Develop a Plan: Think and Grow Fabulous Hair

Per my last post on the official kick-off of operation "Get out of your natural hair rut", I talked about my goal to have long, big, loosely curled, dark, shiny hair (say that 5 times fast). Today's post is about the second part of the Think and Grow Rich principles where Napoleon Hill states that you have to have a plan to get what you desire. I'm concocting a hybrid plan based on the recommendations of my two favorite hair bloggers, Maneandchic and CurlyNikki. My plan is to:

1. Track my progress obsessively
2. Tie my hair up every night or at least sleep in a silk pillow case to deter breakage
3. Continue to wash and style my hair when it's parted into four sections for less breakage and easier manageability
4. Keep hair inspirations nearby in either a physical or online scrapbook
5. Use natural products
6. Use Henna regularly
7. Style my hair using the Twist n' Curl method to promote growth
8. Get a support system! (i.e. naturallycurly.com hair forums)

Why did I choose all of these very specific things to do? Well let's assess...

Maneandchic

Progress Tracking

I think the number one thing Maneandchic is famous for is her commitment to tracking her progress. I remember looking at her first post the other day, when she had a collar-bone length, relaxed bob, and she vowed from that point on she was going to have bra-strap length, natural hair...that was in April of 2007. Today she has reached past armpit length and growing.

The funny thing is, I had my hair goals long before I decided to write about them today; the problem is I never took the time to track my progress. I fact, Maneandchic's "Think and Grow Long" post inspired me to add my hair goals to this Think and Grow Chick blog. On previous blogs I started, I spent most of my time blogging about entrepreneurship because being an entrepreneur is my life's dream, but I always fell off of those blogs because I felt so limited. After all, my first entrepreneurial venture was a natural hair care line called Material Gurl, and my natural hair still remains an important part of me.

From Product Pictures

I thought people might think I was silly for talking about seemingly "superficial" goals like hair care on a blog where I simultaneously talked about things like financial freedom and spirituality, but being a Think and Grow Chick is about thinking and growing the WHOLE chick, not just the "serious" parts. So yeah, I could be doing anything in the world right now, but I'm using my precious time to draft and document a plan to reach my hair goals. Thanks Maneandchic for giving me the confidence to do that.

Tying hair up at night

Maneandchic attributes much of her growth to tying her hair up at night. She is so dedicated to keeping her hair under wraps while she sleeps, she's even known to "baggy".

Sectioning hair into four parts

Additionally, Maneandchic sections her natural hair into four parts for cleansing, conditioning, and styling purposes. She writes:

I do everything in four sections. It's easier to detangle my hair this way and also I'm ensuring that I reach every inch of my head when using this method to apply product. In fact, my hair was falling out by the handfuls up until two years ago when I first employed this method. I use it for everything. When I get ready for bed I part my hair in these four sections and apply oils. In the morning I co-wash in sections and then detangle in sections. I strongly suggest this method for transitioners, as it helped me transition for over a year successfully while retaining most of my hair.

Hair Inspirations

Maneandchic is also popular for he knack at finding and profiling inspiring models and everyday women with beautiful natural hair. There were many days that I would go to her site just to look at the pictures she posted. If I learn nothing else from Maneandchic, I know to keep visuals of my goal around me at all times.

The general recommendation for people pursuing goals like this is to tear things they like out of magazines and save them in a folder. Again, I'm both a bit lazy and a bit of a tech nerd, so what I've vowed to do is take things I like off of the internet, and clip them to my Evernote. For those of you unfamiliar with the greatness that is Evernote, it's an digital notebook system that syncs from online, to your desktop, to your iphone/ipod and back again. I use Evernote for all my goals, not just hair, but I'll do an in-depth review of Evernote at another time.

Natural products

I've always liked natural products and felt they were better for your hair, but I fell off because the Korean beauty supply store is IMMEDIATELY off campus and it was just too easy to stock up on all the petroleum-based crap they sell in there. This is particularly sad because, as I stated previously, I started a natural product line my sophomore year in college. Following Maneandchic reminded me how important natural products are to my hair goals, so I'm working to get back on track.

CurlyNikki

I found out about CurlyNikki through some youtube videos done by fans of hers and through Maneandchic, and let me just say that this chick has some gorgeous hair! Check out her site and you'll see why I've incorporated her routine into my hair plan.

Henna

CurlyNikki is a HUGE henna proponent having started using henna herself in 2007 (you can literally follow her henna journey day by day on this thread of the naturallycurly.com forum). Via CurlyNikki's testimony and her hair pictures, Henna apparently makes hair very strong, shiny, and healthy. Though henna is a little messy (it looks like thick mud once mixed) and more inconvenient to do then a regular deep conditioner, I'm totally down for the challenge if it'll give me the hair it's famous for.

Twist n Curl

The "Twist n Curl" is CurlyNikki's signature hair-do and her method for maintain hair length. To do a TnC, section and twist hair like normal for a twist out, but wrap the ends around rollers to deter split ends and breakage. CurlyNikki claims she used to be a "wash-n-go" kind of girl, but her hair never got passed shoulder length. With the help of her TnC and Henna use, CurlyNikki's hair is quickly approaching waist-length.

I'm lazy so obviously I love to "wash-n-go", but I've hit the same shoulder-length brick wall CurlyNikki mentions, so I think it's time I try something new. CurlyNikki also maintains that she either ties her hair up at night or uses a silk pillow case, so I think both the Twist n Curl and a silk pillow case are in my immediate future.

Get a support system

CurlyNikki is an extremely active member of the NaturallyCurly forums. I used to think it was dorky to join a hair forum and talk about natural hair all day, but I've noticed nearly all of the women active on those forums meet their hair goals. I think the forums provide you with fellowship and accountability, both of which are so important that Napoleon Hill spent a lot of time in Think and Grow Rich talking about "Mastermind groups" —a group where you can fellowship and hold others accountable over reaching your goals. I've already joined naturallycurly.com and I plan on posting soon...check me out as Think&GrowChick.

So that's it! How does my plan sound to you? Have your own plan for fabulous natural hair? Let me know what you think by commenting!