Quixii
June 2nd, 2014, 11:48 AM
Five years ago today, I joined LHC. Every year since then I've meant to do an anniversary thread, but always forget. But I figured 5 is a good number to remember! =)
I saw a link to LHC in someone's signature on another site. It was the second time I saw it. The first time I didn't actually look at it. I figured it was a place for people with really long hair to hang out, and having only hip length hair at the time, I didn't think I qualified. But some time later I saw it again, and actually clicked around, and realized that LHC is much more than that, so I joined.
Not long before I joined, my hair looked something like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/myhair2-1.jpg
I liked my hair, but I was a bit frustrated with it. That picture was from a good day, but most often it looked frizzy and poofy. When I was a kid I used to have fights with my parents over brushing my hair, them saying that I have to brush it to get the tangles out, and I saying that if I brush it the curls go away, and them saying I don't have curls. Finally I reached an age where I realized I didn't really want to have awful tangles in my hair all the time, so I started brushing it once or twice a day and trying to deal with my frizzy, wavy hair.
I also didn't think it was growing much any more, and was rather stuck at somewhere between hip and tailbone. I would later learn that the couple inch trims my mom would helpfully do for me every so often, were actually too often, which is why my hair didn't seem to grow.
When I joined LHC I quickly jumped on this idea that actually, not everyone has to brush their hair, and perhaps I was one of those people. I think this is one of the first pictures I took for LHC:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/DSCN5879-1.jpg
And with more encouragement or care, it looked like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/DSCN9296.jpg
I felt like there was a whole new world open to me. I actually had very nearly the curls I always wanted!
Like many new members, I experimented with the advice I found here. I stopped brushing, I tried combing only in the shower, I switched to 'cone-free and sulfate-free products, I tried plopping my hair in t-shirts and leaving in conditioner or oil and I started learning new ways to wear it up, after having had it basically in a ponytail for the last several years. I stopped trimming, and found my hair was still growing. I settled on a routine pretty early on, and was delighted to find that in following this routine, my hair grew longer and my curls looked better.
My hair passed tailbone and started getting to classic. I realized with mild frustration that it was hard to really monitor my growth, as it could curl differently day to day, but I didn't really mind.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/DSCN3737.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/DSCN0254sm.jpg
I still did fun things, like dying my hair with deposit-only dyes in various ways.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/collage1ssm.jpg
I learned ways to encourage the curl.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/DSCN5091sm_zps6e807f95.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/P8210106_zps524b706b.jpg
I learned ways to put it up, and started wearing it up more often than not.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/PicsArt_1357107953071.jpg
And finally today, I'm still delightfully happy with my hair. I wear it up most of the time, which is the easiest thing ever. Sometimes I wear it down, and I still marvel at how beautiful I think it is. I'm so close to my goal length of knee, if not basically there already.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/P5310049_zpse49b5510.jpg
Though of course LHC has helped me grow my hair and I'm thankful for that, even more, LHC has been like a consistent friend for the last five years. It was there for my second year of high school, when I entered my first relationship, when I started my first job, when I struggled with the weight of college decisions, when I first started college, when I was stressed or lonely, when my relationship ended. It helped encourage my life-long love of crafts, as I started nail art, discovered the world of making hair toys, got more heavily into knitting. It was there for other health aspects of my life, like introducing me to the world of proper bra fitting and menstrual cups. When I had a question about anything, I could turn to LHC.
Even more than all the online support, I've made real life friends because of LHC. I know I have a community of people I can meet with in either of my current homes. Even when I was studying abroad in London, I met with LHC members there! My current best friend I met first here. The world feels like a smaller, more approachable place because of the impressive and welcoming community I found in LHC.
So thanks for the last five years, LHC. Looking forward to growing with you more! <3
I saw a link to LHC in someone's signature on another site. It was the second time I saw it. The first time I didn't actually look at it. I figured it was a place for people with really long hair to hang out, and having only hip length hair at the time, I didn't think I qualified. But some time later I saw it again, and actually clicked around, and realized that LHC is much more than that, so I joined.
Not long before I joined, my hair looked something like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/myhair2-1.jpg
I liked my hair, but I was a bit frustrated with it. That picture was from a good day, but most often it looked frizzy and poofy. When I was a kid I used to have fights with my parents over brushing my hair, them saying that I have to brush it to get the tangles out, and I saying that if I brush it the curls go away, and them saying I don't have curls. Finally I reached an age where I realized I didn't really want to have awful tangles in my hair all the time, so I started brushing it once or twice a day and trying to deal with my frizzy, wavy hair.
I also didn't think it was growing much any more, and was rather stuck at somewhere between hip and tailbone. I would later learn that the couple inch trims my mom would helpfully do for me every so often, were actually too often, which is why my hair didn't seem to grow.
When I joined LHC I quickly jumped on this idea that actually, not everyone has to brush their hair, and perhaps I was one of those people. I think this is one of the first pictures I took for LHC:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/DSCN5879-1.jpg
And with more encouragement or care, it looked like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/DSCN9296.jpg
I felt like there was a whole new world open to me. I actually had very nearly the curls I always wanted!
Like many new members, I experimented with the advice I found here. I stopped brushing, I tried combing only in the shower, I switched to 'cone-free and sulfate-free products, I tried plopping my hair in t-shirts and leaving in conditioner or oil and I started learning new ways to wear it up, after having had it basically in a ponytail for the last several years. I stopped trimming, and found my hair was still growing. I settled on a routine pretty early on, and was delighted to find that in following this routine, my hair grew longer and my curls looked better.
My hair passed tailbone and started getting to classic. I realized with mild frustration that it was hard to really monitor my growth, as it could curl differently day to day, but I didn't really mind.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/DSCN3737.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/DSCN0254sm.jpg
I still did fun things, like dying my hair with deposit-only dyes in various ways.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/collage1ssm.jpg
I learned ways to encourage the curl.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/DSCN5091sm_zps6e807f95.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/P8210106_zps524b706b.jpg
I learned ways to put it up, and started wearing it up more often than not.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/PicsArt_1357107953071.jpg
And finally today, I'm still delightfully happy with my hair. I wear it up most of the time, which is the easiest thing ever. Sometimes I wear it down, and I still marvel at how beautiful I think it is. I'm so close to my goal length of knee, if not basically there already.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/young_artist/Hair/P5310049_zpse49b5510.jpg
Though of course LHC has helped me grow my hair and I'm thankful for that, even more, LHC has been like a consistent friend for the last five years. It was there for my second year of high school, when I entered my first relationship, when I started my first job, when I struggled with the weight of college decisions, when I first started college, when I was stressed or lonely, when my relationship ended. It helped encourage my life-long love of crafts, as I started nail art, discovered the world of making hair toys, got more heavily into knitting. It was there for other health aspects of my life, like introducing me to the world of proper bra fitting and menstrual cups. When I had a question about anything, I could turn to LHC.
Even more than all the online support, I've made real life friends because of LHC. I know I have a community of people I can meet with in either of my current homes. Even when I was studying abroad in London, I met with LHC members there! My current best friend I met first here. The world feels like a smaller, more approachable place because of the impressive and welcoming community I found in LHC.
So thanks for the last five years, LHC. Looking forward to growing with you more! <3