Introduce your hair...and yourself too of course

Well there isn`t an introduction thread! (I feel bad for starting two new ones in one night, oh well). Introduce yourself, describe your hair, tell us about your hair routine, etc.

name: Brittany
from: Las Vegas
age: 14
hair color: dark brown, has reddish tint in it in the sun
hair length: just past waist
hair type: straight, medium thickness
hair condition: I`ve had a lot of breakage and split ends, but after spending apprx 10 hours (not at the same time!) "dusting" my hair it`s much better, so I guess average

hair routine: I use Artisun products (www.artisun.com), they`re all natural. I use a shampoo, conditioner, and leave in conditioner (they have long fancy names that I won`t bore you with). I wash my hair three or four times a week. I never blowdry or use any hairstyling products (hairspray, curling irons, etc). I brush my hair in the morning, then put it into a bun, braids, or pony, sometimes I leave it down, at night I take it out, brush it, and put it in two braids to sleep in.

HAIRstory: had long hair since I was a kiddo, chopped it off to just below my shoulders in the middle of 7th grade (about two years ago) (much to the dismay of my mother), started growing it out again. At that time and for the next year and a half I was on a dance team, which meant needing super curly hair for performances, which meant curlers that broke off a lot of hair, tons of gel and hairspray, so my hair is not in the best condition. I`ve gotten ONE trim since that day of chopping my hair off (about 3 wet hair inches came off, and that was six months ago).

Brittany

name: Natalie

age: 24

hair color: dark brown

hair length: about an inch above my bra strap in back when dry

hair type: curly, and lots of it

hair condition: pretty good...never get split ends

hair routine: wash and condition every morning with Suave Professionals Humectant. Leave the conditioner in. I do a hot oil treatment once a week. About once a month I put vitamin E oil on the ends, put it in a high bun, and leave it in overnight.

hair story: I never had my hair really past my shoulders. Up until 6th grade it was straight. Then I cut it off and permed it. I grew it back to my shoulders but kept perming it. When I was about 16 or 17 I noticed that I didn`t really need perms any more....I had curly hair. ( Some of my relatives had their hair get curly as they "matured" ) So after I graduated high school I cut it...then started growing it out about 2 months later. About three and a half years ago I got it cut again short all over. I really liked it this time. But about six or seven months later I started growing it again. Now I want it to be about waist length. And sometimes it is hard to be patient.

name: Tanya

age: 28 (bday in 1month!)

hair color: golden blonde

hair length: 2 inches above my bra strap

hair type: fine, think and board straight

hair condition: normal to dry (bottom 2 inches) with no splits. I cut them immediately if i ever see one. :)

hair routine: wash and condition every other day I rotate between Back to Basics, Edwin Paul and Pure Hair. Simply because it depends on my mood and what I want to smell in the shower. 2x a week I do a moisture treatment. Depending on available time and hair condition, I either put the oil/condioner on in the shower and cover with a showercap while I finish my shower or soak in the tub. Or I will put the shower cap on and leave it for an hour. My neck can`t support the weight of a towel so I use a winter knit cap to hold the heat in. I add a couple of drops of oil to the bottom half of my hair to keep it moist during the day and to prevent splits. Once every 6-8 weeks I replace my moisture treatment with a protein treatment (too much protein makes ur hair brittle)

hair story: I always had hair between shoulder and waist length growing up. I had it long enough that I could braid it and tuck the end in my back pocket at one point. Then my ex started treating my hair as his personal property and I cut it off/spiked it and bleached it white (hey it was the punky 80s) :). since then I have had it bra-length several times and every time he would make a remark I would cut it. The last 2 yrs of our marriage I kept the bottom half shaved and the top feathered back. Since I left, I started growing my hair again. In Nov 97 I was in a bad accident and broke 5 vertebrae in my back and tore all the muscles down the right side of my spine. I had to cut my hair in order to heal and get better in physical therapy. My last therapist has me on an exercise schedule which will build my neck and allow hair growth. I cant` wear my hair certain ways anymore because it hurts too much, but I can wear it down and i do most of the time. Doc cracked a joke one time that I should wear pigtails bc it would balance my head and not stress my neck. so, now whenever I go in I have pigtails or pigtail braids in my hair. lol

Hi
age-almost35
color- medium brown with natural reddish highlights-yuck
Hair length- shoulder with bangs
hair type- fine and stick straight
hair routine- wash 3-4 times a week - just started using EC Mode thickening products, use curling iron to turn under and light hair spray
Hair history- I have almost always had hair that was worn shoulder to mid back length- went short twice and it made me look older (i was in my 20s) I had terrible perms and haircuts as a child
Hair problem- I want my hair to look like Jane Seymour- I`ve been told that I resemble Victoria Principal- When it is long (teach spec ed) I wear it up in a jaws clip or a pony tail How do people keep their hair from looking messy when they wear it down. Mine catches on my back as I move and looks messy

I should start my short-term memory and remind myself what you wrote before I post, duh.

