Long Hair Care

[wife of]

Thats me too with the shorter than short low maintenance style!

 

[p-no]

Henna. I use red color henna but there's other kinds (colored and non-colored). Despite what they often say it does not make the hair dry at all. All hair dressers have complimented on it so far and the color looks very natural too. BUT: Some people don't like its smell, I do though.

 

[Nicolette]

Weird the correlation for some... the more stress and volitility, the shorter the hair.

I was forced to have short back and sides from about the age of 6 until I left home. I was never allowed to grow my hair long but my half sisters were.

Anyway as soon as I left home my goal was to grow my hair long and it took many trials and tribulations after hiccups where the hairdresser snapped my hair off :eek: and so on. Once long I was really happy.

It was only when I was with Anthony and wanted to 'change' my life and for some reason I thought that including cutting my hair short. I think I had some strange mentality that I was liked more with long hair by the men and didn't want that attention anymore.

And while I got many compliments I hated my hair short and cried for days. I found it took more work to style based on my hair type and I needed to use a straightening iron. I thought I had defeated those childhood demons but I realised I hadn't and it didn't take very long for me to start growing my hair again. The only thing I struggle with is a fringe as I like it but others say it suits me without one.

Short hair made me feel 'unfeminine'.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I have long hair. The few times I had short hair were awful. I did not grow up with doing my hair or getting my hair done at the hair salon. But I recently went myself and got my hair styled. It's still long but now it has tons of layers to it.

I really like it and I felt so good getting my hair done like other woman do. Made me feel feminine.

It's like this now...

 

[CraftyCath]

I have had my hair every way and every colour (well, common colours).

I had it long as a child but my Mother had no patience brushing out the tangles and never used conditioner on it just a medicated shampoo. :eek: She took me to the hairdressers and made them cut it short back and sides then sent me to school with a big green bow stuck on top!

This is me, aged 7, with my hair a bit longer but still with that stupid bow in it!

I let it grow longer when I was old enough to look after it but it has got curlier as I have got older (and grey!). I was it every other day and use a good quality shampoo and conditioner, alternating the make because I always end up with allergies no matter what I use. Then I use Nak Aromas Oil which is Australian and contains Argan Oil. It is like a miracle in a bottle and leaves my hair so soft and shiny. I blow dry it and straighten it although I often just brush it dry if I'm going no where. If I don't straighten it, it is truly wild! I get a professional cut every 5 weeks and a professional colour to keep it in good condition.

This is how my hair looks now, when I can be bothered. (KP took the photo).

 

[The Albatross]

I was forced to have short back and sides from about the age of 6 until I left home. I was never allowed to grow my hair long but my half sisters were.

My hair is so thick it would matt and my mother wouldn't let me have it long because she didn't teach me how to or take the time to braid it even though her hair was so long it was below her butt. I had to wear a Paige Boy until high school and hated it. I think that hair cut was part of my problem with my feelings about my appearance. That and my dad's cut downs (verbal abuse).

 

[The Albatross]

Relate Cath to what you said about your mother (no conditioner here either come to think of it but I know she used it for herself).

Come to think of it, I was often confused as a boy, because of the cut and how I was dressed. That didn't help my self esteem either.

I use Argan oil too and run it through about twice a week the day before I shampoo because I like the shine, and in the sun my silver/white glints in the sun. It smells really good to me too and is like aroma therapy.

Knock on wood, I've been allergic to other shampoos and conditioners... but not to Nexus Humictress (spelling?).

I also use product that strips the accumulated hair product residue about once every 4 month. It is a little packet that turns into a gel... but I can't think of the name of it right now.

 

[Nicolette]

I liked your posts The Albatross, not for having had to go through that, but for being able to identify with it and realise its affects.

 

[Nicolette]

Then I use Nak Aromas Oil which is Australian and contains Argan Oil.

Will have to look into this.

My hair is probably naturally as dark as yours Cath but I've had it coloured for years. Having a brunette base makes me tend to throw up a lot of brassiness and I have to be careful when taking medication or sick as it quickly shows in my hair. I have to get foils more often as recently I've had some hormone changes and my hair is throwing up more orange than before. Interestingly I recently put violet foils in it and it took away some of the brassiness.

Actually Ayesha's picture is pretty close to my natural color from what I remember...

