Hi All!

Around the holidays, I like to get thinking about New Year's hair resolutions... so I was wondering, do you all have hair resolutions for 2006? What would your primary focus be (length vs. healthy length vs. healthy ends vs., etc.)?  

I have some that are hair-related.. these are crossposted from my journal:
- Reach a length that "looks tailbone" not IS tailbone... so about almost-classic.  And some of it should probably be trimmed off for all that inevitable combing damage. (I find that combing causes damage too, causing "stressed" hairs that have been stretched too hard but not snapped)
- Pick up my green tea habit again - green tea is supposed to be good for hair!
- Be happier with my length and not get hair anorexia, be happy with my thickness, especially as my hair gets longer and more difficult to work with.  
- Learn how to do Leia's Swirly Bun

Looking forward to seeing everyone's

Anais

ETA And if there is enough consensus, maybe we can make this a sticky thread for a couple months, ETA2 making topic a sticky, and editing for clarity

• get a trim of 1 inch
• do more S&D
• comb more gently
• learn how to do a new upstyle

Please make this a sticky

-         Use my flat iron less, less heat in general
- Try to wear more up dos
- Try a healthier diet
- Comb and brush a lot less ( only when absolutely needed)

-         Keep up with my vitamin intake

-         Have more patience with regards to the growing process lol

I am looking forward to:

• accepting my hair for what it is - wavy and fine
• learning patience as it grows longer
• learning from others on this board about how to take care of my hair
• being very very gentle with my hair
• buying a satin pillowcase, satin scrunchies, and some pretty and hair friendly clips
• keeping track of my progress and posting progress on this forum

Thanks Anais, for the inspiration!

Hmm.....well I have one main resolution:

NEVER visit another hairdressing salon in my life.  That entails doing my own trims and colours (henna of course!).

Other resolutions:

• Endeavour to learn more about natural hair care (herbs, etc.)
• Get the most length I can in one year...ie no trimming in 2006
• Start a hair journal

That's about it.

Just a bit off topic (but I didn't think it would be worth posting a new topic!)....I will not be around for a number of weeks as I'm having surgery in a few days which will have me laid up and out of action for some time.  Anyway, I just wanted to say "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year" and I will "see" you all next year.  Enjoy your hair over the holidays   God bless!

All the best to you for your holidays as well, Missrini  Take care of yourself and I hope the surgery goes well.

Hugs
Anais

*Feels embarrassed* Whoa coming out of lurker mode is hard... But I wanted to say how much I love all you guys and your hair tips. For once my hair actually looks and feels really healthy! I'm very happy with it.

My hair resolutions are to:
1 To resist dying or bleaching it.
2 Not to blow dry or use a straightening iron, to live with my crazy curls.
 - and -
3 To treat my hair gently and not rip and tear through knots. (probably the hardest for me to do...heh)

Question for you guys, hair that has a knot in the middle (like if you take a long piece of rope and tie a knot in the middle), should you cut that hair if you can't get the knot out? Does it harm the hair if the knot is in it? Also does anyone have a link where you can find info to tell what hair type you are? Thank you for any help!

Get well soon missrini

EDIT (12Dec05): Thank you LadyFrog & AnaisSatin for the information ! I really appreciate it

Yoshikisquall, here is a link to http://homepage.mac.com/annsofie.henriksson/hairtyping/PhotoAlbum17.html - Fia's Visual Hairtyping  page. Fia is so awesome. The site used to be a text guide, but everyone contributed a photo and she organized it into a visual setup. Woohoo!

Anais

Missrini, all the best to you. Please check in to let us know all went well.

New Year’s hair resolutions 2006

I've been bored with my hair this past year. So my resolutions are:

1. Keep it long.

2. Try to find more ways to wear it other than a ponytail or just down. (Difficult being male....)

I went through a couple of months of a lot of shedding a little over a year ago. My ends really thinned out. I resolved to gradually work through it by cutting just a little every 6 weeks (never more than 2 inches at a time.) It is now looking thicker and better again. I'm much happier with it today than I was 15 months ago, but still bored...

