2009 Year End Review (kinda)

Well another year has come to and end and that means another year has gone by and I didn't meet my targeted hair goal!  If you recall, last year this time I was wanting to be BSL and at the beginning of this year, I set my goal to MBL...needless to say, this year is a repeat of last year.  I did not make my hair goal and really, I'm not dissapointed about it since I've learned quite a few new things this year about my hair and this whole hair growing thing as a whole...

1. Hair goals are NOT for me!  I won't be setting any more hair goals.  I'm just going to stop driving myself crazy year after year, month after month day after day by putting so much pressure on myself to make each goal.  I'm just going to let my hair do what it do, baby...
2. My hair grows fastest during the FIRST part of the year.  But I still don't think I get that 6" per year "average."  Maybe closer to 4-5 inches and most of that is grown during the first half of the year. 
3. Progress does NOT = visible length differences!!!  Please ask me why it's taken me almost 3 years of hair growing to realize this?!  ANY progress is GOOD when growing Black hair to its longest lengths.  Changes in the overall health (read elasticity/strength) of your hair is PROGRESS!  Changes in the thickness of your hair is PROGRESS!  Stretching your relaxer longer than the time before is PROGRESS!  STAYING COMMITTED TO YOUR HAIR GROWTH JOURNEY IS PROGRESS!!!  I have grown comfortable with the fact that I WON'T see visible length changes in my 3 month picutures every time.  But that does NOT mean my hair is not growing.  I've said it before and I'm going to say it again: patience is a virture when it comes to growing Balck hair to its longest lengths. 
4. Relaxers really do make a difference in the retention and overall "health" of MY hair.  I'm not sure how it can be, but I believe this to be the case.  I've not relaxed but once this whole year (1/3/09 was my last relaxer treatment) and my hair is so much fuller when it's straightened and it is thicker from root to tip.  These two things lead me to believe that there is a whole lot less breakage going on...BUT I'm not sure if I'll be foregoing relaxers 100% yet...I'll keep you posted on that one.
5. I LURVE henna!
6. I'm TERRIBLE at tracking my journey with pictures!!!  Which is why I have no photo diary to share with y'all!  BUT here is where I started at the beginning of the year and I will take some pictures sometime during the first half of the year.  This pic was taken on 1.22.09.

Comments

[Lavendar]

You may not have met what you consider to be your goal, but your hair is certainly beautiful. It looks thick, strong, and healthy, and the length is lovely as well. I'm going to be honest with you LHDC. Once I got to MBL, I became very "stressed" with my hair. It was sooooo hard to manage on my own. I didn't have a stylist, nor did I trust them enough to look for one. Detangling took hours and was torture. Applying a relaxer on my own at about 1.5# from waist length was horrendous. Since I have such fine, tangly hair, it was hard to even get it parted to apply the relaxer, and then I would end up having the relaxer on way too long. As life would have it, I ended losing a lot of hair due to an ongoing health problem rearing its ugly head. So I got a cut back to BSL(hated the salon experience), which turned out to be totally liberating. Thanks to a wonderful member at LHCF, I found a great stylist that recently cut my hair to APL with layers. LOVE IT!!! Although, I'm still just as passionate as ever about great products, the growing process, and achieving really healthy hair, Long Hair...Don't Care!!!! I've missed you girl!

[Darling Cancerian]

You know what LHDC? I think I know what it is. Maybe we should start setting hair goals for the front part of our hair, because I've been growing the natural hair since april, and now it's january, and the back has grown like 5 inches (after all the trims), and the middle like 7, but the front, the edges, the longest is like two inches! HA! All I think is "one day when these get APL, I'm chopping the rest to match it." Because the more even all of my strands are I notice that they don't do weird stuff like tangle, break etc. They need a family to not be depressed(haha! to be together, to be even, I mean)

It's just going to take longer for us who want 99.9% of the strands on our heads to be the same length, but it's prettier, and better. *doin' the cabbage patch*

[BIA No More]

I cannot wait to see your 2009 progress! If you've taken pics of your girls hair post those as well. I am going backwards down the blog so you may have already!

To be honest I am sick of my hair, I look good bald so you may be prying the clippers out of my hands soon lol.

I watched Good Hair, I liked it, and informative.

Not only do black women have to worry about everything else; know that some black men wont date a weave, upkeep is to expensive lol.

Thanks LHDC for clearing that obsticle with all the healthy hair growing tips!

BIA No Mo

[lina40]

your hair is gorgeous as always! I met my 2009 goal in summer after my baby was born and has hoping to re-meet it again in Dec., but NOPE. I think I will opt out of the hair goals thing too. Its too much pressure. I'm just glad I got my edges back post-partum!

LHDC: YES that post-partum shedding is NO JOKE! Congrats on the new bundle of joy!

[MoM]

GOD is GOOD!

[MoM]

Beautiful Hair!!!!! My hair has really thickened up as well as lenghtened. All due to this blog site!!!! Thanks and Big Ups, LHDC!!!!!