Grow Hair Grow!!

I'm going to take the day on the ol' blog here to be vain.  I like looking good, as many people do.  I workout, try to wear some cute clothes, and spend as much time as I'm able {which with two kids isn't much at all} to do my make-up every day.  As much as I shouldn't care what other people thing of me, I do.  But I also do it for myself because it makes me feel good, and gives me a little more confidence. 

However there is one thing that keeps disappointing me over and over again.  And there's really very little I can do about it.  My hair.  I used to have really pretty hair.  Long, blond layered hair.  It was always something I was pretty proud of.

Can I please be 21 again?!?!

But then years of bleaching {I'm not actually a natural blond} and straightening really took their toll and my hair was breaking off left and right.  The ends were completely damaged and my friend L {a licensed hairdresser} was worried my hair would literally start melting off my head {not good}.

So I cut it off.

Fall 2011...also, still holding on to my baby weight

I figured I'd just start from scratch and get rid of all the dead ends and regrow my hair long.  I didn't like the length, but it felt necessary.

I was going to treat my hair with total kindness, and stay on top of my split ends.  Unfortunately a few months later, the salon I had a Groupon for decided to take even more length off  than I wanted. 

This was not a good look for me.  But I thought it would grow in quickly and all would be forgotten. 

So I slathered on some coconut oil and waited for the new growth.  But by May of 2012, I didn't really see much of a difference. 

So I decided to speed things up a little and stop the bleaching.  I embraced the dark in honor of long hair. 

For almost a year embraced the dark {though I continued to color it dark every 6 weeks} wishing and praying for my hair to grow. 

It wasn't a terrible color on me, but as I didn't actually feel like it was helping my hair grow, I slowly started to go back to blond in January of 2013. 

But that didn't change much either. 

I feel like I've tried it all.  Biotin, prenatals, folic acid, omega 3's, hair masks and more coconut oil than anyone ever.  I've cut down on heat products and don't wash it every day.  In full disclosure, I wasn't fully committing to all of these things entirely.  My friend L also reminded me that two years ago when I cut my hair, ALL of my hair was damaged...not just the part I cut off.

But I'm ready for all that to change now. 

I miss my long hair.  I miss being able to style it lots of ways, instead of only a few.  I miss not hating my reflection when I look in the mirror. 

I've gone back to my natural hair color {well as close as I can} and I'm going to take the next year off of coloring it. 

I am taking 10000 mg of Biotin every day, though my prenatals were making me depressed, so I'm stopping though.  I'm going to wash my hair every other day at most.  I'm working on eating better, drinking less Diet Coke, and drinking more water.  I'm using heat products sparingly.  I recently trimmed the dead ends, but now I won't cut it anymore unless it really needs it.  My hair grows really slowly during the best circumstances, so I want to make sure not to cut off all the new growth.  I'll continue on with my oil deep conditioning masks and just try and treat my hair as gently as possible.

I also promise to stop talking about my hair so much.  But only if you promise to share with my your best hair-growth tips!! 

Here's to having long hair in the new year!