Working Through The APL-BSL Hump..

As you guys know, BSL has been my goal length for this year and I finally reached it in October. When I started aiming for this length, I thought it would be so easy to reach. After all, I had successfully gotten past the dreaded SL-APL hump that you hear so much about on the hair boards. BSL should be CAKE right?

Not necessarily.

During my quest for BSL, I discovered the APL-BSL hump. Anyone who has experienced this hump know that watching your hair growth during this time is like watching grass grow or watching paint dry. It's like nothing ever happens and you're the same length every. single. length. check. Talk about discouraging. BSL seems so far away and although you're doing everything right regimen wise, it doesn't seem like it is reflecting in your retention. So what do you do when you came running head first to this (retention) brick wall? Let me tell you what helped me:

Wash and DC your hair 100x a day. Psych! Just playing.

1) Pay attention to your hair. This step is very important. You have to determine if you are doing right by your hair. Are you staying on top of your moisture/protein balance? When was your last trim/search and destroy session? How have your stress levels been? What is your diet like? All of these things are important for healthy hair growth and it is easy to get really lax in your regimen the longer you have been on your hair journey (how many of us were super duper on top of things when we first started are now like....meh? Go on...admit it. We've all been there). Speaking from experience, it is important not to slack on your regimen if you are still actively trying to meet your length goals.

2) Know thyself. By that I mean, know your body. Personally, I have a long torso. That's just the name of the game. It took me dang near forever to reach APL and it took me dang near forever to reach BSL. That's just what it is. Since I can't undo the wonderful genetics that is me, I just work with it. I have to operate with the mindset that it will take me longer to reach certain goals because my torso is so long. I can't compare myself with other women who may have shorter torsos.


3) Check Your Bra. Seriously. BSL is such a tricky length because the goal doesn't have an anatomical landmark. Instead, it uses an article of clothing...and a fickle one at that. Depending on how your bra sits, BSL can be as high as APL and as low as MBL. If your bra sits too low, BSL can take forever because really you're going after MBL. If it's too high....I don't really know what to say about that LOL. My point is, take care to check the position of your bra to ensure an accurate reading of length. If BSL is too all over the place for your, use the anatomical marker 'Below Shoulder Blade' (BSB).

4) Patience. Ultimately, patience is key for this length. If you know you have been doing everything right by your hair, BSL will come. However, take comfort in the fact that for a lot of ladies, there is an APL-BSL hump and that length wasn't reached with relative ease.