Comments on my exit strategy

[Domino]

Hello everyone!

You might remember me from a few months back when I dyed over my henna. Since then I've come to realize that my natural color is so ashy that there are no dyes that match, especially with the henna still on top of the hair strands.

Here's some background:
I now have 1/2'' roots, the color is beautifully grey-brown and suits my complexion perfectly. The dyed parts have faded to a lighter coppery brown, the demarcation line isn't so obvious but I'm so over red-orange hair. In the past I have grown from a blunt cut below chin to waist, the cut was horribly outdated and made me look like I weighted 10 lbs. more. Now that I know I need layers and can style it wavy instead of flat ironing, hopefully I can avoid that look again since I'll be going to job interviews, meeting lots of new people and generally want to look chic, professional and somewhat stylish.

I do better patience-wise when I know I have an exit strategy, a "Plan B", and here is what I'm planning to do if the orangy-ness gets to me too much:

In about 7 months I would have about 3'' of roots. I will grow it out until then, around march 2014, then get a cut similar to this:
http://www.stylesonly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Casual-Short-Wavy-Hairstyle-for-Women.jpg

Basically it would be a fluffy choppy pixie with my 2c hair. At this point the henna would be gone, if not, I can get it trimmed a month later to get rid of it completely. Then, would let it grow until the front reaches below my chin and get a cut like this:
http://www.hellomagazine.com/imagenes/healthandbeauty/hair/200911232459/victoria/beckham/updo/0-4-413/4413-b.jpg

After getting a fluffy wavy bob, I can now grow it until the front touches my collarbone. Then I can slowly trim the front pieces until the back catches up. It would look like this at the end of this process:
http://hairstylesweekly.com/images/2012/07/Jessica-Alba-Wavy-Hairstyle.jpg

I can then grow it out peacefully to whatever length I want, all virgin :) Of course as it's growing out I might decide it doesn't look bad enough to cut, but at least I have a plan.

Do you think it is doable? Especially the growing out between chin to shoulder? That's the length that doesn't really suit my face, I'm hoping to break up the harshness with that bob.

[Firefox7275]

Those are pretty hairstyles, but none are 2c they are more like 2a?

[Domino]

Yes unfortunately it is near impossible finding tight wavy hairstyle pictures. I found only loose waves or tight curls online. However I should mention I really enjoy styling my hair with either homemade FSG or store bought ones, so I hope my waves would cooperate :)

[jacqueline101]

I'm glad you've learned to accept your natural color.

[Domino]

Me too jacqueline! I've wanted to grow it out for 2 years now but didn't want two toned hair all over my graduation pictures. I've missed the color so much, and the henna never looked quite right with my skin anyway. I'm so cool toned, the orange made me look so sickly in all the pictures. No wonder I never liked having photos taken in the last 5 years.

[Firefox7275]

Yes unfortunately it is near impossible finding tight wavy hairstyle pictures. I found only loose waves or tight curls online. However I should mention I really enjoy styling my hair with either homemade FSG or store bought ones, so I hope my waves would cooperate :)

Have a look on Facebook: Scott Musgrave and Curly Girl Handbook post a lot of before and after photos. You might also look at the two 'before and after' threads on Naturallycurly forum.

[Domino]

Thank you firefox, off to check the photos now. Do you think the choppy pixie would not work for 2c hair? That's because in 6 or 7 months I can only get enough roots to get a pixie.

[Wildcat Diva]

If you do a little styling, you can easily get 2c hair to look close to 2a, IMO. It doesn't have to be harsh styling, maybe air dry your hair most of the way and blowdry with a round brush on cool for 5 minutes. It's not like you will be brushing through many tangles on three inches of hair. I can't see that doing much damage that way until you get to chin. Might be worth it for you to have sanity with a hairstyle that works for six months. Is your final goal 25 inches? If so, then even if you do slightly damage your hair when it's Pixie length, that slight damage could be trimmed off eventually, since it's not like you are going for terminal, only BSL, right?

