Differences according to length?

[lapushka]

I have noticed that I need to take "different" care of my hair than when it was much shorter. Now, I have F hair. At shorter lengths, I could get away with conditioning once and with a fairly "light" conditioner. I'm TBL+ now with about 2 inches to go until classic, and I have noticed ever since hitting waist that I need to condition twice (WCC) and use fairly moisturizing (heavy) conditioners for both conditioning "sessions". It does not weigh my hair down, but it takes good care of tangles and knots (don't have any if the conditioners are good).

Do you, or did you, notice differences in how you take care of your hair according to the length of it? Please share!

[Madora]

About the only thing that changed was being even more patient when brushing and combing it at extra long length (knee).

[missblueeyes]

I started at chin and the main difference for me is how long my hair takes to dry. I used to get away with washing my hair in the evening. Now, not so much. Oh, from shoulder onwards I could finally use conditioner again. Other than that, nothing really changed a lot. I do CWC now and I probably should have started way sooner and with the right products.

[Mimha]

I have noticed that I need to take "different" care of my hair than when it was much shorter. Now, I have F hair. At shorter lengths, I could get away with conditioning once and with a fairly "light" conditioner. I'm TBL+ now with about 2 inches to go until classic, and I have noticed ever since hitting waist that I need to condition twice (WCC) and use fairly moisturizing (heavy) conditioners for both conditioning "sessions". It does not weigh my hair down, but it takes good care of tangles and knots (don't have any if the conditioners are good).

Do you, or did you, notice differences in how you take care of your hair according to the length of it? Please share!

Hi Lapushka !

I think it's quite normal that you notice a difference : the longets your hair becomes, the oldest your length and ends are. And logically, the oldest they are, the more damaged the keratin becomes. It's a normal evolution that leads to fairytailing (keeping in mind that a fairytailed end doesn't mean it's mistreated or split, but simply that the hair is "eroded" by time^^). So I guess it's normal to feel you need more conditioner to maintain some fluidness and tangle-freeness.

I am hardly beyond BSL and I already feel that my ends are starting to tangle. I'm experiencing my very first knots since last bob cut. To me, it's clear that my hair starts feeling the damages of time, even if baby cared with love^^. Personally, I do not use any conditioner (I have never used any, on a regular basis at least). Maybe I'll have to find a solution towards something similar, be it oil or else... I would prefer some 100% natural stuff, though. I may only need some trim too ! I'll see at the end of the year, when my no-trim challenge 2015 ends before I trim or apply anything anyway ! :)

[Linguaphilia]

I have noticed the opposite in care. My hair tangles less than when it was at BSL or waist! It's also easier to wear in a protective style (lots of buns are possible now), and it's easier to wash--I do scalp wash only most of the time. For me classic length equals short hair in convenience... It's wonderful.

The only thing that bothers me is the otter look. I have lots of hair, but it's fine... Nice stylish volume is impossible with hair in a bun.

[Nadine <3]

When my hair was short I used more shampoo than conditioner. Now I use two bottles of conditioner for every one bottle of shampoo.
I would also hop into the shower 15 minutes before I'd have to go somewhere, wash and blow dry. Now there's no way that would ever work out.

I'm sure there's more, but I just woke up and can't brain yet...

[lapushka]

Hi Lapushka !

I think it's quite normal that you notice a difference : the longets your hair becomes, the oldest your length and ends are. And logically, the oldest they are, the more damaged the keratin becomes. It's a normal evolution that leads to fairytailing (keeping in mind that a fairytailed end doesn't mean it's mistreated or split, but simply that the hair is "eroded" by time^^). So I guess it's normal to feel you need more conditioner to maintain some fluidness and tangle-freeness.

I am hardly beyond BSL and I already feel that my ends are starting to tangle. I'm experiencing my very first knots since last bob cut. To me, it's clear that my hair starts feeling the damages of time, even if baby cared with love^^. Personally, I do not use any conditioner (I have never used any, on a regular basis at least). Maybe I'll have to find a solution towards something similar, be it oil or else... I would prefer some 100% natural stuff, though. I may only need some trim too ! I'll see at the end of the year, when my no-trim challenge 2015 ends before I trim or apply anything anyway ! :)

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you! :)


I'm sure there's more, but I just woke up and can't brain yet...

