New: My Hairstory. Suggestions?
Printed From: HairBoutique.com
Category: Long Hair Happenings
Forum Name: Long Hair Support
Forum Description: Growing it long takes commitment and support.
URL: https://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=60647
Printed Date: September 28 2024 at 10:40pm
Topic: New: My Hairstory. Suggestions?
Posted By: Sk8erBraids
Subject: New: My Hairstory. Suggestions?
Date Posted: April 24 2008 at 8:33am
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Oh boy am I glad to have found this site! As I set off on my 2nd long hair journey, any tips or suggestions would be welcome! BTW: Great job on keeping the site loving and positive. Some background: I'm 40 yrs old, female, and my username comes from my obsession with long distance inline speed skating. I have 2 kids so spend a lot of time outside in the sun at ball games  . I had long (somewhere between bra strap and waist) hair with bangs/fringe when I was 20, which was in fantastic condition, but for some odd reason I thought it was a great idea to get it all permed . The 80s! Arrgh. I let it grow out again by about age 25 but got it all cut off again after my son was born because he loved touching it, even at 3 months old (must be a guy thing!), and he'd get all tangled up. I spent my 30s with it shoulder length and highlighted. It was in great condition and my hairdresser is a Swedish miracle worker in that respect (she knew what to do with my thin, dead-straight, fine hair). I got compliments almost every day about the color of my hair. Well that's all over now! Luckily I have a significant other - well ok, boyfriend (since it's ok to have long hair at 40, I guess it's ok to say 'my boyfriend' too!), who absolutely adores long hair, and comments every time we see a woman older than 20 who has short hair. He'll say "Oh she gave all her hair away!". So I know I have his support in growing my hair out. But I have noticed nobody has said anything about my hair being long since I quit getting it cut about 6 months ago. One guy I know insists on telling me when my hair looks 'better' (usually right after I have had it trimmed and rehighlighted). I'm so glad to read other people having similar experiences, especially how nobody says your hair is gorgeous until you have it all cut off! In the past 2 years I've suffered some emotional and physical trauma, which thinned my hair out even more, but it's thicker again now and I am going to try to avoid such mental/physical stress (mostly anxiety related). I have hypothyroidism (in check with the docs) and a tendency to low iron. From what I have learned scanning these boards, I need to quit caffeine (I'm on that), get plenty of sleep, and somehow get to where I'm not washing my hair every day. Great post by Dave, btw, on how to do that (can't remember where, sorry!). My natural color is light brown with zero red tones, but is highlighted blonde on the ends of course. My last highlight was Nov 2007, so it's pretty obvious now. The sun strips my thin hair of it's color pretty easily, so I expect the virgin stuff to lighten up once it's been out of my head for a while. When I was 20 it was mostly blonde because I bleached it myself. However, it never grew past my mid-back, so maybe that's why. I'm curious to see how long I can get it this time, especially now I'm interested in not abusing it! I have not had bangs for about 10 years but am not sure how that is going to look with long hair on my older face. I really don't wanna look like a hag, but I really don't want to do the bangs/fringe thing either because it's so limiting. Any suggestions on how to soften the front appearance (where all the frown lines are!) would be most welcome. It's in a V-Shape right now, with the lowest point about bra strap length, because of all the layers. I just took a photo to try to post it and after seeing all your photos, it looks horrible! However, it was educational in that I had no idea it was in that much of a V, or that the bottom of the V was that far down my back. I work with a guy who sells well-made scissors. He gave me a pair which normally retail at $200! They have a razor-blade on them. I could not believe how effortlessly the scissors cut. I trimmed some of the split ends. Hair goal: To have it mid to lower back, straight across, and healthy looking. If that means mid-back only, ok! Sorry for the long post. Maybe I should break it up into smaller points. |
Replies:
Posted By: paper
Date Posted: April 24 2008 at 10:47am
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Hi Sk8erBraids welcome! Wow, reading your hair history was like reading about myself. I have a hair journal on these forums if you care to check it out. http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=59398 - http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=59398
I know what you mean, IRL no one comments on hair. Except my husband who tells me every day how much he loves my "long" hair. He is thrilled I'm growing it.
When I first started growing out my layers and coloring my hair, I read ALOT of old posts here and got so much info.
Good luck growing your hair. Looking forward to pics. ------------- |
Posted By: Sk8erBraids
Date Posted: April 24 2008 at 11:38am
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Thanks for the reply, paper! And thanks for letting me know about the hair journals. It's great to have a supportive s.o. I just figured out my hairtype: 1A. F. ii So not much to work with there. You look like you have enviably thick hair! |
Posted By: hairbraider
Date Posted: April 24 2008 at 12:38pm
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Welcome Sk8erBraids! I'm excited for you. I have neither thin nor fine hair so I don't know that I could be much help to you, but I know there are others with wonderful advice ready to share.
