Hair Care 101; My Hair Story Part 9

In Part 8, we left off at March 2008 (1 year after the perm) with my hair at 30 inches and 4 inches of new growth that year. From March up until August, I had to work with my hair to try and disguise the fact that part was straight and the other part permed. I continued to have to use gel and a blow dryer to get it to look right, it was still very dry, and I would also straighten it sometimes and then curl it with a curling iron or hot rollers as shown in the photos below:





I did the above for months, until it dawned on me that I could just straighten and/or curl JUST the permed part and leave my new growth untouched! So I started to do that, leaving my new growth and scalp alone and my hair grew rapidly and the condition of my new growth is black, shiny and silky. Also, I started using the leave-in conditioner again and letting my hair air dry more often, even though my curls from the perm aren't as tight, its much easier on my hair that way. If I want all my hair straight, I just straighten the permed part. If I want to curl my hair, I just curl the permed part now.

Next, I discovered the reason that my hair seemed to have stopped fixing and looking like it used to: Garnier Fructis changed their ingredients in their Shampoo that I had used for over a year. The shampoo now has SLS in it. I've read that SLS is drying on the hair, and so I have since gone back to Finesse Bodifying Shampoo and Moisturizing Conditioner and have already in just a short time, noticed a difference. I still use the Garnier Fructic leave-in condtioner though.

Here is my hair a few days ago after curling just the permed part:



You can see how much lighter my permed hair is from my new growth (which is black, some dark brown). My new growth is now at 12 inches of new hair since my perm!! Total length right now is 38 inches. In just 9 months, my hair grew 8 inches! I credit it to my supplements, diet, taking better care of my hair, not perming it again and most importantly prayer! I hope to get my "old" hair back that I used to have in 2005 before my 2 perms by taking care of it like I used to from now on.