Take your time. :D

[lapushka]

I have noticed the opposite in care. My hair tangles less than when it was at BSL or waist! It's also easier to wear in a protective style (lots of buns are possible now), and it's easier to wash--I do scalp wash only most of the time. For me classic length equals short hair in convenience... It's wonderful.

That's odd, but awesome. I don't get how that's even possible. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have your hair. :D

[sourgrl]

I've experienced more tangles after passing hip. The weight of my hair pulls out the wave so it doesn't really wave until the last few inches of length where it forms waves/clumps. That's where I experience tangles. I use the ROO method in conjunction with WCC and it has helped tremendously with the tangles. I have to use WCC with the ROO method to make sure I get all the oil out pf my hair.

[Seeshami]

Mine has but I also has dye damage. Skipping washes in winter is really tough because his highness gets thirsty.

The naughty mess says, "Martini?"

No

[Arwenlily]

Hi Lapushka !

I think it's quite normal that you notice a difference : the longets your hair becomes, the oldest your length and ends are. And logically, the oldest they are, the more damaged the keratin becomes. It's a normal evolution that leads to fairytailing (keeping in mind that a fairytailed end doesn't mean it's mistreated or split, but simply that the hair is "eroded" by time^^). So I guess it's normal to feel you need more conditioner to maintain some fluidness and tangle-freeness.

I am hardly beyond BSL and I already feel that my ends are starting to tangle. I'm experiencing my very first knots since last bob cut. To me, it's clear that my hair starts feeling the damages of time, even if baby cared with love^^. Personally, I do not use any conditioner (I have never used any, on a regular basis at least). Maybe I'll have to find a solution towards something similar, be it oil or else... I would prefer some 100% natural stuff, though. I may only need some trim too ! I'll see at the end of the year, when my no-trim challenge 2015 ends before I trim or apply anything anyway ! :)

Hi Mimha :) If you don't mind me asking, why don't you use conditioner? I'd like to not use conditioner because it weighs down my hair and overmoisturizes it. Since you don't use conditioner, what is your hair routine like?

[Nadine <3]

Take your time. :D

After a full day of trying to think of things I've decided on one other thing:
Long hair is far less annoying in terns of getting it to lay right and keeping it out of my face. I HATED my layers chopped cut thing that floofed upwards and sat in my eyes and mouth.

[longhairvixen]

Before i cut my hair i had to moisturize my ends. Now that i have short hair, I dont see a reason to moisturize my ends.

[lapushka]

Before i cut my hair i had to moisturize my ends. Now that i have short hair, I dont see a reason to moisturize my ends.

Yes, that's the beauty of it. ;)

[Mimha]

Hi Mimha :) If you don't mind me asking, why don't you use conditioner? I'd like to not use conditioner because it weighs down my hair and overmoisturizes it. Since you don't use conditioner, what is your hair routine like?

Hi Arwenlily ! :)

Of course I don't mind you asking : we are on a hair forum to exchange experiences and ideas about hair, aren't we ? :wink: I would even say that I feel honored that such a beautiful head of hair asks me about my routine ! :o

Well, my routine is among the simplest. It's pure less-is-more philosophy : I detangle gently with a horn comb or wooden brush, wash every 4-5 days standing under the shower (to avoid bending over the basin and causing a hell of tangles and back pain^^). I dilute about a small TbS of "organic" shampoo into a glass of water and slowly pour it on my hair while gently massaging my scalp (never my length). Then I rinse abundantly with lukewarm water. I finish with one liter of water in which I add some ACV (not too much, just to soften our hard water) and a few drops of essential oils with anti-fungal action, such as Rosmarinus, Tea Tree and Lavender.

Actually, The most "complicated" part of the process is the preparation of my leave-in rinse : it may be very quick if I just pour some vinegar and a few drops of essential oil in the water, but it may be longer if I prepare an Oregano or Rosmarinus infusion (I have a lot in my garden). It also happens that I add grapefruit-seeds oil and a pinch of salt to make the water as close as possible to the "body saltness", but it's more to play it perfectionist ^^. That rinse is so efficient that my hair becomes dreamingly fluid and I have never felt the urge to add anything else. Actually, my rinse is a natural version of Monistat ! :D Monistat is efficient because it's an anti-fungal. A lot of people don't even know that they suffer from fungus, because it's so common, due to the high consumption of sugar in our society. Itchy scalp should always be a warning. A high rate of funguns leads to hair-loss, and I would even say that it is the main cause of it.

