Hair Story - A look back at how our hair got to where it is today...

[bed_head]

I thought it would be interesting to look at our hair history. For me, my current natural color is a mousey color. Stylists always call it a level 6- dark blonde. I always think of myself as blonde. Other people often describe my natural color as brown. I know it is symantics (especially since I color it anyway), but I thought it would be fun to look back through the phases of my hair...


http://i.imgur.com/N7gx6US.jpg?1
This is me at age 3. It is pretty blonde.
http://i.imgur.com/S36454r.jpg?1
I think I am about 4 here. Still blonde. Also, that was one of my favorite shirts... I think I have it in storage somewhere.
http://i.imgur.com/xyJxnus.jpg?1
This is me at 6 or 7... just look at those bangs! shudder:
http://i.imgur.com/FFtDNqO.jpg?1
This is me around probably 10. You can see that there is a little blonde where my hair catches the light, but this picture was taken at one of the quickie photo places in Sears and the lighting isn't great. Also, add on to that the fact that this image is a scanned image of a matte photo.
http://i.imgur.com/jeXA4gL.jpg?1
Fast Forward to age 22 (apparently, I hid from cameras for a good decade there). I had already been dying my hair for the better part of a decade. My hair is just a shade lighter than my natural color and it is much warmer too!

http://i.imgur.com/BYg7YMO.jpg?1
This is me at age 25. Still coloring, but you can see my roots up at the top. Just kind of bleh. Hair is still long here, it is just pulled back in a bun.
http://i.imgur.com/blWefIZ.jpg?1
This is at age 30 (the very beginning of 2015). My at this point has parts that have been bleached. You can see some of the breakage and split ends. The color is very faded chemical dye, but the top is too dark to see the roots that I know were there.
http://i.imgur.com/ZNoZezk.jpg?1
This is me still this year, after I chopped off the dead hair and started in with henna.

I think with the dying that started in my teens (which meant I never saw more than my roots) and the super blonde color of my hair when I was a kid, it is pretty clear as to why I think of my natural color as a shade of blonde. This year is the first time in my life that I have willingly gone short. There was one time when I was 7 or 8 when my step mother cut it to my chin after telling me she wouldn't - I cried! I am now working on growing it back out again, now that the most damaged hair is gone!

What is your hair story?

[Lauraes]

Ooh, fun thread!

When I was a baby, I had black hair. :lol: (1997):
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/baby_zpsrhiwdqrn.png

Then, all of my hair fell out, and it grew back in as platinum blonde (I have no idea how or why this happened, but it did) (not sure on years):
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/c_zps6hdxzphc.png
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/a_zpshuawptw3.png
(I still have that dog, by the way. Poor guy's only two years younger than I am.)

Eventually, my hair had darkened to blondette (2008 ):
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/f_zps2uejllfj.png

This was when I first started getting haircuts (2011):
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/d_zpslr2czhet.png

Then I started dying it golden blonde soon after (2012):
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/282282_396624683736149_2105196712_n_zpsfyp3yqdz.jp g

The next couple of years were pretty uneventful apart from occasionally playing with blue and pink semi dyes. This year I joined LHC in Feburary and decided to grow my hair out (no more constantly trimming!). And finally, I've dyed my hair dark blonde to grow out the blondette (the pink is to cover up a fail due to dark blonde dye over turquoise dye) (2015):
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/h_zps6qhrxn7m.png

(On a side note, I never realized much my appearance changed in the last 4 years. :eek:)

[bed_head]

WOW! That color fuscia is STUNNING :thumbsup: and your hair is so thick too! Lucky you :)

Baby hair is odd. My mom didn't grow hair until she was almost 3 - thankfully, none of her kids inherited that trait!

[Arctic]

I love the idea of this thread! I was planning a similar photo timeline for my 8th LHC anniversary, but decided it's too big job right now to undertake. I love seeing other people's photos, though!

[Johannah]

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/h_zps6qhrxn7m.png

Maybe this sounds weird but wow that pink really suits your face!

[lapushka]

Very interesting. A lot of work goes into these stories. Amazing that you did that, you guys. My gosh, I would have to dig deep for old pictures. :lol: And I'd rather not have them on the internet. :o

[Ephemia]

Great idea for a thread!

My hair has pretty much been the same for my entire life, it just started to get longer at some point I'm not entirely sure of. :D The most interesting thing that's happened to it is probably that it was red when I was a baby and then it presumably fell out and grew back dark brown.

[DollyDagger]

so cute these baby pics..@Laures-amazing how black your hair was..thats wild. @bed_head your natural colour is lovely..but so is your bob and henna. Very cool thread..my baby pics are all at my moms for some reason- and none of them digital..lol.

[Arctic]

Yeah the non-digitalness is the exact problem why this type of timeline would be lot of work for me too. All the going through and scanning... The problems of us oldies :laugh:

[DollyDagger]

Yeah the non-digitalness is the exact problem why this type of timeline would be lot of work for me too. All the going through and scanning... The problems of us oldies :laugh:

ya for sure...its not as easy. :) but at least we cant accidently delete them all

[Arctic]

ya for sure...its not as easy. :) but at least we cant accidently delete them all

True that!

[Johannah]

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=18646&d=1440782270

First row:
Baby - I got born with dark brown hair. Funny thing is my eyebrows are still this dark until this day.
Toddler - slowy transitioning to blonde

Second row:
4 years old (?) - my hair was always platinum blonde in summer.
5 years old (?) - I loved having long hair. Mom was really good at braiding it and doing fancy hairstyles.
13 years old - I cut my hair from waist length to this. Also I discovered the world of bleach (heavy highlights).

