If you remember a few posts back, I talked about how I wanted a new hair look for the New Year. I put up a few pictures of looks I decided I was going to go for and said that I was saving up some money so I could get to the salon and make it all happen. Well, because I've been flagrant in my neglect to update you all with my subsequent hair decision after that post, today's post is dedicated to my new hair regimen and styles that I actually decided to go through with for the New Year.

For starters, I did in fact head to "The Dominican's" (pre-financial apocalypse, of course) to get my hair straightened.

Maybe it's because of my increasing skill in doing my hair myself, but to be honest, I was not really impressed with the final results. Yes my hair was soft, yes it was shiny (and no, this picture doesn't really do it justice) but I can't say I was super impressed. If I can ever save up enough money to get my hands on a Maxiglide, I have a sneaking suspicion that I can do a much better job myself. But I digress...The whole point of me getting my hair straightened was to determined whether or not I wanted to go through with the Heidi Klum haircut I featured in my last hair post.

I must say, I'm glad I had my hair straightened on a separate salon visit first, because once I saw the state of my hair and how long my bangs were—I just couldn't go through with the cut. In fact, I couldn't go through with anything...no cut, no color, no nothing.

 From November 2009 Hair

Why couldn't I go through with my painstakingly planned New Year's hair makeover, you ask? For two reasons:

(1) My hair was so raggedy! I knew I was being abusive to my locks with all the rough combing and sleeping on cotton pillow cases but WOW! The above picture features my hair AFTER the stylist trimmed it. Look at all those scraggly, fly-away ends! I ended up trimming it again myself the next day because I was so horrified with the condition of my hair. Needless to say, I just felt that it would be reckless to go experimenting with new haircuts and hair colors as my hair needed some serious TLC.

(2) I was actually really surprised at how long my hair was once it was straightened. Like I said before, I've been an abusive parent to my tresses and I assumed that I was going to face a lot of breakage, leaving me with shorter hair. To my luck, I did not have a lot of breakage and even retained some length—the trade off was that I had to deal with an exorbitant amount of split ends instead. Nevertheless, seeing the length (however meager) renewed my desire for a head of healthy, long hair. Thus, scissors are officially out of the question and my new hair goal for New Years and beyond is armpit length, or "APL" status.

Since that week of straight hair, I have since been on a mad dash to find the perfect combination of products and techniques for a new "growing my hair" regimen. I've been on forums, read blogs, and watched youtube videos to get an idea of the things to try and so far...I think I've been pretty successful :-) Stay tuned for an upcoming post on my new regimen and different techniques I've been trying with my hair.

Have you ever had plans for your do, but changed you mind once you actually got to the salon? Are you currently on a "grow my hair" challenge yourself? What are you doing to ensure "hair success"? Share your comments below.