Craziest hair advice you have heard [Archive] - The Long Hair Community Discussion Boards

Kaelee

January 1st, 2013, 11:38 PM

(This thread may have been done before, and maybe I'm late to the party...but I just had to.)

I was just reading a post on the archives, where someone had been advised by a friend to put GASOLINE on their hair to straighten it.

:shocked: :ponder: :crazyq: :flamed:

What's the stupidest, craziest, funniest or most dangerous hair "advice" you've heard?

Natalia

January 1st, 2013, 11:59 PM

Kaelee

January 2nd, 2013, 12:05 AM

Its not that nuts since ive gotten it a few times. "to make your hair grow faster you have to stretch it by putting it in a high super tight pony wet or dry till it gets as long as you want" :rolleyes:

I noticed one time that my hair seemed to be growing faster since I kept ponytailing it (in reality, I think, I just wasn't noticing how long it was getting so it seemed sudden). Someone remarked "maybe the ponytail pulls it out of your head faster" (and they were serious LOL).

melusine963

January 2nd, 2013, 12:34 AM

Gasoline??? :flamed: indeed. I've heard of using that as a treatment for head lice, but it's so incredibly risky you'd have to be an idiot to try it.

TheHowlingWolf

January 2nd, 2013, 02:05 AM

Well I guess the craziest for me was to use monistat on my scalp...but hey...it works! haha the first time I tried it, my hair grew 1 inch in a week! :O but I haven't gotten the same results since unfortunately...but I remember the first time I heard of it I was like, are you kidding me? haha. But I actually told a girl about it and now she's trying it! She probably thinks I'm crazy though.

Rosetta

January 2nd, 2013, 02:17 AM

Well, these may not be outrageously crazy, but stupid anyway...

- cutting your hair makes it grow faster (how could it do that?)
- you need to brush & detangle hair when wet (!!)
- dyeing your hair actually improves its condition

Marcellaa

January 2nd, 2013, 02:59 AM

A friend of my said that conditioner on your scalp causes hairloss. I had to laugh, because her hair is extremely thin, dry and bleached and mine is thick and healthy.

EtherealDoll

January 2nd, 2013, 03:29 AM

Tota

January 2nd, 2013, 05:00 AM

Cut it because it's really getting long! (That was when my hair was slowly approaching BSL and I did tell that person many times before I am growing out my hair.)

prof-annie

January 2nd, 2013, 05:19 AM

"Using straighteners on your hair smoothes the cuticles back into place after colouring - avoiding damage"

"Split ends occur when hairs divide into two seperate strands - you should help them by pulling them apart"

turtlelover

January 2nd, 2013, 05:47 AM

Getting rid of split ends by burning the ends of your hair with a lighter. Whacky!!!

kaydana

January 2nd, 2013, 05:51 AM

Getting rid of split ends by burning the ends of your hair with a lighter. Whacky!!!

Reading that made my hair hurt. Why would you want to burn your hair?!

redsiren

January 2nd, 2013, 05:52 AM

If you get corn rows it'll make your hair grow faster.

Neneka

January 2nd, 2013, 07:08 AM

Henna is poisonous. Well, it's not that crazy if you know where the confusion comes from.

Rosetta

January 2nd, 2013, 07:32 AM

Henna is poisonous.

Ah, you mean the one about henna supposedly causing cancer? ;)
(There were actually some studies on rats a few years ago that appeared to prove it, but then again rats were made to eat henna, which human beings would hardly do :rolleyes: And based on those studies, EU was rumoured to soon forbid henna, though that never came to be.)

Neneka

January 2nd, 2013, 08:03 AM

Ah, you mean the one about henna supposedly causing cancer? ;)
(There were actually some studies on rats a few years ago that appeared to prove it, but then again rats were made to eat henna, which human beings would hardly do :rolleyes: And based on those studies, EU was rumoured to soon forbid henna, though that never came to be.)

Yeah, that and people often confuse henna with "black henna" that is used in some "henna tattoos". It has way too much PPD and causes allergies.

