Genevive is a year old today!!!
 This year has gone by soooo fast. I really can't believe that a year ago, at almost this time, I was sitting in my dorm room with a pair of raggedy scissors chopping my hair off.

I've come so far. We've come so far. I've learned so much and I have so much more to learn.

This is me in February 2010, shortly after my big chop

What I've learned in the last year is:

• My hair can be really soft. At first it wasn't but I've learned that it really likes a little oil.
• A little goes a long way. At first I was really heavy handed with everything but now I realize that a nickel sized drop of oil is really all I need.
• Protective styles. My hair grows best when I just leave her alone for days at a time. Not neglect or  ignorance but just giving her space.
• What works for everyone does NOT work for me. I've been resisting the band wagon and product junkyism and only occasionally giving in after much research.
• A little goes a long way...Product wise I don't have a lot of products and those that I do have I use. I don't have the money for a lot of experimenting so I try to work with what I have.

I CAN DO MY OWN HAIR! I was most nervous about the growth and how I would handle it. Prior to going natural I had never really done my own hair. I didn't learn how to wrap it until I was in college. Little by little I've learned to stlye and love my hair. I have so much more practicing and learning to do but flat twists and two strand twists are my holy grail.

Shiny, healthy twists today.

Twists or a twist out probably done with gel. I washed this right out!



So uglyyy! First set of twists for  twust out. I couldn't even twist the back.



My mini twists in the fall!

Mistakes I've made have been:

• Not moisturizing enough. I never sealed or remoisturized thoroughly during the week. I also didn't DC as often as I think I should have.
• Continuing protective styles. When I saw a little growth I got caught up in doing twists only for the twist outs and started wearing my hair out more.
• Not detangling. I think when I had that growth spurt I didn't realize that I needed to slow down and properly detangle. I used a pic for all detangling until like a month ago.

I've had 2 trims this year. The first one was the unfortunate 80s style I got about 2 months in and the other one was a few weeks ago. I would say in all it was about 1.5 inches trimmed this year. I trimmed an inch myself and the other trim was just...unfortunate.

The unfortunate trim...my edges haven't been the same since. smh.

 I now have about 4 inches, in some places it's 3.5 but I would say the average is 4 inches. It's not as long as I expected. I didn't realize that I wouldn't have a huge afro in a year's time. That was my own naiivity but I can definitely tell it has grown. When I first cut it I couldn't even hold it between my thumb and finger and now it's as long as my fingers.

Feb 2010...so short. so excited.

August-ish 2010

 

April 2010. Growth!