jel
July 30th, 2013, 05:11 AM
Time sure flies when you're having fun! :cool:
After clicking on a link out of curiosity, I found LHC and within half an hour went from "huh, internet weirdos" to "I want long hair!":D. I joined immediately and set myself a speculative goal or tailbone length. I had no idea if my hair would grow that long - the longest I'd had it was about BSL/midback in my teens. Well, I got to work by hennaing regularly and avoiding trims, as I didn't want to lose any length whatsoever. As I started from a layered haircut, and with occasional S&D sessions, my ends grew into a fairytale, v-shaped hemline. At the same time I fell in love with deep reds, then brighter ones, and started adding temporary/vegetable dyes to my henna (or in between applications).
After reaching my goal length, TB (or BCL, actually), I was lost for a while. It felt like an anticlimax, the length was too awkward to wear down, and some of my trusted updos stopped working. It didn't help that I'd gone through a hairloss period, losing almost an inch of my pony circumference! After getting diagnosed with low ferritin, some iron supplements arrested the loss and my hair started thickening up again. At the same time, I finally made a decision to stop hennaing my hair and let my virgin colour show (I hadn't seen it in decades, having bleached and coloured it blonde in my twenties before taking up red dye and henna). I also realised I was getting close to classic length, so made that a goal, and after reaching it, contemplated FTL. However, seeing that the ends were looking decidedly skinny, especially compared to the new growth which has by now come down to around APL, I recently decided to trim them off and get back to my "ultimate" goal of BCL.
All this thanks to the knowledge, advice and support of the wonderful members of this board, some of whom I have had the fortune to meet in real life! You're all great! :flowers:
Sorry about the pic spam, but as the old albums are kaput, here is a very brief history of Jel's hair to date (Photobucket has been playing up, I hope the sizes are OK!).
How I started, after more than a decade of "professional", sharp styles and blonde dye/bleach highlights:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/14082005-1.jpg
Bright henna after only 2-3 applications:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/Feb06.jpg
I felt that waist would never come! After reaching it, I started adding temp dye highlights - this was Adore:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/100_3469.jpg
This was the richest colour I achieved, with Elumen RR@all over the henna, and the last time I coloured my hair in any way (31 Dec 2010):
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/IMG_1361-1.jpg
I have some pics from the growing out period in my blog, and this is a more recent one, very near FTL:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/2baf274f-b1e3-499d-b82f-b9348a9f1e80.jpg
And the freshly trimmed hair (more in the London meet thread):
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/trimmedJul2013.jpg
After clicking on a link out of curiosity, I found LHC and within half an hour went from "huh, internet weirdos" to "I want long hair!":D. I joined immediately and set myself a speculative goal or tailbone length. I had no idea if my hair would grow that long - the longest I'd had it was about BSL/midback in my teens. Well, I got to work by hennaing regularly and avoiding trims, as I didn't want to lose any length whatsoever. As I started from a layered haircut, and with occasional S&D sessions, my ends grew into a fairytale, v-shaped hemline. At the same time I fell in love with deep reds, then brighter ones, and started adding temporary/vegetable dyes to my henna (or in between applications).
After reaching my goal length, TB (or BCL, actually), I was lost for a while. It felt like an anticlimax, the length was too awkward to wear down, and some of my trusted updos stopped working. It didn't help that I'd gone through a hairloss period, losing almost an inch of my pony circumference! After getting diagnosed with low ferritin, some iron supplements arrested the loss and my hair started thickening up again. At the same time, I finally made a decision to stop hennaing my hair and let my virgin colour show (I hadn't seen it in decades, having bleached and coloured it blonde in my twenties before taking up red dye and henna). I also realised I was getting close to classic length, so made that a goal, and after reaching it, contemplated FTL. However, seeing that the ends were looking decidedly skinny, especially compared to the new growth which has by now come down to around APL, I recently decided to trim them off and get back to my "ultimate" goal of BCL.
All this thanks to the knowledge, advice and support of the wonderful members of this board, some of whom I have had the fortune to meet in real life! You're all great! :flowers:
Sorry about the pic spam, but as the old albums are kaput, here is a very brief history of Jel's hair to date (Photobucket has been playing up, I hope the sizes are OK!).
How I started, after more than a decade of "professional", sharp styles and blonde dye/bleach highlights:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/14082005-1.jpg
Bright henna after only 2-3 applications:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/Feb06.jpg
I felt that waist would never come! After reaching it, I started adding temp dye highlights - this was Adore:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/100_3469.jpg
This was the richest colour I achieved, with Elumen RR@all over the henna, and the last time I coloured my hair in any way (31 Dec 2010):
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/IMG_1361-1.jpg
I have some pics from the growing out period in my blog, and this is a more recent one, very near FTL:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/2baf274f-b1e3-499d-b82f-b9348a9f1e80.jpg
And the freshly trimmed hair (more in the London meet thread):
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/trimmedJul2013.jpg