Poor rats. :(

Sillage

January 2nd, 2013, 08:28 AM

That cutting your hair makes it grow

missfaroe

January 2nd, 2013, 09:02 AM

well, in my oppinion I think it is crazy to use shampoo and conditioner and ect. i am a no poo'er and I only wash my hair in marrocan Rhassoul clay or only water. I never use any kind of hair stuff - I only wash and then let it airdry. But when I tell others about my hair care rutine they are like " you don't wash your hair with shampoo...oh, that is really weird". but am I weird because i don't want to splash all kinds of synthetic and cancerogenic stuff all over my body? :hmm:

sorry, it is not my intension to offend anyone of you, this is only my personal opinion:)

DancingQueen

January 2nd, 2013, 09:22 AM

Getting rid of split ends by burning the ends of your hair with a lighter. Whacky!!!

Well, technically you will get rid of all your split ends... along with the rest of the hair. So I guess it is not incorrect... But I would still stick to the scissors though. :D

RileyJane

January 2nd, 2013, 09:24 AM

that straightening your hair is actrually good for it and will help it grow; that the more you pull your hair tight the longer it will get; and that you need to RIPP through your hair with a brush to detangle it; the snapping/ knots that you rip through means youve just done a good job getting it detangled, ahhh!

melusine963

January 2nd, 2013, 09:37 AM

you need to RIPP through your hair with a brush to detangle it; the snapping/ knots that you rip through means youve just done a good job getting it detangled, ahhh!

Who THINKS like that?!? :justy:

AnnaB

January 2nd, 2013, 10:52 AM

I was just reading a post on the archives, where someone had been advised by a friend to put GASOLINE on their hair to straighten it.

I have heard this, but not gasoline. Its kerosene, which is also fuel. Smells very similar to gasoline too. My grandmother said its what they used back in the day to have thick lushes hair. Very hard to get the pure stuff now though.

spidermom

January 2nd, 2013, 11:06 AM

For me personally
1) Not washing hair at all is pretty wacky.

And not all shampoos and conditioners contain carcinogenic ingredients. There's probably more of that in air.

Olavi

January 2nd, 2013, 11:50 AM

For me, the most absurd advice I got was from my hairdresser. I asked what I could do to my hair, without cutting it, because it felt really damaged (pre-LHC time). She gave me some shine serum (wella glos-on if I remember right). The hair really was damaged, because I have tried to make dreadlocks, and some time later I shaved it all off.

jacqueline101

January 2nd, 2013, 11:54 AM

I heard you've to pull on the ends when you are combing to make it grow. The pull makes it grow.

DarkCurls

January 2nd, 2013, 12:05 PM

This thread is painful.

JadeTigress

January 2nd, 2013, 12:57 PM

The worst I've gotten is while I was at the hairdresser once, when I was going through a bout of TE (didn't know that's what it was at the time, though). After I got done telling her about how all my hair was falling out and how it had gotten noticeably thinner, she said I needed to dye it, specifically because it would damage my hair. All the damage would make my hair look thicker.

Yes, all my hair is falling out, let's purposely damage what's left of it. Crazy lady. :rolleyes:

melusine963

January 2nd, 2013, 01:07 PM

The worst I've gotten is while I was at the hairdresser once, when I was going through a bout of TE (didn't know that's what it was at the time, though). After I got done telling her about how all my hair was falling out and how it had gotten noticeably thinner, she said I needed to dye it, specifically because it would damage my hair. All the damage would make my hair look thicker.

Yep, that's the idea behind back-combing, too. Roughing up the cuticle gives more volume. shudder:

ghost

January 2nd, 2013, 01:47 PM

That some synthetic hair dyes are 'good' for your hair and will leave it less damaged than before...I guess I can see people thinking that if they dye their hair darker, because that will hide some damage, but the condition of your hair is still going to be the same.

If you want healthy hair you shouldn't let it get longer than BSL, otherwise it just gets old and damaged. (It's amazing how many people think this one!)

You MUST trim your hair at least 1/2" every 8 weeks, even if you're growing it out.

Flat ironing is good for your hair O_O Sure, it smooths the cuticle...it also torches all your moisture.

Tying small weights (like fishing weights) into your hair will encourage it to grow faster by tugging on your scalp. I don't even remember WHERE I heard that one, but I remember looking at the person who told me and thinking "You. Are. CRAZY."

Sarahlabyrinth

January 2nd, 2013, 01:50 PM

How about singeing the ends to encourage healthy growth? Yep, that's a good one - NOT!!!

oktobergoud

January 2nd, 2013, 02:37 PM

Getting rid of split ends by burning the ends of your hair with a lighter. Whacky!!!