Third row:
17 years old - this was just before my hairdresser thought it would be fun to cut my hair to APL length with heavy layers starting from ear length. After that I decided to become a member of tLHC. Sadly I don't have pictures anymore of that time. After I went to university, I didn't visit this forum anymore because of lack of time and I highlighted my hair again (big big big mistake!). The highlights faded after two weeks (!!) but the damage stayed.
19 years old - after a long break of tLHC, this is what my hair looked like. I still had layers but they have grown out for a big part.
21 years old - a couple of days ago.

[lapushka]

When I was a baby, I had black hair. :lol: (1997):
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/lauraes27/baby_zpsrhiwdqrn.png

Then, all of my hair fell out, and it grew back in as platinum blonde (I have no idea how or why this happened, but it did) (not sure on years):

That happened to me as well. I was not a platinum blonde, but a straw-like blonde color.

[snowbear1005]

This is a great thread.

Born with black hair which will soften to brown....

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/v/t1.0-9/10400190_1100633524041_900775_n.jpg?oh=5cd53c1bc2b 5a1bef1a0666965d2f163&oe=5678F883

Kindergarten pic. You can't tell from here, but my hair was down to my butt. It was wavy with curls at the end. I wonder if it wasn't brushed so much if it wouldn't have been even curlier. Unfortunately, my mom would cut it short just a few years later.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/v/t1.0-9/10400190_1100633604043_225036_n.jpg?oh=467e87f9165 8ea6c210286301ad87f43&oe=56675221

High School Graduation. I would keep my hair like this, more or less, for the next 20 years or so lol. I tried so many times to grow out the layers only to get frustrated and have them cut back in. My hair was really thick and heavy, but started thinning out in my late 30's - early 40's due to illness and medications.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11890966_10207876689663137_4156504103885498628_n.j pg?oh=a6101d3ad50169849456dd0522ec5a2f&oe=56735294

After a disasterous perm, I had my hair cut into a short shag and that's when I began to grow the layers once and for all. This pic is a few months after the cut when my hair started filling back in.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/p206x206/10390121_10204180145411841_3521405509907940582_n.j pg?oh=46e250c21e4530cc55db1aaf0257b8f7&oe=567CD69C

Up until this point, my color was always natural. It's only been in the last 3 years or so that I've started coloring to hide the gray. I still have layers, but they are longer and my length is the longest it's been since my early 20's. I love that I can bring across one shoulder, so now I just want more of it!

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10982472_10206277091274177_2328562132748111525_n.j pg?oh=7055b8227674abb9980f080fad028b88&oe=5672BB23

Back view:

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11954655_10207862424346513_6136016459625028952_n.j pg?oh=f5b6664db15f17af7d2de927db63dd69&oe=56651853

[bte]

My hair story has already appeared on LHC, but it may be worth telling again.

I was born with a light dusting of almost white hair which soon became wavy. Up to the age of about 5 I had the usual little boy cuts, but I soon became aware of hair, and realised how much I liked seeing long hair and having mine long myself. I have always gone for the androgynous look - my first girlfriend had hair down to her jeans (she was about 12 and I was 10!). I had school and parental rules which I did my best to avoid - first of all by having sideswept fringe (bangs) so that the hair at the front grew down to my mouth. I hated having to go to the barbers, so I started trimming my own hair. It grew to shoulder length, all one length, and long wnough for me to wear my first ponytail, which was quite an achievement for a 14 year old boy in 1969! But my parents decided that the barbers I was supposed to be going to wasn't doing a good job, so I was sent to another one, which was the worst hair day of my life. I then refused to go to a salon ever again - indeed I have never done so. My mum then took over occasional trims, as infrequently as I could make them. By the time I left school, I had enough hair to wear a three inch ponytail. As part of my college course I spent a year in Germany. When I returned, the three inch tail had grown to a bit over nine inches, but I only wore it very occasionally, as man tails weren't the norm, even amongst longhairs. My fiancee commented that it was long enough to plait (braid), but when I got home, my parents were hoffified (even by the amount of loose hair - maybe a ponytail or a braid would have been preferable, maybe not!). So I had the choice - have the funding to complete my education with just the three inches that I had had before, or do without the money. A great pity, as that 9+ inches would have been 16, waist length, had I not had to give in. I didn't know at that time that my future mother in law was a great fan on male ponytails - that would have encouraged me. Work rules stopped my achieving my goal for several years, and MPB set in, so when 21 years ago at the age of 39, I became self employed, I vowed never to cut or trim my hair again. That was in 1994, and I have kept that promise. It grew to be enough for an 11 inch ponytail, and I used to braid it at night. Then two years ago, I becams severely ill with kidney failure. I nearly died, but one of the things that kept me going was that as I recovered, my hair, which had stalled for 17 years, started to grow. During 2014 and the first half of 2015. I gained a little over 2 inches. At the same time, I started seeing man braids, so I thought it was time to break what was for me new ground. I now wear a braid which is a good foot long all the time, day and night, and am very much enjoying it, feeling like a real longhair for the first time. I need to rebraid it about once a day, but other than that, it looks after itself. And, although i would love an extra inch or two, or even better an extra foot or two, I'm happy!

[Azy]

So many wonderful hair stories. Maybe I'll share mine soon.

[Christine_O]

ya for sure...its not as easy. :) but at least we cant accidently delete them all

...and my earliest pictures are all black and white. I would have to verbally describe the colors anyway. But yes, great idea, and I love all the pictures!

[Jeleah]

Awesome thread, thanks for sharing everyone!

[bed_head]

I am lucky to have sisters who have digitized some of our old pics