I've been waiting so long...it seems! But it's here!

Hi there everybody and I trust that all are having a good Monday so far. In general mine could be better, I'm all snotty and congested since the weekend and I need it to be done now!

On the hair side of things, this weekend I use my singular heat pass to be able to do a decent and official length check and I am officially claiming shoulder length! It's been a few days over a year since I started my journey at busted, broken, just simply SAD looking ear/neck length hair, and I was stuck at neck length for quite a while, even when the rest of my layers caught up and grew past my ears. But I pressed onwards and results are clear as day and I am as happy as a pig in mud!

On Saturday I did my mini wash day routine - incorporating some new tips that I've picked up:

• Detangled my hair prior to jumping in the shower, which was a breeze as my hair is freshly relaxed.
• Thoroughly rinsed my hair for about 3-5 minutes before applying shampoo
• Shampooed with ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo. Rinsed thoroughly
• Instant conditioned with Protein Feed Moisturizing Conditioner, which I kept on for about 2-3 minutes. Rinsed thoroughly
• Applied my all time favorite ORS Replenishing Conditioner, which I kept on for about 10 minutes whilst completing the rest of my shower duties. I've been feeling sick already and didn't want to sit with soaking wet head of hair for longer than strictly necessary. 
• After thoroughly rinsing all traces of conditioner I wrapped my hair in a t-shirt to soak up the excess water. 
• Applied my only leave in at the moment, Bone Straight, and then detangled my hair. Jeni from Just Grow Already has a point - detangling damp hair instead of wet hair leads to MUCH less breakage and shedding. 
• I then got my trusty water and conditioner spritz mix and started roller setting, which was also a breeze. 
• Air dried my hair whilst in the rollers whilst watching Gossip Girl. (I am ADDICTED!)
• Removed the rollers, applied a little bit of ORS Moisturizing Lotion to act as a heat protectant and proceeded to flat iron my hair using my Toni & Guy Ceramic Iron at 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit) and only passing the iron over every section of hair once and swiftly. 

I loved the way my hair felt afterwards - strong but smooth and straight. I experienced no breakage during roller setting nor the straightening process, and of course I loved the SWANG, lol. 

Okay, but enough talk. Here's where I started one year ago:

05 February 2012

And THIS is where I am now:

09 February 2013

09 February 2013

PIG IN MUD HAPPY!!

And on to my next goal - I would love to say that I'm going to immediately start chasing APL, but I'm going to take this day by day. It may be slightly slow progress, but it's PROGRESS. Thus my next goal where my hair is concerned is for my hair to cover my tattoo on my back. (That's about 2 inches, so I'm giving myself around 4-5 months to get there) THEN I'll start focusing on APL.

That is it for now everybody. First goal achieved, nr two - here I come!!