Hello friends!
WOW…. what a year it has been! I hope you are all still safe as healthy as we crest the end of this crazy pandemic.
It has been a whole year since I had a total hair meltdown, got my tape in extensions out and started fresh, and by fresh I mean short. The shortest my hair has ever been in my life! And it wasn’t that short because I had cut it, it was that short because it was so unhealthy and damaged that the entire bottom layer of my hair had broken off. My amazing stylist trimmed it up as best she could to leave as much as she could and off I went to figure out a way to fix it.
If you have been following along you will remember I had gone to the dermatologist and gotten blood work done and everything came back A-OK so they didn’t know what was going on, I asked my OB what she thought might be going on and she is the one who suggested I start taking the Saw Palmetto. I also started asking around to see what other gals had luck with growing longer and stronger hair. My sister had suggested trying Monat so I decided to give it a shot.
I will list here everything I did for the majority of the past year. I was not 100% consistent and vary my routine from time to time, but for the most part, this is what I did-
Monat Restructuring System
If you are going to try Monat I would suggest this line. Throughout the past year I tried several others and hated the way they made my hair feel. It was almost too slippery and would never hold a style. It also got greasy a lot faster and I felt like I had to wash it more. The other systems are regular shampoo and then condition type systems, but the restructuring one is still my favorite so I will list what I did below:
- I wash my hair 1 to 2 times a week
- Condition 1st, leave in for a good 3 to 5 minutes, only from the ears down
- Shampoo 2nd, leave in at least 2 minutes, only use on the scalp
- I will go back in with a TINY amount of conditioner if my hair is feeling really dry.
- A little bit of their serum before I style.
St. Tropica Hair Vitamins
- I found them on Amazon, you can subscribe and save!
Saw Palmetto
- Recommended by my OBGYN
- Take 3 capsules every night
- Little disclaimer on this one, I have stopped taking these due to being pregnant! (YAY!) But I did take them regularly until the end of September.
Again, this is a lot of stuff I know, and im still not sure if it was one thing more so than another, but what I do know is that my hair grew!
Now, here is what I believe was the final piece of this hair growth puzzle…..due to the pandemic I was able to work from home from March until the following December for the most part. I also followed all the stay at home orders and really have not done much in the past year. My current pregnancy is high risk, just like the 1st one, and my doctor has been very attainment that I am not going out unless I have to. Sooooo that means I really haven’t been doing a lot to my hair. I went from styling it almost every day to not touching it (other than a wash and blow-dry) for months! I really think this is what has made the most difference! So are you ready to see this transformation….
Ok guys…. check out this difference! I mean what????
I know it’s definitely longer, but I just can’t get over how much fuller it looks! In the most recent photo I used a blow dryer on the roots and let the rest air dry. It’s not quite as obvious in the picture, but in person my wave pattern is really starting to come back! It was pretty much completely gone a year ago. I am so thrilled to have some movement and bounce back in my hair! Also, I know the color change looks pretty drastic, but I swear I have not dyed it. I have gotten one haircut since the taking out of extensions and at that appointment, my hair dresser put some temporary dark low lights in and toned the caramely color to help even everything out, but still keep it as damage free as possible. Honestly, I have never dyed my hair before, but when I had the extensions we did quite a bit and highlighting and lowlighting to both my hair and the extensions to make sure they matched. It feels pretty good to be back to this darker tone of brown.
I still style my hair every now and them, really about once a week with a slight touch up later, but I have gotten so used to just letting it dry and do what it’s going to do, that I don’t even feel like I need do all the things I was doing before. All the heat, all the blow drys, all the tools, all the time! I’m much more confident in my hair just the way it is. Not only is my hair LONGER. I feel like it’s so much stronger and even a little thicker. And like I mentioned earlier, I have also noticed my wave pattern starting to come back, which I am over the moon excited about! I am just so pleased and honestly shocked that I have made it this far. This journey has really made me appreciate my hair in its natural state and I really want it to be as healthy as it can be moving forward.
For those of you who have been on this journey with me, I can’t thank you all enough! I have had so many people reach out with the kindest words and most positive messages of support. I have also had so many people send over ideas and new things to try and I appreciate all if it. Thank you for sticking this out with me!
Like I said at the beginning, I hope you are all still safe and healthy! And hopefully I can share my next adventure with you all as well (:
Stay sassy,
thewrightbrunette.com 
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