My 1st year on LHC is up! (extremely pic heavy)

[Ocelan]

Hi there fellow LHCers! I've been inspired by so many anniversary threads during my time here and now is the time for my very own one. According to my profile it's been exactly 1 year since I joined this lovely community and I do not regret it one bit!

When I joined my hair was chemically dyed almost black and heavily layered. My hair was about BSL and very dry. I had had huge problems with static for years and you can see that from my hair ends. My hair had been long but I had cut it to between shoulder length and APL in 2009 and kept it there, just kept cutting more layers in there. After a while I realised I don't like layers and decided to grow my length back. That's how I found the community!

Here is my hair still slightly wet on February 21st 2012:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/starting210212_zps66f03321.jpg

And these pictures were taken a day later:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/220212_length1_zpsd0b9f8f2.jpghttp://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/starting220212_zpsd4fb93d1.jpg

I started learning a little bit about haircare, had stopped using hair elastics (and it will take a long time to grow out that damage) and experimented with hairsticks and forks. I am addicted to hair forks now btw!

I reached waist in May 2012:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/050512_zps051eb96a.jpg

And I reached hip in November 2012. Since December I've been cutting off my growth and maintaining at hip to get rid of my layers. There's still a long way to go but I'll keep doing this a little bit until I start growing to my possibly ultimate goal of TBL. And happy news, my hair mostly isn't dry anymore and I have had zero problems with static anymore! This picture was taken today:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/IMG_2138-2_zps4010862e.jpg

And here's something a bit more posey. Surely it's ok to pose with one's hair once a year!
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/IMG_2160-4_zps026cf21b.jpg

To be continued...

[Ocelan]

… continues!

Another change I did was stopping dyeing my hair and growing natural. I last dyed my hair in the end of year 2011 so I've been dye free now for almost 14 months. Here's my progress (sorry some of the pics are a bit big):

February 24th 2012:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/roots240212_zpsdb1a29f3.jpg

April 23rd:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/roots_230412_zps0619411d.jpg

June 14th:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/roots_140612_zpsc2ba5ab0.jpg

August 9th:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/roots_090812_zps678480c8.jpg

October 25th:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/roots_251012_zps2956a888.jpg

December 30th (exactly 1 year after dyeing last):
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/roots301212_zps0fc9ffee.jpg

I haven’t taken newer pictures of my demarcation like but you can try and spy it from my new hair pictures above. I'm so much happier with my hair color now that it's virgin. I think it suits me much better and the keep up is free!


In the end here are some old pictures which will work as my hair inspiration. This is me in 2008-2009 before I cut my hair to shoulder-APL and dyed it. Also I had benign neglected my hairdye aka hadn't dyed in atleast 2 years before that. You can see my demarcation line at about collarbone.

Me playing pirate (late 2008/early2009):
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/08-09_zpsa2e9d6d2.jpg

Me playing boardgames with my friends (I'm the one with my back against the camera, February 13th 2009):
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk102/Ocelan/Hair/lautapeli-ilta130209_zps0ed1fa99.jpg

I hope I gave hope to someone who thinks their hair doesn't growfast. My hair has been growing only 0,5 - 1 cm a month and I've still gotten somewhere. :)

[rowie]

Ocelan what an incredible journey you have shared so far! :blossom: Your hair is gorgeous and what a huge difference it looks, and how much more shiny it looks. Keep up the good work! Cheers! :beerchug:

[~honeyflower~]

Wow your hair looks so much better! Keep it up!:D

[SnowWhite]

Ahhh great! Your hair story definitely gives me hope! It barely grew for a long time (now it does, it even has a growth spurt). I'm impatient...
Your hair looks lovely!!

[sihaya]

Thanks for sharing! Your hair looks so healthy now :)

I've noticed your black dye has faded a lot, did you do anything to speed that up?

[MiaBeth]

Ocelan, your hair looks super after a year of LHC care (thanks for all the pics; these posts are my favorite) -- I have the same question as sihaya. As another former colorer, I'm wondering how the dye seems to blend so well with your natural color?

[akilina]

So, I am in the dillema of growing out my natural or not, and my hair is black. I am thinking you have sort of inspired me!!! I might just give it a go, however I will be touching up my roots with a lighter shade gradually so it blends smoothly.
Thanks for the nonchalant inspiration, Especially since our skin tones seem similar, and same with eye color/natural color. :D :D Your hair looks great btw.

[akilina]

Correction: You have REALLY inspired me!!

[Agnieszka]

your natural colour is beautiful!

[ozzy]

this is really inspirational, I'm currently growing out black hair and I'm almost 5months dye free :D looks good! and well done :D all the best wishes!

[jacqueline101]

Your hair is lovely.

[katiebeans]

Your hair is so shiny and looks so much healthier, it's amazing what some tips from TLHC can do :) Kudos for growing out the dye, I know it can be really tough. Keep up the good work!

[shutterpillar]

Your hair is an inspiration for me to look at, as I am also growing out my hair from a nearly black dye. I had dyed mine black in hopes it would fade close to my natural color (which is a dark ashy brown) as the time passed, and would make growing out my virgin color a little easier. Yours has faded beautifully, and it just looks as though you have partaken in the ombre fad.

Beautiful hair!

[lapushka]

Wow, your natural haircolor is gorgeous! Good decision to grow out natural. And you've made lots of progress in growing your hair as well. Congratulations! :D :thumbsup:

[SugarPlumDreams]

Gorgeous hair! And I looooove your natural hair color :)

[Naiadryade]

The length you've gained is really inspiring!! And your hair is gorgeous--you're right, you do look better with your natural color. You make a great pirate, too... With your long, straight hair, you remind me of Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Carribbean!