-Be gentler when brushing hair so as not to cause more damage

-Absolutely NO dye (unless of course it's henna or maybe that dye that just glosses over your hair... but what I'm saying here is no harsh chemicals)

-Go at least two months without measuring it, so that at the end of two months I can be pleasantly surprised at its length!

-Sharpen my hair scissors more often

-Like sasumi said: RESIST THE URGE TO CHOP IT ALL OFF, EVEN ON THE MOST DESPERATE OF DAYS

Sunsailing, I think your hair would look good in a braid. I've always admired guys with long hair who put it in a single long braid.

Hope your surgery goes well missrini.

My hair resolution:

1.To not put any dye on my hair this year(hopefully forever). That includes permanent,demi,or even semi.

missrini wrote: Hmm.....well I have one main resolution: NEVER visit another hairdressing salon in my life.  That entails doing my own trims and colours (henna of course!).

Why won't you goto another hairstylist? Did you receive a bad service? As a professional stylist I hate it when people condemn the whole beauty industry because they were the victim of a bad service. There's good and bad in every profession. Avoid the catty, bitchy stylists who dress to the hilt and pile on the makeup with a paint roller they're usually The s00k.

Good luck Rini!

Mine are:

1. No semi dye

2. No straightening

3. No blowdrying

4. Try to embrace my natural without ending up wet-combing them out

5. Regular trims

6. Get to elbow-length

7. Grow the bangs from hell back to my collarbone or more

8. Cut EVERY split end I see off.

Susan W wrote: Good luck Missrini!  We'll miss you! I guess my resolution would be to try harder to leave my top layer alone and only dust my ends.  That's difficult because a lot of the hairs on the top grow very thick (coarse), dark and kinky and feel very damaged to the touch, (I think it must just be genes, my niece has the same, but I always want to cut them) so resisting this urge will be hard.

I have the same problem, Susan.  A lot of my bottom layer is like that and I'm constantly cutting those strands off, which is useless since they just grow back the same way.  We can try and resist the urge to cut them together... damn those genetics!

If you have a lot of them, you never seem to be finished yanking them out and there always seem to be more.  Best just to leave them alone or it will start to show like mine did.  They are visible in my last photo on my hair journey page as a dark halo of curly hairs sticking up around my head about 6 inches down from the top.

I get weird wiry hairs at my crown. They're jet-black, kinky, and really bizarre. They all come in a 2-inch patch of trich damage. I get the urge to pull them out too, but I'm not going down that road again.

Anais 

I think it causes some sort of trauma to the follicle, to pull consistently. At least that was my experience.

Hugs
Anais

My resolutions:

keep reading this hair board...full of info and great gossip

look after myself and my hair inside and out

keep away from hair dye

treat myself to lovely shampoos and conditioners

never go out in the sun again without uv protection

let last year's suntan fade and see my natural colour again

give up chocolate (again) after Christmas

decorate at least one room

My new years resolution is to:

Do more S&D.

Brush my hair with only a wide tooth comb occasionally.

Drink more water & eat more fruit and vegatables and start taking my supplements again.

Condition my ends more often.

Do more Oil treatments

Wear my hair in a plait more often to avoid tangleing.

1) Not to visit a hair salon at all throughtout 2006.

2) Not to dye at all, that means letting my hair grow out now with the dye that it has in it, and just to bear those roots that are going to show up.

3) Eat healthy and get more excerise in, maybe take up yoga or pilates, and drink more water.

Hello Everyone,

I couldn't resist posting on this particuliar topic. I also have made New Year 2006 hair resolutions.

#1 - NO more hair dyes....NOT even semi's!!!! I have found that when my hair is artifically colored it feel's alot dryer, sticky, and unatural not to mention my scalp also pays the price. I now have slight streaks of really attractive silver running through my hair and I can live with that. I'am actually getting compliments from everyone and being asked to leave it the way it is. I have found that age dosen't matter unless your a fine cheese or expensive wine!