------------- sarah 40 inches did henna for the first time http://hairbraider.spaces.live.com - click here to go to My Hair Space 
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Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: April 25 2008 at 8:05am
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Thank you for sharing your story, I enjoyed reading it! I've noticed people seem to feel like they have to say something after you get a haircut. I'm not sure why, maybe they feel its impolite not to say anything if its obvious you did something different, and you probably paid good money for it, so they feel you'd like to be complimented. Hair takes a long time to grow though, so no one feels any pressure to say anything usually. I did unintentionally shock a comment out of a coworker once by wearing my hair up for months on end (lots of different updos, I was into the french twists for a long time, I wasn't doing it to surprise people!) When I started it was right below my shoulders, then one day I wore it down and by then it was near bsl. My coworker said "Whoa its long! I thought you had short hair!". That only happened once though, and only that one person out of all my coworkers. I do some highlighting to mine too, only in the front. If you just do really thin pieces, you can grow it out gradually if you want to give it up in the future. Sometimes it can be complicated, getting the exact right shade without doing too much damage! Have fun on your journey! ------------- Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com |
Posted By: Sk8erBraids
Date Posted: April 27 2008 at 9:15pm
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Thanks for the words, Susan. I looked at your photos and your hair is amazing. Very inspiring. Do you do your own highlights (in the front), and if so, what do you use? Thanks also to Hairbraider. Wonderful hair you have! I have already learned so much from past threads on this site. No wonder I thought my hair was useless in the past - I never actually tried nurturing and nourishing it. |
Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: April 29 2008 at 9:04am
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Thanks for the compliment! I do my own highlighting. I get a highlift platinum dye at Sally with a blue base to counter the orange that comes out when hair is lightened, and use it with 40 volume developer. Doing it once makes the highlights come out a nice dark blonde. Doing it in the sun in the summer makes them go light yellow blonde, so I do whichever my mood craves. If your natural haircolor is light brown, you may need more lift than that, depending on how light you were going for. Often darker than dark blonde would require some bleaching. ------------- Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com |
Posted By: Bob S
Date Posted: April 29 2008 at 5:16pm
Hi and welcome! Six months is not a long time, and if you started from a short layer cut, you are only at the precipice of having beautiful long locks again. My advice, based on my DW doing a pixie grow-out without trimming, is to have only the bottom ends snipped occasionally until it lays nicely as a longish style. Much easier transition. Then, it's up to you when or if you trim again as it grows. Nice to have you, Bob 
That bf is a guy after my own heart! lol
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Posted By: Sk8erBraids
Date Posted: April 29 2008 at 10:31pm
Thanks for the highlighting info, Susan. I'll probably be up for that soon. Never been to a Sally Beauty supply store before . This helps me though. I was stood in the supermarket recently, completely dumbfounded by the array of hair coloring products. I left empty handed. Thanks for the encouragement, Bob! I measured my hair in the past week, and checked some photos from the last time it was snipped (end sept. 2007). The longest lengths were about 18" then, full of layers, and now it's at 22.5" at the longest part of the "V". I'm pretty tall so I have avoided any kind of pixie cuts like the plague (my head would look like a little apple all the way up there on top of my body). I was thinking about my bf's approach to encouraging longer hair, and although he was always careful not to complain or turn his nose up each time I got it cut back to right at my collarbone, I somehow got the message without feeling insulted that the longer my hair is the better. I wish more guys would just go ahead and speak out in encouraging ways about this, because I've never yet met one who loved short hair on a woman.  |
Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: April 30 2008 at 8:04am
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Since you're into both long hair and coloring, there's a lot you need to know before you dive in to dyeing your own hair (mistakes can need of a lot of chemicals to repair, and thus cause a lot of damage, which long hairs don't want). The supermarket isn't a reliable place to get haircolor, as you can't tell what the base shade is in a box color without calling the company and asking them. At Sally, (or any other beauty supply shop), the base is written on the dye bottle, so if you know your color wheel, and can pick the proper base, you'll have much more reliability in your results. For example, even though your hair doesn't have a hint of red in it, light brown hair will still pass through an orange stage, then go to yellow when you lift it. Blue is across from orange on the color wheel, so if you were to lift your hair to orange, then dye it, you'd need to know that you need a blue base in your dye to counter orange. If your hair were lifted to yellow, you'd need violet to counter the yellow (violet is across from yellow on the color wheel). I just give that as an example to illustrate that dye is not as easy as throwing it on your head and getting what you want. There are plenty of things you need to know in advance. But, it can be done, and learning it before you dive in, and doing test strands, will save you lots of money at the salon. Some of us even enjoy its complicated nature! The hair color board here is a great place for such info, and reading the stickies there is a great starting place. (Sometimes pros will pop up on there and help people too, in addition to us do-it-yourselfers.). ------------- Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com |
Posted By: DaveDecker
Date Posted: May 01 2008 at 9:11pm
Welcome Sk8erBraids! Yep, appreciation of long hair on women is a guy thing. Susan knows her stuff when it comes to hair coloring! (And Susan, I enjoyed your story about shocking your co-workers.)  ------------- |
Posted By: Sk8erBraids
Date Posted: May 10 2008 at 10:14am
| I've been trawling through all those pages of subjects in the color section. I'm about 1/3 way through! I am completely torn over what to do with my hair, colorwise. I think I am going to chicken out of trying to put on lowlights to even out the virgin hair color & highlighted ends. However, I'm not totally sure I have the guts to live without some lightness around the forehead. I must say I've learned so much from that color thread. wow. |
Posted By: DaveDecker
Date Posted: May 11 2008 at 6:31pm
Glad you've found some food for thought. 
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Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: May 12 2008 at 2:42pm
Thanks Dave!  Yeah, it can be scary just reading about all the complicatedness of it, but its lots of fun too, changing colors. ------------- Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com |