Hey All,

I just thought it'd be a good exercise to do "five things we don't like about our hair" and "five solutions" that we are currently doing in our routines Edited to add: to address these problems or dislikes, or five solutions that we are *hoping to incorporate*.

Five problems
1. The coarseness feeling of hair that is not conditioned properly
2. stressed hairs caused by improper combing
3. worn out ends that cause tangling
4. scalp buildup from CO
5. hair not "feeling long enough" even though I know it's long

Five solutions to address them
1. sock curling/immobilizing my hair post-wash using Giovanni Direct Leave-in really helped my hair get that silky feeling
2. stressed hairs are trimmed off during a Search & Destroy
3. *worn out ends helped by periodic microtrims that I plan to do more often*
4. *plan to exfoliate more thoroughly in the shower*
5. no measuring, wear hair loose only seldomly

Anais

Problems:

1.  Split ends

2.  That top dry outer layer

3.  Worn out ends that get tanglely

4.   Loss of hair wave after shampoo/condition

5.  That hint of grey

Solutions:

1.  Split ends/breakage: I have always had long hair and split ends.  My hair has a fine texture, so it can incur damage easily - via bad brushing, blow drying, me fiddleling with it as a nervous habit, putting it up, etc.  And the fiddling thing does cause damage.  The longer older hair in back is actually less damaged than the side hair that is within my reach.  

I found a very gentle hair brush and stopped using hard plastic ones that had sharp tips.  I try to trim when I see damage, and made it a point to only use very good shampoo/conditioner.   I don't blow-dry nearly as much now and try to watch the temperature thing.  My hair has a lot less split ends than before.  Where once I could find strands with multiple splits and breakage, now I rarely see them.  I still get some damage, but I factor that as part of possible problems long hair can occur.

2.  While I can tolerate a minimal amount of split ends, I can't stand it if my hair starts to get dry or fuzzy.  This ony really occurs on the topmost layer so I always try to condition well, especially during the winter months.

3. Worn out ends that get tanglely - More touch up trims and treating hair more gently.

4.  Loss of hair wave after shampoo/condition - am now NOT combing it out after I wash/condition it.  This was hard for me to do.  My hair is thick and can be prone to knotting up if I am not careful.  However I recently adopted a new regimine where I brush it while dry before going into the shower, them wash/shampoo it, and put it in a loose pony-tail to dry without brushing it out.  Once it is dry, I pick it out with a long-toothed comb and it retains the wave better.

5.  Grey - we don't need no stinkin' grey!  I'll be damned if that is going to happen.  Some years ago, I had colored my hair back down to my approximate natural color so I could stop coloring it and I then noticed a slight hint of grey.  HELL NO.  So I stick to one color, touch up the roots every six weeks or so and . 

Thank you Vicky  

p.s. I enjoy reading your hair journal.

Anais

OK...I'll add to this, but my hair gets "curly" problems:

1. Problem: fluffy undefined curls. Solution: Put in a little pure Aloe Vera Gel and don't touch the hair AT ALL while air drying.

2. Problem: Flat, less curly roots and boofy ends. Solution: Flip head upside down from time to time during the air drying time (still DONT TOUCH HAIR though)

3. Problem: Hair looks messy,too short and generally depressing. Solution: Wear it up

4. Problem: Hair needs a boost in shine. Solution: Do a Henna Gloss!

5. Problem: Grey roots. Solution: Fortnightly full strength Henna application to the roots only.

Hope that was helpful to someone!

Vicky, can you PM me the link to your longhairforum journal?

Thanks, and I'm glad you enjoy reading mine

Anais

edited to add a smiley

PROBLEMS:

1. My hair dries frizzy and stays frizzy until the next day.

2. Most of the strands in my bottom layer of hair are coarse, wiry "stressed" hairs.  So when I try to wear my hair in a half-ponytail I end up feeling really self-conscious all day because my stressed hairs are exposed and they look really tangled and unkempt, despite constant brushing.

3. Since the last time I dyed my hair (last December), I have gained about 6 inches of roots.  These roots blended fine with the dyed color (I dyed it basically my natural light brown color) until summer came and lightened the dyed part.  Now my hair is 6 inches of brown and something like 20 inches of brassy blonde.  This wouldn't be so bad, except now I have the dreaded "line" where my roots end and my dye begins.  My hair is naturally somewhat two-toned, but this is ridiculous.  There are other things I could say about this problem, but we'd be here forever.

4. My hair is waist length when it's wet, but when it dries and the waves start coming out (not to mention the frizz) it looks an inch and a half shorter.

5. I tend to be rough on my hair sometimes (ie rough, fast brushing and harsh wash-handling) and the next thing I know my head is filled with breakage and split ends.

SOLUTIONS:

1. If I have time, I'll blowdry (on the cold setting of course) or use a pea-sized amount of straightening gel and that usually does the trick.  If I don't have the time (aka pretty much always) I just braid my hair or put it in some other kind of updo.  If I wash it at night and want to wear it down the next day, I sleep with it loose (only when my hair seems in REALLY good condition though) and the frizz is gone by the morning.

2. Like Anais said, I cut off the stressed hairs during S&D.  But sometimes I also put my hair up in a half-ponytail before showering and condition the bottom layer to make the stressed hairs softer and smoother.

3. This is sort of a no-win situation right now... if I wear my hair down or in a braid, you can see the color line plain as day.  If I wear my hair up, the blonde part ends up right next to the brown part and people think I'm wearing a blonde hairpiece.  I've been thinking about using a semi-permanent light brown dye on just the blonde part, but I'm still afraid of dye after all the damage I got from dying it once a month for over a year.  I've decided to wait a few weeks and see if the blonde darkens at all with the colder/darker weather.  Also, I've been experimenting with different herbal teas.  I've found that a mixture of Chamomile Tea and Black & Orange Pekoe Tea darkens my hair a little, but the effect only lasts a day or two.  I'm also considering henna as an alternative to conventional dye, but I've heard it gets quite messy.  I have to make a decision about how to get rid of this awful blonde color before my brother's wedding on November 26th... no bridesmaid should have two-toned hair!

4. Grow it longer!

5. I have to train myself to treat my hair "like a piece of old, fine lace" as they say.  It's very resilient, but it can only take so much and I don't want to push it to its limit.  I need to learn to brush and wash gently, and only when absolutely necessary.

...This is a great thread, Anais!