***Get an inch every month 2010 challenge anyone?***

[yodie]

Thank you for replying, grow. Your progress speaks for itself. My hair does grow, retaining is my issue. I stopped wearing the wig, so that's not an option anymore. I'd like to eliminate that blowdryer somehow, but still dry my hair underneath a dome dryer each week, via curlformers or a twistout. Would that still be considered too much heat? I'm going back to my old school condish. I'd love to dc more often, but styling options are limited bcuz of heat, which leaves cowashing out.

I'm wearing my hair in a twisted chignon everyday and I do twists with a little leave in or mango butter each night. Some of my ends are split. Guess that's the effects of dye and heat! Sheesh!
I'm off for the summer, so I'm going to try not using heat appliances, except a hooded dryer, for the rest of the summer. Wish me luck

 

[grow]

Thank you for replying, grow. Your progress speaks for itself. My hair does grow, retaining is my issue. I stopped wearing the wig, so that's not an option anymore. I'd like to eliminate that blowdryer somehow, but still dry my hair underneath a dome dryer each week, via curlformers or a twistout. Would that still be considered too much heat? I'm going back to my old school condish. I'd love to dc more often, but styling options are limited bcuz of heat, which leaves cowashing out.

I'm wearing my hair in a twisted chignon everyday and I do twists with a little leave in or mango butter each night. Some of my ends are split. Guess that's the effects of dye and heat! Sheesh!
I'm off for the summer, so I'm going to try not using heat appliances, except a hooded dryer, for the rest of the summer. Wish me luck

can you try doing baggy buns? i saw you mentioned chignons, so it's very similar.
that way your hair will dry flat if you pull it into the chignon after washing and dc'ing and just cover your chignon.
personally, i'd stay away from the weekly dome dryer, too.
thanks for your nice comment about my hair's progress, but these are the only tools i know to get that progress, although i wish someone would come up with a way to use heat without the damage!
i hope you find something that works....just don't give up!

 

[Chaosbutterfly]

Thank you for replying, grow. Your progress speaks for itself. My hair does grow, retaining is my issue. I stopped wearing the wig, so that's not an option anymore. I'd like to eliminate that blowdryer somehow, but still dry my hair underneath a dome dryer each week, via curlformers or a twistout. Would that still be considered too much heat? I'm going back to my old school condish. I'd love to dc more often, but styling options are limited bcuz of heat, which leaves cowashing out.

I'm wearing my hair in a twisted chignon everyday and I do twists with a little leave in or mango butter each night. Some of my ends are split. Guess that's the effects of dye and heat! Sheesh!
I'm off for the summer, so I'm going to try not using heat appliances, except a hooded dryer, for the rest of the summer. Wish me luck

For twistouts, I think air drying would be better. Air drying gives the hair a little more volume and fluff, and it looks nice with twistouts, imo.
But for the curlformers, the hood dryer should be fine. As long as you use a good leave-in, have a dryer that can accommodate your head properly (you don't want your hair touching or even too close to the vents) and you don't sit under it too long or turn the heat too high, hood drying should not damage your hair. Temperatures in a hood dryer don't get very high. The lowest setting on a flat iron is over double the highest temperature on a hood dryer. On top of that, provided the bonnet fits your head well, your hair is having that warm air blown around it. It's not being directly applied to the strands, so there shouldn't be any damage.

If you're still nervous about the heat, use a little bit of heat protectant serum or spray before going under. If nothing else, it'll ease your mind.

 

[yodie]

you ladies are so helpful in this thread.
Airdrying leaves my hair feeling crispy. I hate it.
I think drying underneath the dome dryer and eliminating the blowdryer and maxiglide should help with splits and heat. Five more inches and I won't worry about stretching because my hair will look the way I want. Going out of town and I get back on August 3rd. August will be my month to experiment with eliminating my blowdryer and flat iron.

Tomorrow is wash day. I plan on twisting while wet and going under the dome dryer. Wish me luck.

 

[grow]

you ladies are so helpful in this thread.
Airdrying leaves my hair feeling crispy. I hate it.
I think drying underneath the dome dryer and eliminating the blowdryer and maxiglide should help with splits and heat. Five more inches and I won't worry about stretching because my hair will look the way I want. Going out of town and I get back on August 3rd. August will be my month to experiment with eliminating my blowdryer and flat iron.

