Pre BC Length Check

So we are a little less than a month away from my BC. I figured I kinda needed to know where I was as far as length, so the other night after I washed it I took some pix. I'm sooo far from where I wanted to be at this point. :( See for yourself. But I'm gonna up my biotin game & hope & pray for the best.

Perm free by May 15th!

Close-up of the new growth while wet

This is what the front is looking like

A bit longer than it looks, huh?

But still not all that long...

Had to do pix of the "lazy twistout" that I did

STYLE DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it was so bad I had to use my caps & an ungodly amount of exclamation points to explain it.

So Wednesday night I decided to try something different with my hair, since in my last post I lamented about being bored with my usual twists/twistouts. I wanted something a little funkier, a little edgier. I'm not sure of the name of the updo that I had in mind, but it was kinda like a double french roll all the way up to the crown of my head, with the front out in a spiral-y, sorta-kinda twist-out poof. (Sorry y'all, I know I'm horrible with descriptions!) The image in my head was very similar to the style that Janelle Monae often rocks.

What occurred on top of my head was not what I planned. It was not edgy. It was not funky. It was not cute. It definitely was not Tori D.

What, you expected a picture?!
I wasn't gonna photograph that travesty!

We (me & my mom) blow dried the back & pinned it up... sorta. For some reason she couldn't get the pins tight, so it felt like my hair was gonna come down at any minute. It took us forever to do that, and when we finally said eff it and quit I two strand twisted the front and rodded the twists up tight. Put the satin bonnet on and called it a night. The next morning I woke up to a disaster. The hair that had been pinned up was coming down & some pins had come completely out. No big surprise there. But the major let down was the front. It was still wet. Like I'd just washed it 30 minutes ago. Since it was still wet, the twists were loose and didn't have any kinda shape when I untwisted them; they just did a sad flop down on my forehead. I'm not ashamed to admit that I teared up! I ended up doing two quick flat twists up front (since the wet hair wouldn't lay down right) and doing a ponytail. Hated it, but hey, had to go to work so...

Yeah, that's that. It's still in a ponytail at the moment. I'll flat iron it before this weekend. I'm a little discouraged, but I'm gonna try it again soon. I may have to make a few changes, like doing it as a regular french roll instead of a double. May have to try something different with the front... IDK. Fortunately I've found several tutorial videos on YouTube. They aren't quite doing the look I was going for, but maybe they can help.

Here are a few that I found:

People, I've hit a plateau.

I'm already in a hair rut. This is a major problem y'all!
Since I've discovered two-strand twists, I have been in a recurring cycle of twist, twist-out, repeat. And it usually looks pretty good so that's not an issue. But being the fickle person that I am, I'm getting tired of the twists! I think I'm a little envious because I've been looking at all these cute natural styles & thinking "I wanna try that!" But my hair is too short for most of them. And then there is the issue of the two textures. The more my natural hair grows out, the more of a difference I can tell in the twists. Truth be told, the permed ends look so scrawny compared to the thick puffs of hair at the roots! My hair was thick when it was relaxed, but it's NOTHING compared to what's coming now!
Of course I could go the route that so many are telling me to try: braids. The thought of them makes me shudder! I really don't like the idea of sitting there forever while someone works on my head. I get bored easily, not to mention the fact that I'm headache prone. But no pain, no gain right? Meh, I'll think of that as a last resort.
I'm considering a sew-in, but I may be too late in the game for it. Since I think I'm gonna BC on my birthday (a little over a month away), I feel like it would be a waste to get a sew-in. After all, they are meant to last like two months or something, right? (I have no idea, so please correct me if I'm wrong!) I may try it after I BC, depending on whether or not I like the look of super short hair. But I'm gonna try to hold out with my hair (and probably the two-strands) until then...


By the way, I need to figure out what to do with my hair after the big chop!! Fro, locs, something that I haven't even considered? Hit up the poll at the top and the comments section & help me out. I'd be soooo appreciative!