Although I have a ton of work that I haven't so much as looked at, I really felt the need to blog, so here goes.
I've decided to get really serious about my hair and skin care routine. My skin is pretty good, but I don't always do my face masks like I should and I sometimes fall asleep before washing my face (gross I know, but hey, I'm being honest).
I am a bit of obsessed with face care especially the anti-aging aspect, and I have a very specific routine that involves an odd mixture of Arbonne, Origins and Prescriptives products with a dash of Neutrogena and Clearsil (it's very high school, but it's the best acne cream I've ever used). I won't get into my complicated routine here, unless someone really wants to know, in which case you can leave a comment and I'll go into it, but I assume most of you aren't interested. I'm taking a cornucopia of vitamins including GNC's Hair, SKin, & Nails formula and drinking 96 oz of water a day. That's it for the skin care.

As for my hair, at this point I am very satisfied with my current length; it allows me some options. I would like to have more length and I am patient about achieving it, partly because I'm comfortable with what I have now, so I'm not watching the pot boil so to speak. But I realize that I am going to have to do more than I am currently doing if I want to grow and retain length. So I've added an Aphogee treatment every six weeks. Hopefully it will cut down on single strand knots.
I decided to back away from the wide tooth comb when detangling because I was worried that it was causing snaps and tears, but finger combing on it's own obviously wasn't enough because there is now a knot circus up there. Thankfully while pursuing Nappturality yesterday I saw a thread about a new Goody's brush. I picked it up today and plan to use it for detangling on Monday. I'll let you all know how it goes :-)
I have tried the Denman brush before, but I felt it too was causing snaps and tears. I'll tell you what though, it removed every single shed hair and the following week's detangling was the quickest it's every been. Now my detangling process is taking upwards of two hours. I just can't handle that! Doing my hair is an all day affair! But I digress. In addition to the protein (Aphogee) treatment, I am going to be consistent about detangling every week. Sometimes life gets hectic and I have to go longer before detangling, but that only makes the process more difficult, so I just have to find the time to sit down and do it.
I made a batch of Moe's Hair Growth Oil, but supped it up by adding Nettle and Rosemary Essential Oil. I plan to massage my scalp every other day or 3x a week. I am also going to reduce how often I wash-n-go in an effort to reduce knots and tangles. Plus it takes forever for my hair to dry.

When it comes to my hair, I love the products in my current rotation but I am looking to diversify so if any of you naturals/nappturals out there have any favorite products, shout 'em out please.

Once I get camera batteries I'll take a picture of my hair in a twist out as a before and after shot. I'd like to get 3/4 inches a month (I don't measure my hair though, I just look at how much my color has grown out) but I'll be happy with 1/2 inch.

And one a cosmetic note: I think my eye shadow application skills have regressed in the last several months. I haven't been wearing makeup as often as I used to and my skills have suffered, so I am making an effort to wear makeup most days of the week. If I'm not too embarrassed about the results I'll post them here.

Take care everybody!