Three-year natural hair growth and journey

It's my third year as a natural.

This year has been okay, but not great. I've gained thickness because I've managed to grow the hair around the top and sides of my hair to be long enough to reach the nape hairs, thus giving me the appearance of thickness. In other words, I have fewer layers.

I gave myself a 1-2 inch trim all around and I'm happier with my hair health overall. My hair in the crown is very brittle and dry still, but I've managed to retain the hair as much as I can. Unfortunately, I have areas that are literally 2-3 inches long.

This whole year, I've probably spent no more than 2 months out of protective styles. I've worn wigs all throughout this year and this definitely helped me retain and meant I wasn't playing with my hair all the time.
Overall, I'm happy, I just wish my hair was longer.

Cream of nature Argon oil conditioner + Trim

I've been using coconut oil as a deep conditioner recently. I have heard great things about the benefits of coconut oil for hair and I had at the start of my hair journey used it, however it made my hair feel really dry. I used vatika coconut oil and whilst it smelled lovely, it had very little coconut oil. I later on tried pure unrefined coconut oil and found that it drying as well.

Of course, looking back, my hair was fried and nothing would have worked to repair the damage.

I decided to experiment with this oil and so far have tried it just as it is, not mixed with anything, left in overnight and then shampooed.

Then last week, I tried it with Cream of nature Argon oil conditioner. The conditioner itself has very little argon oil in it, but combined with coconut oil, it's been great for my hair. I moisturised with a mix consisting of almond oil, water, conditioner and sealed with mango butter.  I also gave myself a half inch trim all round and my breakage has improved.

Normally, just a little manipulation results in breakage and this has reduced significantly.

I'll keep trying this and see what the progress is.

Split ends

I mentioned in the last post that I've been experiencing breakage, particularly small broken hairs. I imagine all of this is taking its toll on my strands, so I thought it would be a good idea to post the different types of split ends I've seen so far. All the pictures below are of splits from about 2 inches from the end of the hair shaft.

Mid strand split

Severe split end, split in 3 different places

Split in 2 different places at 1.5 inches towards the end of the hair shaft

This last one is of multiple splits but the hair hasn't actually separated.

So all in all, my hair is in a mess. Time for a trim and it looks like the trim will have to be at least 2 inches.