I've Joined The Mane Choice's Manetabolism Hair Growth Challenge!

Wooo! Super excited to be a part of the @courtneynaturalhair @themanechoice #Manetabolism challenge! Official start date pics coming in the morning! #naturalhair #themanechoice #hairgrowth #healthyhairjourney

Happy Monday everyone!!!

If you follow me on Instagram or have liked the Facebook Page, then this little tidbit isn't exactly news to you. But what I'd like to go into more detail about and share with everyone is what exactly this means, how I got involved, etc.

About two weeks ago, @CourtneyNaturalHair and @TheManeChoice put out an APB for bloggers and social media folks to get in touch with them if they'd be interested in joining a hair growth challenge with The Mane Choice and Manetabolism Healthy Hair Vitamins. I suspect this had something to do with a Hairfinity challenge starting soon - and what better way to determine who has the superior product, lol! In any event, timing was everything! I had been thinking about doing some sort of challenge -- protective styling/length retention, scalp oiling (coconut, JBCO), or something. Then, this opportunity popped up. I said sure, why not see if I'm cool enough to get in on this thing?

Here are the quick and dirty deets (I want to be 137% honest with y'all):
  • I am not paying for the Manetabolism vitamins.
  • I am not being paid to participate in the Manetabolism challenge.
  • I am in no way being asked to favorably promote Manetabolism. All opinions expressed are completely and totally my own honest thoughts and feelings.
  • I will be doing the challenge for 6 months straight (all vitamins supplied by The Mane Choice), taking 2 vitamins every day (that is the recommended dosage). If I like my results, The Mane Choice will send me 6 more months of vitamins to give me a full year of growing with them.
  • Every 30 days (for me, that will be the 26th of every month), I will upload a few progress pictures on my Instagram and Facebook. More than likely, I'll share those pictures here too.
  • Around month 3, The Mane Choice will collaborate with me to sponsor a giveaway of Manetabolism vitamins. Keep your eyes peeled around April 2014!
Now that we've got that out the way, I also want to let you all know that I will be sharing more than just progress pictures. Vitamins and supplements can also impact the health of your skin, energy levels, and more. I will definitely be sharing any side effects I experience (positive and negative), so I can give you all a complete picture. And just so that I can be COMPLETELY sure that any hair growth/progress is appropriately attributed to the Manetabolism vitamins, I will:
  • NOT be deviating majorly from my normal haircare routine. I may rock a bun here and there, or experiment with a braidout or finger coils, but you will not see me go into intensive protective styling mode. I want my growth/length retention around this time to be reflective of how I actually wear and style my hair, not because of some extreme length retention regime.
  • STOP taking most of my other vitamins and supplements. Most, not all. I will continue to take my probiotics, omegas, and healthy blood/iron pills (I don't eat red meat). This means no biotin, no MSM, no other multi-vitamin that will impact my hair growth rate.
  • Refrain from clipping/trimming my ends. This one is going to drive me crazy. Ever since getting my DevaCut, I've been obsessed with blunt ends. Even though it is normal for older hair to begin weathering and tapering, I find myself doing a search and destroy on anything that isn't blunt and thick and the ends. I will just have to deal, because I want to see true progress and growth with these vitamins.


Just trying to determine if I'm able to see any growth as I approach 2 months post chop. I know today's wash and go is a little more stretched than December's, because I hadn't started banding the front of my hair yet. All that aside, I think I'm seeing a little growth :) #naturalhair #washandgo #lengthcheck #sizecheck #nhdaily #curlkitchen #trialsandtresses #naturalhairdaily #ilnh #tressesntreats #emergingnaturalistas #curlsandfro #kbnatural #themanechoice

And finally, just a few hair stats:
  • I big chopped the rest of my heat damaged ends on December 5th, 2013. My 2 month choppiversary is around the corner!
  • I have normal porosity hair. No, I didn't do one of those hair-float-in-water experiments, I don't think you can really rely on those anyway. To make a long story short, hair is almost always coated in oil (sebum, or oil you applied). Oil will always float on top of water. Oil is not completely occlusive, and therefore some water will inevitably be taken up by your hair. But based upon my current practices/regimen, I find that my hair decently retains moisture. I do have some more tightly curled patches that require a little more TLC, but nothing major.
  • I don't exactly know my hair type. I try not to give much credence to these typing systems, but I do understand why some people find them helpful. In Andre Walker's system (arguably the most popular), my hair is a mixture of mostly 3B and 3C, with a little patch of 3A on my left side. According to the Mizani system, my hair is all about that type IV and V life.
  • My hair grows roughly 3/4 of an inch to an inch per month. Sometimes less. This is slightly above the average 1/2 inch per month rule. I don't have any length retention stats, because well, I just chopped not that long ago.
Here's my starting picture:

Today I officially begin my @courtneynaturalhair @themanechoice #Manetabolism hair growth challenge! For 6 months, I will take the @manetabolism vitamins and document my growth every 30 days! Just to ensure that nothing else is impacting my growth, I have stopped taking most of my other supplements (biotin, msm). I will continue to take my probiotics and omegas. I will post progress pics every 30 days for the next 6 months. I will keep you all updated regularly on the blog about how the vitamins make me feel (energy-wise), if there are any breakouts, if it clears my skin, etc. Stay tuned! #naturalhair #hairgrowth #themanechoice #growthchallenge

I'll be updating you all within a week or so, about my initial thoughts on the vitamins!

1 Month Check-In//Length Check: Click Here

2 Month Check-In//Length Check: Click Here

8 Comments

  1. Her vitamins are super expensive, but I'm willing to do a 2month trial SIMPLY based on your review.... :)

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  2. I've been contemplating using vitamins for hair growth. I'd researched hairfinity and now this. Not sure yet.

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  3. I'd like to participate but I'm using Natures Bounty Hair Skin & Nails. Also for those that are looking for an even cheaper alternative, I've heard great reviews on the CVS brand Hair Skin & Nails supplements.

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  4. So how does one start the Manetabolism hair challenge and get all the free perks like you did? Sounds interesting.

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  5. im sooo confused... is the challenge to take the vitamins

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  6. @anonymous Wow! Also stay tuned, I'm going to be doing a giveaway!!! @Dee Jordan: I've looked at Hairfinity as well. I'll definitely be posting monthly to show if it may be worth it or not!

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  7. @T McKenzie thanks for the info! I think I'll do a growth challenge this Spring :) @Anonymous the vitamins are available via www.themanechoice.com -- all you do is take a before/starting pic and upload it to Instagram with the hashtag #themanechoice to start! I just take 2 vitamins a day and keep it moving :) As far as the perks go, that was limited to bloggers participating in the challenge. But each blogger will also be doing a giveaway, myself included!

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  8. @lynah it is, to take the vitamins every day for 6 months and upload progress every 30 days!

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