Can I just say how glad I am to be here?

[Alexa]

I already introduced myself in the newbie forum, but I was looking through old pics of myself tonight (trying to figure out when the last time I cut my hair was), and was realizing how very, very little I knew about taking care of my hair before I found sites like LHC. I basically hated my hair from early elementary school, because I always ended up with this weird "bend" at the bottom. I had no idea that was its way of trying to tell me that it was really wavy, and wanted to be treated accordingly. Instead, I thought I had a "cowlick" problem (I know that makes absolutely no sense, but a stylist told me that once and that was the only explanation I had), and I should style my hair more to get it under control. So I blew it dry with round brush daily, and frequently used hot rollers and curling irons. I dreamed of just letting my hair air-dry, but every time I tried, it got really frizzy. (Helloooo? How did I not get the frizz clue, either? My friends with "real" curly hair were endlessly complaining about frizz.) And even with all the styling, within a few hours it was back to "bending" strangely again! So I started cutting my hair shorter and shorter (thinking I would cut off the "bendy" parts), ending up with a pixie by high school. It never got longer than roughly chin-length until after my daughter was born. She grew beautiful golden ringlets her first few years, and I was determined to learn to care for them. As I researched and researched (thank you, internet!), I realized for the first time in my life that MY hair wasn't really straight either, and that by caring for it more like my daughter's, it would be soooo much happier! It's been a long process, and I still have a long way to go, but for the first time in my memory, I actually like my hair most of the time, and can let it air dry, which is just a huge, happy achievement for me. :happydance: I've always wanted looooong hair, too, so I found LHC, and after one false start, I'm finally going to go for it. And my daughter (whose hair is pretty much exactly like mine now) is, too. That means I'll be responsible for two heads of long hair, and will need to teach her what to do, which I'm sure that will be a learning process for both of us. But instead of feeling alone, clueless, and frustrated like I did when I was younger, I know I can ask questions here, and y'all are going to be here to help. So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! :grouphug:

[winship2]

Welcome :flower:

[Hotrox]

that's a really cute story, your daughter is lucky to have a Mum invested in time and love to help her with her curls from an early age.

May you both have happy air drying!! hahaha!!

[Sharysa]

That's adorable! It's great that learning how to take care of your daughter's hair gave you an epiphany about your own! I'm another person with stealth-waves. All through high-school, I straightened the crap out of my hair because 1) I got layers, and 2) I didn't realize my hair was wavy and whenever it grew too much and did the irritating flip-out thing, I just chopped it back to shoulder length. It seems in my case, my hair just never got long enough to wave properly--it was only around armpit-length or a short mid-back that my hair got consistently wavy instead of all over the place.

[Santi]

Alexa, I've been running from my curls all my life! I can relate. Congrats on your new achievements! Happy hair growing to you & your daughter. She's lucky that she will grow up learning to accept her hair.

[Angela_Rose]

Doesn't it just feel like coming home when you log in over here? Welcome aboard, and happy growing!

[Federica]

It's always so pleasing to read how people finally make peace with their hair thanks to this place!
I love the LHC, it makes me feel like, yeah, coming home after a long, looooooong, frustrating journey - as Angela_Rose said.
Very few people in real life know how to take proper care of wavy and curly hair, and it always ends up with tons of fizz, hair frustration, flat ironing, destroying, cutting back and repeat for years.
I cannot express how grateful I am to all of these people for all the things I learnt in this first year here, for all their encouragement and inspiration.
Thank you too, for being here with us.
Happy growing :D

[fiðrildi]

Welcome again, Alexa! :flower:
I can relate as well, I never had a clue on how to properly take care of my hair before finding LHC. I'm also a wavy who's been trying to hide her waves for years, reasulting in lots of damage.
Hope that you'll share with us more stories, and happy growing for you and for your daughter :)

[lapushka]

I always thought (as a teen and in my twenties), that I had straight but stubborn and difficult hair, then I wondered why it frizzed up under humid circumstances like fog and drizzle. :lol: So, I can relate. It's awesome to finally discover your waves, though!

[spidermom]

Amazing how many of us thought like that. My mother once pointed out to me that I had wavy hair, and I informed her that there was no such thing - hair was either curly or straight. ( :doh: ) Sigh ........ if only I still knew everything!

[AmyBeth]

I am happy you're here, too! One of my favorite things about LHC is hearing stories about how accepting and loving your hair for what it is, is so life changing. It's not as superficial as it may sound. Just accept your hair, treat it like the hair it is, stop expecting it to be what it is not, stop torturing it- and wonderful things happen, both to your hair and your emotions. Weird.
My hair is different from yours, but I have learned to care for mine, mostly due to LHC, so I can say "Thank you, LHC!" too.
Spidermom, that's really funny!;) How true.