[Domino]

Yep, I'm only going for BSL or mid-back, any longer doesn't suit me. I've never had a pixie before, so I don't know how my hair would behave at that length.

[Wildcat Diva]

Then in that case, I would use some gel and some mild styling techniques on that pixie. It's going to be cut off eventually, and you can wait until BSL to do it, IMO, unless your hair is super fragile.

[MaryO]

Sounds good to me- nice planning as well. I've alsways just hoped for the best when it comes to cutting and growing! ;-)

[Firefox7275]

Thank you firefox, off to check the photos now. Do you think the choppy pixie would not work for 2c hair? That's because in 6 or 7 months I can only get enough roots to get a pixie.

A curly specialist stylist would be able to give you a pixie that works with your waves. I am 2a to 2c, when I had short hair I had to blow fry but I didn't know about Curly Girl method then. The most gentle round brush I've seen for blow frying is the Curl Easy Pro, there are knock offs on eBay.
http://www.sallybeauty.com/curl-brush/SBS-446002,default,pd.html

[spidermom]

Pixie worked great on my 2C hair but the growing out process was hellish. With no styling I got this:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/spidermom/BOONEW.jpg (http://s25.photobucket.com/user/spidermom/media/BOONEW.jpg.html)
That is completely natural, air dried hair. Ugh! It took work with the blow-dryer and curling iron to make my "fluffy wavy bob" look decent. No way would I go through that again. If I were in your shoes, I think I'd try to lighten the henna, maybe with Sun-In, and dye over with a non-damaging non-permanent dye when I wanted to make an especially good impression, also keep my hair up (the french twist is my favorite), in braids, etc so that the henna color wouldn't be shouting at me every time I passed a mirror.

[Domino]

spidermom, I've already done that process :) I had it very slightly bleached and dyed over with ash tones twice, one month apart, then glossed with a blue deposit only dye. But this was 2 months ago and both the blue and the ashy dye faded to a goldish brassy light brown. The contrast with my pure ash toned hair is very drastic, even though it is still only 1/2''. However I totally get how bad that growing out process is, I've been there myself. I was hoping to avoid it this time, but horrible hair between chin & shoulders may be inevitable with this hair type. BTW, I loved that expression on your face :)

[spidermom]

Haha; thanks. My gothy 13-year-old niece did my makeup and told me to look scary. Did I succeed?

[Domino]

I think with that makeup you could star in a Marilyn Manson video :whistle:

[ositarosita]

That is actually almost exactly what I did and am still doing... it's worked wonderfully, I haven't gotten bored with my hair because the style is changing .... than I found that once the bob hits mid neck there are a TON "up do's" you can do with only about 5 bobby pins. Completely possible, have fun with it.

Edit This is currently my favourite "up do" obviously without the heat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdnn7UpDsZ8&list=FLdOqTWdKbSGUWciwxI4tu5w&index=3

[Charybdis]

Between chin and shoulder I used mousse and dried my hair with a big diffuser on low heat, which gave decent curls with minimal-to-no heat damage. At that stage, I washed every other day, and "reactivated" the curl second day with curl activator spray (really, water with a little mineral salts would probably do the trick). Your hair is curlier than mine, so I bet a diffuser would work great for you.

You can do it!

[Domino]

Thanks for the support! Looks like I will be growing for a few months, I will update around february or march when I have enough growth to even consider a pixie :o In the meantime, please keep the ideas coming.

[two_wheels]

I'm doing this- well actually I was impatient and chopped to a calico pixie before I even got to 3 inches! I think some people can get away with 2-tone hair, and some can get away better with a pixie. Whatever you can live with. Same with the mullet- I hated mine, but browneyedsusan on here powered through hers and is now rocking some serious progress!

I was desperate for some timescales and couldn't get a clear idea- in case you feel the same, I was at 3in pixie in April 2012, long pixie in sep 2012 and now collarbone. I trimmed the mullet religiously until march this year & haven't cut since.