Originally Posted by meandmyglory

Hi Everybody. I have been natural since July of 2008 and I've had my ups and downs. After about a year and a half natural a thyroid issue cause my hair to break badly and after about 2 years I got a texturizer and it led to mad breakage. This year I finally got to a point where my hair is healthy and really starting to grow like it should. I'm eager for it to grow and have been experiminting with different techniques to see what works. I do mini twist from time to time but my shrinkage is crazy and I always end up taking them out after like a week tops. I started a protective style challenge because everyone says protective styles equal growth but during the course of it I realized that I hate protective styling. So I've decided to go for low manipulation instead and see where that gets me. I typically wash/co wash weekly. I wash with Terrenssentials Organic Hair wash ( I LOVE this stuff) and co wash with either tressumme naturals or giovanni smooth as silk deep conditioner. I also use Giovanni direct leave in, seal with castor oil and then whatever styler I'm using (they vary ALOT). I do a braid out or a twist out and rock with it for a week. I will rebraid or retwist at night unless I'm lazy and then I just put it in a puff. I blow my hair out once in a while if I want big big hair, but I don't do it often because I'm lazy and the tension method takes way to long and using a comb attachment often leads to me ripping hair out. During the week if I need to remoisturize I use plain water and seal with castor oil and a little shea butter mix on the ends. I also henna like every 8 weeks or so. I started doing this when I was going through my breakage issues and it helps alot. I think it also gives my hair a nice sheen. I have attached a length check pic of my current length. In the other pic I show how I typically wear my hair a puff or what I call the half ass frohawk cause I only pin up the sides in front of my ears. The bottom pics are backwards. The one in black is day one of a braid/twist out and the one in the pink is like day 4. At night I was just putting it in like 6 big twist. I know I've written a book (I tend to do that), so my bad if that's a problem for you. So what is everyone's current routine, what products can you not live without and what are you trying to change or accomplish. I simply want growth without protective styling so I'm going to see if I can a regimen going that will give me just that.

Originally Posted by Williams305

Hey Meandmyglory! I'm the total opposite, I LOVE PROTECTIVE STYLES lol. I'm not a product junky and I keep it pretty simple. I deep condition once a week unless I have braids in. My favorite conditioners are the same as yours Tresseme Naturals and Giovanni's smooths as silk and direct leave in conditioner. I mix olive oil and melted raw Shea butter together and I apply that mixture daily. I love twist outs, I usually wear them up which leads me to believe that's why my hair is shorter in the back than in the front. I'll post a few pics. Attachment 40588 August
Attachment 40589 2 weeks ago

Originally Posted by Williams305

Btw your hair is beautiful!

Originally Posted by tishaamelia

I'm in in the challenge but I haven't done a length check yet. I'll do that tomorrow. My last relaxer was march 2008 or 2009. I can't remember lol. I big chopped one month later in April. Attachment 40118 this was the big chop.


This is now Attachment 40119 blow out.

Originally Posted by meandmyglory

Hi Everybody. I have been natural since July of 2008 and I've had my ups and downs. After about a year and a half natural a thyroid issue cause my hair to break badly and after about 2 years I got a texturizer and it led to mad breakage. This year I finally got to a point where my hair is healthy and really starting to grow like it should. I'm eager for it to grow and have been experiminting with different techniques to see what works. I do mini twist from time to time but my shrinkage is crazy and I always end up taking them out after like a week tops. I started a protective style challenge because everyone says protective styles equal growth but during the course of it I realized that I hate protective styling. So I've decided to go for low manipulation instead and see where that gets me. I typically wash/co wash weekly. I wash with Terrenssentials Organic Hair wash ( I LOVE this stuff) and co wash with either tressumme naturals or giovanni smooth as silk deep conditioner. I also use Giovanni direct leave in, seal with castor oil and then whatever styler I'm using (they vary ALOT). I do a braid out or a twist out and rock with it for a week. I will rebraid or retwist at night unless I'm lazy and then I just put it in a puff. I blow my hair out once in a while if I want big big hair, but I don't do it often because I'm lazy and the tension method takes way to long and using a comb attachment often leads to me ripping hair out. During the week if I need to remoisturize I use plain water and seal with castor oil and a little shea butter mix on the ends. I also henna like every 8 weeks or so. I started doing this when I was going through my breakage issues and it helps alot. I think it also gives my hair a nice sheen. I have attached a length check pic of my current length. In the other pic I show how I typically wear my hair a puff or what I call the half ass frohawk cause I only pin up the sides in front of my ears. The bottom pics are backwards. The one in black is day one of a braid/twist out and the one in the pink is like day 4. At night I was just putting it in like 6 big twist. I know I've written a book (I tend to do that), so my bad if that's a problem for you. So what is everyone's current routine, what products can you not live without and what are you trying to change or accomplish. I simply want growth without protective styling so I'm going to see if I can a regimen going that will give me just that.

Originally Posted by Jmroots

I love your hair Tia! It's nice and thick. I need to order the terressential hair mud. I heard nothing but good things about it. In the mean time I use Shea moisture products and giovanni because they have organic ingredients.

Originally Posted by meandmyglory

What kind of protective styles do you do? I'm not really a product junkie either, however I still haven't found the right styler. So when it comes to those I'm always trying something different. Your hair looks nice in these pics. Did you use a styler for hold?

Originally Posted by meandmyglory

What kind of protective styles do you do? I'm not really a product junkie either, however I still haven't found the right styler. So when it comes to those I'm always trying something different. Your hair looks nice in these pics. Did you use a styler for hold?