#2 - NO dramatic hair cuts!!!! I'am due for a trim of about an inch or an inch and a half. It has been almost 2 year's since I have had a trim so with that exception....my hair will see no scissors!

#3 - More hair styles!!!! Growing out a GI Jane really left me with no choice of hair styles but now I can actually braid my hair down my back. I love to sport different hair styles, I think it makes the process of growing hair long more interesting.

#4 - Work out frustrations!!!! I have come to find that a hair cut or new hair color really won't change a problem.

#5 - Get a hobby!!!! I just bought a beautiful 2005 filly "Two Shy Tazzy" barn name "Papoose". You can see her in my new avatar. I'am sure that she will keep me so busy that I won't have time to think about doing anything negative to my hair. Once she is started under saddle and comfortable, I promise that I will FINALLY post a pic of myself riding her.

Happy 2006 New Year! I hope that each and everyone of you will reach your hair goals  

My 2006 hair resolutions are:
To keep doing what I am doing. (Everything I learned from this forum!)

1) Stay out of salons
2) Have husband trim ends as needed
3) Continue using henna and indigo for beautiful and "natural" hair color
4) Condition, wash/condition, condition as needed
5) Eat healthy, exercise, rest, drink plenty of water, take vitamins
6) Continue growing out bangs- resist all urges to cut them
7) Continue tracking my hair growth progress with photos
8) Grow to maximum attractive length (I don't know what this will be with my fine but thick hair- hopefully at least midback)
9)Come to forum for support when needed

I agree, especially all that shine and color!

A number of resolutions, many of which center around taking better care of myself.

1.  I realise it sounds cliche, but I am about to start a diet.  My boyfriend wants to do one seriously, and with both of us on the same page, I think it will be easier for me.  I have been psyching myself up to this for a couple of months (no diet works for me (even if I follow it) unless my brain is convinced).

2.  In hand with the diet is the resolve to take better care of myself and to be kind to myself.  I need to try and get at least 6 hours of sleep at night (am bad about getting around four).  Need to increase what exercise I do.  And I need to better my appearance.  Have sort of lost being a girly-girl, if you know what I mean.  I dress okay for work, but elsewhere, it is lacking.  Was at a hockey game the other night, and I noticed a large percentage of women of all ages took the trouble of dressing nicely and looking good.  I mean, I had make-up on, and my hair looked okay, and I had a nice coat, but my standard outfit for hockey is a loose t-shirt, worn jeans and old sneakers.  So this area needs improvement.  Going through life looking like a shopper at Walmart is not a good idea.

Related to physical well-being is mental well being.  Finally got back to what I love - painting, and wioll continue to do so.  Need to figure out how to work swimming back in - I love to swim.

3.  With hair care, I resolve the following:

a.  Although I do color (root touch-up when necessary), I will not fall into the 'lets get some highlights' temptation.

b.  I will continue to ignore passing hair fads (the recent re-popularity of long layers has briefly tempted me).

c.  Through the help of this forum, I am continuing to try and take better care of my hair.  I found a lovely wide-toothed wet hair comb that feels great on the scalp and I will now also let my hair dry without combing or brushing to encourage the natural curl.  Am still bad about not thoroughly checking for split ends, so I need to work on that.  Might also try the sock-rolling thing.

4.  I  now have a digital camera, and I just might post a hair pic here.

Yes Katharine, your hair is lovely....I can tell you are a Henna user

tdouty....Jennifer's hair is looking so beautiful!  That end trim is really working for her.

Sorun, I can't possibly imagine you having any hair envy!  Your hair is so stunning

Hi Everyone,

I think each and every one of you have great hair.  Anais, I have admired yours for months and I really like your website.
I'm frustrated with mine, but I have seen a huge improvement since I started learning about long hair care from this forum and other websites.

Thanks for the compliments and sorry if this is off topic!

Thank you Katharine  That's sweet of you.

Speaking of routines, I'm curious about everyone's new routines now (after the New Year's resolutions and all. We need a new Routines thread!)

