oil and remove sheds and detangle.
2. Cleanse hair and scalp with aloe vera/glycein and Essential Oils
3. Cleanse hair with French clay, goat milk, honey and activated charcoal
4. Condition hair with inexpensive conditioner.
5. Leave in Scurl, Shea butter and Vaseline.
6. Aphogee 2 Step Every 6 to 8 Weeks

Protective Styles:
Hair in five (5) braids but pulled back into one (1) bun.
Baggie method. Braid hair, slather in Vaseline, roll up ends, wear in plastic baggie until next wash day.

Staple Products:

• Oil
• Clay
• Shea butter
• Vaseline
• Cheap conditioner
• Scurl
• Spray bottle concoction

Starting Pic: REQUIRED : See below!

Check ins every 3 months: OK

• 1st check in: April 1st
• 2nd check in: July 1st
• 3rd check in: October 1st
• Final pic: December 31st

This is the left side, back bottom nape: 22 Inches to Start.

The left side, crown area is: 24.5 inches.

I have never grown this longer than 23 inches.
I have never grown my har longer than 26.5 scraggly inches.
Let's see what 2023 brings.
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I have been following this process to a tee (t)! I don’t see any length gains but I do see health gains.
My hair is jet black and shinier. The ends are fuller. The roots are fuller. I don’t see a lot of wiry broken strands around my crown or hairline as much. I can finish my hair from takedown, to pre poo to wash to condition to style in about one hour! It took about 1.5 up to 3 hours before.
The clays are my bae!!! All other things are my old school processes, except the clays.

Happy and satisfied with my hair!

 

[Mapleoats]

I am just finishing week 2 with these mini twists!

I am sticking to my moisture regimen and my hair is holding moisture well in the twists.

i recieved the ACV treatment and tested using it on my scalp in a small section of my scalp on Monday and again today. It works quite well, and is able to remove all the flakes in the areas where used, with no resulting irritation. As I am 3 weeks post wash my scalp is VERY flakey so I am excited that this product works so well.

the process of cleansing my scalp is with the product is a little more involved than I had hoped but it's so effective that I can't complain. I had previously mentioned I would be leaving the product in but I don't like to do that now because the product actually lathers a little bit. These are the steps I follow

1. Apply the product to my scalp and massage it in with my fingers.
2. Follow up with a fine mist spray bottle of water directly to my scalp. This creates a lather as the product mixes with the water.
3. Massage again with my finger tips or silicone scalp brush. This picks up all the flakes.
4. follow up again with the water. This helps remove the lifted flakes and extra product.
5. Dry my roots by dabbing excess water with a towel, then follow up with the blow dryer concentrator nozzle and tension method to restretch the roots

its basically spot cleaning my scalp lol. It gets all the flakes and my scalp feels so fresh after.

I'll be doing this on the rest of my scalp later today!


]

 

[Chicoro]

I am just finishing week 2 with these mini twists!

I am sticking to my moisture regimen and my hair is holding moisture well in the twists.

i recieved the ACV treatment and tested using it on my scalp in a small section of my scalp on Monday and again today. It works quite well, and is able to remove all the flakes in the areas where used, with no resulting irritation. As I am 3 weeks post wash my scalp is VERY flakey so I am excited that this product works so well.

the process of cleansing my scalp is with the product is a little more involved than I had hoped but it's so effective that I can't complain. I had previously mentioned I would be leaving the product in but I don't like to do that now because the product actually lathers a little bit. These are the steps I follow

1. Apply the product to my scalp and massage it in with my fingers.
2. Follow up with a fine mist spray bottle of water directly to my scalp. This creates a lather as the product mixes with the water.
3. Massage again with my finger tips or silicone scalp brush. This picks up all the flakes.
4. follow up again with the water. This helps remove the lifted flakes and extra product.
5. Dry my roots by dabbing excess water with a towel, then follow up with the blow dryer concentrator nozzle and tension method to restretch the roots

its basically spot cleaning my scalp lol. It gets all the flakes and my scalp feels so fresh after.

I'll be doing this on the rest of my scalp later today!


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Is this a wash process or a process to clean your scalp in between washes?

 

[Mapleoats]

Is this a wash process or a process to clean your scalp in between washes?

Just cleaning my scalp in between washes! I don't want to wash my minitwists as I don't want to deal with the tangling. I might incorporate the product on my next wash day as well.

 

[GettingKinky]

@Mapleoats how long does it take you to do your mini twists? What kind of parting do you do.
I love the way mini twists look on other people but whenever I try tiger I don’t like the way they turn out. I think I’m bad at parting.

