Baffled and amazed...sure this has happened to others...?

[Saldana]

Since the dawn of time (ok, since I was born about 54 years ago...) I have had stick-straight, slick, slippery hair. By the time I was in my late twenties, I simply gave up on trying to curl it (lasted maybe an hour) or perming it (paid $100 for a spiral perm once, back in the 1980s...lasted a month).

I have come to peace with my straight, heavy hair. I know its moods, how to care for it, how to put it in updos (and mostly make it stay there).

Soooo.....fast forward about 30 years. Newly-postmenopausal (YAY), new climate (although I lived in the tropics as a child - hair was stick-straight). Growing hair, no trims except for bangs, standard hair care (no heat, no dye, S/C twice a week, occasional oiling, BBB/wide comb, etc. No big deal.)

And.....my hair is developing waves. It started in back, and is spreading around my head steadily. After Sunday's S/C (a few days ago), the section in back that first started developing a wave almost looked like it was trying to turn into a big barrel curl. *stunned staring in the mirror*

I don't even know what to think. Has this happened to other people? The texture seems to be pretty much the same, it might be getting a bit coarser, but not much. Still shiny, still thick (thank goodness and an excellent diet...:) . The canopy is still fairly straight, but underneath.....my hair seems to be morphing itself into something I don't recognize.

My family is getting tired of me running out of the bathroom after every S/C, saying "look! look at this! look - my hair is WAVING. It's trying to curl! Look!" Of course, they're both life-long wavy/curlies, so I guess they don't understand what the big deal is....

So I am bringing it to my LHC friends....what the heck, friends?? Has anybody's hair all of a sudden decided to turn into something else after 5 decades of being a certain way??

I'd love to hear your stories. :)

edit: Also, will try to get a pic of the new waves, and post it.

[Arctic]

My hair changes at around 30, also went from straight to wavy. Now it's a bit less wavy again. It sure took time both mentally to create a new hair identity and physically to learn to take care of the new hair.

Enjoy your waves, they have lot of good points compared to straight hair. :)

[KittyBird]

I think it's quite normal for hair to change texture at certain times during life, for example when hormonal changes occur. I'm pretty sure I've read similar stories on this forum.

I had stick straight hair as a child, which changed to wavy when I hit puberty. It also changed colour from light golden blonde to dark ashy blonette. :)

[truepeacenik]

It took length and some hormonal changes to see my couple S waves. Of course my small crop of silvers have their own rules, mostly.
Perimenopause?

Do males see texture and curl changes aside from silver textures, adise from thinning as they age?

[Saldana]

*nodding*.....my color definitely got darker and darker as I got older - that is normal for my family (we start out tow-headed, then are brunettes by the time we're in our 30s. Then the silvers start up!)

Some of my silvers are coarser, but most are the same texture as the rest of my hair.

Interesting regarding changes at puberty.....my assumption is that something about becoming menopausal (I am definitely past the perimenopausal stage, thank goodness) and the hormone changes around that is what has allowed my hair to start expressing some waviness. The change of climate didn't do it (very humid climate as a child, straight hair, no wave), nor the changes of puberty (straight hair prior to menarch, straight hair after menarch), so to me it is interesting that whatever magic combination of climate, diet, hormones, etc is happening right now has given me at least a glimpse of having the wavy/curly hair I'd always wanted but had resigned myself to never having.

I'm just mostly amazed and enjoying it, and wanting to hear people's stories. :)

[school of fish]

Since the dawn of time (ok, since I was born about 54 years ago...) I have had stick-straight, slick, slippery hair. By the time I was in my late twenties, I simply gave up on trying to curl it (lasted maybe an hour) or perming it (paid $100 for a spiral perm once, back in the 1980s...lasted a month).

I have come to peace with my straight, heavy hair. I know its moods, how to care for it, how to put it in updos (and mostly make it stay there).

Soooo.....fast forward about 30 years. Newly-postmenopausal (YAY), new climate (although I lived in the tropics as a child - hair was stick-straight). Growing hair, no trims except for bangs, standard hair care (no heat, no dye, S/C twice a week, occasional oiling, BBB/wide comb, etc. No big deal.)

