Adieu Heat damage, Adieu

All these years I've been fighting these beautiful curls. Out of the ashes come life. 

No more heat damage!

Today, on impulse, I cut off all my heat damage from my bangs. It was more than I thought going into it but I'm glad I did it! It was annoying to me that it refused to curl so I finally chopped it. I finally feel like I'm 100 percent natural now that the straight strands are gone :) 

I clipped my bangs down because they were sticking straight up but where the clips are is how long they are now.

Love my curly cues sticking out :) #nomorestraight

All the heat damaged strands! Didn't realize how long it had gotten. Glad to be rid of it.

A pic of my hair texture. Loving my natural curls :) #teamcurly!! 

Day 1 of Inverted Method

Today I did the inverted method for the first time! What I did was massaged Tea tree oil into my hair for a minute and then held my head upside down for 4 minutes while I listened to music. When I finally lifted my head, I was a bit dizzy but it was simple and kind of relaxing! 

It forced me to take 4 minutes and just breathe. I even touched my toes and got a good stretch in. 

So far, the 3 month bun challenge is going well. The buns are making my hair super stretched though and I'm not complaining about the length it's giving me when I take my bun down. Here are some pics! 

My roots have never been this flat in my life!

My hair looks so long from the side

Here is a quick update on my bangs. I am slowly trimming off the heat damaged ends but the new growth is coming in strong and pretty :) 

The oil I massaged on my scalp for stimulation before the inverted method.

Finally, a picture with all my hair brought to the front. Can't wait to compare this someday with my longer curls. For now though, this length is amazing to me! 

God provides, and patience is key :)

Happy HHJ ladies <3

Review of Monthly Goals and New Ones!

I'm a week late but another month has gone by and time is flying! I was a little discouraged to do this blog post because I didn't achieve 3 of my 4 goals but disappointment is part of the journey and I am learning from all experiences, good and bad.

However!

Even though I didn't achieve most of my goals, I still had a hugely successful length check so I'm not too upset :)

my crazy awesome curls :)

Nonetheless, I will review my old goals, tell you my experience with each and then go onto to making new monthly goals!I will start with the one I achieved!


Do not look in look in the mirror to check for length (after washing hair). Check!
Take my vitamins everyday. Fail.
Scalp massages once a week. Fail.
Work on eliminating flakes on scalp. Fail.


Even though I failed 3/4 of my goals, I have some positive news for each! I read up on biotin and realized it won't be doing much for my hair growth. What I should be more concentrated on is eating healthy and taking vitamins in general and not hair specific. If the rest of my body is healthy, then my hair will reap the benefits! So I will take biotin here and there but won't make it a huge part of my regimen anymore.

The whole month, I suffered from flakes on my scalp and could not figure out why they weren't going away even with my ACV rinse. Then I realized that the flakes were probably product  buildup from leaving my conditioner in. Today for my wash day, I rinsed all of my conditioner out thoroughly and then applied leave-in conditioner on my ends only and I am already seeing improvement! There are no more flakes! It truly was just conditioner build-up.

Since I am doing protective styles everyday, I don't need to use as much conditioner to style my curls. This might be a nice break for my scalp and will help it get clarified and healthy.

Finally scalp massages are something that I had no time or motivation for. I will make it more as a pampering activity to treat my hair with once in a while when I'm feeling stressed.

NOW onto new goals!

1) Try the inverted method for 7 days this month!

2) Continue daily protective styling.

3) Maintain healthy scalp with tea tree oil and rinsing out all of my conditioner.

I confess, I am very excited to jump on the inverted method wagon. I don't believe in the claims that it grows an inch in a week; however, I think stimulating the blood in my scalp for one week every month might help especially with the cold weather coming. The inverted method is massaging an oil into your scalp and then hanging your head upside for 4 minutes. By doing this daily for 7 days in a month, my hair might be able to reap some benefits!

Hopefully this month will go better than the last! Looking forward to my length check in February and continuing my Healthy Hair Journey!!

xoxo

Boom

Progress.

3rd Length Check!!!!

I am beyond excited and pleased to announce that today I completed my 3rd length check!! My goal was to get anywhere in between lines 2 and 3 so.... Here are the results. 

And for a close up!

I'm at line 3!! I had about 2 1/4 inch increase in 3 months! This is such a satisfying feeling. I'm 3 inches away from my year goal length and it's only October!! I'm preparing for slower growth  in these winter months but I will also be doing protective styling so hopefully that helps. 

My next length check will be in February and my goal for that will be between lines 4 and 5. My regimen is working great and it is amazing to see results :)

Things are about to Change

As we quickly approach October 15th (third measuring day!!!!!), some things are going to change with my regimen and I'm giving myself more challenges. The cold weather will soon be coming in which means dry, dry, and more dry. The best way to combat that situation is constant oil pre-poos and very little manipulation.

After October 15, I will no longer wash my hair twice a week. It will only be once a week. I will also be doing 24/7 protective styling for 3 months. This will be a great challenge but I know it will be worth it in the long run of retaining length. 

I never thought I would be able to go this long without straightening my hair. But I'm doing it and I believe that I can conquer any challenge if I really want to. And I really want to have healthy long curly hair. 

1 more week and then this will start. Looking forward to pushing myself!!