Are there silicones in your EC mode thickening products?

Curling irons can be damaging, heated curlers may be less so. You may want to deep condition your hair, especially near the ends, with oil (olive oil is a good choice) once a week.

Do you brush your hair after you use the hair spray? I hope not. The spray can make the hairs stick together and running a brush through it can cause it to break and split.

Well, I hope this gives you some ideas.

Hello Teach! Good to see someone else growing her hair who is within at least a few years of my age (41)! Sounds like a good brush, if you`re using boar bristle. Definitely do regular deep conditioning. As to how to get your hair to look good when you wear it down, you might try just pinning up part of the sides. You also might try brushing a little more often. My hair, which is thick, blonde, slightly wavy and a few inches below shoulder length, starts to look straggly after a few hours. If I remind myself to brush more often, it looks silky almost all the time. It may be hard for you to even find a moment to brush your hair while you`re busy teaching, but maybe between classes you can get to it at least an extra time or two a day. I know that excessive brushing can be bad for breakage, but with a good brush and technique the benefits (silkier looking hair more often) can definitely outweigh the potential harm. Good luck and keep growing!!

Name: Kim
Age: 31
color: medium/light brown, six or eight silver "elf hairs" (sounds better than just writing "gray")
length: two or so inches shy of my waistline (it just doesn`t want to get any longer)
thickness: pretty thick with a lot of body, but also fine
texture: uneven waves, takes a curl really well
hair routine: wash and condition every other day (with Aussie, Aubrey Organics when I can afford it---I`m in graduate school). Trying to use jojoba oil at least once a week. I always air dry (which can be a pain during Minnesota winters) and usually sleep with a scrunchy bun atop my head, which my roommate laughs at, but it gives me lots of volume and waves.
Hair history: starting growing it at age 10, and haven`t cut it (except small trims, of course) since then. I started growing my bangs out at age 26. I love history, and I always thought if they ever invented a time machine, with my long hair, I`d fit into just about any time period they could send me to! Since that hasn`t happened yet, I have contented myself with getting a Masters in Ancient History (passed my orals two weeks ago---yay!) and continuing on to my PhD.
Note: I used to post in "Politics" as "Kim the Newbie"---ages ago (school devours your web time, you know).
Happy growing!

Hi Katherine, it`s good to be back.
I`m not exactly an expert on jojoba oil, but here`s how I use it. Sometimes I heat it, but most of the time I don`t; I put it on my hair from about the ears down, braid my hair, and leave the oil on overnight. The next morning I shower it out. I think it works at least as well as other hot oil treatments, and it seems to cost less.
Growing my bangs out was very annoying. They had been very wavy, until they got to a certain length, then when splat. Surprisingly enough, the front of my hair even now is the straightest section. While growing my bangs out, I experimented with varying the part, using headbands, and french braids to keep them out of my eyes. It was at least a year and a half before I could put them in a ponytail with the rest of my hair.
Hope that helps!
Kim

Name: Neb
Age: 21 Toronto, Canada.
Hair: ash blond, straight.

I dislike having real short hair. This may be due to a conditioning I had as a wee little lad. Before I was about four, my mother cut my hairin a style reminiscent of the early 70s: a sort of soft Dutch Boy or Prince Valliant style, which she thought appropriate for my age. I looked at my baby pictures, which showed me with sparse hair (maybe I even thought they were bald, and some may have been), and to me, my over-the-ears hair was a distinction between baby and boy. Then I was taken to the barbers, and given, i suppose, a typical "clean-cut" tapered haircut. I saw myself in the mirror, and was stunned: I thought I looked like a baby again. That was quite a blow. In subsequent haircuts, I may not have found myself to look like a baby, but I certainly felt uglified, though my folks couldn`t stop telling me how good I looked. And so it went on for the better part of my life. At times, I protested, but my parents insisted I get regular haircuts. At 8, we found a barber who seemed to please me (and I never needed long hair, I just didn`t like the loss of volume that came with a tapered haircut) but quickly I found that I got the same old haircut. I tolerated this for years. Finally, I was sick of it at 19. I did not trust my barber to try and have him cut my hair less short, I didn`t want to have to explain to him (there is a finer line than you would think between a tapered cut and a 1970s over the ears cut, at least to do it for my face, and that hair in the middle is what I wanted) what I wanted, but also I was sick of the whole barbershop/beauty parlor experience - that cape tied around your neck, those scary clippers that can give you a buzz cut if not handled properly, the smelly lotions in the air, the apparent fact that the barber doesn`t sterilize his tools after every use, his stupid jokes about me, which he doesn`t seem to let me counter, the little hairs that get stuck on my neck and even in my hair, and the irksome mirror that he never failed to pull out to show me how nicely he had tapered the hair on the back. So I jumped ship, and started trimming my own hair. It`s not easy, but you save money and avoid the stuff I am allergic to that I listed above. Conclusion: if my mother wanted me to like a tapered cut, maybe she should first have taken me to the barber`s before my hair grew over my ears.

