To Chop or NOT to Chop???

I was up real late last night reading hair blogs and watching YouTube videos...way past my bedtime lol. Ulovemegz has a bomb video on how she tames her hair at 12 weeks post relaxer, it was very inspiring.  In the video she used two heat protectants I just ordered :) and a Chi flat iron that is currently discontinued :(.  From the video it looked like that flat iron would have been the ish for getting at that new growth.  So after searching...and searching and searching some more trying to find that flat iron I decided to do a little online shopping for flat irons.  Right now I have a Chi that I've had for almost 3 1/2 years and an ISO that I never really liked.  After going to Folica.com and reading their tips on buying a new flat iron I made up my mind to make that plunge again.  I don't ever really use heat but I'm thinking that since I'm choosing to stretch for 6 months this time I better update my hot tools :).  I usually looooooooove shopping for hair products (I'm what you would call a "product junkie") but lately I haven't really been feeling up to it.  I think I finally narrowed it down to my top 3: GHB, Sedu and Chi. I'm dying to try out that GHB iron but I'm leaning more towards the Sedu.  The Sedu has a ton of positive reviews but the few (compared to the number of positive) are making me nervous.  Most of the negative reviewers all say that that their iron stopped working well before the two year mark.  At $160 a pop I'd be PISSED lol so I guess my search continues.  

So why heat all of a sudden?  I actually plan on tracking my progress each month.  I've been on my journey for two years now and I'm not seeing nearly as much progress as some other ladies.  Now I know that everyone's hair is different, but at two years I expect to be at least BSL, come on! lol. I figured that I need to actually see how my hair is doing after each month so that I can adjust my regimen when needed, pictures and verbalizing your results actually help.  So I plan on allowing one heat pass monthly for a length and health check.  Occasionally I might even blowdry my hair just because I feel like it's easier to manage and my job takes up a lot of my time during the week.  I ordered some of the heat protectant Ulovemegz usedin her "How I GetMy Hair Laying" video: Nioxin and Olive Oil Stimulator, can't wait to get that in the mail :).

But anyway, back to my hair...Like I said in my last post, Im currently in two Hairlista.com competitions: "Grow 1 Inch in a Week" and the"Castor Oil Challenge 8".  Both require that I use castor oil on my scalp.  Let me just say, I have a love/hate relationship with that oil.  I have very fine/thin hair and it seems that no matter how much I use or how often, it just seems to make my hair oily and very tangly :(.  But I do LOOOOOOOOVE how thick and moisturized my roots are.  It seems like my hair is growing so fast :), can't complain about that but sheeeeeesh!  I just want to be able to manipulate the tangled mess into a bun after using the darn oil lol.  I hear ladies all the time talking about low manipulation and how they finger comb into their desired still after M&S, I don't see how they do it.  How do you do it ladies???  I can't get my hair into anything remotely neat until I pull out that comb lol.  So instead of using my normal wide tooth detangling comb for everyday styling I decided to switch up and use an actual shower comb.  I have to say, that made ALL the difference! :). My hair is easier to detangle and noooooo breakage.  Bad thing, it seems like from the middle of my hair shaft to my ends are dry but oily.  I don't even know how to explain it, it's not "snap, crackling and popping" lol but I can definitely feel the dryness underneath all that oil.  So today I'm switching up from my normal DC to a more moisturizing mixture (I think anyway lol).  Hopefully this corrects it <crossing fingers>.  Right now I'm sitting under my Pibbs dryer and my hair feels sooooo moist.  I don't know if it was the KeraCare or the DPR but I could see the moisture and feel the difference when I applied it.  Also, I decided not to leave my hair in four sections after applying my DC, I just smoothed it into one ponytail...of course, no band lol and I kind of massaged the DC into my new growth.  

Tonight's Routine:

- DC w/ heat for 40 mins

- Co-wash

- Air dry to 50-60% w/ Herbal Essence Long Term Relationship

- Blow dry w/ heat protectant

- Trim (maybe 2 in chop but definitely search & destroy)

- M&S

- Apply castor oil to scalp & massage

- Inversion

I gotta make sure that I take a picture and measure my new growth from the scalp.  I don't know how ima do it but ima get it done :). 

1. After blow dry 2. After trim 3. Length check w/o straightening (front) 4. Length check w/o straightening (back)

Soooooooo!!!!! :) I'm happy with the trim!  I didn't loose a lot of length at all.  And with most of my raggety, tangled, dead ends gone I'm not experiencing the usual snagging that I experience when I detangle.  This is gone be a regular thing for me.  No more being afraid of cutting off that dead limp hair, at the rate of growth I'm experiencing now I know my hair will grow back soon.  Still APL too! :p. My hair feels fuller, stronger (probably because of the protein) and a lot softer, that KeraCare and DPR mix is the ISH!  And even better (drum roll please) my hair isn't tangling after applying my nightly castor oil.  HHJ!!!!!!!