To dry my hair, I gently press my hair into a towel (I never ever rub my hair with the towel !) and wrap it on my head 10 minutes before I detangle when still wet, using my horn comb or wooden brush and starting by the ends. It's quite quick because my hair was already fully detangled before wash, and because I neither bent over the basin, nor messed up my hair by massaging it like crazy. Wet detangling takes me about 5 minutes and I wrap the towel again for 10 more minutes. Then I let my hair down to air dry freely. I detangle once more when half dry, and once again when fully dry.

At night, I sleep with my hair loose : I just put it over the pillow so I don't roll over it if I turn. I am amazed that it has so little tangles when I wake up ! In my younger years, I would always braid it at night... and I had a lot of damages due to that ! My braid was frequently caught under me and rubbed everywhere, causing much more splits and taper. (I tried to make a top-of-the-head-braid but didn't like it at all).

Now, why do I have that simple routine ? Because of 3 things :

1) I am awfully lazy and don't want to spend my life caring about my hair
2) I don't like at all the idea of being a slave of the consumer society, and a products and hair-dressers addict
3) I have health issues due to a long lasting unconscious self-poisonning : our world is indeed full of chemicals and unwanted un-natural unavoidable substances, and you really come to realize it when you start getting crossed-allergies to all sorts of stuff, food intolerances, auto-immune disorders, etc.

In order to recover my health, I have to avoid plenty of common products, among which sugar was the most detrimental to my health. So I started investigating and realizing that my instinctive love for simpleness was a very good thing : indeed, to keep clean, our body just need one thing : water. Originally, soap, shampoo and chemicals were not provided by Mother Nature to clean the animals and the people. So logically, we should not need them. It's the consumer's society that has made us believe it necessary to use those tons of chemicals that are slowly poisoning both us and our environment. I have not succeeded (yet) to avoid shampoo, but I have always been avoiding conditioner. Conditioner is useless on healthy hair. A good bb-brush to spread sebum, or simply finger-detangling with - why not - a few drops of organic oil, and that should be it. Imagine how many tons of conditioner are going to pollute our water ?? Conditioners are as un-natural and polluting as shampoos. And as expensive too. Well, I don't blame the people who use them : I just would like them to do it in full consciousness. Many people (even in here !) naively think that they are going natural because they don't use shampoo... but conditioner instead ! Lol. Going natural means to use natural products. And there are some very interesting and efficient and not harming hair and skin : ghassoul, green clay, starch (rinsed or not). Some shampoo bars are quite interesting also. Well I admit that there are not as practical as shampoo, but there are alternatives for those who are both sensitive and looking for a low-impact style of life. :)

Concerning conditioners, I don't like the way my hair feels heavy after I tried some of them (I sometimes get samples from the pharmacist^^). Even if you rinse thoroughly (soooo much water to rinse that crap away, lol !!) My hair also gets twice as quickly oily afterwards, and I shed like crazy if I apply them on my scalp. If I come to use conditioner in the future, I'll try to choose among the most natural possible and only apply a super wee bit on the last 1/3 of my hair. And of course, no leave-in stuff !!

OK, today is wash day.^^ What about a chamomille rinse to welcome summer time in my hair, and wind-dry it on my terrace, under the sun ??? :) :) :)

[*ReiKa*]

Since hitting BCL the first different thing that I noticed is that it seems somewhat more difficult to detangle my hair with a wide tooth comb only. I prefer to let do most of the job by the TT now, whereas before I would grab my comb and be finished with the process in a matter of a minute.
I agree with Linguaphilia on the fact that my hair seems to require less care now that when it was at hip or waist.

[Linguaphilia]

Mimha, I am very interested in what you wrote. I would never have linked itchies to fungus. I thought it was simply because of shampoo, sebum, or the way my hair lies (I'm pretty sensitive).
Also, I have been aware of the health problems that excess sugar causes. But what is excess? I for one cannot go grain-free or potato-free. I would die from low blood sugar, lol. What I do is avoid fibreless stuff. No drinks other than water or coffee. No cookies, I go for fruit and an extra slice of bread instead. But I still eat common bread and pasta.
But even that is hard sometimes. I get lazy or depressed, then don't feel like trying to make a lunch salad. Etc.