This is totally off-topic, but I was sitting in the bus last week and it had to wait for a bridge to open... and got a look in a hairsalon for men! I think it was a Morrocan one or something (okay this may sound rude but something exotic, so to speak!), but the stylist was BURNING the sideburns (haha no pun intended!) of the client. I was just sitting like this :eek: staring behind the bus' window haha!

Natalia

January 3rd, 2013, 02:07 AM

From my mom yesterday "when i was keping my salon appointments my hair grew faster" no mom you were getting it trimmed more regularly weather it need it or not lol.

RubyTuesday

January 3rd, 2013, 04:10 AM

I used to hear that dyed hair looks thicker. Not in my experience....

Also, that breadcrusts make your hair curl :D

MinderMutsig

January 3rd, 2013, 07:34 AM

I used to hear that dyed hair looks thicker. Not in my experience....

Also, that breadcrusts make your hair curl :D Ah but this is scientific proven fact. Just like the fact that Santa wont come if the children aren't asleep and if you make a funny face or look crosseyed when the clock strikes 12 your face will stay like that forever and ever. I can't believe you dare doubt these things.

The craziest advice I ever got was that in order to get thicker hair you need to pull splits apart. This from a former classmate with the most luscious thick hair on the planet. She was absolutely 100% sure her thick hair was due to pulling splits apart and had nothing to do with genetics whatsoever. Oh to be 11 again and know all there is to know in the world! :p

RubyTuesday

January 3rd, 2013, 08:52 AM

We used to put Tipex in our hair at school. I think in America it is called liquid paper?? We thought the white bits looked cool and rebellious. Obviously this was before hair mascara and spray and brush in colour. How could Tipex make you look cool??? I mean really, how stooopid was I?:brainbleach:

MinderMutsig

January 3rd, 2013, 10:02 AM

melusine963

January 3rd, 2013, 10:06 AM

Hair mascara! I totally forgot about that! Having blond wavy hair with a couple of strands that are bone straight because of some sticky/clumpy vaguely purple/green/blue goo. Totally disgusting but man did we feel FABULOUS!

:rollin: I remember the hair mascara ads. Of course the models always had stick straight hair. :)

Kizuna

January 3rd, 2013, 10:28 AM

Hair mascara! I totally forgot about that! Having blond wavy hair with a couple of strands that are bone straight because of some sticky/clumpy vaguely purple/green/blue goo. Totally disgusting but man did we feel FABULOUS!

They're selling hair mascara here again. I've seen it in stores from companies like Isadora and so on. Did it become in fashion again?

Mary <><

January 3rd, 2013, 10:50 AM

Craziest advice was "Your hair is so gorgeous you should cut it!" ??? If it is so gorgeous why on earth would I want to cut it? So it can be less gorgeous??? O_o

PrincessIdril

January 3rd, 2013, 11:48 AM

I used to hear that dyed hair looks thicker. Not in my experience....

Also, that breadcrusts make your hair curl :D

Ah man my family used to say that to me all the time in an attempt to get me to eat my crusts. They were all deaf to my protests that I already had curly hair without eating the crusts

bunnylake

January 3rd, 2013, 01:31 PM

For me personally
1) Not washing hair at all is pretty wacky.

And not all shampoos and conditioners contain carcinogenic ingredients. There's probably more of that in air.

So true. It's strange to hear people say they want to avoid chemicals in their products when water itself is a chemical.

Nique1202

January 3rd, 2013, 06:04 PM

So true. It's strange to hear people say they want to avoid chemicals in their products when water itself is a chemical.

Hey, let's not discount the terrible things dihydrogen monoxide (http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html) is doing to our bodies and our planet. :rolleyes:

longcurlygirl<3

January 3rd, 2013, 07:52 PM

you have to comb from top to bottom not bottom to top if you want to avoid breakage. This was among straight hair girls at my church.

Sharysa

January 3rd, 2013, 08:35 PM

Also, that breadcrusts make your hair curl :D

It's mostly an attempt to get kids to eat their crusts, since a lot of the vitamins in bread are concentrated there.

biogirl87

January 3rd, 2013, 08:40 PM

So true. It's strange to hear people say they want to avoid chemicals in their products when water itself is a chemical.It's one of the reasons why I've gone back to sulfates after baking soda dried out my hair.