 

[snoop]

Hey ladies! I'm back! It was a really busy summer, but I'm here and finally ready to spend some time with my hair.

My ends need help, but I think that overall my hair is doing well.

I can't remember which challenge I posted this in, but my goal this year was to get my hair back to a similar length as my avatar and now I think my twists are solidly there. Can't wait to see what a twist out would look like. Congrats to @Mapleoats for reaching avatar goals!!!



@Mapleoats I'm so jealous that you can wear your hair in a bun and braids over night and that they still look straight after. I think I took this picture one night after completing all of my twists. I wore my twists LOOSE under a scar and my hair holds the texture of how I slept on them. They will NOT straighten out unless I moisturize or wash them at which point they will shrink like crazy. (They already started shrinking as I was twisting.)

I'm not sure how far away I am from waist length. In the shower some parts feel like I'm there already, but when I take pictures my waist appears to have relocated. I'm going to guess maybe an inch or so to claim it, but I have to cut an inch so... I don't think I'll get there before the New Year, but I think that I've made great progress this year so I'm really happy.

I think my biggest growth aids were vit D and iron. I plan on maintaining my levels through supplements and more importantly, diet, sleep, and exercise.

 

[Chicoro]

Hey ladies! I'm back! It was a really busy summer, but I'm here and finally ready to spend some time with my hair.

My ends need help, but I think that overall my hair is doing well.

I can't remember which challenge I posted this in, but my goal this year was to get my hair back to a similar length as my avatar and now I think my twists are solidly there. Can't wait to see what a twist out would look like. Congrats to @Mapleoats for reaching avatar goals!!!

View attachment 492235 View attachment 492237

@Mapleoats I'm so jealous that you can wear your hair in a bun and braids over night and that they still look straight after. I think I took this picture one night after completing all of my twists. I wore my twists LOOSE under a scar and my hair holds the texture of how I slept on them. They will NOT straighten out unless I moisturize or wash them at which point they will shrink like crazy. (They already started shrinking as I was twisting.)

I'm not sure how far away I am from waist length. In the shower some parts feel like I'm there already, but when I take pictures my waist appears to have relocated. I'm going to guess maybe an inch or so to claim it, but I have to cut an inch so... I don't think I'll get there before the New Year, but I think that I've made great progress this year so I'm really happy.

I think my biggest growth aids were vit D and iron. I plan on maintaining my levels through supplements and more importantly, diet, sleep, and exercise.

Welcome back! I sure missed you. Glad to see you here and able to be engaged.

Hair looks like super thick yarn and large ropes: it's nice looking! Which type of Vitamin D and iron did you take please? And why do think it was these two things specifically that contributed to your hair success in 2023?

 

[Chicoro]

I am back after a semi hair hiatus. Had box braids in for the past 6 weeks. I took them out last weekend and washed / blow out with revair and wore a bun for the week. This weekend I had my mom put in some mini twists on my old blowout. I am going to try and leave these in for 3-4 weeks.

For the last 3 months of the year I am doing a protective style challenge and wearing my hair in twists (of varying sizes) with few exceptions. Here
the rules of my challenge.

Start Date: October 7
End Date: Dec 18
Goal: I am about 2.5 Inches from WL. I would like to see if I can close that gap by the end of the year.

Rules:
1. Keep hair styled in twists at all times, other than wash days. (I will usually wear my twists in a bun/updo, but this isn't mandated for the challenge.)
2. Full wash day every 2-4 weeks.
3. Scalp refresh and moisturize my strands 1-2x per week.

Passes:
Only 2 passes for the duration of the challenge.

I will alternate 2 different wash days for the challenge. I started the challenge with Wash Day A, so next wash will be Wash Day B.

Wash day A
1. Shampoo
2. Olaplex 1&2
3. DC with heat
4. Blow dry with Revair
5. Twist on blown out hair

Wash day B
1. Shampoo
2. Clay Rinse
3. DC with heat
4. Twist on wet hair
5. Hooded dryer for 45 mins

Scalp Refresh and moisturize routine (still a WIP)
TBD. I am looking for products that are already formulated for scalp care, as that is the only way I will stick to the regimen on a weekly basis. I am over DIYing other than my clay rinse which I mix one big batch of and freeze, and it lasts me several washes.

Let’s see if I can stick with this for the rest of the year and make it to WL (or at least very close!)

Heres a pic of my current mini twists.
View attachment 491813

Edit - Just realizing that my mini twists are about the same length as my hair in my profile pic which is from a few years ago. Wow, that’s a nice feeling.

@snoop said Congrats to @Mapleoats for reaching avatar goals!!!


