One Year Natural

Last year about this time I made the decision to stop relaxing my hair.  I made that decision because I was trying to save as much money as possible and I just could justify or afford the expense. 

I just left my hair alone for about six months and then in August Wes cut off the relaxed ends for me.  To mark the occasion, I decided it was finally time for a serious trim.  I am not that great at trimming it curly so I decided to flat iron it.

Considering what my hair usually looks like . . .

Well, let's just say that it was a serious two day undertaking.

First, I washed, deep conditioned, and detangled.  Then, in hopes that I wouldn't have much blowdrying to do, I banded it all up.

Banding stretches the hair by holding it in a stretched out position as it drys.

This is what a banded section looks like un-banded.  And it was still damp.

So I used the blowdryer to dry it a little more and stretch it a little more.

 And here's what that section looked like flatironed.

Tah-dah!  My whole head, untrimmed.

The side view.  Look at all that hair!

So it has grown to pretty much shoulder length in one year.

Trimmed and styled.  This is how I wore it to work. 

Except it drove me nuts after an hour so I snatched it back into a ponytail.