Parting ways

[Hairkay]

When I was a teen. I practised a lot of parting hair in straight parts. It was easily done at grandmother's house because she had one of those 3 part mirrors on her dressing table plus her mirrored wardrobe was directly opposite so I had a front view, sides view and back view. The hair was too thick and curly to get a part in one go. I worked out a two step way to do it. Mostly I could just let my hair fall and the front would part in half because I'd grown up having my hair parted in two.

When I got to my 20s I was proud when anyone asked how I'd managed to part my hair and cornrow it all neatly into one. I didn't tell them that it took a lot of parting everything first cornrowing the sections down in the opposite direction that I wanted it to go in. Then one by one undoing them and redoing them in the direction I wanted them in.

These days I'm not so picky over perfect parting. I'm trying to get rid of that permanent part down the middle. I have a compromise. I'll part my front into sections neatly but I'll allow the back to be more organic so the hair clumps/ringlets aren't disturbed that much. Sometimes the hair does end up sectioned down the middle in the back but when that happens the next time I'm detangling and styling I make sure that the parting changes to give that bit a time to recover. I sometimes sleep with the back of my head resting on the pillow so I have to be aware that hair may pull. I don't even use the mirror to check the back of my head now. I'm afraid I'll be a bit horrified then spend too much time and too much manipulation trying to make it look perfect.

[RebekahE]

You sound like me. I don't have your awesome fluffy hair but I am so particular about my part, if it isn't perfect I fuss over it until it is good. I mostly wear it parted to the left because that is my natural part but I put it int he middle occasionally for certain styles.

[Chocowalnut]

When I saw this thread I thought it was going to be a post about you leaving the LHC lol.

[Groovy Granny]

When I saw this thread I thought it was going to be a post about you leaving the LHC lol.

LOL me too; glad you're not Hairkay!

In my hippie days I wore it parted in the middle (of course ) :p

Now in my 60's my natural part falls on the left, but I prefer to just comb it all back.
Parting it exposes a cowlick on the back of my crown, but occasionally for ponytails I will do a part and carefully comb over the cowlick.

[Hairkay]

When I saw this thread I thought it was going to be a post about you leaving the LHC lol.

Lol, I'm not going anywhere.

[luxurioushair]

This is why I stay away from any style that requires neat parts...lol
I'm horrible at parting. The only thing I can do is box plaits and that is my go-to convenience style. With box plaits, only the front really needs to be parted well, and then the rest of your hair kind of falls all over and hides your bad parting skills!

[meteor]

^ Yay! Happy to hear that, Hairkay! :D

I don't know about parting... I think whatever feels comfortable is great! ;)
I hear some ideas that it's important to change parts from time to time to shift pressure and change the areas of canopy hair exposed to the elements, but I've never seen it make a difference in practice, to be honest. :hmm: I would love to know more about this...

There are some spots, at which it's uncomfortable for me to start parting, but I'm not sure if it's just lack of habit or maybe growth pattern (cowlicks?) - I can't see mine, for some reason... One thing I do notice is that with extra length, the hair pulls downward more, so it takes more effort to change parts, especially if it's not freshly washed. I usually wear the same (central-ish) part all the time, just because it's too much work to section my hair differently every day :lol:

[spidermom]

On very rare occasions, I will take the time to do a precise part, but most of the time I use my fingers to push my hair in the direction I want it to go. I change it up all the time because as a teenager I read in Seventeen magazine that parting one's hair in the same place all the time will result in a wider part over time. I didn't (and don't) want that!

[Hairkay]

I mostly can't see a difference in changing parting except one difference, the middle parting. My hair now does that without any help, partly because it's been parted that way since I was a toddler and with some length the hair is now hanging more. I did notice some breakage start to happen in the middle after sleeping before I started wearing a satin cap but that's stopped now. I've seen some people who straighten their hair notice the gap down the middle because of accustomed middle parting. Since I don't wear my hair straight that's not obvious.

[Ava Ruu]

I always admire neat parts on other peoples hairs. My hair loves to part but rarely in a way that I would want it to. I have not figured out how to make it stay the way I part it, usually my hair just re-arranges itself into its original position, or looks like I am trying to hide a bald spot.

[Hairkay]

Parting other sections that are not the middle part is like trying to cut a path through tropical rain forest. You struggle then as soon at you let go of your hands/combs the hair springs back swallowing up the part attempt. Those curlies with fine low density hair may not have that much of a struggle.