Kaelee

January 3rd, 2013, 10:49 PM

Oh man, some of these are hilarious!!!

An appreciable number of people singe/burn their hair ON PURPOSE. I'm not brave or stupid enough, but it's a well loved technique to some people!!! There are even lots of "how to" videos on Youtube.

I forgot all about hair mascara! LOL I had some...it was skunk-stripe white and pearlescent and had a weird rubbery texture.

Another weird one I heard was to highlight your hair with molasses. It was supposed to give red highlights. :D My ever so patient mother put molasses and foil in my hair (not hair foils. REYNOLD's WRAP. :D) in an attempt to give it red highlights. It did not, particularly, work. Or if it did, the effect was removed by all the clarifying shampoo required to remove the molasses. FAIL!

Achlys

January 3rd, 2013, 10:54 PM

You may not ease a tangle with fingers, it's bad for hair.

If you use a hair rinse, the hairs that are currently fallen out/not growing will never ever grow back.

If you curl your hair every day for some time, it will start growing curly.

RubyTuesday

January 4th, 2013, 12:46 AM

Craziest advice was "Your hair is so gorgeous you should cut it!" ??? If it is so gorgeous why on earth would I want to cut it? So it can be less gorgeous??? O_o

That's hysterical! They are trying to sabotage your gorgeousness :crazyq:

MinderMutsig

January 4th, 2013, 03:33 AM

Hey, let's not discount the terrible things dihydrogen monoxide (http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html) is doing to our bodies and our planet. :rolleyes: Oh no! shudder:
I just used dihydrogen monoxide to make myself a cup of tea because I really don't like my tea with any other solvent. Why isn't there a warning label?!

:spitting:

You may not ease a tangle with fingers, it's bad for hair.

If you use a hair rinse, the hairs that are currently fallen out/not growing will never ever grow back.

If you curl your hair every day for some time, it will start growing curly.

Because hair is like memory foam. That's where NASA got the idea in the first place. :bounce:

redsiren

January 4th, 2013, 04:18 AM

I heard that your hair can never grow past the length you had as a child.

dollyfish

January 4th, 2013, 09:40 AM

If you curl your hair every day for some time, it will start growing curly.

I've heard this too. And that, if you have curly hair, straightening it every day will eventually straighten it forever. I think it's mostly wishful thinking, combined with misconceptions caused by anecdotal evidence of damage. I've known people with curly hair who fried the curls into waves via heat damage, for example, but their hair looked awful...

JCM

January 4th, 2013, 10:26 AM

A co worker of mine said she has healthy hair so having intimate relations (sex) with her would be healthy for my hair too. She then proceeded to grab me in a private area of my body. :blushing:

I am not going to lie, she did have beautiful, straight, long, black hair. :)

Had one of our supervisors witnessed what she had done we both would have been fired on the spot. :rip:

Sillage

January 4th, 2013, 10:38 AM

:bigeyes: JCM I think you win the prize for craziest hair advice

Kaelee

January 4th, 2013, 11:19 AM

JCM

January 4th, 2013, 02:57 PM

She was OUT OF CONTROL.

She was constantly making sexual comments and innuendos.
Sometimes she would unbutton her blouse or her shirt and walk by me just to see if I would notice.
She would call my extension for no specific reason just to say "Hi"

This went on for over 1 year.
Eventually I found another job and I put in my 2 weeks notice.

Never saw her again.

Sillage

January 4th, 2013, 03:38 PM

Wow JCM that is crazy. Sorry you had that happen to you. Glad you got a new job and away from your sexual harasser nutjob.

dollyfish

January 4th, 2013, 04:26 PM

Ditto. Workplace harassment is just awful :( Sorry you had to endure that crazy, JCM.

On topic: I remember as a kid I was always told that the curlier one's hair was, the more washing/shampooing it needed. I think it must be because curlies need more moisture, and so overwashing makes them overproduce oil more easily, which leads to such an awful cycle. The neighbor kids all had 4c hair and I remember the older sister washed her hair (with strong shampoo) ~2x a day because of this. All she really needed was some EVOO! :(

Ambystoma

January 4th, 2013, 04:26 PM

JCM, it's always so sad to hear of someone having to leave a job because someone else doesn't know how to behave professionally :grouphug:.

