Skin woes are gone. Hair is now my main focus

After three years of battling acne that stopped responding to prescription medication, I have found the solution and cleared my skin in a very short space of time.

I used an ingredient that is found in virtually all over-the-counter acne products. That ingredient is salicylic acid, the only difference is I began using it at a pH that rendered it extremely effective. Apparently salicylic acid is the holy grail for unclogging your pores, the only problem is that it works only when the pH of the product is at 3 for the highest. Over the counter products usually have a pH that is too high for the acid to do its job.

My first low pH product was the Paula's Choice 2% BHA Gel which has a pH of about 3.2. It cleared my skin about 85%-90% unclogging most of my pores but I still thought I could do better. I am prone to inflammatory acne so a clogged pore can result in a pretty large and painful bump.

I eventually found another 2% formulation at an extremely low pH. I ordered the Garden of Wisdom Beta Exfo Tonic which has a pH of 1.9. Within one week's time, I began to see the clogs just disappearing. My extremely large pores appear to have shrunken in size some and when I do get a breakout, it disappears in no time. I am now into my 2nd week of using the product and my skin looks better than it has in years.

After thousands of dollars, lots of tears and a lot of embarrassment, I am finally on my way to having clear skin once again. Now that I no longer have to focus so much on my skin, I am back on my hair game.

I deep conditioned my hair twice last week and I will continue to do so. My hair is just a little past SL after my last cut. I am hopeful that 2014 will be a good hair year for me and that I can close the year at full BSL which is possible since I have very a short torso and my hair grows at the rate of a little over 1 inch every 6 weeks. If I retain my length, I should be able to see my hair visibly lengthen by 6-7 inches this year.

I will also be updating my blog on a regular basis to track my progress.

First post of 2014

Hi ladies,
I have been MIA for quite some time.

Firstly, all of my photos have disappeared from the blog and I am not quite sure how that happened lol.

Secondly, I have been so scissors happy that I have no real progress to show. I am an almost perfectly blunt SL. After 6 years of hair care, I must say I have spent lots of time, effort and money and have achieved nothing.

I must say though that there are just some ladies who will always have a more difficult time than others when it comes to a hair journey. I know of someone who made it to almost BSL to have her hair stop responding and start breaking uncontrollably. These people tend to decide that maybe the relaxer life is not for them, the hair journey life is not for them and they throw in the towel and go back to weaves.

I thought about it for a minute and then a small voice inside said to me, you are not a quitter, you never give up. Think about what you have been doing for the past few years that kept you yo-yoing from SL to APL and then think about what you did in the beginning of your hair journey that got you to grazing BSL.

Then it hit me. I was a bi-weekly washer until I got lazy and said you know what? I'll just wash once a week. For the past couple of years I have been washing my hair once a week and it has done nothing for me. So now I have to suck it up and wash my hair twice a week. It is tough though. I get home late from work because the commute from work is crazy and the last thing I want to do is wash my hair, but you know what? I will do it because waist length hair is one of my greatest desires (clear skin, finding the man of my dreams and living until the age of 100 are some of the others) and I am not going to give up.

Go I am taking up the challenge and from next week, I will be implementing the mid-week wash day. I am due for a relaxer on March 22nd and I will post photos regardless of the results. If it's good, you will see it. If it's bad, you will see it. In spite of my last cut a couple of weeks ago, I think I have retained length. I had some breakage in the back and I cut just to even it out.

My retention is improving. I have gone back to the juice, using Care Free Curl and sealing with shea butter. It is keeping the moisture content in the ends of my hair at a really good level and preventing all those little broken strands of hair that I had grown used to.

In other news about me: My braces are off after 11 months and now I'm wearing a retainer at the ripe old age of 31 :)