Hi JiggaLuv, I have been natural for five years or so now and it has been a roller coaster ride for sure. After chopping off my mid-back length hair into a cute (and at the time, still relaxed) hair syle (regret!) and moving to a very rural area with virtually no other people of the same race (double regret! lol) let alone ones with natural hair, I was on my own. I always wanted to ditch the relaxers and at that point they weren't available to me anyway unless I drove 60 miles into the city to a good salon. But long story short, I haven't seen much length because of breakage and from not having the time to properly care for it (and friends/employers with genetically straight hair do not understand how much time and intensive attention each curly natural strand needs!) but that's my own fault for not keeping up a good routine.
The rural area has been good for one thing to be sure - self-suffiency! And by that I mean, herbal care has been the best discovery for natural hair ever. Remeber the movie 'Coming to America' where Eddie Murphy's character said his long hair has only been touched by natural juices and berries? It's like that and it's a truth.
Aloe, marshmallow root extract, slippery elm bark extract (this stuff is awesome, no-- the best ever, but the tree is becoming endangered so use with respect), shea nut butter, coconut butter (the real stuff, not lotion), irish moss (the seaweed), flax and chia seed extract as well as hemp, castor, argan oil and don't forget the rosewater as well as apple cider vinegar rinses for shine. All or some of these things can be combined with a little beeswax as an emulsifier for the softest natural hair ever. There's inifinite solutions in nature, you just have to take the time to learn it and make it. My problem is just laziness in getting it on my strands.
If you don't wanna play kitchen chemist, check out http://www.treasuredlocks.com/, http://www.carolsdaughter.com/ and http://www.curlmart.com/category/10-best-curly-hair-products/. I know there's others but again I'm lazy and that should be plenty to get you started. Don't be like me and waste five years of good growing out time by not having a routine, that's the most important part of the deal.