Anais

Hi!

 First of all, Please someone tell me what S&D refers to? I haven't a clue.

 As far as my new Year's Hair Resolutions, I decided to;

 slightly trim my hair,

 Continue to use professional hair products, especially Aveda,

To use scalp massage methods,

 To allow my hair to grow out from a Bob cut to my shoulders,

To continue to not blow dry my hair,

 also not to use any hair spray,especially with Alcohol(which dries out my hair,

And finally, continue wearing hats that are fun and protect my hair from sun, and wind all seasons long, unless i spray a SPF leave in conditioner!

 There I'm done, can I go and dance now?! LOL!!!

 Bye, and God Bless!

Hi everyone,

I think you all have great hair My 2006 resolution is to keep my hair as long as I have it now and I may let it grow a bit longer. I want to stay happy with my long hair as long as possible!

1. No semi dye - I hennaed but that doesn't really count

2. No straightening - ONCE but i was gentle and only glided over it and didn't let it heat up.

3. No blowdrying - Only when there was risk of my hair freezing up.

4. Try to embrace my natural without ending up wet-combing them out - I did this one.

5. Regular trims - Once a month.

6. Get to elbow-length - Hmm...Not sure if this'll happen this year. Still time.

7. Grow the bangs from hell back to my collarbone or more - I'm growing them to jaw length and keeping them there. I need them.

8. Cut EVERY split end I see off. - I have ALOT of hair and since stopping washing it every day, I don't really get splits that are too terrible so I just cut the bad ones and trim the ends.

All in all I've done quite badly!

LadyFrog wrote: I don't usually make resolutions but if I was, these would probably be it; get a trim of 1 inch do more S&D comb more gently learn how to do a new upstyle Please make this a sticky

Well, I got a trim of 1 inch, I did quite a lot of S & D although I´ve slacked off now, I´m back to combing a bit more roughly and I´ve learnt how o do a handful of new upstyles. So a success!

 I really Searched and destroyed!! I cut off 2 inches off the bottom. Now I've got a angle, trying for an inverted Bob syle.

 So now, I want pink highlights. Still debating if I should,.. Hmmm,..

 Hey Sarah,

 I'd be Bossy with those stylists too, if i were You too.

 I mean It's your hair not theres!!!!

 Personally I would hate to be a model, all that hair and makeup, I don't have the patience for it.

 But, ask me to enter a marathon, or dance contest, and I'm there!

 I remember my Twin Sister Barb using Henna on her long Naturally red locks, back in 1999.

 Frankly, Our "Natural" medium copper looks better. The Henna, looked fake, and too bright, mayb for Barb(and me too). I guess it depends on skin tone too.

 Katie

Hm... 4 months into the year, I've done some but not all, and there aren't many to begin with.

- Reach a length that "looks tailbone" not IS tailbone... so about almost-classic.  And some of it should probably be trimmed off for all that inevitable combing damage. (I find that combing causes damage too, causing "stressed" hairs that have been stretched too hard but not snapped) Haven't reached 'looks tailbone' yet, and haven't trimmed yet either.
- Pick up my green tea habit again - green tea is supposed to be good for hair! Have been drinking green tea almost every day
- Be happier with my length and not get hair anorexia, be happy with my thickness, especially as my hair gets longer and more difficult to work with. yeah right
- Learn how to do Leia's Swirly Bun invented Orchid bun

Looking forward to reading everyone's.

Anais

missrini wrote: Hmm.....well I have one main resolution: NEVER visit another hairdressing salon in my life.  That entails doing my own trims and colours (henna of course!). Other resolutions: Endeavour to learn more about natural hair care (herbs, etc.) Get the most length I can in one year...ie no trimming in 2006 Start a hair journal

• Well, still haven't visited a hair salon and am still henna-ing every 3 weeks....hair is still loving it
• The learning journey continues for me. I am in the process of obtaining some new herbs to try.
• Still have not trimmed at all (although have come close!!)
• Haven't started a journal yet  I keep meaning to, but I think I would bore people to death!  I kind of have a "journal in my head" which bores even me!!

