Hair Talk: Length Checks and Updated Regimen

So for those who don't know, I've been natural now for about a year and a half. Some time in July 2013, I decided to stop texturising my hair and start gradually getting rid of the relaxed ends. My initial plan was to transition to natural for 18 months which would have meant I would only just be chopping off the final straight ends this month. However, somewhere along the line I gave up and after about a year of transitioning I picked up some scissors and hacked away at the last straight bits.

Anyways, that was all a long time ago now and I've been actively and inactively trying to grow my hair since then. I have a couple of progress pictures to show my growth. I guess it's also a good way for me to keep track of my hair journey, by sharing it with you guys on the blog occasionally. I'd never forget when I learnt that I was doing more harm than good to my hair in this post by adding tea rinses and just having too much protein, the advice in the form of a comment from a blog reader and I couldn't be more grateful!

Currently my regimen is pretty simple, I was every 7 to 10 days, and the reason for the range is because sometimes on a Sunday, my official wash day, I'm just too darn lazy to start the process and so I postpone till Wednesday at the very latest. Wash days consist of:

Prepoo/ Detangle:

I do this with any regular conditioner I have lying around, mostly Aussie Moist 3 minute miracle or Tressemme Moisturising conditioner, which I loveeeee! It's really important for me to detangle my hair before I wash it because I get so much knotting and trying to detangle afterwards just never seems to work. Basically I section my hair, put a tonne of conditioner on and then proceed to finger detangle, very gently and sort out any stupid single strand knots before they become a real issue. Then if I have time or am feeling pretty chilled, I leave the conditioner in my hair as a little 'pre-poo' to really soften my hair before I wash it.

Shampoo: 

After I rinse out the conditioner used in the pre-poo, I shampoo my hair with a sulphate free shampoo, Elasta QP to be precise. Or if I've just taken out a long term protective style, I may use ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo which has sulphates and strips hair of dirt and oils more. I try to make sure I apply shampoo only to my scalp and scrub it clean in sections without tangling my hair again and then I rinse out. I also try to make sure I only shampoo my hair once then on to the next step..

Protein Treatment:

I don't do a protein treatment every week, especially since going natural because I feel like my hair doesn't need it as much. But I try to remember to do one at least once a month with ORS Hair Mayonnaise.

Deep condition:

I deep conditioner with a shower cap over my hair for 45 minutes to an hour, sometimes even longer again, depending on my mood. But at least 45 minutes, using ORS Deep Conditioner. I love the smell and the slip of this conditioner and the way it is literally absorbed by my hair, sometimes I don't even feel like rinsing it out tbh.

Leave In:

After I eventually get over the whole "my hair feels so soft and yum I don't want to rinse out the conditioner" phase, then I rinse out the conditioner *shocked face*, dry with a t-shirt for about 5/10 minutes, and then apply Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioner. I'm superrrr light handed with this leave in because when I'm not it tends to make my hair feel a little crunchy.

At this point of the process I'm usually exhausted and fall asleep with slightly wet hair and a satin bonnet thrown over it. The next day, I then proceed to moisturise and seal but maybe I'd do another post on my day-to-day process... This post is getting a little long.. Haha.

Here are those progress pictures I was talking about... Please excuse my face! Haha.

This was my hair in about mid- August of last year

This is my hair from mid-December and so just a few weeks ago and methinks the difference is clear! 

I must be doing something right in my hair regimen, well except some breakage in the back of my hair, but again, topic for another post. But I'm not going to try and change much though. I do really want to try some crotchet braids though, I think they look soo nice, only doubtful because I've never had really full bouncy hair, I wonder if I'd like it... Hmmm. Well, I'd be keeping you posted..