~~TBL 2012 Challenge~~

Hello everyone growing to TBL,


I think I belong here. I was terminal at upper tailbone or top of bum cleavage. I am growing out after a 5 year extreme shedding. The last 8 months have however, now produced some additional length. Whether it will settle out at lower tailbone I don't know yet. I do have hairs touching my chair when I sit. That is lower tailbone on me.

So I will be nurturing my regrowth to regain volume. Growing out all the layers to achieve full lower tailbone. If this is my fairytale hairs thats ok. So I will remain here for the year.

My regimine is simple. I use homemade hair care items. I also use Sauve for my CW. I discoverd mini braids and they are working well for me. I plan on keeping the small braids for another month and then will decide if I go to larger braids for a while.
I do not trim, cut, or use heat and have not had to do S&D in about 4 months. If I rush during detangling I sometimes create a knot but that is my own bungling.

Enjoy growing.





Best wishes to those growing to longer lengths:yep:b
 
Welcome @MariposaSexyGirl and @Vintagecoilylocks!!

Ms. Vintage I saw your bun in the TBL 2011 thread and was :drool:. I use homemade products too. Maybe we can share our recipes.

I don't think it will take all year for me to reach TBL, but I will have a lot of work to do to get my ends in order, grow my "bangs" out, and learn to do some other styles besides buns, so I'll be parking myself in this thread for all of 2012. :yep:
 
Ladies quick question that's been haunting me lately. As your hair gets longer, are you having a more difficult time detangling or not so much?

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Detangling is an issue for me as I have tons of fine 4a strands so though my hair appears thick in diameter, it's not. It's more about the strands per "area" that makes my hair look super thick.

With that said, as my strands are fine, and also really coily, detangling is a trial.

Things I've done to help:

1) washing in braids
2) I notice the less "layers" the better. As the shorter pieces want to wrap around the longer ones, so cutting out all the layers (I have a few left but nothing compared to what the so called stylist did) was very helpful. Think about it: if your hair is shorter it is coilier, and as it grows, the weight lengthens it. So if you have some shorter combined with longer you're going to have more "spring" in the shorter ones, combined with the stretch of the longer. So the shorter layers, if you were to comb your whole head would wrap around the longer (at least that's what I found so it was another trial when detangling. Again maybe it's the density, or amount of strands I have). I've found as my hair layers have caught up and are cut out, that it's tons better andless of a headache (no more almost dreads).

3) I do let it air dry some but I also blow it out by pulling the hair gently or doing what longhairdon't care suggests. When I do that it's easy to detangle, but I find that I opt to do that every other time and just braid it and let it airdry otherwise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCD-cWkw3Rk&context=C2be20UDOEgsToPDskLnW9DMteuKZ6Sqi7UhsDgP Somwhere in there longhairdontcare2011 has tips (she has tons of videos) on how she blow dries and stretches hair when she does, etc.

4) I always detangle with either cowboy magic, if I have a ton of work to do and I've had very little manipulation for a while

or

5) soft sheen just for me detangling spray

they're really helpful in order to make the process much easier.
 
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Checking in. No real updates. I've been in the same bun for about 10 days now. I'm trying carve out some time to wash and DC, but so far it's not happening. I'm also fighting the urge to dust my ends again. I'm trying to stay away from the scissors so I said I wouldn't trim again until January. It's sooooo difficult though. :ohwell:
 
Been kicking around the idea of cutting off my bonelaxed ends at the end of this year. Finally took my Celie braids down and washed my hair in the shower only to find that my hair is thick and fabulous!!! Not seeing my hair out had me convinced that I may as well cut, since I'm hiding my hair anyway.

Also, my 15th anniversary is coming up at the end of this month and hubby wants me to wear my hair out. Actually, he's been complaining a lot lately about wanting me to wear my hair out. I was trying to decide whether to go ahead and texlax, since I was planning to do so at the end of the year anyway, or just flat iron. I think after seeing my hair's thickness, I'm going to just flat iron and wait on texlaxing.

All this to say, tonight I fell in love with my hair all over again. I can't wait to see what she looks like at the end of the year. :lick:
 
I just flat ironed my hair and cut off about an inch. I know I said I was staying away from the scissors, but I couldn't take it. My ends felt like sandpaper and I just couldn't go another day without trimming.

I think this is residual damage from my dreadlock takedown. I've been trimming pretty much every month since May, but I still have about another inch that needs to go. Right now I'm MBL, but I'm happy that I trimmed. Those damaged ends were driving me crazy. I want to do the next trim in January. Once I get rid of this damage I can focus on growth, but idk if I can make it all the way to TBL next year.

My plan is to continue protective styling, keep my hair stretched, and keep my ends moisturized. I also need to make sure I'm exercising, eating right, and drinking plenty of water. I'll probably trim another inch in January and then dust every other month after that. I want my hair to grow, but long hair doesn't mean much to me if it doesn't look good.

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I've been wearing my hair in a pony since I flat ironed. Tonight I sprayed my leave in on it and sealed with castor oil plus safflower oil, then braided it and put it in a bun. My hair felt really soft and the end felt good too. This makes me wonder if maybe some heavy TLC will keep me from having to cut so much in January. The part that I cut off the other day was definitely damaged, thin, and scraggly. I may be able to nurse the remaining end back to health though. I don't see many splits at all, and I've cut out most of the ssks. Maybe if I focus on moisture I can get away with just dusting next time.

I was planning to straighten again next week for our family pictures, but now I'm thinking about doing a flexi rod set to avoid the heat since I know my ends need extra love. If I can get past the pictures without straightening, I probably won't straighten again for a month or two.

