Growing...Out

I've gone through a MAJOR journey of getting to be blonde...then red...then back to blonde. And although i LOVE my hair color, it's time to let it grow out. Here's the thing, lightening my hair has, of course, caused breakage. I cared for my hair and conditioned, moisturized, protein treated it as often as possible...rarely wore it straight and did things like braid outs

 ....and flat twist-outs

 to style it. But all of this just made for a life of maintaining length. My hair was still breaking, it was just breaking at a rate that was only slightly slower than my hair was growing. And let me tell you, my hair had been GROWING! Had i stopped the madness a while ago, i'd have much longer hair and i may even be able to wear it straight or styled without feeling like it was going to fall out.
I know that my obsession with blonde hair seemed to always outweigh any desire to grow my hair out, but recently i just got a bit fed up with how my hair was looking. I started wearing my hair in what i call, Old Lady Braids, in order to save myself from excessive shedding and broken strands while i was out and about.

Notice that, while my face is snatched, my hair looks like a tribute to rosa parks.

It's really hard to feel glam when your hair is styled to be tied down before you go to bed.

Anyhoo, i've noticed that wearing weaves with closures and wigs has become more and more popular... and not just with older ladies like it used to be. I had a makeup client who had started having wigs made and had gotten addicted. She never wore her real hair out anymore and what was so awesome about that was that her hair had grown to be suuuuper long because she was letting it rest.
So... i could keep my old lady braids, let my hair have some break time without breaking AND be cute?! SOLD!... but still nervous about looking... wiggy. You know?
I have an aunt who wears wigs and she had left one at my house so i took that as my chance to just see what it was like...

It's a little rough because i wasn't wearing makeup, i didn't wash the wig because i was just trying it on and... the bangs aren't the best. But i REALLY liked where this look could go.
So i washed it and cut the bangs to better suit my comfort and...

I pretty much fell in love with it! I even wore it out and about! That's pretty major.
after getting comfortable with this wig, i set out to find another. And i hit the jackpot!

I mean.... is it not PERFECT?! So this is the reason that i have made the tough decision to stop dying my hair and grow it out! If i want a change in hair color, i'll just get a wig! Lol! And while wearing these fabulous wigs and feeling great, i'll be able to do absolutely nothing with my real hair and let it rest and grow... hopefully it'll be a short journey to having long hair of my own again.
Here's what it looks like now...

I can't wait to see it get longer.... but i must admit, i'm gonna miss my blonde waves.

Update: ok, this is now, June 9th 2015... i've actually got a little curl action going...