My Journey to Long Natural Hair

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In 2006 I got serious about my natural hair growth. I grew my hair out to BSL but was stuck there for several years. I tried coloring my own hair and it left me with damage so I had to cut it out- I maintained my natural hair at BSL while I cut out the color because I did not want to do another chop. I wore my hair in twists most of the time.

Natural Hair Twists

Fat Twists 2007-08

Natural Hair Straightened

Flat ironed hair 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left– The fat twists shown above was one of the main natural hair styles I wore in 2007-2008.
Right– My straightened natural hair in 2007. It was BSL (bra strap length) and looked pretty healthy but the combo of color and heat left me with breakage.

 

natural hair flat ironed

Flat ironed 2008

 

This is my semi-straightened natural hair in January of 2008, it was flat ironed without blow drying first. As you can see it is about the same length it was in 2007. You can see the damage to my ends. Right after taking this picture I trimmed about 2 inches off.

By the end of 2008 the color was gone and I started inching toward waist length. I limited my heat use to 2-3x per year for length checks.

 

2009- Hair is healthy, free of color and heat damage. I was nearing waist length because my un-straightened hair was past BSL. I really started focusing on healthy hair instead of length. Fat twists pinned up in one way or another was my main natural hair style for 2009 & 2010. I wore my hair loose often on the weekends in twist outs and would put it back up again during the week. This helped prevent hair breakage and keep my ends moisturized.

Natural Hair Jumbo Twists

Fat twists 2009-10

Natural Hair twistout

Twist out 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to do a length check in the middle of 2010 and was excited to see that I had actually reach my original goal length of waist length (at my natural waist). Many times confuse hip length which is at the top of the pants with waist length. I don’t know if I can handle hip length hair!

natural hair waistlength

Waist length hair 2010

Natural Hair Long

Waist length Post Trim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




Hair Updates and Current Goals

Well I recently cut my hair (as of February 2014).  The center of my hair is waist length and the sides are midback.  I am happy with the length and think I will maintain it.  Here is a picture of my hair set with bantu knots after the trim.

 Return to previous page on my hair journey

Bantu Knots

Bantu Knots 2014

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