My last few weeks as a longhair...

[Smokering]

After having had high-hip or longer hair since I was 13, I have made the momentous decision to chop it all off and go vintage. I haven't quite decided on the length, but it'll be around shoulder-length, and I'm going to experiment with 1940s hair - Victory rolls, steam curlers (relatively non-damaging as curlers go, apparently), pincurls and so on.

I know I'll miss my long hair, but I think it's time. So. I won't get it cut until after Christmas (DH is buying me the steam curlers, and I'll need a vented brush and some other odds and ends). In the meantime, I want to get some nice photos of its length. And I have a couple of questions:

-Can you sell or donate hennaed hair? I know hennaed hair "takes" dye differently to commercially-dyed hair, so some places won't take it; but I figure it's possible I could sell it to a dollmaker or something. How I'd go about doing that, mind you, I have no idea. I don't like Locks of Love, but Pantene's Beautiful Lengths says they accept hair dyed with "vegetable dyes"... anyone know if that includes henna? I've hennaed only my roots for years, so my length is fairly faded/subtle/natural-looking - I don't know how that'd affect any weird chemical reactions.

My hair isn't super awesome, honestly - one of the reasons I'm cutting it! It isn't hugely thick, and it has some split ends. So I'm not expecting I could sell it for $900 or anything... I'd just like to do something with it that's more worthwhile than chucking it in the compost.

-If you were going to chop your hair from nearly-sittable-on to shoulder-length, what would you do in the meantime? Damage the heck out of it with curlers, just for fun? I don't really have the oomph to bleach it or turn it blue or anything, sadly, but some minor experimentation might be fun. I could henndigo the ends, if I knew a local source for indigo...

-Anyone have any must-see videos on vintage hair? Anyone here do the 1940s hair thing? Tips, advice, recommendations? I've watched a few things on YouTube, and I read that vintage hairstyling book a few years back, but I'm by no means an expert (even a theoretical one - obviously practicing pincurls with hair my length isn't gonna happen!)

-I mostly use Indian herbs for hair washing, and am pretty anti-product and anti-chemicals. Anyone know of some nice, natural, virtuous versions of hairspray and setting lotion?

[frogs]

Hi! Sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun with your hair :) I dont know how to style vintage hair, unfortunately, but about the hairspray, i am pretty sure i have been seeing videos on youtube about how to make your own hairspray. That should be pretty natural, shouldnt it? :) I dont have a specific video i can recommend but if you search for "DIY hairspray" i am sure loads of good videos will pop up :) good luck!

[Roscata]

If I was going to sell my hair I wouldn't do anything abusive to it. From your story it sounds like you've had long hair for a very long time so you probably did everything you wanted to do with it. If you don't want to sell it then you can do whatever you've been curios about without any care for consequences.
I don't follow any shoulder length youtubers, most of the stuff I watch is for long hair, but here's a blog that has a lot of old school hair styling tutorials: beauty is a thing of the past (http://beautyisathingofthepast.blogspot.com/).
I wrote some stuff about natural alternatives to conventional styling products here: Style your hair without damaging it. (http://adelinahair.blogspot.com/2012/11/style-your-hair-without-damaging-it.html)
Good luck with the haircut! :)

[metricfuture]

You may want to keep it a bit longer than shoulder (maybe around APL) for most vintage styles. Check out The Fedora Lounge for styling ideas, it's a pretty active forum and it's FULL of information. If you cant sell your hair, you might want to keep it in case you ever need to make a rat or a fall (you'd be surprised how many old school styles need them to look historically accurate, especially anything from Hollywood).

ETA: I know you're anti-chemical, but for most of these styles, you're going to need a setting lotion. I've had great luck with Lottabody, but it's got parabens. This thread might help in that department: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=48010

[Carolyn]

If it was me, I would do all the fun things I didn't do because I didn't want to damage my hair. Dip dyed ends sound like fun. Also I wouldn't do one big cut. I'd do it in small increments and have fun with other lengths as I went shorter. If I did it in one big cut, I'd save the ponytail or braid as a keepsake. It also might come in handy as add in hair for updos. I agree with the person who suggested APL instead of shoulder length. If you look at photos from the 40s many styles were a little longer than shoulders and the hair was almost always curled which takes up length.

[jacqueline101]

Sounds like you're having a lot of fun with your hair.

[Peggy E.]

Another vote for the APL rather than shorter, for you will need the extra length for styling.

If you are wanting to sell your hair, you might want to hold off on "all the things I've never done to it, but hope to try" business. You could do a lot of damage in a very short time and it might not be such a sell-worthy commodity if you mess it all up. Just a thought....

I'm not over-the-top on the styles of the 40's, it was so structured and often it appear to be so hard-looking. There's a lot of ratting and chemicals involved in the process, too.

That said, if not selling it - have all the fun in the world! ;o)

[spidermom]

Things came up when I googled "selling my hair". But I don't know anything personally.

[Dr. Girlfriend]

I'm not really an expert on natural hair products because I use cones and a lot of other things and have no problems with it, but I do know that cheap beer makes a pretty good setting lotion according to my mother and grandmother. It's not supposed to leave much of an odor either, but i've never tried it and can't vouch for the odorless aspect personally. It's worth a shot though, it all washes out after all.

I'm with everyone that suggested going no shorter than APL for those vintage styles. I'm by no means an expert but I do love those styles, I think they look very glamorous and classy. I think that SL would be a bit too short to recreate the styles in question after you accounted for the shrinkage that curling your hair will produce. Depending on the tightness of curl you could easily loose a couple of inches in shrink. My hair is just wavy and I lose about 2-3 inches in length to the waves alone.

Metricfuture is also dead on accurate about the natural hair rats used to create a lot of those styles. Women collected loose hair and used it to create rats that created a base for styles such as the Victory Roll and to create fullness in many styles. Picture a dread-like sausage shaped roll of compacted almost felted hair, and that's a rat for you. The reason they did this was because it was economical and the rat base would be practically invisible due to being a perfect match for their own hair. You can buy synthetic rats made out of various manmade materials, my mother had a few of these that she used in some styles in the 1980s, but if you are going for authenticity you are going to be collecting hair to make those rats. If you are going to embrace that aspect of hairstyle history which I have no problem with and would commend you on since I love accuracy in these things you might consider saving some of the cut off length to manufacture them instead of having to wait around for shed hairs. Just my 2 cents.

[Smokering]

Yeah, I tried googling, but couldn't find any info on selling or donating hennaed hair. I guess in the "real world", hennaing is pretty uncommon! The "vegetable dyes are OK" statement on two hair donation sites were as good as I got. I might ring one of the donation places tomorrow to ask.

To clarify: no, I definitely won't trash my hair if I decide to sell or donate it!

I'm wavering on the length. Yes, APL is more correct for 40s, but I haven't had short hair for so long that I kinda like the idea of going shorter initially and then just growing it out. If I started at shoulder-length, the curled hair (closest to my face, at least - I'm going for a gentle U-shaped hemline) might end up sort of chin-length, and I'd be curious to see how that looks. If it's awful, well, shoulder-length to APL doesn't take that long - you know?


I'm not over-the-top on the styles of the 40's, it was so structured and often it appear to be so hard-looking. There's a lot of ratting and chemicals involved in the process, too.
Yeah, some of the styles are very... helmety? I definitely don't like every 40s style - and truth be told, I'm not going to complete historical accuracy here, I'll happily fudge to 30s or 50s styles if I like 'em better. There's a lot of crossover, anyway. I can't do the really girly, fluffy, curly styles, which I love, because my features aren't delicate enough - I don't want to feel like I'm in drag. :p And I don't want to do the really severe, sculpted-looking styles, like some of the more architectural Victory Roll styles - I'd feel a bit too costumey and ridiculous, I think.

Lauren Bacall has some nice styles - curly but not too fluffy, and a bit of height, but not too much, on the top. I love Veronica Lake's peekaboo look too, but it would be hugely impractical for me. I'm still looking at hundreds of vintage and vintage-esque photos online, and I'm starting to get a feel for what I want.

metricfuture: Yes, the Fedora Lounge is great! I've lurked... probably time to join though, right? :)

[ravenreed]

Vegetable dyes usually means Manic Panic and those types of azo dyes, not henna. They can be removed. I am guessing that they wouldn't want hennaed hair, however, I could be mistaken.

[piffyanne]

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=89087 you can practice vintage hairstyles NOW, there are some you won't be able to do with short hair.

Do them now so you don't kick yourself later! :blossom:

[WaitingSoLong]

If I was going to do this (sounds like FUN!!!! I do hope you share your experiments with us!) I would flat iron it because I have never done that. Then I would probably get some dreadlocks for the last week or so.

In another thread, someone mentioned donating hair to theatres to make theatre wigs, but I have googled that and cannot find any info on it. I think it would take some phone calls and sleuthing to figure out how to do all that.

Are you going to post before and after pictures?

[melusine963]

I'm just commenting to say I hope you have lots of fun with your new hair, and I hope you'll share pictures with us. :)

[NightOwl26]

There's this girl on Youtube that does a lot of vintage looks and pin curls, rockabilly, victory rolls. Her name is Kryquinn, you should check her out.

[Eireann]

Sounds like fun! If you've never had shorter hair, then I say go for it. If you change your mind, you can grow it back.

[itdontmatter48]

You are going to have so much fun! Be sure to share the pictures, we will be waiting.

[Nique1202]

When I got mine cut, it had henna in it, and my hairdresser found a company that did accept it as a donation! I don't know the name of it, unfortunately, but I'm sure if you asked at a salon near you, they'd be able to find out what you need to know. :)