Tomorrow is wash day. I plan on twisting while wet and going under the dome dryer. Wish me luck.

i'm glad you are willing to try giving your precious hair a break from the heat, during the heat of August! personally, i still have hair nightmares about last August......i was literally burning my hair between the flat iron and hot rollers (plus gel and tons of hairspray!), just to try to get my curls to "keep" with the heat. well, my curls STILL didn't "keep" and i didn't keep that hair, either.erplexed (i had to trim off about 2-3 inches in nov.'09)

this year is a different story. i'm not EVEN trying to get cute curls in all this heat! no heat appliance will EVER get my hair to "keep" it's style, so i'm just gonna keep it on my head with protective styles (wearing my jbco and leave ins so that i'm "treating" my hair while out in the sun) and wait until the cooler months to try some rollersets for curl and bounce.

and like Chaosbutterfly said, that dome dryer done on low heat shouldn't be too damaging so enjoy your twist outs and enjoy your hair!

the best of luck! we're all here for you!

 

[pureebony]

yep defo, im having back to back dramas with my hair resulting it chop after chop, but im ok now- i think, i didn't realize allot about my hair, that retention for me is a real bugger. at the end of it all i know that we are all learning and even though the aim was and is 1" a month any advice is well appreciated.

things i have discovered about my hair:

- my hair doesn't really need shampoo washes as often as i thought, i get my hair clean with co washes and deep conditioning treatments, so i will only shampoo wash once a month

- my hair likes getting trims, as i am prone to knots i need to keep my hair ends fresh.

- my hair loves shea butter lotion, the butter, and carrot cream

- y hair thrives when its drenched in the above or anything that allows it to be separated from the other kinks and curls

-my hair loves to be left the heck alone! lol no more daily styles for me, its quick weaves or wigs for me!

- i need to realize my growth aids are protein enriched so upping my moisture spraying to 2 times a day and more co washing and deep conditioning.

- when i take chlorella and other hair vita,ins and work out i get crazy growth, bit i need advice on chlorella and spirulina as it made me sick after 2 months of use!?!?!

so for now this is it...

i have about 5 inches of hair all around and will be dusting my ends soon, i am using a weaved wig, and currently researching other installs.

xxxx

 

[yodie]

You all are the sweetest!
Today is wash day. I'm even showing more care in the way that I wash my hair when usually I'd just dunk my head under the faucet.
I washed with a sulfate free shampoo. I still think it's too harsh. Any of you ladies use a clarifying conditioner to cowash with? Unfortunately I realized that I have damage. I went to the salon for the first time in about four years. they washed my hair 6 times yall and I told them no more (because I had castor oil on my hair) and they used alot of heat. I have heat damage and now some splits. So, I'm using split end mender, hoping that it will allow me to continue to grow while I cut an inch at a time. I'm very sad about that!!

Do you ladies DC with heat? I'm kinda worried about getting bubbles in my strands (when the heat comes in contact with wet hair). Is heat really necessary to DC? I'm DC'ing for 2 hours w/o heat or steam today.

I'm not worried about my hair looking cute. I just want it healthy and growing. I was also very lax with heat protectant. Ha! Never again. I'll live by heat protectant from now on.

i'm glad you are willing to try giving your precious hair a break from the heat, during the heat of August! personally, i still have hair nightmares about last August......i was literally burning my hair between the flat iron and hot rollers (plus gel and tons of hairspray!), just to try to get my curls to "keep" with the heat. well, my curls STILL didn't "keep" and i didn't keep that hair, either.erplexed (i had to trim off about 2-3 inches in nov.'09)

this year is a different story. i'm not EVEN trying to get cute curls in all this heat! no heat appliance will EVER get my hair to "keep" it's style, so i'm just gonna keep it on my head with protective styles (wearing my jbco and leave ins so that i'm "treating" my hair while out in the sun) and wait until the cooler months to try some rollersets for curl and bounce.

and like Chaosbutterfly said, that dome dryer done on low heat shouldn't be too damaging so enjoy your twist outs and enjoy your hair!

the best of luck! we're all here for you!

 

[yodie]

This thread kinda feels like home now.
Finished washing. Added all the product I think I needed. I DID NOT use the blow dryer and I'm so proud of myself. I KNOW I can do this now, BUT I still HAVE NOT styled my hair. Sat under the dome dryer on low for about 40 mins. The air was pretty much cool. So, I guess I did a 50/50 with the dome dryer and air drying. My hair feels VERY good and I'm shocked!!

Styling is the issue and I'm going to humid New Jersey tomorrow. I'm determined not to rely on my wig. It's been years and I'm tired of it. I don't want to hide my hair anymore.
Did single strand twists. Surprising because I always do flat twists. I'll see how it turns out tomorrow. My goal is to add my clip in and still do a messy chignon or wear it like this. Minimal heat and my hair looks/feels great. I can just imagine how much healtheir my hair will be a year from now IF I can keep this up.