So I think I'm doing OK so far.....

 I ignore certain posts.

 I could say a name, but I think that person knows.

?????????? ???????????? Did I just miss something?

Anyway.....Sarah, not that I would ever want to discourage anyone from trying henna......but what are your reasons for wanting to use henna? It doesn't have to be just for the colour....henna has amazing conditioning benefits too.  If you do not want to affect your colour too much, then use a henna gloss.  If you don't want to affect your colour at all, then use Cassia or Amla.  Personally, I think a gloss would add a beautiful copper vibrance for you   Don't be afraid either way (and certainly don't feel pressured!).  I'm here to help if you need it.

Hmmm intriguing!

(am with you on missig something....)

Love the new signature type thingy ma bob Rini!

I didn't make any hair resolutions, so I shall make a belated one.  'I must comb my hair properly, I must comb my hair properly, I must comb my hair properly, I must comb my hair properly......'  Far too many snapping noises recently

*Is with Rini on missing something*

Aren't those snapping noises the worst? My hair is noisy(for hair) in general if it moves because of the strand thickness but the snapping noises are just bad.

Hellfrozeover wrote: *Is with Rini on missing something* Aren't those snapping noises the worst? My hair is noisy(for hair) in general if it moves because of the strand thickness but the snapping noises are just bad.

I'm with ya'll on missing something!

I hate those snapping noises, too. I do need to take better care of my hair....too many resolutions to state right now, but I can agree on the combing better!

HFO....LOL...noisy hair!!!!  I like it.

Thanks Philosophygirl

Hmmmm, some strange goings on with the hair board the last few days.....I am missing something too!

Anyway, as for hair snapping, I need to be more gentle with my combing and brushing and also keep my hair protected in the wind and bad weather. I've been outside a lot lately and my hair's been blowing around in a way that leads to many tangles. Then I come home and try to comb and it's a virtual snapping party! "I will comb more gently, I will comb more gently" Thanks PhilGirl!!!

Yeah I know what you mean about the snapping party. Mine has been terrible recently. I'm putting it down to Laureth Sulphate.

Rini: When my hair was dryer before I took care of it, it just to really freak me out. I was lying in my bed and I heard it and started screaming and woke the whole house up because I thought there was a spider or something on my pillow!

Dave...I still don't get it, but then again...I don't think I really want to

This whole "noisy hair" thing is making me laugh!!   My hair has always been quiet (unlike me!) so it's so funny to hear about this.  HFO....I wish you had that on video

It's calmed down now but when it had layers, it sometimes sounded like wind in trees.

Dave: If it's aimed at you then that's pretty harsh. You've done a great job as a mod and you're still as lovely as ever. By what was said, you'd think you had been some helldiva.

April Update:

"1.  I realise it sounds cliche, but I am about to start a diet." 

Have been "South-Beaching" it for about six weeks and it is working wonderfully.  I feel a lot better, eating way more heathily, am walking regularly, and people are beginning to notice a weight loss.

"2.  In hand with the diet is the resolve to take better care of myself and to be kind to myself."

Still need work here.

"3.  Hair care"

Recently did a two-inch lock-chop to get rid of damaged ends from winter dryness.  I define a lock-chop as trimming one's hair dry so you can see how your hair falls and forms the waves and individual locks of hair.  It takes time because you have many smaller sections of hair to deal with.  Wet trims may give you a more even cut, but you can miss damage that only visible with dry hair.

Still do color touch ups but have avoided high-lighting or trend hair cuts.  Because of the warmer weather, I wear it up a lot more in a pony-tail.

"4.  I  now have a digital camera, and I just might post a hair pic here"

Need to update to a less frizzy shot.  Its hard to get my BF to take a picture because he thinks it's absurd that people participate in a hair forum.  I 'gently' remind him that yes, the internet can indeed be used for more than just gaming and porn.