June 12, 2011: Results from Coconut Oil and a Trim

This post will commence what the main purpose of this blog is about: to see if I can restore my hair to its 2008 health while at least maintaining and hopefully increasing its length.  I now have been experimenting with coconut oil for almost four weeks.  I have done a couple of deep oilings while leaving it in my hair overnight and also have used smaller amounts on just the last six inches of my hair.  I also had my wife trim about an inch from the ends a few days ago.

Here is how my hair is looking today.  This is after a deep oiling on 6/9/2011 and washing/conditioning yesterday but with no further oiling:

I think it is looking better than it did last month.  The trim definitely helped and I think further trims may be in order as the last six inches still feels rough when I run my hand down the length.  I'm very interested in trying to attain greater length too so I will have to balance the two objectives.  The difference is that now I'm taking better care of my hair so as new hair grows in the healthier hair should push down to the ends.  Coconut oil is an amazing product.  It actually penetrates the hair shaft unlike jojoba oil which only coats it.  My hair reacts far better to the coconut and I think it's going to make a difference by protecting and nourishing it at greater lengths.

Bringing Things Up-To-Date: 2011

2010 ended with me being unhappy with the feel of my hair.  The last six inches felt damaged and I was unsure how to proceed.  I remembered my dyeing it the temporary plum color in 2007 and how I liked the results then so I decided to try this again in January 2011:

I think the intense conditioning did make the ends feel better but it was really only a temporary fix.  By May, the ends again were not feeling healthy:

So, this ends the recounting of my hair history from 2004 to the present.  From this point forward, I will commence posting about my efforts to attain further length and improved health.  A very helpful discovery I made last month was coconut oil.  It's showing great promise in eliminating tangles and penetrating the hair shaft to improve the hair's health.  I also plan on trying Feye's self-trim method soon to give myself regular small trims.

2010 in Review

This year was a whirlwind for me. I got married on July 11, 2010 and so much of it went by very quickly. My hair was kind of just there. I got a trim of about two inches shortly before the wedding and another trim late in the year. For the first time I was really beginning to see damage even at lengths that I had previously attained with much healthier hair.

I'm not entirely sure the reasons for this but part of the reason for me chronicling things in this blog is to see if the situation can be corrected. I think part of it was me just not being as focused on hair care and maintenance. I also exercised much more than in previous years and didn't put a lot of effort into trying to protect it. This is probably the main culprit.

I wore my hair in a braid for the wedding:

In Gloucester in August: