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View Full Version : 5-year Hair-iversary! (pic heavy)



tigereye
March 7th, 2016, 02:38 PM
So, its been almost 5 years here on the LHC :cheer:Wow. Where has the time gone? Since I joined, I've completed high school, gone through and completed all the trials and tribulations of university, and now I've been 6 months in a solid stable job I love. I've not posted an anniversary thread before, so its been interesting going through all the old pictures. :popcorn:

When I first joined, I had been growing my hair longer for a while, and was past waist, and heading for hip. But, I didn't take any pictures until the summer of 2011, when I was at hip (with obligatory braid-waves, since I'd been doing braided cinnabuns pretty much every day). I purchased my first custom hairstick that summer - a glow in the dark stick with a pink glass topper vaguely reminiscent of jupiter. Until then, I'd been mostly using (and breaking) pencils and chopsticks.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/lost-kitty/Hair/1b0f596e-8a00-4074-9f21-926a53b24c8a_zpskzcddwsh.png (http://s436.photobucket.com/user/lost-kitty/media/Hair/1b0f596e-8a00-4074-9f21-926a53b24c8a_zpskzcddwsh.png.html)
When I went to uni that September, a friend convinced me to cut my hair, as a sort of new start. Now dont get me wrong, I loved my hair like this, when it behaved. Unfortunately, the layers would fall out of buns and get in my face, and it took at least three days of post-wash bunning to get my ends to sit nicely like that instead of bunching up and tangling. The layers higher up would split before the ends did.
That said, if I ever did cut my hair short again, I'd probably have it like this.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/lost-kitty/Hair/P1010108_zps6eobsikv.jpg (http://s436.photobucket.com/user/lost-kitty/media/Hair/P1010108_zps6eobsikv.jpg.html)
I tried henna to try and bring out the red in my hair a bit more and to help pamper my layers as I started to grow down again. By the summer of 2012, my longest ones were at hip. And I so, so loved the colour.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/lost-kitty/Hair/P1010112_zps5hxikxxq.jpg (http://s436.photobucket.com/user/lost-kitty/media/Hair/P1010112_zps5hxikxxq.jpg.html)
I spent much of the next year growing out my layers and doing occasional henna glosses. Unfortunately, in 2012, my doctor changed my pill to the mini-pill after my brother had a stroke, and in 2013, I went on a couple of medications for health issues that started the worst episode of shedding I had ever experienced. I took this picture fairly close to the start of the shed, mostly to show the curls happening on my very ends after I'd tried Panacea's salve for the first time on wet hair.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/lost-kitty/Hair/4852fef9-5716-4d9d-99c8-ad6ef5928dc4_zpsmsfkomxm.jpg (http://s436.photobucket.com/user/lost-kitty/media/Hair/4852fef9-5716-4d9d-99c8-ad6ef5928dc4_zpsmsfkomxm.jpg.html)
Within 2 months, my 4" ponytail was down to barely 2". Thankfully, at that point, the shedding leveled out, and my hair began to grow again, albeit excruciatingly slowly. At the start of 2014 I still wasnt at BCL. I'd stopped doing henna glosses entirely, and the colour was fading fast (oddly, Jamilla henna doesnt seem to stick very well in my hair). My general health improved though and the doctor finally weaned me off the drugs (all except an antihistamine and the mini-pill, though I have since come off those too) in time for my birthday that January. My hair started growing again, faster than ever but I didn't really take many pictures of my hair. I tended to prefer to throw it up and forget about it. I forgot my deep treatments, I ran out of oil, I forgot to S&D and I started spending most of my time here hanging out in the Friendship board rather than the hair forums. After getting a trim in the spring, this is how it looked after all my hairdressers attempts to make it look nice for a family occasion the next day. My see-through ends here were pretty indicative of how most of my hair felt at the time.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/lost-kitty/Hair/8fa5ef30-9bd0-41e4-b7dc-e66dfc469926_zpsf3efzavj.jpg (http://s436.photobucket.com/user/lost-kitty/media/Hair/8fa5ef30-9bd0-41e4-b7dc-e66dfc469926_zpsf3efzavj.jpg.html)

It grew enough to hit classic, despite two trims. And helped by a hefty amount of SLS shampoo (which I immediately regretted putting near my scalp), brushed out waves and crappy lighting, my hair looked fairly thick for the christmas photos. Unfortunately, it was also dull, and the ends damaged and velcro-y. My ponytail had grown a little but still had a long way to go.

tigereye
March 7th, 2016, 02:41 PM
Continued (because I went over the picture limit (I had no clue we had a picture limit until now :p who knew?))
Since then, I've not really taken many photos. I've been trimming out the damaged ends, growing down the new growth (my ponytail is finally back to a iii again), and maintaining at classic. In the two-and-a-bit year since I came off those drugs s (In another thread recently, I thought it had been a year, but posting this and looking back at these photos and the dates they were taken, I've discovered the legacy of growing out the mega-shed has been much longer), and the majority of my thickness has hit waist again. The shine and my natural almost-wave pattern is coming back too. I've been debating chopping to the old layered cut I liked, and have all my thickness again, but cant quite face losing classic, which was my goal length all along. I'm probably going to have a small trim in a couple of weeks instead. I've also been thinking about red manic-panic streaks, henna or even lemon lightening to get some of my old redness back (My hair has got very dark from lack of sunshine recently and I know my hair lightens to look much redder if its in the sun a lot, so I figure lemon would do the same)
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/lost-kitty/740b71591d5d95e6c9a28f808a405f16_zpsj2kmyf2s.jpg (http://s436.photobucket.com/user/lost-kitty/media/740b71591d5d95e6c9a28f808a405f16_zpsj2kmyf2s.jpg.h tml)
And to be fair, that was kind of lank day 7 hair in crappy bathroom lighting. Heres todays hair after washing, when I managed to get some indirect daylight for the photo. Theres still a rather definitive line between healthy, shiny, slightly wavy new growth, and the dull, damaged, slightly frizzy ends. However, its nice to see the progress. It helps me remember that it is, in fact, improving again, and that hopefully in a few years, I'll have healthy, shiny hair all the way down again.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/lost-kitty/Hair/3b2c7dfc-d99f-4408-b4b8-5739599a3f84_zpsfnvwuiav.jpg (http://s436.photobucket.com/user/lost-kitty/media/Hair/3b2c7dfc-d99f-4408-b4b8-5739599a3f84_zpsfnvwuiav.jpg.html)

So, 5 years on, and a lot has changed. I want to thank you all for all the advice, encouragement, and enablement :wink: and for the interesting and varied discussions we've had along the way. I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

And just for those who stuck it out this far: My cats say hi (ok, thats a lie. Obie says hi. Sheeba is grumbling about being been woken up by Obie messing up his bed space).
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq81/lost-kitty/Hair/7013f812-f206-4071-b944-f9be4c8ff234_zpsizrh0w6s.jpg (http://s436.photobucket.com/user/lost-kitty/media/Hair/7013f812-f206-4071-b944-f9be4c8ff234_zpsizrh0w6s.jpg.html)

meteor
March 7th, 2016, 02:48 PM
Yay! Happy hairiversary, tigereye! :cake: :toast: And wow, what an inspirational hair growth journey! :cheer:

You have such stunning hair!! :applause And your kitties are so cute!! :crush:

lithostoic
March 7th, 2016, 02:55 PM
Yay! Congratulations.

lapushka
March 7th, 2016, 02:57 PM
Wow you went through a lot with your hair in those 5 years. I can see the thinning in the picture; thank goodness it's back to being its old self.
Happy anniversary! :D

bunneh.
March 7th, 2016, 03:07 PM
Happy anniversary! It's good to know you got your thickness back and your hair is improving in terms of health. :) I like your layered cut, it makes me like my layers a bit more lol, but I love love love the first picture in second post, that classic length with fairy tale ends... #goals for me :D

lapis_lazuli
March 7th, 2016, 03:35 PM
Congratulations! :cake: Great progress and gorgeous hair :D

Sarahlabyrinth
March 7th, 2016, 04:54 PM
Beautiful hair! Thank goodness you didn't cut it off short when you had your shedding! My thickness has also re-grown to about waist (ish) so I feel your pain over the shedding. It's a nightmare, and then so many years to regain the thickness... but - happy hairiversary to you :)

hennalonghair
March 7th, 2016, 05:23 PM
Happy Anniversary!
That's quite the journey.

pailin
March 7th, 2016, 05:27 PM
Congratulations, and wow, that is patience to go through that shed and grow it back out. I love your hair color too!

parkmikii
March 7th, 2016, 09:53 PM
Your journey is amazing, congratulations! :D

embee
March 8th, 2016, 05:13 AM
Congratulations on your journey and anniversary!

tigereye
March 10th, 2016, 12:02 AM
Thanks everyone :)

morrigan*
March 10th, 2016, 12:42 AM
Your hair looks lovely!

Nightshade
March 10th, 2016, 07:29 AM
Oh wow! Such fantastic pictures. I'm glad you've stuck around ^_^

MermaidKatie
March 10th, 2016, 09:20 PM
Wow! What an experience. Your hair is beautiful and I'm happy for you that it's well and truly on the mend. I had a similar experience due to a hormonal balance and incredible stress. I lost a lot of hair, more on one side, and the hair that was growing in was really brittle. Thank God everything has re-balanced, though it took my hair a lot longer to recover. It has been thickening up again over the last two years and the new growth is much healthier. So I totally understand that rollercoaster experience and all it's emotions.
But your hair looks lovely again :)

Sweets
March 11th, 2016, 02:08 AM
Lovely hair, and happy anniversary! You've definitely been through a journey, that's for sure. Keep it up, and I wish you continued success!

lapushka
March 11th, 2016, 03:29 AM
Wow! What an experience. Your hair is beautiful and I'm happy for you that it's well and truly on the mend. I had a similar experience due to a hormonal balance and incredible stress. I lost a lot of hair, more on one side, and the hair that was growing in was really brittle. Thank God everything has re-balanced, though it took my hair a lot longer to recover. It has been thickening up again over the last two years and the new growth is much healthier. So I totally understand that rollercoaster experience and all it's emotions.
But your hair looks lovely again :)

Welcome to the site, BTW! :)

MermaidKatie
March 11th, 2016, 04:22 AM
Welcome to the site, BTW! :)

Thank you! :smile:

tigereye
March 11th, 2016, 11:35 AM
Yes, welcome :)

BoopBoop1
March 11th, 2016, 11:56 AM
Wow! your hair is so shiny and beautiful <3 Congratulations!

fiğrildi
March 11th, 2016, 02:39 PM
Happy hairyversary, tigereye! :)

You'll get back your amazing thickness, be sure of that :wink:
I have always enjoyed your posts, by the way. I like the way you write :flower:

Saying hi to Obie and Sheeba!

Groovy Granny
March 11th, 2016, 03:14 PM
Wow...what a great journey ~ Your hair looks lovely!
Congrats and blessings :blossom: