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Thread: low-budget longhair

  1. #1
    Estas mi Esperantist' languagenut's Avatar
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    Default low-budget longhair

    Here I would like to gather suggestions on how to take care of your hair without breaking the bank. I'm sure I'm not the only one who deals with tight finances, so I thought this could be useful to others as well as myself. Sorry if there is already a thread like this.

    One point of particular interest to me is the matter of brushes and combs. Of course, I could buy a plastic brush at Dollar Tree, but would it ruin my hair? What would you recommend if you only have five dollars? How about the $10 and $15 ranges?

    My primary contribution to this topic is my discovery of how to make incredibly inexpensive hairsticks out of dowels. You just sharpen it in a pencil sharpener, sand it down real well, and rub it with coconut oil (flaxseed oil works as well), and they work excellently! At three dollars for a whole package, that makes for a very low price per each. I decorated most of mine with beaded tops, by making a hole in the end with a push pin, putting some beads on a sewing pin ($1 for a pack of 250 at Walmart), and gluing it in with Super Glue (I use the gel kind; I think it costs a little more, but its not flowing everywhere makes it worth it). It has been holding great ever since, and the only potentially expensive part is the beads, but those can often be found at thrift stores and yard sales.

    Any other ideas or experiences about low-budget longhairing? All input is welcome, even seemingly obvious "everybody-knows-that" stuff!

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    Cat Whisperer lithostoic's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    What a cool idea for hair sticks!
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    TERMINAL LENGTH Sarahlabyrinth's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    Diluting shampoos? It makes a bottle last for ages.
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    Member AJNinami's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    I have only ever had plastic brushes. That is, until I joined LHC. I have not used a single brush or comb in my hair for over 3 months now. I strictly finger detangle. It has saved my hair and it was completely free!

    I know there is a trick for making hair-safe ties out of pantyhose and ribbon.

    You can make perfect-sized, custom pins by bending stiff wire and putting a dot of nail polish on the tips.

    The only real investment I've made in my hair would be a silk pillowcase, and pretty hair toys. (But, if you go buy silk or satin you can make your own for much cheaper!)
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    Member chen bao jun's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    I would go to Walmart and look in the 'ethnic' hair care section. they will have natural boar bristle brushes for under $10.

    I also made hairsticks out of dowels (chopsticks can be a bit flimsy for me); you can find other ideas on making your own hairtoys in the crafts secton and in the conventional hair products there are threads on making beaded 8's and decorating fakkare hair clips.

    You can make many recipes for your hair, quite cheaply from the recipes section here. I live by Kimberlily's defrizz spray and other recipes there.
    <a href=http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/uloma1/media/september%202015%20flat%20ironed%20cropped_zpsb7di14pc.jpg.html target=_blank>[IMG]<a href=http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/uloma1/media/september%202015%20flat%20ironed%20cropped_zpsb7di14pc.jpg.html target=_blank><a href=http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/a481/uloma1/september%202015%20flat%20ironed%20cropped_zpsb7di14pc.jpg target=_blank>http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...psb7di14pc.jpg</a></a>[/IMG]</a>Proud to be a tightly curly!
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  6. #6
    Now-shorthaired mod Anje's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    I've got hair that's happy on cheap stuff, so diluted Suave Naturals shampoo and then either their conditioner or something like Herbal Essences Hello Hydration is 90% of my routine. I often don't fully rinse the HH out, which gives me extra slip.

    Dollar Tree is definitely the place to look for fabric hair ties.

    Sharpened colored pencils are adorable hairsticks and less splintery than bamboo takeout chopsticks. If you're going to do chopsticks, go hunting for the ones you can wash and reuse at an international grocery, then cut them down and sharpen. I like using a nail file and nail buffer to get them really smooth.

    Combs and brushes... If you like a brush, Tangle Teezers run about $10 at Sally Beauty. The Body Shop has a good wood detangling comb for about $7, but I used mine on wet hair until they got rough. I'm recently hooked on a wide tooth comb that I got from Eternally in Amber on Etsy; it's plastic and super smooth. It's not going to entirely replace my Tangle Teezer, but I like it.

    Edit: Stay On Satin sleep bonnets in the ethnic haircare at Walmart are nice. I hate satin pillowcases, so bonnets are my thing.

    Another edit: 2 good threads for you:
    http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...d.php?t=130102
    http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ad.php?t=93328
    Last edited by Anje; March 16th, 2016 at 07:38 PM.
    Lady Physis, Lorekeeper of Nature in the Order of the Long Haired Knights
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  7. #7
    Member Obsidian's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    I use dowels or hardwood chopsticks from ebay to make sticks, heck I even brought home disposable chop sticks from a restaurant and sanded them down for sticks.

    I use Vidal Sassoon shampoo and con for around $5 a bottle. My hair oil is usually lou ann's peanut oil, its around $3 at wal mart. My most expensive product is a 4 oz bottle of argan oil but it was a gift, I like it well enough I will buy more when the time comes.
    I buy beads/wires when they are on sale and use coupons too, I make beaded eights with them that probably only cost around $3-$4 each in supplies.

    My satin pillow cases are from walmart, paid under $4 each. To date, the most I've spend on a single hair item was a ficcare knockoff for $15 and a sheep horn comb for $13. I found a TT knockoff at the dollar store, its been great and my shower comb for detangling is also from the $$ store. I use henna too buts is quite cheap and last me a long time. $15 worth will most likely last a year.

  8. #8
    mostly harmless Robot Ninja's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    Pantyhose hair ties: Just cut horizontal strips from the good leg of pantyhose that has a run in it. I make mine about 2" wide but I use nylon tights rather than sheer pantyhose; if you're using sheer pantyhose you might want to go wider. Or if you want smaller hair ties, buy girls sized tights from the dollar store.

    DPKN mini-forks/big hair pins: Get some double-pointed knitting needles. 2.5-3mm works well. Bend them in half around a doorknob or something similar. If you want to add a head curve, bend them gently on the edge of a bathtub or countertop or some other curved surface. Paint with nail polish (dabbing it on in thin layers with a makeup sponge lets you get a nice even coat without glopping or streakiness, and also works with old gloopy nail polish, plus gives the surface a bit of texture so it stays in better, although you can smooth it down very easily with a nail buffer), glue things to them if you want to make them pretty.

    My shower comb was less than five bucks at Sally's. I sanded down the seams and it's all I ever use to detangle.
    Lady Ilium, Spellweaver and Technomancer in the Order of the Long Haired Knights
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  9. #9
    Member andrea1982's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    Also, stay with your natural color, and learn how to trim your own hair. Long hair is generally cheaper than main stream hair care if you want it to be.




  10. #10
    Member Loktra's Avatar
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    Default Re: low-budget longhair

    There's a $4 bamboo comb on amazon. I don't own it myself, but I have owned other inexpensive bamboo and wood combs. Some I've had to sand a little, but most feel decent after a good oiling. A word of warning: using wood combs wet is always risky (I oil mine like crazy and haven't had too many problems yet), but those that are made of multiple pieces of wood glued together will eventually come apart if you get them wet.
    I second big plastic shower combs, sanded if needed.
    Others have mentioned Eternally in Amber. Definitely more in the $10-15 range, plus shipping, but some of the cheapest seamless-by-nature water-safe combs out there. Cricket sells some of their combs on Amazon as "seamless" but I don't know how true that is, some are inexpensive though.
    I love Bass wood-bristle brushes. I paid $12 at a local health food store for mine, about the same price for the same model on Amazon. Worth the $ in my mind, if you really love to brush.
    My goody bbb cost me $8ish. Their newer BBB model I see in stores is more like $9-10 where I am. I'm not a bbb devotee, nor have I tried any other, so I can't speak to comparative quality. The few bristles I pulled out of mine were authentic.
    I love pantyhose hair ties!
    I also second diluting inexpensive shampoo. Suave naturals and VO5 being my favorites. They seem pretty concentrated and dilute really well. I also dilute my conditioner, it seems to distribute it through the hair better, so I don't actually use as much out of the bottle. Between that and really getting serious about stretching washes, I save a lot on those now. I use cheap oils (coconut, EVOO, avacado, mineral) on my hair for different purposes. I don't really like pure aloe gel or flax gel, I tend to use "Fantasia High Potency IC Hair Polisher Styling Gel" on my wet/damp hair to keep it tamed and help heatless curls/bun waves. Not too pricey, since I don't use much at once (or often).

    I use cheap 100% cotton mens t-shirts as hair towels. I just put my head through the hole like I'm going to put it on, then pull it up and over, so the neckline is around my head and all my hair is in the shirt. Then I do it up like a turbie twist. Less damaging than a towel, and cheaper than dedicated products. If your hair is really long, you can sew the bottom of the shirt shut to keep all your hair in.

    I've spent a lot more than DH would find reasonable on combs/brushes, but I also know I tend to spend 1/3 (or less) what some LHC members spend. To each their own. I tend to look at tools/toys as investments in my hair. But I also know that's REALLY easy to say when funds aren't too tight.

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