[PraiseCheeses]

You're an inspiration triple-threat! :lol:

-Tons of length gained
-Big improvement in quality and condition of your hair
-Gracefully growing out dye

Your natural color really is coming in beautifully! Congrats on all your progress! :)

[MaryO]

You have definitely given me hope as I think my hairs grows at a glacial pace. Your hair is lovely- congrats! :-)

[Falcore]

Congrats on one year! Your natural colour is so beautiful.

[einna]

Very pretty hair, congrats on one year here. :)

[Ambystoma]

Congrats! It's looking so healthy and beautiful now, and you've gained so much length!

[browneyedsusan]

Very good work! Your hair looks fabulous and your natural color is so pretty! :)

[Neodrache]

Wow, you're a very beautiful lady and with gorgeous hair to boot! I only hope that you continue with long hair till your 6ft deep! ;)

The Pirate Photo was Shmexy! lol

[Ocelan]

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments! It really warmed my heart to read them after a long day at work :) Here's some cake and cookies to everyone! :cake::cookie::cookie::cookie:

To those who asked about my hairdye fading: I didn't do anything special to speed up the hairdye fading. Only thing resembling something to do to fade the dye that I think I've read about and that I kinda have done is CO washing and the occasional SMTs, but I have always heated up the honey in my SMT so no honey lightening there. I didn't even spend much time outside with my hair not covered last summer to get any sun lightening. Red pigments like to stick to my hair like glue so that's mainly what's left from my dark dye. The actual dark color has really lightened well I must say myself. :blossom:

[Anabell]

congratulations for your first anniversary!
I like your natural color, and the reddish brown tint from the fade out black as well. This creates some interesting color combination...

[AngryVikingGirl]

Is it just me, or...the first thought that came to my mind that how on earth did you grow from waist to hip in 6 months? I'm green with envy. It takes me an entire year, at the 1cm/month rate. Seriously...:D
Anyway, I love your outdoor color and your hair is beautiful all in all.

[Nebulae]

Great progress, your hair looks a lot better in many ways!
I think your natural color suits you much better than the black. You must be very patient to just leave the dye to grow out and not try to lighten it. :D
Just a thought that came to mind, have you noticed more hairs growing in after you quit the dye so that the virgin part is thicker than the dyed length? Or is it just me :o

[MORE]

A m a z i n g Ocelan, you have gotten so far! And your natural color is so pretty, it looks super soft and so shiny too.

Love love love the pirate pic, I think your hair will be there again before you know it!:cheer:

[Ocelan]

Thank you again girls! :)

AngryVikingGirl, my thinnest part of waist and hip are very close together, it was only about 7 cm and at that point I grew at 1 cm or in the beginning a bit more than that in a month. The way from hip to TBL will take so much longer now that my growth has slowed down and there's 14 cm to go, yikes! (Not to mention me clipping away all the growth to get rid of layers...)

Nebulae, my new growth isn't long enough to fully reach a ponytail yet, but I think I see less broken hairs and the virgin hair seems healthier. So I don't expect a huge difference in thickness, but I have noticed my layers and ponytail elastic damage moving down so there should atleast be less taper in the end, it remains to be seen years from now. I don't think I will gain more than 0,5-1 cm more thickness if I gain any due to quitting dyeing.

[missketi]

Your hair is very pretty. And your natural hair colour too. I am also amazed by your beautiful braids and updo's when I see them.

[UpNorth]

So inspiring! I joined LHC a month after you, and stopped bleaching a month before that, so our journey is quite similar. It is very inspiring to see the progress on someone else!

[long-hair-lover]

Your hair is so beautiful! The condition of it is perfect and is so different from the early photos you posted at the beginning. I am also currently growing out my black (which seems to be taking forever!:rolleyes:) but I have gone dye free for about a year and a half now and am desperate for my hair to be completely au naturel:).....until I henna it an auburn red;)
Keep going, your hair is fab x

[Annibelle]

Wow! Your hair looks great, and your natural color is fantastic. :flower:

[Ocelan]

Oh, looks like someone dug this old thread up! Thankee for the comments and here I am still growing! :)

Let's have a bonus picture of my crown braid waves from today. :)
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5532&d=1374938951

[Hootenanny]

Very inspirational. I'm a slow grower as well, so it's good to see that progress can be made! It'd be great to see some new pics, if you have any! :)

[Ocelan]

I will be taking a new monthly length shot in a few days (for the 2013 Monthly length shot thread), but for now I have a lenght shot with body markers and dates when they were achieved to show from nearly a month ago. Since starting this thread I've trimmed only once for about 2/3 inches (1.8 cm) and grown some.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5218&d=1373397154

[AmyBeth]

You have such incredibly beautiful hair. I love your natural color. You're so fortunate.

[Bronzepikzi]

Your hair looks amazing! Your natural color is gorgeous and it really suits you. Some amazing growth you've gotten there :D

[winship2]

It's so inspiring to see this kind of progress, where it's an improvement in condition as well as an increase in length. Love seeing the shine and smoothness, and your natural color is very pretty. Congratulations!

[curlytwirlykate]

Woohoo! This is absolutely inspiring, Ocelan! your virgin colour is beautiful, too :) Congrats to you!

[Ocelan]

Thanks again for your lovely comments, everyone. I was having a bad weekend, but your comments made me feel a lot better. :)

[Rose Angel]

Your hair is incredible. You have seriously shiny hair with a wonderful color/tone. Very beautiful! Suits your skin and your face :)