u/Able_Still7715

Hello, everyone. I wanted to share my one-year update and hopefully get some advice because I'm kind of stuck right now.

Quick background: I'm 20, Indian, and my hair is really thick and wavy - 2B pattern. A year ago I had basically a buzzcut (1 inch on top, under half an inch on the sides). Now I'm sitting at 9 inches on top and 6.5 on the sides and back. The end goal is waist length so I can donate it.

For the photos - the outdoor ones in the blue shirt are my hair fully dry and loose with a dime-size amount of leave in conditioner, and a 2 quarter amounts of gel raked in. The bathroom ponytail shots are the only ones where I have oil in it. The ponytail is 3.5 inch in circumference. You can probably see the problem: it's sitting in this bob shape right now, and the sides are just barely too short to reach a hair tie, which is its own kind of frustrating.

My routine (Florida humidity + thick high-porosity hair is a whole thing):

• Wash days (~3x a week): I pre-poo my scalp with Mielle Rosemary Mint Scalp & Hair Strengthening Oil and coat my ends in coconut oil before getting in the shower. I wash and condition with Dove Intensive Repair shampoo and conditioner. After, I put in a small amount of Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioning Cream and scrunch in Not Your Mother’s Curl Talk Sculpting Gel, keeping it about a half inch away from the roots.
• Rest days: No wash — I just revive my waves by scrunching with wet hands and do a dry scalp massage with my fingertips.
• Weekly reset: Jojoba oil massage into my scalp, double wash with Paul Mitchell Shampoo Two (clarifying), then I leave my Dove Intensive Repair conditioner on for 10 minutes like a mask. Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in after, and I seal just the ends with a couple drops of Jojoba.

Sometimes when I plan to stay home for the day, I just use a couple drops of jojoba.

Honestly open to any feedback on the overall health and shape. But my biggest struggle right now is protective styling during this bob phase while the sides won't fully tie back yet - and if anyone has accessory recommendations for keeping this length under control (headbands, bobby pins, anything that works for thick wavy hair at this stage), I'm all ears.

Hello, everyone. I wanted to share my one-year update and hopefully get some advice because I'm kind of stuck right now.

Quick background: I'm 20, Indian, and my hair is really thick and wavy - 2B pattern. A year ago I had basically a buzzcut (1 inch on top, under half an inch on the sides). Now I'm sitting at 9 inches on top and 6.5 on the sides and back. The end goal is waist length so I can donate it.

For the photos - the outdoor ones in the blue shirt are my hair fully dry and loose with a dime-size amount of leave in conditioner, and a 2 quarter amounts of gel raked in. The bathroom ponytail shots are the only ones where I have oil in it. The ponytail is 3.5 inch in circumference. You can probably see the problem: it's sitting in this bob shape right now, and the sides are just barely too short to reach a hair tie, which is its own kind of frustrating.

My routine (Florida humidity + thick high-porosity hair is a whole thing):

• Wash days (~3x a week): I pre-poo my scalp with Mielle Rosemary Mint Scalp & Hair Strengthening Oil and coat my ends in coconut oil before getting in the shower. I wash and condition with Dove Intensive Repair shampoo and conditioner. After, I put in a small amount of Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioning Cream and scrunch in Not Your Mother’s Curl Talk Sculpting Gel, keeping it about a half inch away from the roots.
• Rest days: No wash — I just revive my waves by scrunching with wet hands and do a dry scalp massage with my fingertips.
• Weekly reset: Jojoba oil massage into my scalp, double wash with Paul Mitchell Shampoo Two (clarifying), then I leave my Dove Intensive Repair conditioner on for 10 minutes like a mask. Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in after, and I seal just the ends with a couple drops of Jojoba.

Sometimes when I plan to stay home for the day, I just use a couple drops of jojoba.

Honestly open to any feedback on the overall health and shape. But my biggest struggle right now is protective styling during this bob phase while the sides won't fully tie back yet - and if anyone has accessory recommendations for keeping this length under control (headbands, bobby pins, anything that works for thick wavy hair at this stage), I'm all ears.

Hello, everyone. I wanted to share my one-year update and hopefully get some advice because I'm kind of stuck right now.

Quick background: I'm 20, Indian, and my hair is really thick and wavy - 2B pattern. A year ago I had basically a buzzcut (1 inch on top, under half an inch on the sides). Now I'm sitting at 9 inches on top and 6.5 on the sides and back. The end goal is waist length so I can donate it.

For the photos - the outdoor ones in the blue shirt are my hair fully dry and loose. The bathroom ponytail shots are the only ones where I have oil in it. You can probably see the problem: it's sitting in this bob shape right now, and the sides are just barely too short to reach a hair tie, which is its own kind of frustrating.

My routine (Florida humidity + thick high-porosity hair is a whole thing):

Wash days (~3x a week): I pre-poo my scalp with Mielle Rosemary Oil and coat my ends in coconut oil before getting in the shower. I wash and condition with Dove Intensive Repair. After, I put in a small amount of Cantu Leave-In and scrunch in NYM Gel, keeping it about a half inch away from the roots.

Rest days: No wash — I just revive my waves by scrunching with wet hands and do a dry scalp massage with my fingertips.

Weekly reset: Jojoba oil massage into my scalp, double wash with Paul Mitchell Shampoo Two, then I leave my Dove conditioner on for 10 minutes like a mask. Cantu Leave-In after, and I seal just the ends with a couple drops of Jojoba

Honestly open to any feedback on the overall health and shape. But my biggest struggle right now is protective styling during this bob phase while the sides won't fully tie back yet - and if anyone has accessory recommendations for keeping this length under control (headbands, bobby pins, anything that works for thick wavy hair at this stage), I'm all ears.