Your hair's life story.

What a good idea!

I'm tired, so mine will be short.

I had short hair all my life, up until about fourth grade. People always thought I was a boy. My hair tangles really easily, still to this day, and my mother didn't want to care for it. I'm sure I wouldn't have put up with her combing it either. I have a very tender scalp.
Mom couldn't sympathize. She has thick, almost black hair. I have my Dad's thin blonde hair.

I got perms from about 4th grade to 7th. They looked funny! It was the late 80s.

Then in 8th grade, boys started teasing me that my hair was dirty. All the time they would say "Oh, why don't you wash your hair?" Of course I did wash it, it just looked dirty cuz my hair is a dirty drab colored blond/brown. So at the age of 12, I got my first dye job, and 12 years later, I'm still dyeing it! I dyed it reddish blonde til the end of high school, and now I dye it blonde.
Also at the same time I got this red dye job, I got a bowl cut, buzzed up the back and everything. Short short short. Junior high is a bad time to have super short hair. More teasing. At least I liked the color. I had the stylist leave the shaved parts natural and only dye the top. It looked cute! I'm sure it also looked weird. I've always been an unusual girl.
I was very proud of the fact that I was the first girl in school to start dyeing her hair! It quickly became a trend. :p I'm such a trend setter. Hahaha.

I always longed for long hair, but college made that pretty much impossible. I worked as a lifeguard and spent so much time in the sun and chlorine that my hair was always frizzy and brittle. I was in marching band, and that didn't help either. Always wearing a ponytail, all that running and marching around... lots more breakage.

So I've been trying to grow my hair long since the end of high school. Now that I'm finally 2 years out of college, it's starting to actually get there!

Whoa, that's still a long answer. I must get me to bed! Zzzzzz. Night!

Enfys, thanks for starting this thread and sharing your story. A good read and a unique theme!

My two pence: Hair - unstyled, uncolored, mostly uncut for the first 14 years. Long, wavy and huge bangs. Medium brown with touches of gold highlights. Cut to chin in disastrous decision at 14. Bangs grown out at 15. Hair BSL and all one length by 16. Blow dried stick straight most every three days since then. Attempted to turn light brown at 19 courtesy of Clairol Hydrience; repeated attempts left hair orange-brown. Color faded but never returned to original shade. Cut to shoulders, began growing out damage. At 22, fake color is gone, hair is past shoulders and on the way to slightly above BSL again!

I was born with black, straight as a board, fine and thick hair. I had it grown out to my waist (I was about 7), until we moved from California to Texas. The change in weather, going from dry to very humid, made my hair into a curly, frizzy mess. It's been curly and naturally frizzy ever since. Because of the heat, I had it cut up a little shorter than shoulder length, which only made things worse. I had bangs too *cringe*. I kept it short up until the 7th grade, when I realized that my yearbook picture detailed a strange lookin' overweight girl with a 'fro. I started the first part of 8th grade, and tried growin' it out a little. Then, we moved here, to Colorado. The dry weather helped control the frizziness, and I was able to keep growing it out. It was long, curly, and bushy until halfway through 9th grade. I had gotten it down to my waist, and then I kinda flipped and told my mother to cut it all off. She cut it to my shoulders, and for the first time in my life, I straightened it. The change in my appearance was *amazing*. However, cutting sorta became an obsession from that point on. Over the next two year, I cut it shorter and shorter, and then a summer ago I decided I'd had enough. I was going to cut it to my chin, just short enough to keep cool, but not so short as to look like a boy. well, the woman cutting it was 70 yrs old, and made an 'oopsie', and we ended up having to cut it up to my ears...booooy did I regret that... I spent a year growing it to my shoulders, and it eventually reached about bra length. Then, I flipped out again, and had it cut up two inches from the shoulders. I regretted it as soon as we did it. Now, I've spent another 9 months growing *that* out, and it's finally reached the collarbone. I am *not* cutting it again..hehe. I have an appointment to get it cut and colored, but I will *not* do anything other than a trim and layer...lol.


*Phew* Long story :D

June 1965 - June 2002: Between 1 and 4 inches short.

June 2002 - June 2003: From 4 inches short to 22 inches long.

August 2003: 23 inches long.

From my baby pictures I already had hair when I was born. I had very light hair that gradually darkened. As toddler and young boy it seems I always had a brushcut (went with the cowboy and sailor outfits). In 1972, at age ten I went to a boarding school that had surprisingly liberal hair rules. I had the standard "bowl cut" that every other boy in my grade five class had (think early Beatles). Around fifteen I began to grow my hair and this started the battles with my parents over my appearance (that and shaving, sheesh). The next year, in 1978, my mother had the brilliant idea that my getting an afro-style perm would make my hair look nicer and would get my father off my case. Keep in mind that in 1978 men's afro-style perms were perfectly acceptable. It looked cool (at the time) but my dad felt it was too big and had me cut it down. In 1980 I left home and joined the (Canadian) army. They solved my hair problems by cutting it all off. And then I got stuck in a style and wore either a short military cut (tapered sides and back) or a brush cut for the next twenty years. In my defense, I will say that even after I left the military I was working in a lot places were conservative appearance was the norm. In June 2002 I decided enough was enough and resumed the long hair growing I had started at fifteen. My hair is now mostly past my shoulders, with the bangs (fringe/frontal hairs) playing catch up.

