The Long Hair Community Discussion Boards

New, from the south

OilPaint — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:53:33 GMT

Hi. I'm new to the forums, but thought that this might be a good group to get to know.

I've been growing my hair out my entire life and have considered cutting it now and then, but just have never gotten the nerve to do anything with it. My mother decided not to have our hair cut until I was 14, and then the choice was left up to me (as long as it wasn't a mo-hawk). What ended up happening is that I've never gone to get my hair cut; not even the ends trimmed. The only hair cut I ever had was when I was about 5 years old, I took a pair of scissors and cut a small lock of hair because I wanted bangs. It wasn't even a noticeable amount.

My hair has always grown slowly, no matter what changes I make to my washing routine or diet and exercise... The only increase I ever noticed was when I started wearing it up in a bun day-in and day-out.

I hope to get some new ideas on how to better take care of my hair and help it to grow longer.

First grays

getoffmyskittle — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:14:47 GMT

So, this has probably been discussed before, but how old were you when you found your first gray hair?

I found my first a couple months ago, and since then I've found two more. I'm kind of weirded out by this since nobody in my family started to go gray before 35.

Hello :)

MintChocChip — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:15:07 GMT

Hello! I'm new, although actually I've been a LHC guest for a while, looking at all the interesting advice you give on these forums/articles. I'm really excited to start making little changes to my hair care routine and hopefully seeing some changes/improvements to my hair.

My main hair concern is that my hair seems to have got a bit thinner (in perhaps the last month). I'm putting this down largely to stress related to a new bf. As that ended a couple of days ago, I'm hoping the stress that went with it will go too and I'll see some happier hair as a result. I'm putting it down to stress purely because my diet and hair care routine haven't changed, and I was getting pretty stressed out. And plus, I've heard stress can do stupid things like that.

I'm at APL. My hair length goal is really BSL, which I'm really excited about! I've been growing my hair for at least 6 months.

This is what my hair looked like in August 2011:

I'm the girl on the right.

And this is what my hair looked like 2 months ago (I don't have any recent hair pics as my camera has broken, but it doesn't look too different now - a tiny bit longer but barely noticeable.)

Come on BSL! I'm so excited about being on LHC, and growing my hair with everyone. :)

Is there such a thing as a temporary henna/indigo?

millyaulait — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:17:33 GMT

I have had so many hair disasters that I'm frankly a little terrified of using something so permanent.

I absolutely *love* looking at henna on lovely LHC hair!

I would love to try it out first, in a non-committing way.

Plus - I have dark brown dyed hair, but inches of very light brown root growth.

I'm guessing I'd have to do something about that first too. :p

Daily Mail DIY haircut article

carmac21 — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:32:19 GMT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...ting-hair.html

Thoughts on this?:rolleyes:

New- Cannot access profile?

nesser33 — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:12:18 GMT

Hello! I just had my account activated today, and for some reason I cannot view my own profile. Is this normal? Is my account only half-activated? I'm confused. :cheese:<--dancing cheese man is confused as well.

Newbie from Germany

alex68 — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:35:02 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I'm alex and I live in germany. My hair is (chemical) chocolate brown and on the way to the waist. The lenght at the moment is a little bit over BSL, but it grows evenly 1.5 cm per month ;)

I fight against split ends and hair breakage, but I'm sure to get good tips here :)

Sorry for my bad english :o

I'm glad to be here :)

Gathering Tips for Celiac Disease Hair

Vapunzel91 — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:29:49 GMT

Hi, everyone!

It's been a while since I've been on, but I really need some hair help. One of my best friends was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and is trying to grow her hair to her shoulders. My new stepmother has also been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and wants healthy, longish hair. Both want to have hair that is long enough to put in a ponytail with an extra five inches hanging from the pony tailer.

Unfortunately, both have hair that is chin length and doesn't seem to grow! My stepmother and friend have finally gotten the B-12 vitamin up, take Biotin, and are trying to get their blood cell count higher from anemia. I think both are doing pretty well, but I'd really like to help them, but I'm no hair expert except for my own hair.

If anyone can give me hair tips for people with Celiac Disease, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here's a site for more about Celiac Disease: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001280/

How to edit signature??

SurferB — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:56:28 GMT

I can't find it on my edit profile? Thank you

Can someone explain?

kallarina — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:50:26 GMT

I have been unable to post any threads, or any message to anyone from my computer. I also have a lot of trouble signing in, and am now unable to post any pictures in my album. I have to do all of this from my phone, and I can't do pictures from my phone. :(
What is going on?

Finally! Hairtyping pictures. (Pic Heavy)

fayeelizibeth — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:30:48 GMT

Finally I had the time to wait for my hair to air-dry! It took forever, like 5 hours, and to show for it, I have these pictures (the pink underneath is very faded, but that's what you can see under the top layer):

without flash

Another without flash

and one with the flash (this is the one where you can most see the pink that is underneath.

and just for fun and comparison:

This is after it was brushed, with my kitty, Godiva :p (she's named after the candy, not the lady with long hair, but it is a cute coincidence none-the-less).

Anyway, the entire point of this post is to ask what hairtype you all think I am, particularly with respect to the first part, the waviness part. I was thinking 2a or 2b (before I did this I was thinking 1b or 1c, so this was a very interesting exercise).

These pictures are from after I washed my hair with my egg/aloe/lemon/cinnamon mix (I de-tangled with a wide-tooth comb during washing), a chamomile tea rinse, and then letting it air dry without brushing, combing, or barely touching for 5 hours :rolleyes:. Also perhaps of note, the night before I heavily oiled with coconut oil.

more pictures here if anyone would like:
Hairtyping Album

Siblings and hair...