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I was prepared to do a texlax tomorrow but decided to hold off til 12/11. I've been detangling my hair for the past 2 nights. My hair feels pretty strong since I did the hard protein aphogee treatment last week. I finger detangled dry hair, moisturized and put my hair in 2-strand twists. I'm done for tonight. I'll probably do an overnight prepoo, wash in the morning, blowdry on cool and flat iron my roots. I'll probably use my Caruso rollers for a big, loose curl look for my anniversary. Hubby wants to see my hair out, I'd like it to look it's length.

Looking forward to feeling my hair out and having an opportunity to take a good look at my ends and hemline.
 
I was prepared to do a texlax tomorrow but decided to hold off til 12/11. I've been detangling my hair for the past 2 nights. My hair feels pretty strong since I did the hard protein aphogee treatment last week. I finger detangled dry hair, moisturized and put my hair in 2-strand twists. I'm done for tonight. I'll probably do an overnight prepoo, wash in the morning, blowdry on cool and flat iron my roots. I'll probably use my Caruso rollers for a big, loose curl look for my anniversary. Hubby wants to see my hair out, I'd like it to look it's length.

Looking forward to feeling my hair out and having an opportunity to take a good look at my ends and hemline.

NJoy
Should I report back here for anniversary pics? :look::lol:
 
It just occurred to me that I've been protective styling so long, I'm not sure I know how to style my hair. D'oh!!!

Ah well. Crazy or not, I'll be posting pics and expecting y'all to say how lovely it looks. You know how no one ever wants to hurt anyone's feelings and tell them they're looking a little crazy. :look:

I may need that tradition to carry on because I don't know WHAT my style is going to look like. And this is NOT the time to start keeping it real, ladies. I'ma need someone to tell me what a good job I did flat ironing and curling. :grin: Suddenly wishing I made and appt somewhere. :look:

Ah well. I'm going to do my best...even tho this weather isn't cooperating. I'm feeling a little excited.

:pray: Um, Lord, can I get a little sunshine for the next few days so that I can whip my hair back and forth? Otherwise, I'll be rocking a huge unintentional fro. :afro:

:lachen: Wish me luck, ladies.
 
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Hope every one had a blessed and fullfilling Thanksgiving day.

Happy anniversary to NJoy:rosebud: I am sure a beautiful style will emerge from such a beautiful lush head of hair.

I am about to detangle before washing. Haven't decided whether to reduce the amount of braids and go to four large for a while. Once I get going I will decide. Its fun with the mini braids though. Still cannot determine which is the best for my hair. :perplexed


Will see you all at TBL :yep:
 
Well, I've washed and conditioned my hair and allowed it to airdry on flexirods.

....

I don't feel like flat ironing. I'm stalling BIG time. :ohwell: Thought I'd tell on myself to get me moving. Blaaaaaaaahhhhhh.... I hate flat ironing.

That said, I'm on it. :ohwell:

I need to find a salon that can do this sort of thing without tearing up my hair... (as if I'm doing any better. :rolleyes:) Ah well. I'm on it.
 
Ok, I've finally finished flat ironing my roots, which leaves my ends looking much thicker than if I'd flat ironed the whole length. But at the same time, my thickness is WOW! I can't really tell because the ends are not laying flat but, I think I'm going to have to trim my ends. I know it's because my thicker hair is spreading the bonelaxed ends but, I can already see how beautiful trimming my ends will make my hair.

I'm bunned my hair and covered with a satin cap to try to get my hair to lay down better but, I've gotta say. There's something awesome about having your back covered with that much hair.

My hair has really thickened up. I guess stretching and texlaxing is really helping.

Um, the only thing that I don't like is that when I flat iron my hair, using heat protectant leaves my hair sort of stiff. Man! I can only imagine how it would look if I had that Dominican Salon swang. :lick:

Hmmm. I'll wrap it tomorrow and do the saran wrap technique to see if I can get a bit of swang and shine.

Whew! I'm SO glad the flat ironing part is over. I'll post pics tomorrow.

G'night.
 
Hey ladies. Just a quick update. I found a stylist that I like, so I think I'll be going in once a month. This time I got a blow dry and flat iron, next time we agreed on a flexi-rod set. I do need a trim, but I'll probably wait until I get it straightened again.

My hair is not as uneven as I thought it would be, nor are my ends as bad as I thought they would be, so overall I'm pretty happy. Lengthwise I'm still so far away from TBL, but that's ok. I have to remind myself to enjoy the hair I have in the meantime.

My plan now is to dust monthly instead of doing a big cut since my ends are in better shape than I thought. I'm going to go to the salon once a month and alternate between flat ironing and curly sets. Between visits I'll do my DCs and protein treatments and probably just bun. I don't think I'm going to shampoo myself. I've been trying to cut back on that anyway. I'm so happy I found someone to do my hair. It took them 4.5 hours to do what it takes me 2 days to do, and with much better results.
 
Ok, so I know I'm talking about cutting this month and going natural (I'm 34 wks post now). But, look at how good the length on my avi pic looks on me (I pinned a phonytail to the back of my hair to visualize my new goal length).

I'm wondering if this would be considered TL? I didn't think I'd want to go that long at all but I'm loving this look. THAT is my new goal length. And I'd definitely need to keep the "v" shape for that because I think anything else would look too heavy on me at that length.

What do you think?
 
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Zoinks! My growth and retention game has to be ON POINT to meet my new goal. Welp! Going back to hard core status this year. I'm sure my hubby can get behind this goal. :grin:

Thinking up my game plan.
 
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