[swearnsue]

I noticed a huge change at the 23"-25" length. My hair would grow to almost 25" then break off back to 23" and this went on for many months. Since I didn't see any split ends I thought my hair was just growing very slowly and I was measuring wrong. But by looking at my roots growing in after stopping henna, I could see I was getting about 1/2" of growth per month. So I finally realized I was getting breakage. So I stopped daily brushing, stopped using the little silicone hair ties to tie off my braids and I think the most important, I started using leave-in on my ends. And conditioning twice on the length and ends. Now I'm past 27" and still gaining length.

[Quasiquixotic]

I've experienced more tangles after passing hip. The weight of my hair pulls out the wave so it doesn't really wave until the last few inches of length where it forms waves/clumps. That's where I experience tangles. I use the ROO method in conjunction with WCC and it has helped tremendously with the tangles. I have to use WCC with the ROO method to make sure I get all the oil out pf my hair.

What does ROO stand for?

I haven't noticed a change yet. But my hair is only BSL and I've been babying it the whole time...probably for no reason :wink:

[lapushka]

What does ROO stand for?

I haven't noticed a change yet. But my hair is only BSL and I've been babying it the whole time...probably for no reason :wink:

Rinse-out Oil Method. The link is in my signature. :)

[Quasiquixotic]

thank you, must go read :run:

[endlessly]

Absolutely yes. When my hair was shorter, I wasn't the gentlest with it and I also didn't use the best products for it, probably most likely because I was much younger the last time it was shorter. Now that it is considerably longer, I almost treat it like it's glass. I'm aware of it constantly and almost obsessive over how I care for it. Sometimes, I miss the days of blissful ignorance, but considering how much healthier my hair is now in comparison, I think my extra precautions have paid off.

[two_wheels]

When it was too short to put up in a hair-friendly way (ponytails destroyed my hair before, so I didn't want to go that route) I had to overload my hair with conditioner to get it to stop floofing and frizzing all over the place.

Though in the end, LOC did the same without weighing it down too much.

Now it's longer, it's heavier, and damp bunning helps as well! So if I don't get a chance to do LOC it's no big deal. Although LOC is still what I do if I want pretty waves.

[Nadine <3]

When my hair was shorter I never stroked it lovingly and said "Mmmm, yes, so shine, much soft" out loud to myself. I really did just do this and I'm not even sorry. I'm weird, what can I say? haha

[DweamGoiL]

I actually have noticed I need less conditioning, but then again, my hair was damaged when I first started growing because of old hair dye. My hair is also wavy, but the wave has stretched considerably and the henna I've been using for the last 2 years or so has also tamed the wave as well. During the time I have willfully been growing, I have used cone-free products, which really works for my hair, but I still have to be mindful of products that can potentially weigh my fine hair down. Now, I pretty much keep it at WL or slightly shorter because it tends to get rather heavy beyond that point. I also like wearing my hair down regularly and anything beyond WL is a bit challenging to practically wear down.

[swearnsue]

When my hair was shorter I never stroked it lovingly and said "Mmmm, yes, so shine, much soft" out loud to myself. I really did just do this and I'm not even sorry. I'm weird, what can I say? haha

LOL! I stroke my hair too when nobody is looking!

[Sarahlabyrinth]

LOL! I stroke my hair too when nobody is looking!

So do I! LOL. I also stroke it when people ARE looking. Once I was sitting absent-mindedly stroking my nose with my hair and my sister said "Why are you sniffing your hair?" I replied that I wasn't sniffing my hair, that I was just enjoying how soft it was. She likely thought I was weird. Of course I didn't tell her that I DO sniff my hair when it has wonderful conditioney smells on it....She thinks I am quite weird enough as it is because I wear my hair long and no make up...

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Double post..............

[Doreen]

Between MBL and TBL I treated my hair really badly. I would wear a cardigan every day to school as part of the uniform and had a huge rats nest at the base of my neck. Still growing out now. I would condition my hair over the tangles instead of using it to detangle. Brushed like once or twice a week. So I don't know if that actually counts as 'taking care of' so much as some sort of... malicious neglect...

