I'm currently at APL, and I did the BC 23 months ago. I cut my relaxed hair down to about a centimeter long. DH was not pleased, lol.
I'm 4a, I think. If you go by the pen-sized curls thing then I guess I'm about half 3c too.
Styles... for about the first year after I BC'd, I just wore the afro, usually with a headband. I tried puffs, but felt ridiculous like that. I mainly wore wash and go's.
Then I started to use the Crown and Glory method. I stayed away from braids for the first bit of my natural journey cuz I wanted to force myself to learn how to take care of my natural hair, and it's SO easy to just neglect your hair in braids. I did my own extensions and really tried to focus on daily moisture.
I recently tried a sew-in, but I took that bad boy out. I was just too afraid of damage to my hair. Now I'm all about wigs, while I wear my hair cornrowed underneath. This lets me wash as often as I want, and gives me better access to my scalp. I redo them about every 2 weeks.
If I had to BC all over again, I'd be wearing wigs from day one, while pampering my hair underneath, especially in winter. That way DH would have been a little more supportive, and my hair wouldn't have suffered so much damage to the ends from rubbing against stuff.
Plus I would have started taking hair vitamins sooner.
Another thing... I tried to trim my hair at my first nappiversary... but I didn't flat iron it first. So I ended up cutting off about 3 inches when I meant to cut off much, much less than that.
Now I know, ya gotta DC, straighten, THEN trim.
ETA: product staples
Kenra MC, this was heaven sent
aloe vera gel, the 100% pure kind from Puritan's Pride
coconut oil from Puritan's Pride