** Last album update - April 1st '09 - written in retrospect**
Well March 26th was day 100 and I'm ...more

pleased I did this challenge. I see progress in my growth and there's a steady progress on thickness too. I've learnt bucketloads about my hair and I'm handling it differently. I love DCing and moisturising and don't use combs much anymore. Hopefully the above and the protective styles will get me more progress with healthy hair in tow, so please come follow me to the next PSC album. I'm doing cycle 2 of PSC 100 and hope to learn alot more and do the best for my hair. Hope to get a better ponytail by the end of the second cycle and I pray for no setbacks. HHG and bright blessings to all! Jac x

**Update Day 67 - 21/Feb/2009**

I decided to re-do my twists yesterday by simplu replacing the old ones with new ones. I thought the last set would last at least 2 weeks, maybe push to 4 weeks - no way could this happen, LOL! I DC at least 3x/week now and they looked super fuzzy - and not the sute kinda fuzzy either - messy fuzzy! I wear them wrapped but still! So, I re-did them and I'm glad I did because I almost cried trying to detangle the ones at the back - they always try to loc up, sigh! Took me 2 days (I do some, stop, live life and do some more and carry on till all are done). I'm loving doing this! Still did not use a comb and I'm getting the hang of this. Pleased to report hair looked and felt healthy. Few splits and knots but nothing to sing about - did the search, find and destroy routine on these. So, till next time! A couple of pics added.....


**Update - 09/Feb/09 - Day 55**

Challenge continues but in a different way. I'm not replacing the extension twists. I just do whatever I do to my hair, finger detangle and twist again in fat twists and leave it alone and keep it under wraps. This is working well so far, I'll keep doing it this way. Good thing about it being so cold is that I can just wear scarves/wraps and go - I'm happy as I feel my hair is well protected this way anyway. I only use a comb very occassionally but I mostly finger comb. So far it's going well, though this isn't C&G anymore. Maybe it will be if I do smaller twists that don't need re-doing every so often. But honestly, i'm not too bothered - I'm DC 3x/week and having to re-do the 10 twists each time - perhaps I should make them smaller so they last at least a week. Will update later on this.

**Update - 24/Jan/09 - Day 39

The aptly named Protective Style Challenge really is becoming a challenge now. I protein DC-ed, washed and moisture DC-ed my hair on Wednesday (Day 36), intending to re-do all the twists if possible, or at least re-do all those around my edges. Well, the matting and loc-ing of the hair got me removing the twists completely and after undoing the matting and tangles and removing as best as I can the shed and hopefully not too much broken hairs, I just could not envisage spending days getting it all re-done again. I need a break for a week or so. These extensions look good and all, and I enjoyed the ease at which I could treat them as I would my own hair BUT, they get too attatched to my hair (or vice versa), removing them after 30+ days was like war!

wouldn't say the challenge is over yet - I've managed to remove all twists, detangle (mostly with fingers but used comb a few times) and retwist roughly without extensions and my hair is still protected under wraps.

So, the next week will be spent in head wraps and perhaps wigs (sigh, deep sigh), but the hair will surely be protectively styled. No complacency allowed! So, I still count today as day 39 and will carry on counting down. At least I'll get a chance for a proper wash and will try and DC a few times whilst in these rough twists - can't use a comb again till next week, so it'll have to be kept under wraps. I'll have to wait till Friday 30th for proper styling - or I may just re-twist and cover up again - we'll see. Pics to follow in the next few days, but not much of an update really - just one or two. I hope I can stick out the 100days - would have been perfect without having to use a comb but it's kinda not possible with my 4bz hair if I'm wanting to keep it loose. I'll keep going though - not giving up so easily! Watch this space, pics will be up in a few days!

HHG peeps!

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I thought I'd do a protective style that will help me leave by hair alone for a few weeks. My August - December album has an abandoned attempt with synthetic hair which didn't handle well and looked even worse, so I decided that although it's expensive, I'd rather use human hair, and here it is! This hair handles really well, is mega light and many, many people think it's my own hair as it blends so well with mine! I plan to wear these and refresh as needed (2nd - 4th weekly) for as long as I possibly can and will treat as I would my own hair. I'm hoping for growth and length retention, so this will be interesting! Enjoy, comment and do stay brightly blessed!

*****UPDATE - 23/12/08
I've decided to jump into a PSC bandwagon for 100 days with Kinky Lady (http://keepitkinky.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-100-day-hair-challenge.html) Lina (http://public.fotki.com/okorolina40/cg_technique_year_1/year-5--hair-topia--/page2.html) et al. It's perfect timing as my twists have been in since Tuesday 16th and I planned to keep them going till Spring. That would put me at Day 8 today. I'll update both here and on my hair blog, and will try and take pictures with any changes.

My Modified Rules to this PSC:

1. No combing or brushing hair more than once a week - won't be a problem as it's in twists and I will only refresh fortnightly at the shortest.
2. Keep hair in protective styles at all times. Protective styles are styles that require no combing and /or do not touch your neck*
3. No use of heat on hair - won't be a problem as don't use heat on my hair and don't intend to use heat anytime soon.
4. No dyeing hair - well, I use henna fairly regularly for strength and it dyes but won't be for the next 92 days due to the extensions. I'd have to remove all my twists and start all over again for henna and I do not plan to do that!
5. Deep condition hair regularly.... I plan to DC 2 weekly at the very least, if I'm good I'll do it weekly. I plan to alternate between protein and moisture DCs and see how things go. I'll modify if I feel I need more moisture and less protein as I have SAAs in my leave in anyway.
6. Daily moisturizing for hair and daily growth aid serum to scalp**. This is an absolute must if I want to retain any length I gain, so won't be getting lazy on this.
7. Apply leave-in on ends daily. I do this after I spray with my water+glycerine+essential oil spritz / do a herbal rinse / or wash my hair.
8. Cover hair with a satin scarf every night to keep the moisture locked in - in progress.
9. Eat as healthily as possible and drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. I plan to start taking my dietary supplements on a daily basis again.
10. Love my hair enough to take the time out to keep it healthy and beautiful. I'm good at this usually but tend to get lazy when I have extensions in place - that's changing as... well, I want to retain ALL the length I gain.
11. 30 minutes of exercise at least 3 times per week - walking counts though I'll try and work up a good sweat, get those pores to open up and let the hair out!

* My hair is short so can't really do much about it touching my neck. I'm mindful of friction though and will protect accordingly.
**I made a growth serum using jojoba oil, tea tree and rosemary essential oils with sulphur powder. I'll wait till March 2009 to see if this makes any difference to my growth!

**April 1st 2009**
Ready for cycle 2 peeps! My hair is all hennaed and deep conditioned, though I'v ...more

e TWA'd it for 2 days, so all I need to get done now is co-wash, maybe DC again just so it's nicely moisturised, give it a fab tea rinse and get twisting again. Will keep you posted, so please stay with me!