Hollyfire3 — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:24:43 GMT

Anyone here have a sibling who is funny about/thinking they know ALL about long hair and how to care for it? My brother, who was over yesterday, looked at my hair and said "wow, your hair's so long"...now I chopped 3 inches in January and am still mourning it, but it is 1 or so inches away from being back to pre-chop so...whatever, thanks for the compliment. But then he proceeded to try and comb it (ouch ouch ouch)...he tenativly took a piece and yanked, I took the comb and did it myself, so THEN he MAJORLY side parted it and acted like it was the best look ever on me...all the thickness on one side, no thanks! but, he left it this way and combed some more, took a huge claw clip, lightly twisted 3/4ths of my hair into some bun like blob then complained when the big claw clip wouldn't fit...but he stuck it hanging on there anyways. He admired his creation (me) and said it looked "punk rock" and awsome....right....it looked like a 5 year old tried to do my hair for fun..but the 5 year old would have done better! He also thinks my hair looks better straightened, thinks it is too crazy and poofy (even when I KNOW (and have worked hard on it to not be)its not!), he tells me all these crazy mainstream tips but really has no clue about what to do with the mess on my head....So anyone else here think a sibling or other family memeber is annoying for thinkign they know all about YOUR hair?

Help!! Newbe

SurferB — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:21:27 GMT

Please, educate me about how to help my hair. I'm only 21 and I was vegan for 1.5 years. My hair started thinning, and I started feeling pretty bad... Now I'm vegetarian and feeling 110% better. My hair seems to be growing in thicker now. I naturally have super thick hair and I've always had very long hair, but I never knew how to grow it very healthfully. ALL adivce is welcome!! I cut it maybe 6 months ago up to my sholders, and now I'm growing it back out to my waist.

How often do you replace your TT?

GoldberryHair — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:07:08 GMT

I was watching Torrin Paiges new vid on YT and she mentioned she replaces her Tangle Teezer after every 6 months...I've had mine about that long but I think it's still ok...?

How often to you guys replace yours? And one what basis?

Removing henna / peroxide - I did it and it worked pretty well

sunset sepia — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:02:10 GMT

I am posting this here because this is one of the forums that I got information from and I was so glad to have some sort of guideline.

My Story:
I used a VERY potent henna intended for body art twice� Rajisthani twilight with no heavy metals in it. Turns out I have a weird allergy to it. Then I used naturtint fire red and it worked fine on my hair, but I have a sensitivity to all dyes now (even in foods). So I decided to strip it out and go with the lightest dye I can to see if that helps.

First of all I did color strips for all of these products and eliminated the ones that did not turn out well.

I used color oops for 20 minutes then washed with a ph balanced shampoo shimmer lights by Clairol. (I had used color oops before and it worked well on me. It has no bleach in it and does have citrus). The texture is not affected when I use color oops (though that may vary for others). My hair was orange then as I think it took out the dye and most of the henna was left (expected).

I then used 2 packages (bc my hair is thick) of nice n easy born blonde maxi (there are different strengths and this one comes with 2 lightening packets) intended to be used on black hair going to platinum.
The second box I used on the roots.
I used it for 90 min total (the package says that is normal).
It didn�t burn me. So far so good with the texture of my hair as well.
I washed with the ph balanced shampoo again and then for only 2 seconds with the silver (purple) shampoo. Then I used the conditioner it came with for 20 min while I test stripped another dye to go over it.
That dye (naturtint light dawn blonde) was not strong enough to affect my hair.

At this point my hair was very light at the roots and bright orange blonde elsewhere. Like a super intense strawberry blonde, but not a natural color. I expected this because I knew I would need to use a toner from stories I had read. It was light enough to dye it a darker ash blonde.
The next day I got a dye and a toner in ash blonde :

Light ash blonde cooler 9A Superior preference dye by L�oreal Paris 8 weeks of color permanent
Toner (the store sample looked dark silver gray)

I also got a dark ash blond just in case something strange happened.

I did test strips for both and the dye came out a lot lighter and nicer than the toner. The dye actually said it was for toning down orange. The toner looked best after about 6 minutes on my sample and was brown after 20 minutes.

It really burned my scalp a lot, but I have heard that from other people too. I only left it on 20 min instead of 25 bc it looked an okay color and I was worried about what the burning feeling might be doing to my scalp.
Then I washed with a ph balanced shampoo and put the conditioner on for about 20 min.

It seems to be a dark ash blonde (better than the orange � I am happy with anything less un-natural looking that is not too dark).
The top was a lot lighter than the bottom (as it was before), but it did not have a hard line where the roots end and was not orange anymore. I may trim a lot off. I would like to see what it looks like dry.

I realize I look better in a dark color � but I developed an allergy to dyes but not to peroxide. It�s a long story. My natural color looks terrible on me (I grew it out once) since I have so much grey. It washes me out worse than blonde. I am sort of planning to go lighter so that I can dye my hair without the allergic reaction. Ultimately I will use more natural brands like naturtint.

I am very happy that my head is not burning anymore at the moment.
Phew

It is drying now and is a dark corn silk at the top and a dirty blonde at the bottom (but the transition is gradual). It looks dyed, but it also looks fairly normal and the orange is mostly out.

So I went to work today and most people said it looked pretty. They like that it�s darker at the bottom and the condition is pretty good. People are calling it strawberry blonde.