Ingrid
August 28th, 2014, 10:08 PM
Hello! It's been a year since I've found this wonderful community. I never officially introduced myself in the newbie forum (too shy) so I'll summarise my hair "story" :o
My hair was in a chin-length bob for most of my early childhood. My mum eventually let me grow it and by age 11 my hair was around Classic length, where I maintained it until around age 15 when I cut back to tailbone length because I wanted to wear it down more. I desperately wanted beautiful and vibrant hair because my natural hair colour is not really "endearing" in the same way as fiery red, golden blonde, chocolate brown, or raven black. I started using henna when I was 11 and continued for a good decade.
When I graduated from highschool, I chopped my tailbone length hair to a pixie. When I came home after the cut, both my parents nearly cried that my hair was gone! I didn't really appreciate my long hair before the chop because I always wore it in braids and felt like having it all one length was kind of boring (silly me). :doh:
I enjoyed the pixie length for a year, keeping up the henna, but eventually I realised that the henna red didn't suit me at all, as much as I loved the colour and the conditioning effects. My hair grew pretty quickly to around APL and I decided to use henna one last time. Unfortunately, it turned out quite a strange red (the perils of using cheapo henna) and I proceeded to lighten it with honey, diluted peroxide, lemon, and also dyeing over it with ammonia-free box brown dye... Big mistake. My hair didn't seem damaged at first but a couple of months later it looked completely fried :( Also, the shampoo and conditioner I was using started giving me scalp sores, and caused severe shedding. My hair was coming out in clumps literally with every wash!! I also developed a habit of pulling out my hair from stress. I made things worse by going to a hair salon, getting it dyed and getting a layered cut which I thought might make my hair look better. Before I realised, my ponytail circumference was down to just around 1.5-2 inches, less than half my usual thickness!!! :wail:
...Thankfully, I found TLHC :) I ditched shampoo and conditioner, and tried out other methods of washing (baking soda and ACV, CWC, CO, WO). They didn't really cut it for me because my dyed hair was already so fragile and was suffering form hydral fatigue. I decided to take hardcore measures and went NW/SO, having equipped myself with a nice BBB. I also discovered oils and tried protecting my hair as much as possible, particularly the ends. Buns have become my friends, even though initially they were puny.
Below, you can see the progress of my hair. The first picture starts with APL length in January 2013. I didn't take any photos of my hair when it was at its most damaged/thinnest because it was too upsetting for me. I kept it at APL until July 2013 to try and get rid of as much damage as possible. The next picture was taken in April 2014. I went no-trim for a year and my hair was fairytailing quite severely because the damaged ends on all the layers were literally breaking off. I did a chop of around 5cm (2 inches) in May to even out the hem. The three following pictures are from June, July, and August 2014, when I started doing micro-trims of 0,5cm (1/4 inch). I did a couple of herbal rinses with nettle and catnip to get my shedding under control, and started taking iron-supplements to fix my deficiency. Now I lose about 3-5 hairs a day at most. I also did a couple of gelatin treatments for my damaged hair and now it's a lot less "grabby" and more manageable.
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss61/jiuta_album/Progress-APL-April-June-July-August.jpg
You can also see the growing out progress of my natural hair colour. 19 months after I stopped dyeing, now the under-layers reach to around collarbone length.
I'm celebrating today because my hair thickness is back to 11,5cm (4.5 inches)! :cheer: It's still quite thin on the ends but I think micro-trimming will fix that. And I also have lots of baby hairs which have sprouted after I stopped pulling out my hair from stress. So, I think all in all, I've learned a great deal from this community and I'll definitely continue implementing all the tips as my hair grows :agree: Thank you all for being willing to share your routines and advice!
Thanks for looking! :waving:
My hair was in a chin-length bob for most of my early childhood. My mum eventually let me grow it and by age 11 my hair was around Classic length, where I maintained it until around age 15 when I cut back to tailbone length because I wanted to wear it down more. I desperately wanted beautiful and vibrant hair because my natural hair colour is not really "endearing" in the same way as fiery red, golden blonde, chocolate brown, or raven black. I started using henna when I was 11 and continued for a good decade.
When I graduated from highschool, I chopped my tailbone length hair to a pixie. When I came home after the cut, both my parents nearly cried that my hair was gone! I didn't really appreciate my long hair before the chop because I always wore it in braids and felt like having it all one length was kind of boring (silly me). :doh:
I enjoyed the pixie length for a year, keeping up the henna, but eventually I realised that the henna red didn't suit me at all, as much as I loved the colour and the conditioning effects. My hair grew pretty quickly to around APL and I decided to use henna one last time. Unfortunately, it turned out quite a strange red (the perils of using cheapo henna) and I proceeded to lighten it with honey, diluted peroxide, lemon, and also dyeing over it with ammonia-free box brown dye... Big mistake. My hair didn't seem damaged at first but a couple of months later it looked completely fried :( Also, the shampoo and conditioner I was using started giving me scalp sores, and caused severe shedding. My hair was coming out in clumps literally with every wash!! I also developed a habit of pulling out my hair from stress. I made things worse by going to a hair salon, getting it dyed and getting a layered cut which I thought might make my hair look better. Before I realised, my ponytail circumference was down to just around 1.5-2 inches, less than half my usual thickness!!! :wail:
...Thankfully, I found TLHC :) I ditched shampoo and conditioner, and tried out other methods of washing (baking soda and ACV, CWC, CO, WO). They didn't really cut it for me because my dyed hair was already so fragile and was suffering form hydral fatigue. I decided to take hardcore measures and went NW/SO, having equipped myself with a nice BBB. I also discovered oils and tried protecting my hair as much as possible, particularly the ends. Buns have become my friends, even though initially they were puny.
Below, you can see the progress of my hair. The first picture starts with APL length in January 2013. I didn't take any photos of my hair when it was at its most damaged/thinnest because it was too upsetting for me. I kept it at APL until July 2013 to try and get rid of as much damage as possible. The next picture was taken in April 2014. I went no-trim for a year and my hair was fairytailing quite severely because the damaged ends on all the layers were literally breaking off. I did a chop of around 5cm (2 inches) in May to even out the hem. The three following pictures are from June, July, and August 2014, when I started doing micro-trims of 0,5cm (1/4 inch). I did a couple of herbal rinses with nettle and catnip to get my shedding under control, and started taking iron-supplements to fix my deficiency. Now I lose about 3-5 hairs a day at most. I also did a couple of gelatin treatments for my damaged hair and now it's a lot less "grabby" and more manageable.
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss61/jiuta_album/Progress-APL-April-June-July-August.jpg
You can also see the growing out progress of my natural hair colour. 19 months after I stopped dyeing, now the under-layers reach to around collarbone length.
I'm celebrating today because my hair thickness is back to 11,5cm (4.5 inches)! :cheer: It's still quite thin on the ends but I think micro-trimming will fix that. And I also have lots of baby hairs which have sprouted after I stopped pulling out my hair from stress. So, I think all in all, I've learned a great deal from this community and I'll definitely continue implementing all the tips as my hair grows :agree: Thank you all for being willing to share your routines and advice!
Thanks for looking! :waving: