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2025/2026 - Journey to SL/APL/BSL Challenge

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getting my hair flat twisted next thursday. I can't wait. I want to try twisted styles. I'm sick of braids.

I'm loving the unbrush plus its my new fave and my og holy grail: QB Amla & Olive heavy cream

I'll be going to a holistic natural hair salon for the first time so I'm excited
 
CoiledOrchids said:
getting my hair flat twisted next thursday. I can't wait. I want to try twisted styles. I'm sick of braids.

I'm loving the unbrush plus its my new fave and my og holy grail: QB Amla & Olive heavy cream

I'll be going to a holistic natural hair salon for the first time so I'm excited
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The way y'all been talking about the unbrush plus in this thread got me side-eyeing my amazon dupe of the regular unbrush...

Maybe it'll be a lil Valentine's Day gift from moi to moi.

Also ooo, I've actually never heard of a holistic natural salon; what are their services like?
 
@i4ani yes get that unbrush plus!. it detangles like a dream when you use it with the african pride prepoo. I can detangle my whole head in less than 10 minutes without any pain!

the salon specializes in healthy hair using low manipulation styles. Her holistic approach prioritizes scalp care, hydration and sustainability. What sold me was how she offers therapeutic and pain free services tailored to your hair goals.

also she's the only salon near me that specializes in healthy natural hair. She's also just 10 minutes away. Pricing isn't bad either, which is a plus because I'm on a budget & paying out of pocket for school
 
Some unrelated thoughts/updates:

I've been thinking ahead about how I may modify my routine come spring and summer.

I'll be outside more often, it's gonna be hotter 50-60 degrees hotter, and I'm still gonna be in the gym every day, so I'm wondering if I will have to go to daily washing.

I get white salt lines on my gym cap every 2-3 days depending on how hard I go on my workout, and I'm sliiiiiightly concerned (read as: hiiiiighly paranoid, but more on that later) that letting all that salt and sweat marinate in my hair for 48 hours over and over is going to lead to moisture problems down the road. I'm washing every other day atm, so I'm thinking if I notice dryness in the coming months, I'll switch to daily washing in the early morning immediately after the gym. My hair doesn't take long to dry, so I should be good to go by the time I'd leave the house for the day.

At that point, I think I'll go back to grease as my styler for cost efficiency. While I do love my Chief Rocka mousse, I can't justify spending $16 on a styler that comes in such a tiny bottle, just to wash it out every 24 hours.

All of that said though, I expect that my hair will be long enough for me to experiment with more styles than flat twists by the time it's warm out. I want a professional haircut to even out my hair before I start wearing it loose (I went on what I now realize was a scissor-happy rampage in at the end of October, cutting off anywhere from ~0.5" to ~3" from different parts of my head), but I'll save that for once I'm a few inches past my goal length for the year.

I went back to washing in the kitchen sink. I can't put my finger on why, if there really is a reason beyond nostalgia, but I like it so much more than washing in the shower. I spend my lil 5-10 mins in the kitchen then I go sit in the mirror and watch Arrested Development while I do my flat twists. Being in my hair is therapeutic for me regardless, but there's just something about not being in the bathroom that feels so much better to me. Idk.

I bought a pack of 2 aluminum shower caps since I blew through my 100 pack of plastic ones (and started feeling guilty for wasting all that plastic :perplexed:). I use one for when I have my conditioner in (during this step, I scurry around cleaning the mess I made in the sink, then come back to rinse it out), then I use the other for when I'm doing my flat twists (I leave out enough hair for the twist, then keep the rest of my hair in the cap so it stays wet and out of my way while I'm twisting).

I picked up Fenty's The Richer One deep conditioner on Sunday and... idk.

I think that my hair just doesn't need deep conditioning treatments anymore. I've been skipping out on it primarily to cut down on wash time (but also because I don't really think I need it), but I figured I should incorporate it again at least for 1 wash each week since my roots/mids are getting so salty from sweat. I left the DC on for around 30 mins and sat under my dryer, but my hair didn't feel any different after deep conditioning than it does when I just use a rinse-out conditioner.

I remember last fall when I finally started using conditioner and how drastic the change was in how my hair felt and behaved. That feeling's become a norm now without the time-consuming DC step, which is of course a good "problem" to have. I just hope that that stays true as I continue my gym-going through the warmer months.
 
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Took my hair down after 7 weeks. Hopefully if it doesn’t snow until the evening I’ll get it rebraided up for another crochet.

Full wash day and got lazy/tired when I got to the left side of my head. I will finish in the morning.
 

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Finished one of my prescriptions last night and did some medium braids. I can tell by the size of my bun that I had a set back . Going back to more frequent washing next week.


I'm going up have to find a way to keep my ends covered without a wig. Headwraps are cool but I don't like the extra weight. I'm thinking of getting some buns covers and snood for the rest of the year.
 
flat twisted updo. Growing out heat damage for the next few months, might big chop in June but idk. I just want the new growth to be long enough to flat twist. I don't want a TWA
 
I’m “thinking “about a keratin treatment in spring time because washday is long struggle to fully detangle my hair. With the revair my roots are never pulled out well. I brush and comb and then the next day as it’s getting braided up my roots are wavy and it’s a snag to braid it up.

As I only wash every 5-7 weeks it’s not an immediate need but I think about it when it’s time to remove my protective style.
 
