Hair Goals for May

Writing them down will help me stick to them! I will:

- Get a new camera
- Reduce amt of hair lost while detangling
- Stick with what works- no product experimentation this month other than protein & ACV rinses!
- Get back on wagon with yoga, vitamins, protein, water- every day!
- Solidify regimine
- Figure out the right protein regimin
- Figure out how often and whether to do ACV rinses
- Get more feathers for my hair, and more accessories!

Finally! (almost) No Breakage! No combs, and the Magic Star Rake Comb

I tried the no comb experiment for two weeks. The first night I did it, I had 2 broken hairs- this is down from 40, 50+ on any random night before that. I found that detangling nightly is the way to go for me...tried the low manipulation thing and my hair just got tangled. Finger combing took a long time, maybe 20 minutes (if I hurried) to an hour (if I really took my time). I did end up shedding much more hair than normal, but it could have been related to the changing seasons.


However. I then went and bought this seamless comb I've had my eye on for a bit- the Magic Star Rake. I got mine from hotcombs.net. At $17.50, I thought of it as an investment.

The comb just glided through my hair. I was shocked at how smooth and easy it was. And so fast! I can detangle my whole head in 2-3 minutes.

I lost maaaaybe 1 hair to breakage! And back to very minimal shedding as before. It was great in the shower, too. I love this comb!

My detangling method was starting at the bottom, then working my way up, as in this awesome video from longhairdontcare. The only difference is I use my hands to separate and detangle a bit first, then use the comb in the same way, from the bottom up:

No Combs?

So I've been struggling with breakage. I've always had it (thanks, relaxers), but I never payed too much attention to it until I started taking better care of my hair.

I need to get this under control, and I have been trying everything to try to stop it. A lot of things helped, including protein, detangling my hair soaking wet with conditioner, working up from the bottom, and using a seamless comb. I also tried not detangling every day, which didn't help. It also doesn't help that none of my combs are that great, either. When I detangled nightly, I estimate I'd have at least 20 broken pieces, and at least 40 when I did it every 3-4 days.

Anyway, last night I detangled and braided with just my fingers. My hair was perfectly detangled, and felt really soft! As well, since I was only using my hands, I feel like the glycerin spray and coconut oil I was using got well distributed.

I had NO broken hairs!!!

I will try this out and see if it works. I'm going to make a personal challenge for the next two weeks- no combs!

My Hair Goals

I was thinking today about how long I'd like my hair to be. I never thought about setting hair goals before finding the hair forum. I wanted long hair for a long time, but it was more of an abstract notion. I think knowing specifically what my goals and having dates I'd like to achieve them by are going to help me reach them!

It's currently almost BSL, and sometimes APL-ish unstretched (depending on how curly). Here are some photos from yesterday. The top of the gray shirt is where the top of the bra is: 

I'd say my medium term goal is waist length (stretched)- hopefully this will be brastrap length curly.  I hope to be really close by the end of this year- I think I can get there by March 2011. I'm about/at least 7" away from waistlength stretched. I think I can get here with my relaxed ends.

My ultimate goal: I'd love to be all natural, and around this length (tailbone?) curly. I'd also be thrilled with waistlength curly or midback curly. If I could hold on to my relaxed ends, I think this could be three years away. All natural would be at least 5 years, maybe 4, but possibly 6.