How to grow long Afro hair in 6 months - regimen of the winner of 6 month protective style challenge

In November I got into a six-month protective style challenge with afromoriri. This has been quite a ride. I had a problem with my nape hair. It just never grew! I even thought that is just how it is. Actually, I took it as very thick baby neck hair! Lol. One of my goals was to grow that hair. Few things that I got for the challenge are:

• Silk bonnet –which I made myself
• Natural products:Aloe Vera juice, Rose water (Home made), Peppermint oil, Rosemary oil, Coconut oil, Olive oil, Jamaican black castor oil, Castor oil, Shea butter, Honey, Yoghurt, Apple cider vinegar

           What I did:

• Prepped my hands for hard work and got on it!
  In the first month, I braided myself -thick ugly (gorgeous) and not full braids 

• Second month I made twists on my own again. Similar to the braids. 

• Third month mom plaited me with yarn –very nice hairstyle

• Fourth month I cut my hair ---when the aim was to trim it. Nevertheless, I do not regret it. I cut it to almost the size of my nape hair. That’s very short. As illustrated in the pics you can see the difference 

• Fifth month again my sister made thick braids for me, very nice yet thick and too full (ten packets). They were pulling my neck I think even my posture changed. I loved them although I do not like how heavy they were. As seen on the pic, I think I have gained a lot of hair length in the previous month from the braids. I forgot to check length after removing the cornrows

Notice Trend: No salon visits. I don’t like hair salons because of how harshly they handle my hair and always want to recommend that I just blow dry or relax my hair a little so that they can be able to plait me. I nearly fainted two years ago when I wanted to do a hairstyle and the hairdresser put relaxer on without my consent. So I always run from those people, either I DIY or someone who knows me and knows how I love my hair is willing to do me. 

Okay, in between my major styles I used to plait just cornrows and use the wig I made myself to style         my head. It was too hot though so I didn’t use it much. I also used to just use yarn to make twist looking-like hair. I did that a lot and it used to last me just a week or two while I’m still resting my head. I also did moisture and protein treatments to help strengthen and moisturise my hair. Protein treatment also which helps my hair have strength. It makes my hair hard though, but I still have to experience it a bit more. In my protein treatments I used eggs, mayonnaise and yoghurt mixture. Moisture deep conditioning consisted of yoghurt, coconut milk, aloe Vera juice and oils mixture. I always did the DC overnight because I wanted to get maximum hydrated. Hair would feel very soft before drying out. I have made myself a spray with ALL the oils mentioned above, and I spray my hair daily. What I like about the rosemary and peppermint oils is not only their fresh smell but also how I feel them on my scalp, which makes me believe (faith at work) they encourage hair growth. To moisturise hair daily I used Aloe Vera juice, rose water and also plain water. Then I would put leave-in conditioner and top with my oils spray and shea butter. Shea butter feels a bit more like it’s working than coconut oil on my hair since shea butter is a bit thick and I think my hair is highly porous. At night (many nights) I covered hair in shower cap to trap in moisture, when I had the huge braids I used a plastic bag. Some nights I used my silk bonnet to cover hair when going to sleep. Every two weeks I would wash my hair with conditioner, detangle with fingers (after detangling lecture) and twist or do maphondo with yarn. I used shampoo very little times; maybe once in 6 weeks or so. And every time after shampooing a moisture DC continued. I always use air to dry my hair and If I want to stretch it out I use yarn or make twists for a curly look. Okay when I removed the braids I realised that there’s a lot of dead hair. When I was finger detangling there was a lot of hair (not being dug from scalp and not breaking away either) that was remaining on my hands. It was just too messy I couldn’t take pictures until after washing and deep conditioning. I won! I received my prize on my Birthday!!! Yay!! 

This post was written by the winner, Wiwi, her Instagram handle is @wiwizer. Love - AfroMoriri