Growing Out Your Hair and Weaves -- MY Take..

First... let me start off by saying I L O V E throwing a sew-in in my hair. It's manageable, your real hair is tucked away and you're not manipulating it, and most of all... YOU CAN PUT AS MUCH HEAT IN THAT WEAVE AS YOU WANT AND NOT CARE ABOUT HEAT DAMAGE!

And I'll be the first to tell you... that when I have a sew-in... If I let it stay in long enough I will see what seems like a good amount of growth when I take it down.

But as I'm getting more and more serious about my hair journey I decided that I wasn't going to do a summer sew-in like I normally do for a few reasons.

1. I want to be able to say I grew my hair out authentically. Through hard work and finding out what works for my hair. (Yes. Sew-ins ARE a protective style in my opinion... But I honestly feel like I would be cheating myself and all the things I've learned about achieving the best hair I can possibly have if I took that route)
2. While sew-ins are a protective style and are extreme low manipulation... My hair still tends to get VERY dry in those braids. I'm not able to get the sufficient oils and moisture to my hair on the daily basis like I do with my hair regimen. And what's the one thing I preach about EVERY day on this blog and on my Tumblr? What's the one thing ALL hair journey ladies preach about? MOISTURE. My hair is so dry and brittle when I take my braids down I have to do MAJOR replenishment when my hair is finally free. Which brings me to my next point
3. Taking the braids down almost ALWAYS leaves me with unnecessary hair loss just from the tangles the braids give me. Yes, there are plenty of techniques I can go through to lose as little hair as possible while taking down and detangling my braids... but I'm just not up for it right now. You almost always lose hair and usually definitely need a trim afterwards. Yes, I will be trimming my hair anyway before the summer is over... but I don't want to have to trim more than I would under a regular circumstance. 
4. I have truly grown to LOVE doing my hair. Braids outs, twist outs, messy buns, co-washing, moisturizing, I seriously do love my hair and love watching the texture transform and watching it grow. I cut ALL my hair off 2 years ago and now it is Bra Strap Length... and it did it all without frequent trips to the salon. I'm proud of myself. My hair grows fast anyway... but this time was different because I took a more proactive role in my hair health... versus just letting it do it's own thing. I can't say for certain if it's growing any faster because it's always been healthy and long... but I can say that I just definitely am more proud of MY part in it. 

So there you have it. All summer I will be sew-in free. But that's not to discourage anyone who wants to do that. There are ways you can oil your braids and get moisture to your hair. So if you want to... GO FOR IT. This is just my personal decision.

I may do half-wigs for special occasions this summer and I definitely will be getting a sew-in in the Fall. But I really want to see how far I can get my hair this summer... just me and my moisturizers lol

BSL to MBL by August? Yep. I can do it! ^_^