Hellooooo LHC! I've been lurking around here for a couple weeks and thought it was time to make myself known, so to speak. So here's my story:

About five years ago, I cut my relatively healthy BSL hair to a kind of longish pixie (some hair was touching my neck in the back, and the very tops of my ears were covered), and I've been growing my hair since then and am currently less than an inch from waist. Until about a month or so ago, I was getting pretty sizable trims every 3-6 months, using shampoo with no condish, and raking through my hair with a plastic brush. Luckily I was only blowdrying/straightening maybe once every few months, if not less, and washing my hair every other day at most, but more often only 2 times a week.

Despite all those not-so-hairfriendly practices, my hair is still in pretty decent shape. During the last month, month and a half I've been experimenting with baking soda/ACV, shampoo bars, and co-washing, still trying to figure out what my hair likes best. I'm definitely treating my hair more kindly than before, using a wood comb, keeping up with hair sticks or fork, braiding for bed, oiling with coconut oil, etc. and I'm really excited to see how great my hair can be!

For now my goal is hip, just so I don't go crazy thinking about how long it'll take to get to those really long lengths, but I'm sure I won't stop there