I recently decide to begin my own personal grow out challenge. Read more here
As discussed previously on this site, many professional stylist recommend that curly girls blow their hair out for a proper trim. Blow out is using medium to low heat from a blow dryer to temporarily straighten or stretch hair. Lexi with the Curls has a great video.
The picture angles are a little different but you will notice that picture 1 needs a trim (Click on the pictures for larger view). My ends were in pretty good shape but I still wanted to get a trim to avoid any future breakages. My stylist trimmed less than 1/4 of a inch less; retaining the length of my hair. Picture 2 is after the trim.
Below are pictures from blow out and trim from November.
We Have Moved To Naturalhairrules.com 
i’m so jealous right now! Your hair looks fabulous. I am doing a post on my site regarding growing healthy hair in general…..thanks for this.
Lovely progress… Your hair looks extremely healthy and beautiful.
I too did a straight out look just to measure my length & to do something different TEMPORARILY and received glowing compliments….kinda made me feel as though my kinky curls didnt get much love. REGARDLESS you are empowered to make decisions regarding YOUR hair on YOUR time………I say rock what you feel….that is what I am doing. 🙂