Name: Mimi

I am so excited about joining the GOC! I was waiting for this since I regularly started visiting your blog during the last GOC.

Goals: Oh so many goals. Where do I begin?! Okay, okay, maybe a mini hair story to start and then on to the goals. Basically, for several years (college and 2 years after), I pretty much weaved and wigged it up. I would get relaxers every 6 months or so in the front to blend my hair with the weave hair. I toyed with the idea of going natural, but I was afraid of my natural texture. So, I continued to torture my hair (I flat ironed and/or used a curling iron at least 4 days a week on dirty dirty filthy hair with no heat protectant). I finally decided enough is enough. May 2011, given that 6/8 of my hair was completely natural, I decided to let it all out. So at this time, the back is natural, but the front edges are transitioning, which makes for some interesting textures.

Additionally, because I took such terrible care of my hair while in weaves, I’ve had to cut off a lot of length in the past year (at least 4 or 5 inches), which is fine because I didn’t need the torn up ends. However, lately, despite taking really good care of my hair for the past year, I am finding broken hair in my crown and other places in the back of my head. I do not understand it and it’s causing the back of my head to be less thick than the front.

Hair
So, what I really want to work on is figuring out what is causing the breakage and trying to get growth and healthiness in the crown area. The hair on the upper right side of my head is 3b/3c and super, super, super fine as opposed to the thicker 4b strands on the rest. The fine hair has a tendency to break if I am looking at it wrong. Shelli, I know that you have had amazing results in growing back broken hair in your crown and if anyone has ANY advice, please throw it my way!! Hahaha! At my nape, my hair is APL. So, I am hoping for 2 to 3 inches of growth.

Health & Fitness
I also have a weight goal. I really need to lose 31 pounds to get to my goal weight of 136 and I do not think 6 months is too little time to lose it.

Regimen: 

Hair
I just started hennaing (two applications thus far) and I will def continue in the future. I am hoping to:

• Henna once a month
• Wash and deep condition every two weeks
• Potective style 70% of the time. When I started, I hated to protective style, but as I have learned how delicate my hair is, it just makes sense.
• I am currently using Knot Today as my leave in or Curls Crème Brulee.
• I seal with my creamy shea moisture mixture. I need to up my moisture game exponentially.
• I just started using castor oil on my edges and on the broken hair to help with growth.
• I also finger detangle pretty much exclusively.

Health & Fitness

• I go to the gym 3-4 days a week.
• I go to dance class at least once a week.
• I count my calories on CalorieCount.com. I lost 30 pounds in 2010 (and kept 25 of it off) and used that website to do it. So, I am hoping I can get back on the wagon and get the rest off.

Reward: New clothes time!!

(And yes, all my pics are taken in the same chair! Hahaha!)

Twist out after trimming my hair for the GOC