For me on the crazy advice front, I'm often having to patiently explain to people that hair is dead, it can't "heal" itself or become healthier than it was when it was originally grown - all you can do once it's out of your scalp is make sure the moisture/protein balance isn't out of whack and prevent damage to the structure, coat it with things that change the outward appearance, add and remove pigment, or break disulphide bonds/rearrange hydrogen bonds to change the shape. There's no molecular signalling going on that allows the scalp to know what's been done to the rest of it, split ends can't be grown back together, and missing cuticle can't be replaced! Once people get the idea that it's not alive but *is* subject to structural change (i.e the cuticle can raise and lower to allow moisture etc in or out) then they tend to understand the more common sense stuff. Usually :laugh:

AnqeIicDemise

January 4th, 2013, 04:59 PM

Nique1202

January 4th, 2013, 05:55 PM

I'm telling you, Men of LHC calendars... :P

ETA: mom still tells me to stop using oil in my hair because my scalp will get moldy and fall off.

Get moldy?! I really have to wonder where people get these ideas. It's one thing to realize that splitting split ends up the shaft might make hair look like it has more volume (at the expense of integrity and looking healthy) but how on earth does that even make sense?

betsb

January 4th, 2013, 06:46 PM

"Split ends occur when hairs divide into two seperate strands - you should help them by pulling them apart"

That is really the funniest thing I've ever heard. All comments I've heard have been said, but always get you must cut your hair to make it grow. I was rather naive and thought it was true for the longest time. Now older and wiser. Couldn't figure out why my hair didn't grow faster after it was cut. :confused: Also heard hair coloring gives you cancer. Remember that one? on the news years back.

AnqeIicDemise

January 4th, 2013, 06:46 PM

I think she envisions goops of oil slathered on the scalp after a shower and that it wont' be washed off for days. She's thinking the oil will trap the moisture and the scalp will get moldy.

trolleypup

January 5th, 2013, 12:55 AM

I'm telling you, Men of LHC calendars... :P
Been there, done that.

goldloli

January 5th, 2013, 06:54 AM

A friend of my said that conditioner on your scalp causes hairloss. I had to laugh, because her hair is extremely thin, dry and bleached and mine is thick and healthy.

LOL Putting conditioner on the scalp causes excessive shedding for many people, just read some threads here and how people advise to NOT put conditioner on the scalp. Your friend's hair might have been so dry and thin because it's bleached.

The craziest advice I've heard is to put snow on your scalp to make hair grow faster shudder:. And to put conditoner on your scalp.
Whenever i read people saying not to put conditioner near scalp i usually presume it's to spare greasies not shedding. I have read posts by people who say co on the scalp makes their hairfall yet they are fine with using low poos and scalp oiling... to me that is so weird! I can slather co on my scalp without added greasies and it helps bring down the volume, as soon as i put oil on scalp its hairfall everywhere... I assume it's weighing down or blocking folicles?? actually i have no idea why people get hairfall from products on scalp.

I've definitely heard the 'when you trim your hair it sends signals up the strands to the scalp to make it grow'... hahaha hair is like an alien machine or something.

'Straighten hair before brading/curling/bunning' then the same people complain their curls dont last and come to the forum asking for bet hairspray recs, so that's double heat styling and alcohol!

I see the 'dye your bleached hair darker to make it healthier and thicker' all the time. It does work, well not for healthiness but to fill up the porous strands with colour which does make it break less, look shinier and thicker. Also a lot of demis and semis attach to the outer hair, much like henna, which as you know will thicken, often add shine and sometimes make the strands more resilient, like say with silicone based semis.

chen bao jun

January 6th, 2013, 07:21 PM

My grandmother thought everybody ought to brush their hair 100x a night with a boar bristle brush. She had type 2 wavy hair. My mother (who basically had no hair from following this advice--she's like a type 4b and brushed her hair right off her head, literally) tried this with me and I became a tangled frizzball who bawled at the sight of a brush. (I was seven or eight at the time). Then many, many people advised my mother that I needed to be either chemically straigtened or straightened with heat to have 'manageable' hair. I'm a type 3b/3c.

This is still a common scenario in the black community, though not as common as it used to be.
I wish someone had known about co-washing back in the day....