And.....my hair is developing waves. It started in back, and is spreading around my head steadily. After Sunday's S/C (a few days ago), the section in back that first started developing a wave almost looked like it was trying to turn into a big barrel curl. *stunned staring in the mirror*

I don't even know what to think. Has this happened to other people? The texture seems to be pretty much the same, it might be getting a bit coarser, but not much. Still shiny, still thick (thank goodness and an excellent diet...:) . The canopy is still fairly straight, but underneath.....my hair seems to be morphing itself into something I don't recognize.

My family is getting tired of me running out of the bathroom after every S/C, saying "look! look at this! look - my hair is WAVING. It's trying to curl! Look!" Of course, they're both life-long wavy/curlies, so I guess they don't understand what the big deal is....

So I am bringing to my LHC friends....what the heck, friends?? Has anybody's hair all of a sudden decided to turn into something else after 5 decades of being a certain way??

I'd love to hear your stories. :)

edit: Also, will try to get a pic of the new waves, and post it.

That is EXACTLY what is happening to mine - starting at the back, under the canopy, waves moving out to the sides gradually. For me it seems to have coincided with pregnancy/childbirth about a year and a half ago, although I'm fairly sure I'm perimenopausal now :) I actually started a thread about this very same thing a few weeks back, and found others had a similar experience, most often linked to hormonal changes in some way - you're definitely not alone!

It's fascinating! I'm so curious to know what this hair is going to turn into over time!

[Mimha]

Yay, nice to observe an evolution towards a desired thing, Saldana ! Would you have a before and after set of pics for us to enjoy with you ? :)

In my case, I had always been slightly wavy, but my waviness has increased noticeably since a year or two. I couldn't say if it is because I respect it much more (meaning that I let my hair dry without touching it, whereas before I combed and brushed way too much), or if it is due to my change of diet. My keratin is much better now and my hair is much bouncier also due to that quality improvement. This may explain that... :)

[Arkadas]

No changes yet in texture. always been straight, average thickness 50 now /post meno just recently.. I started off white blonde until I was 5 then it turned orange and I stays carrort/strawberry until 40's you start seeing some fading especially hitting flat light.. other types of lights or times of the days the light still brings out the reds.. I am curious to see where I end up...

[spidermom]

I used to have hair that was about 1C/2A in my teens and young adult years, then it gradually got more and more wavy until it added a few curls and I typed at 2C for LHC. Over the past 5-6 years, I've lost a lot of wave/curl, and it's not because of length because I cut back to waist and layered in an attempt to recapture 2C. It didn't really work without some gel and hair twirling. I'd say I'm back to 1C/2A now.

[Hurven]

My hair used to be stick straight, my mother used to say that my hair was the straightest hair she had ever seen! Then in my early teens, my hair started turning more and more wavy and I have now been at solid 2A for the past 4-5 years or so. My guess is that it has something to do with hormones.

[Belle Paix]

About 5 years ago, I cut to a short, boyish cut. At that point my hair was thick, but pretty dang straight. Now that I've been growing it out and have hit CBL, it's got tons of natural wave! I can let it air dry, and it falls into a style that would've taken lots of mousse and time to achieve before. If I had know it would be wavy, I would've grown it out sooner :)

[lapushka]

I went from 1b/c to 2b/c during puberty. Yeah, hormones... that happened. :lol:

[Saldana]

amazing! so maybe it *is* tied to hormones!!

[Saldana]

That is EXACTLY what is happening to mine - starting at the back, under the canopy, waves moving out to the sides gradually. For me it seems to have coincided with pregnancy/childbirth about a year and a half ago, although I'm fairly sure I'm perimenopausal now :) I actually started a thread about this very same thing a few weeks back, and found others had a similar experience, most often linked to hormonal changes in some way - you're definitely not alone!

It's fascinating! I'm so curious to know what this hair is going to turn into over time!

Amazing! So it seems that maybe it *is* tied to hormones!

[lunalocks]

Yes! After a life time of stick straight hair, around the time of menopause at the back of my head a 3 or so inch streak of wavy began to happen. Then it widened. Over the next 5 years my whole head became wavy and now I even have spirals right after air drying. As soon as I wear it in a bun for several hours, however, most of the wave is gone.

[Saldana]

Yes! After a life time of stick straight hair, around the time of menopause at the back of my head a 3 or so inch streak of wavy began to happen. Then it widened. Over the next 5 years my whole head became wavy and now I even have spirals right after air drying. As soon as I wear it in a bun for several hours, however, most of the wave is gone.

