So now that I have settled in to week 8 going on 9 of the stretch I think I am quite happy with the stretch at present – I have quite a lot of growth, but it doesn’t look bad at all. In fact I seem to have attracted a few compliments.

My bantu knot outs are pretty much on lock – and the olive oil styling mousse wets the hair but then dries quickly and leaves some moisture in the hair. I was only using it because I thought I needed to use it up and get rid of it, but it seems to be the perfect solution for setting my hair in bantu knots.

I think making it to 12 week post should be fairly easy now that I have this as a go to style.

I think the bantu knots work out to be better than the satin rollers because as they give less volume with the curl. The satin rollers give too much volume which makes my head seem like one big poof ball.

My concern at this stage is that I will definitely be needing a good trim – I hope I haven’t done too much damage to my ends with the detangling frustrations – and I sure hope the growth will outweigh any ends damage.

I think my routine should be as follows:

· weeks 1-3 wrap and wear down

· weeks 3-7 buns

· 8-12 bantu knot and wear up

The bantu knotting is something that probably wouldn’t work too well with a bob although I guess I could have a bantu knotted style – but I remember doing it on short hair and thinking it didn’t lay right enough to wear it down and that I ended up with a bit of an aunty mavis look…

I definitely think relaxed hair suits me better in terms of:

· Price

· Time spent at the salon

· Hair health

· Growth potential

· Styles

· Time spent on hair