This is a little off topic, but a strikingly similar thing happened to Elvis Pressley. When he was wee, his hair grew down to his shoulders. Then his mama gave him his first haircut, which made him cry. What do you expect - he had long hair as long as he could remember. Well, he had short hair until well into his teens. Then, he grew what was considered "long" hair in those rigid conformist days. He thought it would take the "baby" look out of his face (indeed, I like longer hair because short hair does no advantage to my face). Then after his hair became famous, he was drafted into the army, and on induction, given the stoopid clipper-sided GI haircut. He took it rather well on camera - you ain`t nuthing but a sheepdog. He jokingly said to the barber (JUST KIDDIN! He said "Hair today gone tomorrow" to someone) but felt sorry. Imagine his surprise one day, when he got a package in the mail. It was from mama - who knew he missed his hair - containing a bunch of blond locks - the hair from his first haircut! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
(For the record, Elvis dyed his hair black, but it was apparently dark blond naturally, and may have been lighter when he was a boy - that`s sort of like my hair too.

quote:

---

Brittany Paloma originally wrote:
Well there isn't an introduction thread! (I feel bad for starting two new ones in one night, oh well). Introduce yourself, describe your hair, tell us about your hair routine, etc.

name: Brittany
from: Las Vegas
age: 14
hair color: dark brown, has reddish tint in it in the sun
hair length: just past waist
hair type: straight, medium thickness
hair condition: I've had a lot of breakage and split ends, but after spending apprx 10 hours (not at the same time!) "dusting" my hair it's much better, so I guess average

hair routine: I use Artisun products (www.artisun.com), they're all natural. I use a shampoo, conditioner, and leave in conditioner (they have long fancy names that I won't bore you with). I wash my hair three or four times a week. I never blowdry or use any hairstyling products (hairspray, curling irons, etc). I brush my hair in the morning, then put it into a bun, braids, or pony, sometimes I leave it down, at night I take it out, brush it, and put it in two braids to sleep in.

HAIRstory: had long hair since I was a kiddo, chopped it off to just below my shoulders in the middle of 7th grade (about two years ago) (much to the dismay of my mother), started growing it out again. At that time and for the next year and a half I was on a dance team, which meant needing super curly hair for performances, which meant curlers that broke off a lot of hair, tons of gel and hairspray, so my hair is not in the best condition. I've gotten ONE trim since that day of chopping my hair off (about 3 wet hair inches came off, and that was six months ago).

Brittany

---

WOW. I love this idea. Thank you Brittany.

Karen Shelton
Dallas, Texas (getting super hot here)
Late 40s (Ouch)
Hair is naturally blonde, very thick & dry. It is currently highlighted 3x a year to brighten using a cap method at the salon. Naturally wavy with some curls underneath, very dry. Hair is 4 inches below my waist and still growing after all these years (a little slower though). Would love to get my hair to my knees but the thighs will do just fine. :-)

I use Edwin Paul Luxury Shampoo & Deep conditioner & althernate with Aveda Shampure & Curessence. Love the EP Smoothing lotion for straight days. Also use Giovanni when I want all natural, organic products. Love the Giovanni 50/50 shampoo & conditioner. Only blow dry for special events and never use curling iron except in very rare situations involving photographers.

I sleep with my hair in a loose braid to avoid tangling problems.

I wash my hair every morning in the shower, finish with a cold rinse and then twist it into a bun, pop in a clip and let it airdry. After 2 hours I take it down for instant waves. I fingerpick my hair and never use a brush that is not boar`s bristle. I currently have a couple of different ones that I like.

I deep condition once a week (more if necessary) and alternate between EP Moisture Reconstructor, Aveda Beautifying Oil (that has lots of jojoba) and my own home concotions of various oils ranging from coconut to avocado oils.

HAIRstory: Growing hair from burnt out, bleached blonde Brillo pad in 1988 (horrid looking). Have long held the dream of hair to my waist (since childhood) but until 1988 did not have the knowledge to make it happen. I get my ends trimmed every 8-12 weeks and trim them in the interim myself with a professional quality trimming scissors.

I believe in moisturizing from the inside out and take daily Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) like flaxseed oil religiously along with H37 (yes I do take it, it does work for me and after 2 years I still don`t have hair anywhere its not supposed to be. :-)

I have had some close calls with my hair over the years because I personally test all the products first before we sell them here at HB.com. I almost ruined my hair a few times with products that striped the oils. I have tried everything from grocery store products to high class salon lines and some were very expensive and terrible for my hair.

Thank you again for this idea. I love it. Keep the stories coming.

Best wishes,
Karen Shelton