Bette Davis Eyes said:
I’m “thinking “about a keratin treatment in spring time because washday is long struggle to fully detangle my hair. With the revair my roots are never pulled out well. I brush and comb and then the next day as it’s getting braided up my roots are wavy and it’s a snag to braid it up.

As I only wash every 5-7 weeks it’s not an immediate need but I think about it when it’s time to remove my protective style.
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You have to keep it up or your hair will break
 
i was going to get a braid down but it’s so expensive! 75 for a wash dry and braid down?!? I haven’t been in a salon in a long time but that’s ridiculous not to mention the booking fee and tip….i can braid my own hair
 
Napp said:
i was going to get a braid down but it’s so expensive! 75 for a wash dry and braid down?!? I haven’t been in a salon in a long time but that’s ridiculous not to mention the booking fee and tip….i can braid my own hair
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Not to mention the aggravation of potentially encountering a stylist who acts like detangling natural hair is an Olympic challenge :nono:
i4ani said:
The way y'all been talking about the unbrush plus in this thread got me side-eyeing my amazon dupe of the regular unbrush...

Maybe it'll be a lil Valentine's Day gift from moi to moi.

Also ooo, I've actually never heard of a holistic natural salon; what are their services like?
Click to expand...
Yea, I would second the endorsement of the Unbrush. I've been pretty "brush agnostic" for a while now because I felt that there was nothing special on the market. This one is a gamechanger for sure and worth the cost.
 
I'm still trucking along in my knotless braids. Everyone in my life (husband, mom) is shocked that I'm actually keeping a style in for this long :lol: to be honest, i just have no desire to deal with how short my hair is right now, so I'm not itching to take out the style like I usually would be.

My current regimen is to shampoo weekly with Design Essentials Oat and Henna cleansing shampoo + the Honey Creme shampoo, "condition" with the Design Essentials Bamboo and Silk leave-in conditioner, and smooth the braids down with the Design Essentials compositions foam. Style my baby hairs with a little Ebin edge control. I'm also judicious about wearing my hair out as often as possible, to minimize tension on my edges. I rarely put the braids in a bun or ponytail, usually just for my workouts.

This weekend, I'm going to curl the ends of the braids using hot water for a different look, then wear them for another 3 weeks. Take them down for a trim. and then go right back into some cornrows.
 
I'm still waiting on my roots to dry so hopefully I'm not jinxing it, but I think I have a nice lil wash n go in progress :yay:

I used my Chief Rocka mousse, did the shake-in-the-shower method, and patted my hair into a nice round fro. Idk what I'm gonna wake up to but I have a good foundation at least.
 
Thank you for offering but after you mentioned upkeep that sealed the deal lolol

I’m loving biocomplex ampoules. Blow drying it in my hair gets silky. Imma keep this up for six months and see how it goes

@Napp
 
Month 2 check in
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Editing to add: I'm going back to basics this month. Two strand twists, finger only detangling, 1-product styling with mousse or grease. Upon reflection, I realized that I need to stick to what was working for me.
 
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This is the end of my first week back with finger only detangling and my hair is doing a lot better. I went through my hairball about two weeks ago and found that ~60% of itwas breakage. I sorted through this week's hairballs (so 3 total) and am happy to report that I've fixed that. There's barely any breakage. I make sure to go alllll the way up to my roots using my thumbs to smooth my hair and my fingers to rake, and my hairballs have gotten smaller.

This past month, I've been washing with my new favorite shampoo/conditioner pair, Pantene's Daily Moisture Renewal, and my hair feels like a dream. I don't feel the need to deep condition anymore using this system.

This past week, I started using Seht's multi-use conditioner as a leave-in and The Doux's Bonita Afro Balm as a styler. I'm loving this combo so far. I use the teensiest bit of both and there's no leftover product that I have to worry about getting on everything like when I use grease or a butter.

I did mini twists for my first 2 wash days this week and omg... I did not realize how long they'd take. Hours and hours and hours. I was up until 3:30am when I started wash day around 10pm. I was considering going back to bigger twists, but not all of my hair is long enough for neat jumbo twists so. Back to flat twists for now. I can't wait until I hit my growth goal so I can comfortably even out my hair.
 
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I did my wash, DC, then blow dried using the wavytalk dryer and straigtened using my wavytalk steam straightener to prepare to get cornrows done today. STill thinking of the cornrow style I want, but I still have 4 hours until my appointment
 
Had my dermatologist appointment on Thursday. She says things are to stay the same for the next few months. I had mini braids in when I saw her and she complimented them so that's a good sign.

I'm wearing a lace front wig over them now. I'll mostly only wear it to work. I'm up to twice a week washing for now, mostly because my work schedule is sending me to Hades.
 
Usually in the first quarter I am more into my hair. This year is different. I really don't feel like being bothered. I tried blow drying for several weeks but I'm done with that. Now I'm back to putting my hair up into Bantu Knots to let it dry. Then I convert those to flat twists. I'm going to try to keep things simple and not spend too much time thinking about my hair. I'm going to focus on fitness and nutrition and hopefully the hair health will follow.

I want to put in 2 strand twists but they always look so spacey because my hair is fine and less dense in the back. :sad: So, I will stick with 2 strands and let that be that.

I'm going to settle in and set my expectation to reach APL in December and not try to rush it and get impatient.
 
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