Been on the forums a while and never started a hair journal. We'll see how this works out. =P

At the moment, my hair's at 21 3/4" when measured from the hairline to the longest layer.

As of right now, my haircare routine's pretty simple. I shower daily (occasionally skipping a day if I don't have to go out of the house) use a TRESemme clarifying shampoo on the scalp, and Suave Naturals (Wild Cherry Blossom) conditioner on the lengths. Lots of it. Leave that in for the majority of the shower, which ends up being about 10 minutes. I just bought Infusium 23 Leave-In Treatment (Moisturologie). Liking it so far. I do blow dry on the lowest heat setting after letting my hair dry out wrapped up in a towel for a while. Wide tooth combs and a boar bristle brush are my only other styling tools. No flatirons, no curlers, no mousse or gel. I try to braid my hair every night, doesn't always happen.

Trimmed my hair into a U-shape about 2 days ago. Took off a little over an inch. Sad to lose the length, but the damage had to go. Can't wait until all the dye from last March is gone. Still got a ways until that lovely milestone.. I can actually see how much more damaged the dyed portion of my hair is in comparison to the 3-4 inches of undyed, happy hair above it. Almost no frizziness above the dye line. What was I thinking..? Oh well. Live and learn.

Welcome to journaling.  Hope you enjoy posting and I am looking forward to reading what you have to say. 

Congrats on starting your journal. :)

Welcome, welcome!

Thanks everybody! =)

Small update. I've started the spring semester at college. Bleh. This is gonna be a long 4 months. Thankfully my boyfriend is uber-supportive (even though he's got enough to worry about with his busy schedule). I have 8am classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I usually get up at 6, to allow myself time to actually wake up before class. ::) Normally I just lay in bed for an hour and fool around on the computer and then rush to get a shower, my hair dried and out the door. I've decided to try to reverse it. As soon as my alarm goes off, I get up, take a shower, and then spend the remaining hour and a half letting my hair air dry and relaxing with some tea and whatever food I happen to have. This morning, it's cake. :D So far, my new hair regime is working beautifully. My hair's dry before I have to go out into the frigid weather, it's noticeably softer and easier to comb through. It tangles less. Lovin' it!

Sounds like you're doing well with the hair routine, Katie.  Keep up the good work.  By the way, I work for a university; our classes for spring start this coming Tuesday.  Everyone is dashing around like mad, trying to get ready!   :)

Hair--

Not a lot has changed. I think my hair's going through a shedding phase. More hair is coming out in my comb than I remember last month. How long does the average shedding phase last? :-? I need to do an S&D pretty badly. I tend to play with the ends while I'm in class and I'm finding split ends fairly often. :-/ Not good.

In other news--

My boyfriend and my first anniversary is coming up! Exciting! Time flies. Hard to believe that just a year ago we were poking each other during church while our friends rolled their eyes. Lol. ::) We're planning on going out to eat and then see a movie the night of. But his present to me is tickets to the Celtic Woman concert that's coming to our college town in April! :D Granted, our anniversary is in February, but hey, I can wait... I think. *wiggles* Hehe. :)

School sucks right now. Well, one class really. US Military History. Oi... So much reading... Found out on Tuesday that I have a 5-8 page book review on a book I hadn't started reading yet.... due this coming Tuesday. Yikes! I'm about halfway through the book now. Along with him having us read 2 other textbooks for every class and supplementary online material that is not optional either. Geez. I've never had so much required reading for a course. It's ridiculous. Oh well.. It'll all be over in 3 months, one way or another.

So since I'm growing out my bangs, I've been getting really frustrated as to what to do with them. Most days they just get in the way. I've been putting them back with headbands for nearly a year since that catastrophic haircut (guy didn't know how to cut in a straight line... >:() At that point they were slightly above my eyebrows (and slightly below it..). Now they're around my mouth. So they're in the awkward phase.

But!!! :D Lo and behold I saw this cute hairstyle that I'm sure is old news to everyone here. Lol. French lace braid headband. Glory halleluia!! Gets them back out of the way and looks pretty darn cute to boot. I just continue the braid and then pull it back with the rest of my hair into a ponytail. Wore it all day, no problems. I have to part my hair a lot farther to the side than normal, but it looks alright. *dance* Oh how I love braids. Pretty sure it's my new favorite way to put up my hair. ;D

That sounds really cute.  Could you post a picture of it?  Blunt bangs are so annoying when they grow out!  I opted for side bangs because my natural parting is slightly off left side and if I end up hating my bangs they're easier to grow out. 

I teach college and wonder if you know the SQ3R method of reading a textbook?  It makes your reading go 30-40% faster and increases retention 40-50%.  If you can't find it on the Web, let me know.

When I was growing out my fringe, I used mini claw clips! I just divided the fringe up into sections, twisted, and clipped them back. A lace-braid headband is also a great idea, if you can manage it. Mine always end up looking a bit lopsided.

Sorry for the late reply. School's been keeping me busy. I'm attaching some pictures of how I did that french lace braid. Hope it works...

Anyway! I've found a hair buddy! =D A friend of mine is trying to grow her hair out as well. Her hair is already around bsl I think. At least the longest layer. She said her shortest layer is just below shoulder length. But yeah, I've been kinda coaching her on hair care. Nothing too specific. Use a wide tooth comb, leave conditioner in for at least 5 minutes, don't use heat if you can help it, etc. She got a comb and boar bristle brush from walmart and so far loves the effect of the brush. She said her hair already feels softer. I also suggested getting a pair of hair scissors and snipping split ends. One afternoon I spent 3 hours going through her hair chunk by chunk and doing a massive S&D to get her off to a good start. And it was fun. Lol. I like having a hair buddy! We can remind each other to keep up with our hair care.

Recently I've been having to use my hair dryer more than I'd like. :-/ And I'm feeling the effects of it. My ends have been getting dry and straw-like. So I took some olive oil I had in my cabinet, gave my hair a nice coating, braided it and left it in all night. My hair is incredibly soft this morning!! I can't believe it. Even after wearing a ponytail in rainy/windy weather, my hair didn't tangle very much at all and combed out when I let it down. I'm amazed!!

One question though, should this be a nightly routine or is that too much olive oil? How often should I do this? Cuz I plan on continuing. :D

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You can try a few drops in the palms of your hands,rub together and then apply to your length from the ears down.  See how that works for ya! :)

Copycat. ;) Just teasin'.

Very cool about your new hair buddy. :) And as far as heavy overnight oil treatments, I'd say do them as often as you like...just remember you'll have to wash them out the next morning.

Lol! Hey. All this hair style stuff that's old hat to all y'all is new to me. :P

And yeah, I shower every morning. I just feel gross if I don't. So the night oil gets washed out.

Thanks for the suggestions!