Oh.My.Goodness!!!!



The FULL levity of this accomplishment JUST now hit me. Mapleoats stated it as clear as day but it was lost on me until Snoop mentioned it a second time.



Well done @Mapleoats!

 

[Chicoro]

@Mapleoats ,

What main things do you think contributed to your hair success in 2023, or what do you attribute it to, specifically to the fact that your mini twists are the same length as you straightend, loosened hair was in the past?


I wants to know. I love to ask these kind of questions and get responses from people who have lived the before and after, and have proof of that success. I KNOW I can learn something. Taking notes.

 

[snoop]

Welcome back! I sure missed you. Glad to see you here and able to be engaged.

Hair looks like super thick yarn and large ropes: it's nice looking! Which type of Vitamin D and iron did you take please? And why do think it was these two things specifically that contributed to your hair success in 2023?

I am going to preface this with THIS IS NO WAY A RECOMMENDATION TO TAKE ANY PARTICULAR SUPPLEMENTS/AND OR DOSAGES. CONTACT YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING YOUR HEALTH OR NUTRITION.

I think I've mentioned it on the boards before, but I want to give some context as to why I was taking these supplements:

I had my daughter (baby 4) six years ago. I did extended breastfeeding with all of the babies, but she was the most consistent (I wasn't working so I could nurse throughout the day) and she was also the longest (one month shy of 2 years, as opposed to around 13+ months with the others.) I believe that poor nutrition, lack of sleep, and stress finally caught up to me. Two years after having her is when my flow returned but it was much heavier than before I had her. I just figured that things changed so I didn't really look into it. The other shoe dropped when I went to do a length check and I realized not only that my hair hadn't reached my scheduled milestone, but I had lost inches as well. I hadn't made any real changes to my routine. I was devastated. Like, legit. I stopped caring for my hair. Didn't want to engage online in the hair communities, etc.

After about another year, I decided to start taking care of my hair again. Changed my routine and that's around the time I started using yucca root. I loved the stuff. My hair was starting to feel better, but the length wasn't there. I figured that my hair and monthly issues had to be connected and so I sought help from a naturopath who specialized in women's hormonal issues.

So, she put me on some suppliments to help lessen my cycle and to help reduce stress. She also gave me other tools for managing stress. But before doing all of this she did some blood work. My ferratin came back really, low. She decided to check my vit D levels and they were really low, too.

Can Prev Iron Bisglycinate 25



I also took this form of iron for a while, but it elevated my B12




For vit D I take CanPrev D3 2500IU MCT Base. I'm not sure that I need that much anymore, so I'm going to ask my doc if I can do another blood test (next month) to see what my levels are like. We're going into winter, so it may not be too bad to stay on this dosage until spring. (Basically, it's dark by 7.30pm and it's still dark at 7.30am. We haven't actually hit winter yet.)




So, as for why I think it's these two suppliments. I was on the iron for months before I started the D3. I'm not sure how much my hair improved, during that time but we know that iron aids in growth. My body was lacking so much iron that even after 5 months, I moved past the minimum acceptable levels on my blood tests, but it wasn't sitting nicely in the range. However, I think that the boost happened after starting D3 (around April of this year). I didn't realize that there was a connection to hair growth and D3. I mentioned it to a few people and they were like "of course". It makes me wonder if we "can't" grow "long" hair "naturally/organically/inherently" (whatever) or if it's because it's "accepted" that we have low vit D and we never get our levels checked and that because we're may be below the threshold, we don't easily or never reach longer lengths like other groups.

I was going to do a side by side of my hair using my starting picture and now, but decided to hold off because the end of the year is so close. I might do it anyway and pull some pictures before the tests so that I/you can see what I was working with.

 

[Chicoro]

@snoop , thank you!
My vitamin D is always super low.

 

[snoop]

I was thinking that I should also add that in addition to doing those things I was supposed to improve my diet. I'm trying to eat 3 meals a day (I'm still pretty bad about that) that include protein and veggies. I still need to drink more water... but I've been eating much more veggies than before. I'm supposed to eat around half a plate three times daily. I don't always get there. I will often make a stir fry of veggies which will have broccoli, spinach, and sweet peppers with my breakfast and/or lunch. For protein I'll scramble two eggs to have with it and sometimes I'll add some fast fry beef. For quick veggies I'll used a bagged kale salad (broccoli, brussel sprouts, green cabbage, kale, chicory) or something similar.

I didn't want to just leave it there that I only relied on the pills in the bottle, diet, reduced stress, increased exercise and sleep were also a big part in my overall health which I think is being expressed through my hair.