Yall, I'm a little nervous that my hair might look crazy tomorrow and I'll have to resort to flat ironing, especially when I get to NJ. Here's my backup plan. Taking a tourmaline handheld blowdryer and a bonnet attachment. I'll wash, do single twists, leave in condish and moisture blok. Add my clip in and chignon.

With taking care of my hair like this and my hair vitamin, I'm in the running for at least 3/4" a month. My plan is to get the curlfomers soon and keep making progress.

MY HAIR FEELS SO GOOD WITHOUT THAT BLOW DRYER. I CAN'T SEE MYSELF GOING BACK (crosses fingers as she doesn't want to speak too soon.)

 

[yodie]

yep defo, im having back to back dramas with my hair resulting it chop after chop, but im ok now- i think, i didn't realize allot about my hair, that retention for me is a real bugger. at the end of it all i know that we are all learning and even though the aim was and is 1" a month any advice is well appreciated.

things i have discovered about my hair:

- my hair doesn't really need shampoo washes as often as i thought, i get my hair clean with co washes and deep conditioning treatments, so i will only shampoo wash once a month

- my hair likes getting trims, as i am prone to knots i need to keep my hair ends fresh.

- my hair loves shea butter lotion, the butter, and carrot cream

- y hair thrives when its drenched in the above or anything that allows it to be separated from the other kinks and curls

-my hair loves to be left the heck alone! lol no more daily styles for me, its quick weaves or wigs for me!

- i need to realize my growth aids are protein enriched so upping my moisture spraying to 2 times a day and more co washing and deep conditioning.

- when i take chlorella and other hair vita,ins and work out i get crazy growth, bit i need advice on chlorella and spirulina as it made me sick after 2 months of use!?!?!

so for now this is it...

i have about 5 inches of hair all around and will be dusting my ends soon, i am using a weaved wig, and currently researching other installs.

xxxx

Did the same thing to my mom after awhile. She stopped taking it. Might just be the chlorella or both. Mom only took chlorella.

 

[grow]

Yodie, Pureebony, i'm so glad to see you are finding what works for you!

that's the hardest part right there, so i'm glad you've got it!

 

[pureebony]

i think that my spirulina from china might be the problem....

apparenty if its from china it no good...

took evening primrose oil, biotin, b-complex, and royal jelly yesterday, woke up with a break out and a very bright yellow wee!!!????!

i liked the chlorella as it cleared my skin and gave me growth... but i think i will have to start taking one pill a day and see what happens... will be measuring my growth since my mini chop next month xx

 

[yodie]

Can't believe how healthy and soft my hair felt this morning. I used Kimmaytube's leave in condish. I'm SOLD! Never would've thought my hair could air/bonnet dry and feel this good. Next time I'll skip the hooded dryer altogether. Doing flat twists right now, in order to stretch my hair a little more. You ladies have really made me a believer. Throwing in a shout out to Kimmaytube for her wonderful product. Still working out the "styling" end of this all. I'll report back and let you know how it turns out.

 

[grow]

Can't believe how healthy and soft my hair felt this morning. I used Kimmaytube's leave in condish. I'm SOLD! Never would've thought my hair could air/bonnet dry and feel this good. Next time I'll skip the hooded dryer altogether. Doing flat twists right now, in order to stretch my hair a little more. You ladies have really made me a believer. Throwing in a shout out to Kimmaytube for her wonderful product. Still working out the "styling" end of this all. I'll report back and let you know how it turns out.

thank you for reporting your success with these new things!
i just knew it could work out well for you too!

 

[grow]

i think that my spirulina from china might be the problem....

apparenty if its from china it no good...

took evening primrose oil, biotin, b-complex, and royal jelly yesterday, woke up with a break out and a very bright yellow wee!!!????!

i liked the chlorella as it cleared my skin and gave me growth... but i think i will have to start taking one pill a day and see what happens... will be measuring my growth since my mini chop next month xx

to the bolded: you know we can't wait to hear the new news!!!
crossing my fingers and my toes for you!

 

[yodie]

Grow, you made a lot of progress in such a short time. what's your regimen? Sorry if its already posted somewhere in this thread.

 

[grow]

Grow, you made a lot of progress in such a short time. what's your regimen? Sorry if its already posted somewhere in this thread.

thanks, Yodie! i had posted it on a different thread, so i'll paste it here:

i always had thought either my hair wouldn't grow or that if it did, it only grew very slowly, instead, it was my retention that i had not paid alot of attention to.

