Hair

"Take Back Your Hair" Challenge

I was perusing the Hair Care Tips and Product Review Discussion board of the Long Hair Care Forum the other day, and noticed that there are so many posts regarding hair challenges. For instance, a member with the screen name Music-bnatural-smile has posted a "Dirty Thirty" challenge. She states, "This challenge is for people who are trying to grow [their hair] through protective styles or stretches from relaxers and also sculpt their body through a healthier lifestyle." Some of the terms of the challenge are as follows:

"1. Pick a protective style that will be presentable for life in the real world and also working out.

2. Pick an amount of days you will workout before you heat style/relax your hair again. I will be doing 30 days (not consecutive).

3. Identify your hair growth goal and your health goal whether it be inches lost, weight gain, weight loss, arm jiggle loss... whatever... I will be doing this until I lose 30 lbs."

In addition to the "Dirty Thirty" challenge, I also saw a post for "The Best Baggy Challenge Ever!!!" and a "Six Month Ayurveda Challenge." Seeing these challenges have inspired me to come up with one of my own. This is actually something I've wanted to do for a long time now, and I figured, what better time than the present?

One of the reasons I started doing hair care videos is because I was tired of black women in particular, buying into the myth that we can't grow our hair long. The truth is, our hair is always growing (unless of course you suffer from some sort of illness that affects hair growth, or have a genetic disposition for hair loss), and we must care for it in order to preserve the length. I believe that far too many women over style and over process their hair. All the manipulation and stress that we tend to place on our hair results in breakage, and we therefore don't get to see the length we would have achieved had we properly cared for our hair. I truly believe that if more women took the time to get to know their REAL hair, instead of spending so much time and money trying to fry it or mask it with fake hair, then more ladies would be able to reach their full hair potential.

So, with that said, I would like to propose my own challenge, and those of you who are interested in participating (whether you're relaxed or natural), will post progress updates here. I want to call this the "Take Back Your Hair Challenge." The challenge will last for three months (You can start at any time), because I believe that's enough time to see results. The rules for the challenge are as follows:

DPrincess28's "Take Back Your Hair" Challenge Rules

1. You must take a picture of your hair at the beginning of the challenge (Track the start date), and a picture of your hair at the end.
2. Weave/braid/extension wearers must abstain from these styles for the duration of the challenge (three months).
3. You can only straighten your hair twice during the challenge! Yes ladies, that means you must experiment with heat-free styles for most of the challenge. Let's minimize our use of blow dryers, flat irons, and hot combs!
4. You must deep condition your hair at least twice a month (This will enable everyone to alternate between protein and moisturizing deep conditioning treatments).
5. You must keep your hair moisturized, as this will prevent your ends from splitting and help aid in length retention.

If there's anything else that you plan to do during the three months that you believe will aid in length retention, make note of it so you can share it with the rest of the ladies.

Hair grows on average ½" a month, so every participant should at least achieve 1" of growth by the end of the challenge. I'm leaving off the other ½" because if your hair happens to be in really bad condition, you may need to trim your ends before or during the challenge to help get it on a healthy track.

Please ladies, let me see some participation! I will be posting progress updates of my hair, because I can attest to the fact that low manipulation, minimal heat, and a lot of TLC can help aid in hair growth (i.e. length retention). If you're ready to "Take Back Your Hair," join the challenge and let's see some progress!

XOXO,

DPrincess28