I used detangling spray a lot back then; it was basically the only 'treatment' I did but it worked pretty well. Can't think of the last time I bought a bottle of it, I'd probably have to use a third of it in one go now. Not efficient. I miss the nostalgic scent of it though. Thankfully, I rarely have tangles of that magnitude nowadays.

[Arwenlily]

Hi Arwenlily ! :)

Of course I don't mind you asking : we are on a hair forum to exchange experiences and ideas about hair, aren't we ? :wink: I would even say that I feel honored that such a beautiful head of hair asks me about my routine ! :o

Well, my routine is among the simplest. It's pure less-is-more philosophy : I detangle gently with a horn comb or wooden brush, wash every 4-5 days standing under the shower (to avoid bending over the basin and causing a hell of tangles and back pain^^). I dilute about a small TbS of "organic" shampoo into a glass of water and slowly pour it on my hair while gently massaging my scalp (never my length). Then I rinse abundantly with lukewarm water. I finish with one liter of water in which I add some ACV (not too much, just to soften our hard water) and a few drops of essential oils with anti-fungal action, such as Rosmarinus, Tea Tree and Lavender.

Actually, The most "complicated" part of the process is the preparation of my leave-in rinse : it may be very quick if I just pour some vinegar and a few drops of essential oil in the water, but it may be longer if I prepare an Oregano or Rosmarinus infusion (I have a lot in my garden). It also happens that I add grapefruit-seeds oil and a pinch of salt to make the water as close as possible to the "body saltness", but it's more to play it perfectionist ^^. That rinse is so efficient that my hair becomes dreamingly fluid and I have never felt the urge to add anything else. Actually, my rinse is a natural version of Monistat ! :D Monistat is efficient because it's an anti-fungal. A lot of people don't even know that they suffer from fungus, because it's so common, due to the high consumption of sugar in our society. Itchy scalp should always be a warning. A high rate of funguns leads to hair-loss, and I would even say that it is the main cause of it.

To dry my hair, I gently press my hair into a towel (I never ever rub my hair with the towel !) and wrap it on my head 10 minutes before I detangle when still wet, using my horn comb or wooden brush and starting by the ends. It's quite quick because my hair was already fully detangled before wash, and because I neither bent over the basin, nor messed up my hair by massaging it like crazy. Wet detangling takes me about 5 minutes and I wrap the towel again for 10 more minutes. Then I let my hair down to air dry freely. I detangle once more when half dry, and once again when fully dry.

At night, I sleep with my hair loose : I just put it over the pillow so I don't roll over it if I turn. I am amazed that it has so little tangles when I wake up ! In my younger years, I would always braid it at night... and I had a lot of damages due to that ! My braid was frequently caught under me and rubbed everywhere, causing much more splits and taper. (I tried to make a top-of-the-head-braid but didn't like it at all).

Now, why do I have that simple routine ? Because of 3 things :

1) I am awfully lazy and don't want to spend my life caring about my hair
2) I don't like at all the idea of being a slave of the consumer society, and a products and hair-dressers addict
3) I have health issues due to a long lasting unconscious self-poisonning : our world is indeed full of chemicals and unwanted un-natural unavoidable substances, and you really come to realize it when you start getting crossed-allergies to all sorts of stuff, food intolerances, auto-immune disorders, etc.

In order to recover my health, I have to avoid plenty of common products, among which sugar was the most detrimental to my health. So I started investigating and realizing that my instinctive love for simpleness was a very good thing : indeed, to keep clean, our body just need one thing : water. Originally, soap, shampoo and chemicals were not provided by Mother Nature to clean the animals and the people. So logically, we should not need them. It's the consumer's society that has made us believe it necessary to use those tons of chemicals that are slowly poisoning both us and our environment. I have not succeeded (yet) to avoid shampoo, but I have always been avoiding conditioner. Conditioner is useless on healthy hair. A good bb-brush to spread sebum, or simply finger-detangling with - why not - a few drops of organic oil, and that should be it. Imagine how many tons of conditioner are going to pollute our water ?? Conditioners are as un-natural and polluting as shampoos. And as expensive too. Well, I don't blame the people who use them : I just would like them to do it in full consciousness. Many people (even in here !) naively think that they are going natural because they don't use shampoo... but conditioner instead ! Lol. Going natural means to use natural products. And there are some very interesting and efficient and not harming hair and skin : ghassoul, green clay, starch (rinsed or not). Some shampoo bars are quite interesting also. Well I admit that there are not as practical as shampoo, but there are alternatives for those who are both sensitive and looking for a low-impact style of life. :)

