TrapperCreekD
November 4th, 2014, 01:41 PM
Finding LHC is the best thing that has ever happened to my hair!
Before joining LHC I never really paid that much attention to my hair. It was just kind of there, you know? It'd always been long-ish, probably around hip+ at the longest and crumbling back to somewhere in the vicinity of waist length at the shortest. All I knew was that I didn't want it short, despite not knowing how to care for it. A future long hair at heart!
Looking back at my past hair practices, I'm surprised my hair managed to stay as long as it did without just throwing in the towel and breaking off horribly. While no dye or heat tools (blowdrying took forever, so why bother?) had ever touched my hair, my routine was a nightmare. No wonder my hair was a disaster! Once a week I'd glob on way too much clarifying(!) sulphate shampoo followed by a tiny amount of thin conditioner, most of which barely reached my ends. Everyday I'd rip a ball tip brush through the length until poofed up into a huge angry monster that I either put in an english braid or a ponytail cinnablob, the only two styles I knew. Every six months or so Mom would trim a couple inches to even up the ends thus eliminating what growth I managed to retain.
Last summer after becoming increasingly frustrated with my split-riddled frizzball that “never grew”, I turned to the internet for help and stumbled onto LHC.
Loves/things that work for me:
updos
hairtoys!
Overnight pre-poo with EVOO
LOC
Fox's Shea Conditioning Cream (HG product, turns my hair to silk!)
Flaxseed gel
plopping
no brushing, just combing or finger combing
coffee rinses
self trimming
sleep braiding
semi benign neglect
modified cones
refreshing midweek with diluted conditioner and sealing with FSCC.
I also played around with sulfate-free, shampoo bars, CWC, and WCC. Sulfate-free was a success but kinda pricey when oil+sulfates works just as well. Shampoo bars were also a hit, but more complicated. Suds on the whole length equaled icky coated hair, but suds on scalp + conditioner coated length = nice hair. CWC is great for the times I forget or don't have time to let oil sit for several hours, and WCC is awesome when I need a little more oomph in the conditioning department.
While I've almost completely overhauled my routine and am generally super nice to my hair, I did indulge in one damaging thing. The unfortunate freehand FFL incident left the canopy thinned more than I anticipated and revealed that my hair likes to grow faster on the left side. I evened up the ends in November but by February I noticed my hem was terribly asymmetrical. I wasn't a fan, to say the least! By then I'd joined the no trims for 2014 challenge and TBL, my goal, seemed feasible by the end of the year so I didn't want to lose any precious length. Since my hair is in a braid or updo of some most of the time, the lovely ladies of the no trimming thread convinced me to stay the course and not give in to the scissors. I needed something extra to keep from obsessing so I lightened the bottom few inches with a little household peroxide/conditioner mix. The hair was already damaged and I'd be trimming it off in a few months anyway, so what could it hurt, right? It turned out exactly how I wanted, and was way less damaging than I was expecting!
Enough blathering, I promised pictures!
http://i.imgur.com/V1HuRnK.png
I didn't quite believe the numbers at first, but measuring my length shot shirt confirms that it is, indeed, correct!
http://i.imgur.com/C0G0jqw.png
(the second picture isn't quite accurate as my mom took the photo, and the angle is off.)
http://i.imgur.com/NimZzVi.png http://i.imgur.com/zXtYHQx.png
Meh to yeah, I'd wear that out.
http://i.imgur.com/2pbrEIx.png
From the official one-year photoshoot: :cloud9:
http://i.imgur.com/MCBRAI7.png
Looking ahead to 2015, I plan to finally even up my hemline and maintain for a while to get rid some the mechanical damage. LHC has clearly been at work: my original goal was hip, which slipped tailbone, and now after seeing how close to Classic I am, I'm starting to think Classic stretched will be the ticket to the "perfect" unstetched length...
Here's to many more LHC-iversaries to come! :toast:
Before joining LHC I never really paid that much attention to my hair. It was just kind of there, you know? It'd always been long-ish, probably around hip+ at the longest and crumbling back to somewhere in the vicinity of waist length at the shortest. All I knew was that I didn't want it short, despite not knowing how to care for it. A future long hair at heart!
Looking back at my past hair practices, I'm surprised my hair managed to stay as long as it did without just throwing in the towel and breaking off horribly. While no dye or heat tools (blowdrying took forever, so why bother?) had ever touched my hair, my routine was a nightmare. No wonder my hair was a disaster! Once a week I'd glob on way too much clarifying(!) sulphate shampoo followed by a tiny amount of thin conditioner, most of which barely reached my ends. Everyday I'd rip a ball tip brush through the length until poofed up into a huge angry monster that I either put in an english braid or a ponytail cinnablob, the only two styles I knew. Every six months or so Mom would trim a couple inches to even up the ends thus eliminating what growth I managed to retain.
Last summer after becoming increasingly frustrated with my split-riddled frizzball that “never grew”, I turned to the internet for help and stumbled onto LHC.
Loves/things that work for me:
updos
hairtoys!
Overnight pre-poo with EVOO
LOC
Fox's Shea Conditioning Cream (HG product, turns my hair to silk!)
Flaxseed gel
plopping
no brushing, just combing or finger combing
coffee rinses
self trimming
sleep braiding
semi benign neglect
modified cones
refreshing midweek with diluted conditioner and sealing with FSCC.
I also played around with sulfate-free, shampoo bars, CWC, and WCC. Sulfate-free was a success but kinda pricey when oil+sulfates works just as well. Shampoo bars were also a hit, but more complicated. Suds on the whole length equaled icky coated hair, but suds on scalp + conditioner coated length = nice hair. CWC is great for the times I forget or don't have time to let oil sit for several hours, and WCC is awesome when I need a little more oomph in the conditioning department.
While I've almost completely overhauled my routine and am generally super nice to my hair, I did indulge in one damaging thing. The unfortunate freehand FFL incident left the canopy thinned more than I anticipated and revealed that my hair likes to grow faster on the left side. I evened up the ends in November but by February I noticed my hem was terribly asymmetrical. I wasn't a fan, to say the least! By then I'd joined the no trims for 2014 challenge and TBL, my goal, seemed feasible by the end of the year so I didn't want to lose any precious length. Since my hair is in a braid or updo of some most of the time, the lovely ladies of the no trimming thread convinced me to stay the course and not give in to the scissors. I needed something extra to keep from obsessing so I lightened the bottom few inches with a little household peroxide/conditioner mix. The hair was already damaged and I'd be trimming it off in a few months anyway, so what could it hurt, right? It turned out exactly how I wanted, and was way less damaging than I was expecting!
Enough blathering, I promised pictures!
http://i.imgur.com/V1HuRnK.png
I didn't quite believe the numbers at first, but measuring my length shot shirt confirms that it is, indeed, correct!
http://i.imgur.com/C0G0jqw.png
(the second picture isn't quite accurate as my mom took the photo, and the angle is off.)
http://i.imgur.com/NimZzVi.png http://i.imgur.com/zXtYHQx.png
Meh to yeah, I'd wear that out.
http://i.imgur.com/2pbrEIx.png
From the official one-year photoshoot: :cloud9:
http://i.imgur.com/MCBRAI7.png
Looking ahead to 2015, I plan to finally even up my hemline and maintain for a while to get rid some the mechanical damage. LHC has clearly been at work: my original goal was hip, which slipped tailbone, and now after seeing how close to Classic I am, I'm starting to think Classic stretched will be the ticket to the "perfect" unstetched length...
Here's to many more LHC-iversaries to come! :toast: