Happy Anniversary: A Time to Reflect

So I am approaching my hair anniversary very soon (October 31), and I have some mixed feelings. This comes from the recent changes I've been noticing with my hair--sadly, not all good at all. In short, I have noticed that I have been experiencing some breakage and my hair/ends seem to be getting thinner. I am scratching my head wondering what is going on, because I think my regimen is pretty solid, but I just don't know what else it could be.I was reviewing some of my previous blog entries to get a handle of the situation, and there were a few things that occurred to me. 

The one thing I noticed was the fact that there was one point where my hair  was really flourishing (January 2010-April 2010). I had significant growth, I was retaining hair, I had less scalp issues--and this all during the coldest time of year! I was being consistent with my regimen, I was also exercising regularly and eating well (enough--LOL). Then I fell short. I'm not sure if I was simply exhausted and not thinking straight or upset because I was not seeing the results I wanted to see, but something changed and simply went soooo wrong.  Key words here: "results I wanted to see"

Because I was so hung up on achieving my ultimate goal of MBL, I did not take the time to acknowledge and enjoy the results I was actually achieving. As a result, I was overdoing things in an effort to accomplish my first hair goal (of SL) at all cost, which led to mental exhaustion, inconsistency with my regimen, a revamped regimen time and time again and a botched experiment with products promising to increase hair growth (I know, I know, no such thing as a miracle hair growth serum).  This also led to protein overload, horrible breakage at the line of demarcation and excess shedding. Luckily I was able to preserve most of the length I had achieved (and oddly enough add some volume to my hair), but it didn't stay that way.

My desire to increase my hair growth carried over into May and June 2010, which leads me to today. Today, a few weeks shy of my anniversary, my hair is in a very different state than it was before. It seems to have taken a 180, or maybe more like 160 because my hair has not reverted to its old ways considering everything it has been through, which I am grateful. It started out broken and damaged, saw the light and began to thrive, but like a plant that gets over watered began to die off in spots from to much love. Learning a great deal from hair sites and blogs I have managed to salvage what I did accomplish, so I have been able to avoid a major disaster, but I came pretty close. Now, I am approaching my anniversary with a lot more knowledge about my hair, what my hair likes and doesn't like and how to manage challenges with my hair much more appropriately.

I think my biggest challenge this past year has been my lack of patience. Impatience, in this case can be far worse than any hot iron or scissor happy hairdresser because it can lead you to make so many mistakes. As you know I am constantly tweeking my hair regimen for one reason or another. Yes my hair has needed additional support at certain points of my journey, but that doesn't necessarily mean I need to revamp my regimen, which is what I did. Truthfully, I think I was also putting way too much emphasis on products: what they can do, should do and weren't doing to help me achieve longer lengths faster rather than simply trying to achieve overall healthier hair. Where did I go wrong? LOL! All I can really do is laugh at myself because at the end of the day it's just hair. Beautiful, shiny, always growing hair. I just need to learn how to hold onto it as it does grow. I see now that I was taking this whole thing way too seriously, not an enjoyable experience at all. All I can do now is approach this new year more aware, more focused, and hopefully much more patient. 

HHG!