 

[p-no]

One day, my mother just took me (age 5, before school for sure) and cut my hair short. I had half-long beautiful red curly hair and I was devastated (on the inside; showing feelings resulted in only more pain). When I was 16, not yet abuse-free but getting there, I started to let my hair grow. It has never been short again, but now I'd be fine with it, I think.

 

[Nicolette]

It has never been short again, but now I'd be fine with it, I think.

I thought that but not the case for me some 20 years later. :cautious:

PS... I'm a natural blonde every 5 - 6 weeks for about a week :roflmao:

 

[freakofnurture]

I use a hot oil (coconut oil) treatment once a week

Yeah, I heard a lot of good things about coconut oil but haven't yet found a retailer who carries it.

I use rhinestone clips and oriental or dancewear bun cages... and avoid rubber bands like the plague.

I used only hair pins for a while but it's unpractical for me since I borderline compulsively change the way I wear my hair throughout the day. Then someone told me that rubber bands mainly damage the hair by constantly and sharply bending it - which makes sense to me and also fits the pattern of damage that I used to have. So now I tie the band some inches away from my skalp, avoinding the bend and I haven't noticed any damage from that up until now.

I enjoy my long hair too.

I looooooove it :)

I use two or 3 brands of shampoo a week. I find the change keeps my hair more nourished.

Hehe, that wouldn't work for me, I guess, because my skalp starts to ooze oil like crazy every time I change the products I use or introduce something new. It's like its offended or something *gg* Takes more than a week for it to calm down again, sadly.

I also use Mane and tail conditioner at least every other week. If you don't know what this is it is for horses. Yup I said it horse hair care.

Well, hair is hair, isn't it? :) I'll look that up, thanks for the tip!

I have actually been told it is good to brush your hair. Your scalp secretes oils that are great for your hair. Brushing distributes those oils all over.

It also polishes the hair which makes it problematic for people with rather thin individual hairs such as myself. It wears the hair down and makes it more vulnerable to breaking and splitting. If you have thick, robust hair, though, it's a way to make it shiny.

Also, if you can manage it, only washing your hair every other day is good - again so you aren't stripping away your natural oils. Personally I can't do that without feeling dirty... but others swear by it.

I only wash my hair when it gets visibly oily which is mostly after I've slept on it twice. If I wash it more often than that, my skalp gets irritated and oils up again within hours.

I want to learn how to do the vintage braid styles... but am 10 thumbs

Curiously, it only lately dawned on me that I could do… you know, things with my hair now. Aside from a bun or a braid. I don't know if my dexterity would suffice, but my patience and laziness will certainly be limiting factors :D

I wash it every other day and try and let it dry as much as it can with a great microfibre hair turban which is more absorbent than a towel - so no rubbing.

How do you wear your turban? I always twist the towel with my head down, then pull the tip to the back of my head and tuck it under; problem is, if I leave that in for more than a few minutes my hairline retains the wave shape and that looks extremely awkward.

Ah - I miss my hair! Mine was as long as Nicolette's when I got married, but the more "up in the air" things became after Husband's breakdown, the shorter I had it cut - to the point where it is now less that an inch long at it's longest point!

I used to have my hair cut to my ear lobes when I was a kid, then let it grow until it startetd to annoy me. The only problem with that was that I literally had to beg the hair dresser to cut it because they always whined that my hair was so long and nice and they could just cut the tips. They seem to not get the fact that hair grows back or something.

After an especially annoying appointment that left me with 5cm more than I had ordered - that was two years after I moved out - I had my husband give me a mohawk with his electric cutter. I dyed it but mostly wore it hanging down because I'm lazy.

After I got tired of the mohawk I got a crop cut. I loved that short style but my hair grows perpendicular to my skalp which causes it to look rather awkward at a certain length. So I let it grow again, dyed it red a few times like I used to when I still lived at 'home', but got too lazy for that as well - oh, and also my natural hair colour changed from 'stray dog blonde' to hazel with a slight reddish glow (I love it!! XD).

Henna. I use red color henna but there's other kinds (colored and non-colored).

I used red henna for a while before I stopped dyeing completely; it worked way better for my hair than the dyes with peroxide that I used before that. It didn't wash out or bleach out in the sun. Also it smells a lot better, I think.

I don't know if I trust the non-coloring henna, though. I like my colour as it is, and growing out a dye is a veritable pain in the butt.