I hope there's hope for my hair

I'm trying to grow out my hair. A hard feat for me. Not only do I get impatient and chop my hair off into a crazy hairstyle, but my hair also gets to a point where it just stops growing. UGH it makes me so mad. That's part of the reason why I go back to the crazy hairstyles. I recently got upset about my hair not growing and let it grow and grow and grow. It got to the longest it's ever been in my life (Which wasn't even long...). The only problem with that is that I straighten my hair almost every day and I refused to get it cut because I wanted it to grow out. Now I know better than that, I know that I'm supposed to get it trimmed so that it can continue growing, but I had to be stubborn. It got to the point that my hair just looked like a damaged mess, and I couldn't handle it any longer. I finally went to get it cut and they cut over an inch off (and trust me they could have cut off more to get all the split ends, but then I'd probably have a man cut). Right now my hair looks like this:

Except it's a little bit shorter. It's one of the same styles I've had all my life. I'm sick of it. But I made a pact with my hairdresser that I would come back and get my hair trimmed every 4-6 weeks and stick to the hair care rituals she had instructed me on. I even got a shampoo and conditioner that helps it grow faster (only the slightest bit faster, but hey, even a tiny bit of help is great). Before you know it (actually probably not for a year, if not longer) my hair will look like this...I hope:

I just need everyone to cross their fingers for me that I will be able to grow out my hair. It might take forever, but I want that long hair SOOO bad, it will be worth the wait.