Omigosh, LunaLocks, that is EXACTLY what is happening to me! *crossing fingers, hoping for spiral curls in a few years!!*

[Arctic]

Most defintely it's tied to hormones.

[Nuala]

I've got a few gray hairs and they are definitely coarser and more curly than the rest of my hair.
Also, when I was a kid, my hair was wavy, almost curly; by the time I was 8, it was almost straight.

[Saldana]

I've got a few gray hairs and they are definitely coarser and more curly than the rest of my hair.
Also, when I was a kid, my hair was wavy, almost curly; by the time I was 8, it was almost straight.

Oh, interesting - so your hair has gone the opposite way - from wavy/curly to basically straight.

[summergreen]

This happened to my daughter between 10 and 11 - she had light brown/dark blonde, wispy hair with a very slight wave at the ends, with a lot of taper from a couple of inches below shoulder. In a year (can chart it from the birthday photos!) her hair changed completely, to darkish brown, thick and very wavy and fast growing. So definitely hormones!

[luxurioushair]

You seem very happy, congrats on the new waves.

[SexyWitch]

I used to have stick straight hair before puberty and then it turned curly. I wonder if it will go back to straight after menopause. Which would be a shame because I love my curls!

[rags]

I had stick straight 1a hair all of my life, it didn't change at puberty (the color darkened from white blond to dark ash blond though). When I had my first Great Shed, my hair had just begun to get "frizzy". I'd never had frizzy hair in my entire life! But I lost over half of it, and when it came back, a lot of it was wavy. I blamed it on the shed, but I was well into perimenopause then. As I've progressed through perimenopause, my hair got wavier, and for the first time in my life I have a few coarse hairs (my hair is very baby fine). New I'm recovering from another shed, and I"m in menopause - done! My hair was at hip when the shed started and was straighter - I blamed it on the length and expected it to get wavier when I cut to shoulder. Nope, still only about 1c (I was a 2a when I joined here in 2008, and it got wavier after that). The new growth coming in is still too short to tell, but I definietly look 1c or so now. So for me, I got wavier in perimenopause (I got spiral curls at one point for a couple of years!), and then it got straighter after menopause. But it's still a LOT wavier than it used to be - it was stick straight my whole life before.

[Horrorpops]

Not sure that this is exactly the same but my mum always laughs that she has had stick straight hair her whole like - and always wanted curls - and is now getting some grey hairs growing in that are crazy curly and stick up out of the rest of her sleek black hair! :o

Hair is a crazy thing, enjoy your waves!! :)

[Frankenstein]

I was just talking to my mother and it's not texture related but it made me think of this thread - She's 54 and her hair is currently between waist and hip length (which she hates :lol:) She said that when she was younger, it wouldn't grow much past APL. The past few years (since menopause) has been when her growth rate/lengths really increased.

[Sassenach]

My hair's a lot less curly than in was in my youth.

[Carolyn]

I don't think I've seen any of those changes. Nothing changed at puberty and nothing changed in menopause. I'm turning silver now but my hair has always been the same blonde. I would kill for straighter and heavier hair. It's always greener as they say.

[eshta]

I had stick straight hair as a kid and one very wavy, nearly curly lock near my temples and wavy (untamable) bangs when I went through puberty, the rest of my hair was somewhat wavy. In my first pregnancy my hair was shoulder length and became very wavy all over, I always wore it down so it was easy to notice the change. I didn't notice much change in my second pregnancy, but it was hip length and I always wore it up or braided. Curls never did hold for me, not as a kid and not now, they just fall out within the hour, no matter how much hairspray i used.

I also noticed changes in waviness with different washing methods and I think henna also makes a difference for me but that maybe just a 1c/2a thing.

[luvlonghair75]

I had very curly hair when I was very young. Mom kept cutting/trimming it so it turned straight around the age of 4 or 5. It's been stick straight with nary a wave since. I wouldn't mind a wave or so to had some volume to my very thin hair!

[hennalonghair]

I've had curly wavy hair my entire life. I'm almost 56 and since menopause my hair is becoming curlier. I also went through a big shed that I think was hormone related and diet related ( slacked off on great healthy diet). Now I have new curlier greys and I like it. Hair seems coarser yet smoother. There's some pros to getting old.