Introduction

I've been reading on here for about a week or so now. 

Unfortunately, I found this place a little too late so save my hair.  I had a hairdresser nightmare.  I admit, I brought it on myself with my constant love/hate relationship with my bra-length hair.  I kept saying I was going to cut it, I was tired of it, it was such a headache but I chickened out at the last moment (because in truth my long hair made me feel feminine, beautiful and sexy).  Course, that didn't matter to my the lady standing behind me.  HER mind had already been made up. She razored off my hair to my shoulders.  And I got a bad dye job out of the mix as well.  Her one shot turned out to be her last.  I will never return to her, and probably shouldn't have trusted her in the first place.  *sigh*

I was devistate for over a week.  I never knew how emotional losing that much hair could be for a person. 

So, I've vowed to grow it out, yet again.  Even more discouraging was the fact that it took me 7 years to get my hair bra length.  It just grows sooooo slow.  But I also had a history of coloring it, so I think if I let it go natural I can see improved growth times with less breakage and damage (which was probably the true culprit for the slow growth).

And it does feel much healthier now with those inches gone.  I just miss them terribly.

I'm giving Hairtopia a try and trying to quit smoking soon so I can be as good to my body as possible and in turn good to my hair.  And will probably try to cover up the bad dye job with henna (NO MORE DYE JOBS!!).  I've used it in the past, and missrini (I think it is) I love your henna job! It's just a beautiful color on you.  I'm going to aim more for a brownish red since I've done the red in the past (looked similar to yours) but want something closer to my natural color. 

I'll quit babbling now! LOL! But I just wanted to say hello and let my presence be known since I'll undoubetly be hanging around on here for quite a while!

~Karen

There are sooo many things looking back that I wish I had taken into consideration more. 

The fact that she was saying she'd just dyed her hair red and the red was already gone (and yes indeed it was).  That should've been one of my biggest clues.

The fact that I'd been taking my 10 year old son there to get his hair cut and never once saw another woman there.....that's a biggie in retrospect. 

I was just too shocked to say anything really.  And truthfully, I kind of liked it at that moment.  It wasn't until a few days later that it totally over-whelmed me.  Just the depth of what I'd done and what I'd lost, all in the blink of an eye.  Foolish.  It really was. 

I'd been saying for three years that I would NEVER cut my hair short again and on a whim I did.  I mean I'd been thinking about it, dreaming about it, but the realization was always there in the back of my mind that I've never liked my hair short.  I've cried every time I've ever cut it short.  But I guess I'm a slow learner

Well, it will indeed grow back.  And I've got the plan on how to do it better this time than last.  I'm even keeping a hair diary.  Let's just hope this diary will be better than my others....I usually end up forgetting about them and never get past about 4 posts! LOL!!

Karen...welcome   I am so sorry to hear about your hair disaster.  Unfortunately it's a common story around here :(  I've had so many bad hairdressing experiences, that I've vowed never to return to one.  All dyeing (henna) and cutting is now done by yours truly

Good on you for going down the natural dyes path.  Henna truly rocks, and it's not just me...but others around here that love the stuff too   Thanks for the colour compliment btw  

If you're looking for something browner, then there are a few ways to achieve that: cloves, coffee, amla, walnut powder and of course indigo.  I"ve mentioned elsewhere that I'm helping my best friend at the moment with her hair colour. She wants chocolate brown, so I've just sent her some Indigo and will ship up some henna and amla to her next week.  We are going to devise a mix for her hair that should give her the results she wants.  I promise that I will post here (with pics) after her first application.

Anyway, nice to meet you and I hope you'll hang around here for a good while

aww, thanks everyone!

Well the journey to no cancer sticks hasn't come along yet.  I've "thought" about it, but it just might not happen at this moment.  It will, however, happen. 

I absolutely loathe the length it is right now, Anais.  I'm going to be hard-pressed to find much joy in it. 

Energetically, removing the length was probably a good thing.  I had a lot of bad karma crap going on during the time it was growing out and I hear relieving yourself of the "burden" of it can be good.  I'm just having a hard time finding the good in it right now. 

I still find myself fantasizing that I'm going to wake up and it will be back.  But of course, it's not, and that's not a very positive way to start my days. 

*sigh*

But on a positive note, I am keeping a journal and I will be taking pics of it.  So, I'll keep everyone posted along the way.  Right now I'm too ashamed to even post a picture of it.

But thanks again! I'll be hanging around, taking in all the good energy and information and try to give out some of my own if possible, or at the very least support to those who are in need!!

Karen26 wrote: I absolutely loathe the length it is right now, Anais.  I'm going to be hard-pressed to find much joy in it.  [snip] But on a positive note, I am keeping a journal and I will be taking pics of it.  So, I'll keep everyone posted along the way.  Right now I'm too ashamed to even post a picture of it

(((Karenhug)))

When my hair was between 6 and 8 inches long, I probably hated it just as much. It passes by really quick. Do you use any hair accessories e.g. headscarves, bandanas, clips, etc?

Anais

Edited to add: Please don't be ashamed of your hair, even though you've decided not to post photos.

Thank you so much SpecialKitty!  That made my day!!!

I noticed that your hair looks a lot like mine.  I have wave in it like that as well.  I tried to do the hair type identifier thingy but my hair is difficult to describe.  As it dries it dries with curly ringlets and then once it's completely dry the weight of my hair pulls the curls out and gives it more of a wavey look.  And then some days it's nearly straight! It can't make up it's mind anymore than I can, I guess.

I've read about the CO and I'm a little concerned it'd be too much for me.  I have been conditioning heavily tho since the cut and have noticed a huge improvement in the feel of my hair.  I only wash it every other day and use very gentle shampoo.  If I go any longer than two days my hair gets oily.  Which is my fear with CO type wash. 

Still it's something I'm keeping in mind as a possibility when it does start to grow out more.  My ends tend to be dry and my scalp oily (after a few days). 

Thanks again for the compliment!!!