Concerning conditioners, I don't like the way my hair feels heavy after I tried some of them (I sometimes get samples from the pharmacist^^). Even if you rinse thoroughly (soooo much water to rinse that crap away, lol !!) My hair also gets twice as quickly oily afterwards, and I shed like crazy if I apply them on my scalp. If I come to use conditioner in the future, I'll try to choose among the most natural possible and only apply a super wee bit on the last 1/3 of my hair. And of course, no leave-in stuff !!

OK, today is wash day.^^ What about a chamomille rinse to welcome summer time in my hair, and wind-dry it on my terrace, under the sun ??? :) :) :)

Thanks for sharing your routine, Mimha! And for the lovely compliment :) I think your hair is absolutely beautiful; I love your texture and your hair is so thick! Your routine must be perfect for your hair because it looks so gorgeous.

That is very interesting what you wrote about your anti-fungal leave-in rinse with the essential oils. I wonder if I can do the same to replace my medicated shampoo? I have SD but I hate usually the shampoo and I always have to use a conditioner after because my hair is so dry from it and I don't like using conditioner. I'd much rather use my organic shampoo and a little olive oil or coconut oil.

[lapushka]

That is very interesting what you wrote about your anti-fungal leave-in rinse with the essential oils. I wonder if I can do the same to replace my medicated shampoo? I have SD but I hate usually the shampoo and I always have to use a conditioner after because my hair is so dry from it and I don't like using conditioner. I'd much rather use my organic shampoo and a little olive oil or coconut oil.

You have to be careful with oils touching your scalp if you indeed have SD. I certainly can't tolerate them - it makes things worse!

[Arwenlily]

You have to be careful with oils touching your scalp if you indeed have SD. I certainly can't tolerate them - it makes things worse!

Oh, I didn't know that! Thank you for letting me know. Did your scalp flare up from the oils?

[lapushka]

Oh, I didn't know that! Thank you for letting me know. Did your scalp flare up from the oils?

Tried it once, needless to say... never tried it again. I can't even remember which oil it was (could've been coconut, could've been olive). Yes, I had to throw Nizoral at it - big time. Itchies, flakes, you name it. From a heavy oiling left on all night.

[two_wheels]

shudder: my scalp itches just thinking about oil being left on all night! Poor you lapushka

[lapushka]

shudder: my scalp itches just thinking about oil being left on all night! Poor you lapushka

Yeah, much later I noticed the same effects when delaying washing by too many days. It all comes down to "oil" on the head. If there's too much of it, it's no good for SD. Trust me on that. And I have mild SD too!

[Arwenlily]

Tried it once, needless to say... never tried it again. I can't even remember which oil it was (could've been coconut, could've been olive). Yes, I had to throw Nizoral at it - big time. Itchies, flakes, you name it. From a heavy oiling left on all night.

That sounds awful! Well I don't know if it is because of the SD but once I did a heavy oiling of castor and olive oil on my length and scalp and lost so much hair. It was terrible. Anyway, to actually contribute to the thread ... My hair isn't too long, it's only at BSL but I noticed that as my hair gets longer I have to be very very gentle with my ends. My ends are the last of heat damage and color treated hair and they are not doing well! No splits or anything but they break off easily and impact the appearance of growth.

[bluebreezes]

Even with my chin-length hair, I care for it as if it was much longer by oiling the ends, only applying conditioner to the sections above my ears and below, rarely brushing and air drying for the most part. My hair also loves shea body butter, at least at this length. I figure starting good care with short hair is an investment in the ends. And besides, it just feels nice and looks good to start early.

[lapushka]

Even with my chin-length hair, I care for it as if it was much longer by oiling the ends, only applying conditioner to the sections above my ears and below, rarely brushing and air drying for the most part. My hair also loves shea body butter, at least at this length. I figure starting good care with short hair is an investment in the ends. And besides, it just feels nice and looks good to start early.

Actually that's nice to hear. I was nice to my chin length hair, but not that nice. :)