Kateyez37 wrote: I had hair down to my tailbone until I was about 11, when I had the bangs 'feathered'. About 3 years later, I had it cut fairly short (just above shoulder length) - a short version of the Farrah Fawcett 'do, and kept this hairstyle, or at least a modified version of, for YEARS. When I was pregnant, my hair grew really fast and was very healthy. By the time I had my children (both of them), my hair was to my waist, with no split ends and I really didn't take care to ensure its' health, so I would imagine it was all hormonal. When I was about 26 years old, I started experiencing fallout, which lasted until I was 31-32. I eliminated most of my stress (job), started eating much better and my hair regained its' health, although it took several years to do so. Right now, I'm in the process of trying to grow my hair out, to at least halfway down my back or longer if possible. If it's healthy, I'll go for as long as it will grow. :) Dave, that is so cool -- you must have one great mane, there! Kris

Hi Kris, Thanks for the encouraging words. I've talked briefly with Karen about the possibility of posting a recent photo of me at the site. No decision has been made.

If you've had your hair to waist-length before and in good shape without even trying, I am certain you can regrow to the same length (and longer, if that is your wish).

Hi, Dave. :) I hope you're right -- I would really like to be able to have long hair again. You just can do so many things with it.

Also, I would love to see your pics posted here. I hope to be able to grow hair that long one day. ;)

Kris

The story of my hair. Well when i was born it was blond. It stayed blond untill I was about 3 when it darkened to a honey color..some reddish hints. By the time I had my first serious hair cut encounter it was this honey color (age 6). My best friend was a big tom boy and had her hair cut really short. i wanted to be just like her so I got my just below shoulder lenght hair cut to a very boyish style. My friends couldnt tell me from her. From then on I wanted my hair long again but my mom wanted it short. The shorter the better. By the time i was in 3rd grade my hair was a brown with reddish highlights as it is today and my hair was always just below shoulder lenght and my mom always wanted it shorter. In 4th grade I wanted a perm. She wanted it short. No short = no perm. So I got my hair cut and permed. 4th and 5th grade i look like a lamb with short curly hair. In 6th and 7th grade i had shoulder lenght hair and permed it. I also had those 80 charecteristic poog bangs. I always had bangs but before 6th grade they were just curled under. I dont liek my 6th and 7th grade hair. In eight grade I grew my bangs out (inspide of hateing the no bang look during most of my life) and and i grew my perm out and havent permed it since. From then on my hair has gone from varing lenghts no shorter than just below mid back and almost to my knees. I wont get it shorter than that!

The end!

No hair coloring becasue i like my color...although id love to have natuarl red hair. Id also love to try dark cherry or blue or purple but i refuse!

Katherine,

I like the way your hair tells its story.

If it likes to be wild and free, how does it feel about being cut down?

hmmm Lets see.

I was born with near-white curly hair. My mom let it grow and grow, and the curls subsided, and my hair got a bit darker.

When I was around 5-6ish, I got tired of my long hair (fighting with my mom to brush it) and she had it cut off after me bothering her. It was about at my ears.

I then let it grow a bit, shoulder length (very thick and somewhat with curls in the shorter lengths.) She also had to have it thinned quite often.

Around 10ish I started letting it get long, and then my mom started lightening my hair for me. I did that off and on, but nothing too extreme.

Around 14 I stopped coloring it and started taking better care of it. I let it grow( it was already around bra strap length) and it looked nice.

Around 17, (1997) I got really tired of long hair I couldn't do anything with. So I went to my hair stylist (been to her for about a year now) and asked her to do something with it. Well, the first cut she made was about 6 inches in the front, and I started crying. After she was done, I LOVED it. It was shorter, had a few little layers at the bottom and it looked great!!!

(1998)Then I let my now-mother-in-law try to color it about a year later. Didn't work, and my hair was BADDDD. So I had the color stripped and had it recolored a decent color.

From there I just let it grow, and grew out all of the color. I went semi short in 2000 (about shoulder length) to finally remove the last of the color. (My hair is now a light brown, dark blonde, depends on how the sun hits it.)

Then About 6-7months ago, I got it highlighted for the first time, and several inches cut off. I now plan on keeping it highlighted and letting it grow out healthy again!

Thats my story, nothing too fancy!!! Edited to add that I tryed to be good with the dates.. It is 6am here so I'm not quite awake yet!