-i wrapped my hair to achieve both looks you see in the pics and have not used heat in over 7 months.
-use M-T-G and when i'm not using that, i use MT. (add a dash of MN to my MT mix)
-massage my scalp daily.
-put conditiioner on my ends when i wet bun and,
-have been an egglette (raw egg shakes thread) practically since i started.
-Ayurveda has been working well for me, too.
-been cowashing since i started, too.
2 to 3 times a week at the beginning of the year, every day now that it's hot.
-bag my whole head every night faithfully
-wet baggy bun during the day and
-moisturize and seal daily
-protein treatments once a month (Dudley's DRC 28)
-texlax touch up every 8-17 (the most i've stretched, so far) weeks.

most of all, even if you fall off the wagon, which i have done many times when i've been too busy to stay behind my hair, just get right back on the wagon as soon as you can.
do not, under any circumstances, give up!

 

[pureebony]

thanks Grow! i tell you i feel like i am threatening my hair to grow now! haha xx your growth is amazing too!!!!

keep inspiring me ladies!

 

[yodie]

OP, this is a great thread. Its too late to join, but its definitely made me more aware of my personal hair care. So, I'll just keep up and join you ladies from a distance.

My plan is to:
Eliminate 90% of my heat usage.
Hair vitamin, fish oil, chlorella and spirulina.
Cowash and DC 2x's wk.
Drink a gallon a day.
Exercise
Castor oil 2x's wk.
Chignon or curlformers until end of the year.

 

[grow]

thanks Grow! i tell you i feel like i am threatening my hair to grow now! haha xx your growth is amazing too!!!!

keep inspiring me ladies!

thank you, pureebony! something tells me that when you get out that measuring tape, we are all going to be amazed at how much growth you've gotten!

it's so exciting to root each other on for greater growth!
and it's great to be on this journey with you ladies!

Yodie, i'm so glad you've got yourself a good game plan! nice reggie!

 

[pureebony]

wooohooo!!! lol

 

[yodie]

FYI...my hair is holding up well in New Jersey...and this is without heat. yay!!

 

[grow]

FYI...my hair is holding up well in New Jersey...and this is without heat. yay!!

Thank you so much for posting the good news, Yodie!!!

you have no idea how much joy it brings me to know that you have found something that works for you, too!

i used to feel like i was "in bondage" to heat appliances...couldn't live with them, couldn't live without them, so to "be free" was a remarkable experience.

now, i relive that experience of freedom vicariously through your awakening!

may you (and all of us) have many more awakenings and yes, keep taking good care of that precious hair!

 

[NikkiQ]

Grow, you are just the sweetest and most encouraging person I've ever seen. You're awesome!

 

[grow]

awwww, NikkiQ, you got me over here blushing!

thank you sugar!

you are a great encourager with lots of sweetness, too, so c'mon with your "cheerleading self" and don't just root on the challengers, but JOIN US!!! (you know which ones i'm talking about, lol!)

 

[NikkiQ]

awwww, NikkiQ, you got me over here blushing!

thank you sugar!

you are a great encourager with lots of sweetness, too, so c'mon with your "cheerleading self" and don't just root on the challengers, but JOIN US!!! (you know which ones i'm talking about, lol!)

Oh boy. Not you too I love that you guys have so much faith in my little ol' hair, but MBL next year when I'm just barely touching my shoulders is a bit bananas even for my cheerleading behind lol

 

[africanqueen456]

aww^^^that was sweet

 

[NikkiQ]

^^^One big happy hair growing family

 

[grow]

Oh boy. Not you too I love that you guys have so much faith in my little ol' hair, but MBL next year when I'm just barely touching my shoulders is a bit bananas even for my cheerleading behind lol

aww^^^that was sweet

^^^One big happy hair growing family

but NikkiQ, we are talking 17 months of growth until the MBL challenge is complete.
please do not underestimate yourself.
the longer haired ladies always invited me to hang out in those challenges, and as i did, my hair started growing like it never has in my entire life!
besides, like one lady told me "ya paid ya six fiddy, you might as well get your money's worth"!she's right!

 

[NikkiQ]

I'll just do it as a personal challenge right along with you ladies but not officially join. Call me a pessimist, but I know I won't make MBL by next year lol

 

[yodie]

NikkiQ, you're alot further along than I am, so....You can do it! You can do it! You can do it!

Is re-twisting every night too much manipulation? it's been years since I've done anything to my hair on a daily basis. So, when I see some hair coming out, I get a little nervous. I know we're supposed to shed hair each day, but....

I'm feeling the pressure (around family and friends) to keep my hair looking 'nice' this week. So, I haven't pinned it up like I do at home. I've gotten the hair looks like, 'what are you doing?' I personally love my hair, however weird it gets, but I'd rather just be in my own world and not worry about my hair looking decent.